While the dearth of data and do-not-call restrictions have teamed to dampen outbound telemarketing activity, Mass Marketing Insurance Group has managed to turn call center seats formerly used for inbound complaints into revenue centers.

No, the company didn't decide to devote extra operators to mining the ever-dwindling number of prospects: The 150,000 policies it generates through outbound calls suit it just fine. But it has taken a second look at “cancel calls” — contact by members who want to drop their policies.

“We found the same type of sales techniques that work on outbound calls work on a service call,” said Edward Johnston, vice president of the Berwyn, PA-based firm. “In fact, a good customer service call will sound an awful lot like an outbound sales call.”

By refocusing service reps who would have been handling cancellation calls into a retention pitch, the insurers Mass Marketing represents are able to keep sales with only slightly more incremental costs than they would have incurred losing them. The cost of the inbound call and the rep's time would have already been generated with a cancellation. With just a bit more training, some revised scripts and additional incentives, those calls are turned into attrition-busting tactics.

It works for other financial services sectors as well. Ron Lefkoski, an assistant vice president at Mass Marketing, described a credit protection product offered by a major credit issuer. The product had 2 million cardholders, but the call center was generating 85,000 calls each month — and only 25% of those were for service. The rest were cancellations.

Mass Marketing's first step was to establish a sales orientation to the call center, even though its primary purpose was to field inbound calls. The insurer developed a coaching and training program for its reps that stressed product knowledge and both customer service and sales skills. It also established new hiring criteria for phone reps, including strong listening skills; the ability to easily build rapport; and the ability to transition calls from concerns to product benefits.

The phone reps' compensation was also tied to sales and retention efforts. To introduce a sense of urgency, the inbound call responsibility, which had been handled by one vendor, was split between two, creating a competitive dynamic. Finally, Mass Marketing introduced a verification system for all of its renewed insurance policies.

Under the new system, call center reps were required to ask a series of probing questions regarding why the customer was canceling. If it was for economic reasons, the rep was empowered to offer a stripped-down service package. For customers whose needs had changed, reps were made familiar with enhanced benefit deals, which previously had only been offered by the sales teams.

Finally, Mass Marketing set in place a series of loyalty and persistency incentives. Callers were made aware that by sticking with the program they would become eligible for a variety of benefits, such as rebates on future products.

Through these efforts, the retention rate among callers dialing into the center to cancel has jumped from 12% to 33%. And by not losing these customers, the program's overall enrollment has doubled.

There is still room to modify the program. Customers who come in through a voice recognition unit (i.e., “Say ‘1’ to be connected to a customer service rep”) are more likely to drop out of the program than those who are transferred to a call center rep by a live operator. Mass Marketing is working on scripting and incentives to shore up those potential defectors.

The current goal is to bring the retention rate up to 37% among product users who call intending to cancel, said Lefkoski, who spoke with Johnston at the Direct Marketing Association Financial Services Council's 28th annual conference in St. Pete Beach, FL last month.