Company: Kohl's Department Stores
Company Description: Kohl’s is a family-focused, value- oriented specialty department store offering moderately priced, exclusive and national brand apparel, shoes, accessories, beauty and home products in an exciting shopping environment
Nomination Category: Customer Service & Call Center Achievement Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Award for Innovation in Customer Service

Nomination Title: Kohl's Charge Operations and Call Center Services Innovation

Tell the story about your organization's innovations in customer service since the beginning of July last year (up to 500 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:

Kohl’s Charge Operations is a 300+ seat Call Center with locations in two
states, providing service and support to 20 million+; Kohl’s Charge customers.

In the ongoing pursuit of quality design and customer impact, Kohl’s has
implemented initiatives to align Purpose & Process with the People that provide
our services.; The emphasis of excellent service today centers around easy
access to information/solutions (via IVR, Associate, support group, etc.),
responsiveness of the firm to the customers (connection with the customer and
ownership of the call), and resolution of any issue accurately (identifying the
reason and appropriate outcome for the call).;

The innovative journey began with the creation of a “branded experience” for
customers.; It continues by defining and aligning measurable standard behaviors
for Associate performance that create the branded “impact”. It then provides
tools for Managers to coach Associates effectively and gather feedback directly
from customers to validate the consistency and quality of their experiences.

Unique Call Center Brand – C/3 Performance … The branding of an experience is
based on the premise of being “one thing” to all people, not all things to all
people.; Designed to provide Convenient, Courteous & Correct service (C/3),
Kohl’s expects to “Take Care of People,” one call at-a time, not 20 thousand
times a day.; The design of Associate accountabilities (their “experience”)
aligns clearly with the branded design for the customer and provides a
consistent experience (the absence of variation is critical to a “quality
experience”).;

C/3 performance Scorecarding … Seven fundamental Associate behaviors create a
C/3 (i.e. Convenient, Courteous & Correct) Experience. All Associates are
recruited, trained and coached for successful performance in each area.; The
scorecard is a measure of Associates performance from the previous day and the
results roll up into Team Leader, Management and site level outcomes for review
on a daily, monthly and annual basis.; These “behaviors” form the content for
the Accountabilities that “cascade” throughout all Management and Associate
levels.

Unique Pay-for Performance programs, … based on the C/3 Brand model and
performance Scorecards reward Associates on three separate tiers of
performance.; Since this innovative program was implemented, Associate
performance has improved over 13%, resulting in increasing performance targets
three times in the past 24 months. The plan has averaged payouts to Associates
of over $200,000 while cost has been more than offset by a 2-4% increase in
production.

Customer Satisfaction Indexing … CSAT Reporting … Increasing the scope of the
Call Center Experience resulted in the development of a comprehensive CSAT
(i.e. Customer Satisfaction Index) Report based on industry performance tiers
and measurable benchmark targets.; Gathered from a variety of industry sources
and tied to Retail & Financial Credit Card performance, it provides a
comprehensive tool that aligns the C/3 Brand experience with benchmark
and “best in class” metrics (The CSAT index also includes the 4th and 5th C’s
of Employee Communication and Cost designed in the past year to
reflect “internal experiences” within the Call Center Operation.)

Other innovative processes have been developed include:

Strawman & Scarecrow Production Modeling … Development of standard templates
(i.e. The Strawman) that establish production, coaching, training, meeting
times, are scheduled for Managers and Associates on a daily basis.; Strawman
scheduling identifies the most productive (based on Call Volumes) time for an
Associate to spend in coaching, training and meeting sessions with their
Managers.; Scarecrow reporting then measures the actual outcome of these
activities as a part of Associate and Management daily/monthly performance
(tied to their Convenience objectives).; As a result, Associate productive time
has increased, coaching and training for Associates consistently averages to
over 1 hour a week, and schedule adherence remains above 90% on a daily basis.

12 Box Grid of Management Skills … Based on input from the Management Staff,
ongoing development of a 12 box grid was initiated.; The 12 box grid identifies
the fundamental (i.e. common and trainable) skill set for all Managers and is
used as a tool to ensure Associates have a consistent experience regardless of
their team alignment, shift, status or skill set.
;
Unique IVR strategy … Providing customers a choice to use the IVR (i.e.
automated front end for the 800 number) or select an Agent option, has not only
reduced the time for a customer to reach an agent, but improved post call
survey scores immediately upon its release into production.;; Additionally, in
2008, the IVR was recognized by SQM for Highest IVR Customer Satisfaction - in
the area of Navigation.;
;
As a result of these major innovations, Associate and Manager Performance has
improved over 15%, turnover has declined, Telephone Service Levels for 2009
have consistently exceeded 90% of all calls answered under 20 seconds, and VOC
scores have exceeded the 90% industry target for world class service routinely
throughout the year. The Call Center Agents and Managers are more focused,
engaged and successful as in the past 2 years as indicated by Associate
surveys.; Finally, in 2008 & 09 the Kohl’s Call Center was recognized by the
States of Wisconsin and Texas for its Quality commitment and performance as
well as by the American Business Awards (i.e. finalist for the past 2 years in
as “Best Customer Service Organization” category).

List hyperlinks to any online news stories, press releases, or other documents that support the claims made in the section above. IMPORTANT: Begin each link with http://, and enclose each link in square brackets; for example, [http://www.youraddress.com]:

A longer version of the entry is available at
http://thestevies.com/SASCS09Attachments/Kohls/

Provide a brief (up to 100 words) biography about the leader(s) of the nominated customer service organization:

Jim Nagle’s responsibilities include the overall direction of the Call Center,
providing Customer Service and Operational Support to Kohl’s Charge customers
across the nation.; Prior to Kohl’s, Jim spent 20+ years in the Financial
Industry holding leadership positions in Retail Banking, Mortgage Servicing,
Call Center Sales and Servicing, Technical & Merchant Help Desk Support as well
as Debit & Credit Card Operations.; In addition, Jim has been a frequent
presenter on the local and national levels on topics ranging from Leadership to
Call Center design.; Jim’s background in Call Center work has focused heavily
on a variety of quality principles impacting strategic design and management
leading his teams to various State and National Awards for Excellence.