Case study: Morris Communications (Shared Services Center)

Client

Morris Communications (Shared Services Center in Augusta, GA)

Internal Brand

Customer One

Duration

18 months

Challenge

Based on the overwhelming success of the pilot outbound retention center that RCDA helped build for the Florida Times-Union, Morris Communications hired our organization to work with the new Shared Services Center in Augusta, GA. The center’s innovative mission was to make outbound retention calls to subscribers of several different newspapers from one central location.

Approach

RCDA has helped  in every phase of development at the Shared Services Center. After a period of training and coaching, the retention reps began by calling subscribers of the Augusta Chronicle. As the project advanced, RCDA provided consistent on-the-job coaching to these reps and their supervisors. As the team became more effective in applying our Quality Conversation approach and robust sales model, they began making retention calls for an increasingly larger number of newspapers.

Results

The Shared Services Center now handles the outbound retention calling for 17 Morris newspapers. The reps call subscribers who are deep in grace. On average, the reps sell renewals to 50 percent of the subscribers they contact. The Shared Services Center now generates $140,000 worth of collections per month and has been a touted as a success story throughout the Morris organization.