2012 Top Ops Awards INDEPENDENT CUSTOMER SERVICE AWARD Armstrong to an expert in each area. The CSC handles just under million inbound contacts and about 583,000 outbound For Jeff Ross and his 900 cable calls each year, with employees often employees, customer service is about pitching in to devise more efficient more than fulfilling a mission statement systems to handle all the traffic. One or keeping up with the Joneses. a example is the point of local pride. want which CSRs helped develop with to go to church or the store and have management to better diagnose the people go, that evil cable comroot cause of video service issues. he says. As So far, the tool has helped Armstrong President of indie cable op Armstrong, resolve 75% of reported video issues Ross carries a lot of weight on his A Strong Team: (L to R) Glenn Dittman, Senior over the phone, reducing truck rolls shoulders. He oversees service to some Installer; Terry Dickerhoof, VP of Customer Service; and increasing satisfaction. 277,000 customers across Kentucky, Jeff Ross, Pres; Sherri Lutz, Customer Service Rep; no wonder that Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West and Don Tacik, VP of Operations Promoter (a system from a headquarters in Butdevised by Fred Reichheld to measure customer loyalty) is ler County, PA. And the steward for a family business that pretty much off the charts, recently reaching 61.97. That beats began in 1946 when Jud and Ned Sedwick started hanging Federal Express and Southwest Airlines. NPS telephone wires across Armstrong County, PA. The family has for service installations is 75.06. That passes score deep ties in the area, and good customer service has become by nearly 10 points. the time installed the service, an essential part of its legacy. always try to give back to you know not the typical cable says Ross. the Ross says. think that it all Armstrong fulfills 85% of its service requests within days of renewed focus on customer service started the call (and more than 95% within days). And it strives for about 10 years ago when execs created a centralized Cussame- or next-day service when a available. you call tomer Service Center in Butler to field service, information and sales calls more efficiently. The CSC began with employ- before four going to fix you he says. near obsession with satisfaction and constant ees specializing in simple skill sets but has since evolved improvement has also changed how it evaluates employees. In into a bigger operation with 273 agents excelling in 37 specialized skills. A sophisticated routing system gets customers fact, the company recently spent nine months studying a better way to internally measure CSR performance with a 360-point scale that includes 90 points for call handing, 90 points for the call model based on the type of call and 180 points for helping to create Armstrong its initiative to constantly exceed customer expectations. more, employees embrace the measurement system largely because they helped Fast Facts create it and understand its power as Armstrong faces intense In the 1940s, the Sedwicks ran two crews of six men, hangcompetition from both DBS and Verizon FiOS in its markets. ing telephone lines throughout western Pennsylvania. Within feel we really need to set ourselves says Ross. the first year, the company had grown to 12 crews. In the end, about making customers feel important. Armstrong has 14 local system offices. not easy when there are 277,000 of them. But Armstrong Armstrong employs one field technician for every 667 somehow pulls it off. not like we can know every customcustomers served. notes Ross. we want to create the perception that we So far, it seems like Armstrong is finding success in that endeavor. And that local pride remains intact. Michael Grebb cablefaxmag.com July 2012 CableFAX: The Magazine