Company: Capital One Investing
Company Description: More than a decade has passed since Capital One Investing entered the fray of online brokerages, and our core values continue to separate us from the pack. We believe the world of investing is not just reserved for savvy, Wall Street investors – which is why we’re devoted to helping everyday Americans achieve their financial goals.
Nomination Category: Customer Service Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Customer Service Executive of the Year

Nomination Title: Bob Weintraub, Head of Customer Service

Tell the story about what this nominee has achieved since January 1, 2014 (up to 650 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms.

Bob Weintraub oversees day-to-day operations for the Capital One Investing Customer Service team which supports 1.3M brokerage customers. With contagious enthusiasm, he encourages a challenging and rewarding work environment, and has a direct hand in hiring and developing only the best people. Bob challenges his team to not only address a Customer’s initial question, but to make a real difference by going above-and-beyond—identifying unstated needs and probing for questions the Customer never realized they had. Bob maintains a down-to-earth demeanor while leading multiple groups including frontline Associates, Coaches, Systems and Workforce Management, Communications, Training and Support.

Under his leadership, Bob’s team had some big wins in 2014. One area of improvement was the handling of possible fraud cases. The security of our customers’ funds is very important and sometimes we need to contact customers before funds can be withdrawn. Since these calls can be sensitive, we’ve historically used our licensed Associates that also handle escalated calls. One of our Associates dug into the process and proposed that instead of using licensed team members, we pilot a dedicated team of unlicensed Associates (Fraud Deputies) with additional training who could partner directly with the Fraud Team and get these cases resolved faster. Bob approved redeploying existing resources to staff the pilot and the team generated some immediate wins:
• With dedicated time, the Fraud Deputies completed outbound calls 3 times faster than the standard process
• With more knowledge of the process, they made improvements to our workflow including our Knowledge Base and templates used for possible Fraud situations
• Case handle time was reduced by 40%

The dedicated Fraud Deputies have aided in our ability to weed out those with ill intent while making sure that the customers we are protecting still have the best possible experience. The Associates’ abilities to become more intimately familiar helped them to improve Fraud case handling in a way that has not been done before. What was a pilot is now being reviewed as a full time program for 2015.

Bob was also the driving force behind our Live Chat expansion. Live Chat carries a lower cost per contact since Associates can handle multiple Customers simultaneously. It’s 44% less expensive than a phone call and 14% less than an email. 2014 also saw more customers electing to use our most efficient channel. 37% of all Customers visiting the Contact Us page elected to chat with us, an increase of 12% over 2013. This led to one of Bob’s biggest wins, a volume reduction in our other contact channels. Since the full launch of Live Chat, phone calls were reduced by 16% and emails were reduced by a whopping 46%.

Results

Bob’s team had the highest engagement results in the company for a second year in a row, which is uncommon for Customer facing groups. The hard work of Bob and his team has also paid off with the most important audience – our Customers. In the Barron’s annual broker review, Capital One Investing earned 4.1 Stars out of 5

In bullet-list form, briefly summarize up to ten (10) accomplishments of the nominee since the beginning of 2014 (up to 150 words).

• Winner of 2014 Lead the Way Award (Awarded to only the top 1% of the company)
• 2014 Performance Management Champion for all of Capital One Investing
• Leader of Capital One Investing Associate Recognition Programs
• Supported growth of Live Chat which led to a reduction in email and phone contacts
• Sponsored the Fraud “Deputy” Pilot reducing case handle time on possible fraud cases by 40%
• Continued Associate Rotation Program which allows for the voice of the customer to spread to other departments
•Launched Surprise and Delight program at the end of 2014 which allows for Associates to thank customers in unique ways
• Transfer-In Team expanded from assisting with retirement accounts only to all types of account transfers from another broker
• Customer Service Associates scored the highest engagement results in the company
• Customer Service earned 4.1 Stars out of 5 in Barron’s annual broker review