Sprint PCS - Re: Consumer Reports survey on Customer Service

Author

Re: Consumer Reports survey on Customer Service

veriunister@gmail.com

2006-12-12, 10:33 am

To: All Sprint Nextel employees

As you may have seen in the news last week, Sprint Nextel took a few
hits from the media, including a less-than-favorable article in
Consumer Reports. A few months ago we had a similar evaluation in the
annual JD Power survey. Tough coverage is always expected when a
company takes action to change and transform itself. Unfortunately,
this type of story will likely continue until we restore confidence
with improved results.

We've always said it will take time to see the improvements over the
long term - research has shown that it takes about 12 months for
people's perceptions to change about coverage and call quality - and
these recent ratings underscore the importance of the strategy we have
put in place and our need to execute.

In the meantime, don't let media coverage rattle or distract you.
Sprint's execution during the past several months is paying
dividends. We know how to get this business moving in the right
direction, and we are making progress.

We recognize that we are in a competitive business and to be successful
we must provide an exceptional customer experience. In many markets,
Sprint is the leader in performance. In most markets it is a
statistical dead heat. We are completely focused on our networks,
improving customer satisfaction, reducing churn, and giving our
customers the best pricing on innovative products and services. In
fact, Consumer Reports cited Sprint specifically as the leader in data
services.

I just spent two days last week visiting a handful of contact centers,
and there's a big difference between perception and reality. What I
saw were determined, passionate employees who are engaged, innovative
and attentive on every call. They care about meeting the needs of their
customers, about making Sprint the undisputed leader in customer
service, and, frankly, they're taking this criticism personally.
Working in Retail or taking Care calls is not any easy job, and I'm
very proud of the commitment I see in those who do it.

One example that our renewed strategy is working: Our Care organization
exceeded its annual forecast/target for subscriber account renewals a
full month before the end of 2006, and they are trending to secure
almost 13% more contract renewals by year end. That's awesome! This
is even more remarkable given the fact that contract renewals were
below monthly targets for the first four months of 2006. Much of our
progress is due to impressive improvements in close rates (we have
doubled our year-over-year close rate performance), despite declining
call volumes into Customer Care.

Also, our Rio Rancho Contact Center was named by New Mexico Business
Weekly one of New Mexico's "Best Places to Work." This team
proves that combining hard work and good fun can deliver powerful
results. Rio Rancho is routinely among the highest performing contact
centers in the company, helping reduce churn while turning in great
sales numbers. Our associates in Rio Rancho are a great example of what
our people can deliver for our customers.

I believe all of us are committed to "righting the ship." We know
that to be successful we must provide the best customer experience.
We're taking new steps to retain customers, and we expect to post
significant gains in customer loyalty in 2007 through network
enhancements, our new marketing campaign and a relentless focus on the
customers' experience with our network and when they call us for
service.

Sprint's mission is to make our customers' lives simpler and more
productive. We are continually working to improve customer service, so
that we can quickly and effectively answer their questions, resolve
their issues, and increase the value they receive.
As employees, make sure you're armed with these facts to deflect
skeptics' opinions and to explain the progress we're making:

* $7 billion to network enhancements in 2006 - more than $2 billion
going into the Nextel National Network.
* 1,600 new cell sites.
* PowerSource (hybrid) phones that operate on the iDEN network for
walkie-talkie services and on the CDMA network for voice and data
services.
* Industry-leading mobile broadband coverage (CDMA).
* EVDO network now covers 219 major markets, 725 airports, and more
than 181 million people.
* Our planned buildout of the 4G WiMAX network - working with
Motorola, Intel and Samsung - will be the standard for future
mobility products and services.
* Sprint was the first carrier to offer live TV, and today we offer
more than more than 50 video channels that feature live and on-demand
programming.
* The Sprint Music Store, an over-the-air music download service,
celebrated its one-year anniversary in November and is the first
service of its kind to reach 8 million song downloads.
* Sprint Family Locator - an innovative tracking system that employs
GPS (Global Positioning Satellite) - represents an overall effort to
attract customers and build loyalty.
* Sprint Movies, our pay-per-view service for mobile phones, is the
2006 winner of the 3G CDMA Industry Achievement Award for Innovative
Use of Mobile Television, given by the CDMA Development Group (CDG) and
Mobile Entertainment Forum (MEF).

So you can see, we're not sitting back and watching the competition
pull away. There are many reasons to feel good about Sprint, and you
should know you are making a difference in people's lives by giving
them world-class telecom service.

Tim Kelly

Michael Wise

2006-12-12, 12:33 pm

In article <1165939525.667661.63620@f1g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>,
veriunister@gmail.com wrote:

> To: All Sprint Nextel employees
>
>
> As you may have seen in the news last week, Sprint Nextel took a few
> hits from the media, including a less-than-favorable article in
> Consumer Reports. A few months ago we had a similar evaluation in the
> annual JD Power survey. Tough coverage is always expected when a
> company takes action to change and transform itself. Unfortunately,
> this type of story will likely continue until we restore confidence
> with improved results...

"Restore confidence" implies that confidence ever existed in the first
place.

Both Sprint and Nextel have always been 3rd rate in terms of footprint.
Terms like "Pure Digital" and "most powerful network" don't the user a
darn bit of good when they can't even use their phone for its most
important purpose: making/receiving calls.

--Mike

SMS

2006-12-12, 12:33 pm

Michael Wise wrote:

> Both Sprint and Nextel have always been 3rd rate in terms of footprint.
> Terms like "Pure Digital" and "most powerful network" don't the user a
> darn bit of good when they can't even use their phone for its most
> important purpose: making/receiving calls.

There may be no real solution here. Comcast may be acquiring Sprint, so
they can compete with AT&T in bundling phone service, TV, broadband
Internet, and wireless.

Verizon would not be willing to pay a premium price for Sprint, as they
are getting most of the customers leaving Sprint, at no cost.

LinkBot