Job Title
Line Manager
Direct Reports
Location
Date created
Job Purpose
Inbound Customer Services representative
Team Manager
N/A
Wimbledon
26/01/2016
To represent CIPD to our customers, providing a consistently
high standard of customer service, in order to gain new
customers, engage with, retain and build long term relationships
with existing customers and take advantage of all opportunities
to convert customers to use of CIPD products and services.
Key accountabilities
1. To provide advice and solutions in response to customer enquiries, matching
and promoting CIPD products and services to meet customer needs and
maximise conversions.
2. To continuously build, develop, share and maintain in depth product knowledge
in order to provide a knowledgeable response to customers and so provide an
added value service.
3. To work collaboratively with your team colleagues and other internal and
external contacts to achieve a consistently high level of service in line with
internal processes and procedures, CIPD Customer Service Standards, and
external regulations.
4. To actively seek and record information on customers including feedback
comments on quality of service and ideas for new products and services in
order to spot themes and trends and suggest ideas for improvement.
5. To use a range of computer applications to accurately enter and amend
customer data, in order to promptly process financial and other transactions,
and to build an accurate customer database.
6. To carry out a range of general administration activities including generation of
customer letters in order to support customer enquiries and achieve service
levels.
7. To attend off site and evening events including customer open evenings, and
trade shows / exhibitions in order to provide face to face advice and to secure
conversions.
8. To get involved in development and testing of new processes, systems and
technology in order to provide feedback from a customer perspective.
Nature and scope
Customer culture
In the Contact Centre we are the first port of call for anyone with a question about
what CIPD can offer. We welcome contact from our customers and see contact as
an opportunity to develop positive relationships with them.
To promote our products and services we need to adapt to each situation and ask
questions tailored for the customer to find out what they need. We don’t use scripts,
every customer is different and our ability to adapt to their style and needs is the best
way for us to be able to engage with them.
Delivering good service in the Contact Centre is about working to set rules and
procedures but also about understanding when to use discretion in order to make or
propose an exception to a rule. Understanding when to do things differently and the
channels you need to follow to make this happen.
Some of the challenges we face are the breadth of knowledge needed to respond
intelligently to customers as well as being a seasonal business with some very busy
times of the year.
Department structure
The CIPD Contact Centre is made up of four teams representing: Commercial
products and services; Library and information enquiries; Website Support; and
Membership and Education enquiries.
Team members are recruited to specific teams however may be expected to work
flexibly within the Contact Centre in line with changing business needs.
Team members handle a broad range of enquiries from customers that come into the
department by phone, email, face to face and mail.
Product and service knowledge
All teams receive a mixture of routine and complex enquiries. In order to answer
these customer enquiries the job holder will need to build up detailed knowledge in a
variety of areas. Below some knowledge areas have been highlighted which relate to
enquiries received by each team.
Commercial – the commercial product offering of 160 courses, 30 certificates, 12
conferences, in house training programmes, consultancy, flexible learning
programmes, books and subscription products. The price of these products varies
from £15 for a book to £5,000 for a certificate programme. The topics covered are
wide ranging including, Human Resources, Learning & Development, Management
Skills and some specialised topic areas like Psychology, Organisational Development
and Coaching.
Membership – the difference between the grades of membership and how a member
can progress to a higher grade, the various routes into membership and how they
can be combined, the various member benefits, the approved CIPD certificate
qualifications, the postgraduate qualification which is offered under a variety of titles
at different centres and the financials relating to membership.
Library – the wide range of profession subject areas including Pay & Reward,
Diversity & Equality and Employment Law, database searching techniques,
profession terminology, the content of the CIPD website and the different searching
and navigation options.
Website Support – the numerous CIPD website features, the different navigation
options, it’s functionality including ecommerce, the impact of customer data in
providing access to specific website areas/online products and website browser
types and set up options.
See appendix for actual email enquiry examples that have been received by the
department.
Contacts
Internal
All CIPD staff in particular those in administrative
roles where their work has an impact on
customers in departments such as Membership,
Finance and CIPD Training.
External
Customers; CIPD members and non members
Tutors and consultants
cScape staff
Dovetail / McGraw Hill contact centre staff
Committees/Members
Branch representatives
Dimensions, ie job facts and figures
Financial
During the 09/10 subscription year approximately
135,000 members are expected to renew their
membership and approximately 10,000 students
are expected to become members.
The department contributes to the collection of
membership subscription payments. Taking in
excess of £850,000 over the telephone and setting
up over 500 Direct Debits during the renewal
period. Helping up to 10% of members and 20% of
students make their subscription payment online.
Staff
NA
Other
On average 18,500 telephone calls, 4,000 email
enquiries and 3,500 brochure requests are
received by the department each month. Our
service level is to answer 80% of telephone calls
within 12 seconds and respond to email enquiries
and brochure requests within 24 hours.
Knowledge, qualifications and experience
As an indication, a candidate of ‘A-Level’ level calibre with a genuine
passion for speaking to customers and answering their enquiries is likely to be most
successful in this role. Evidence of sound customer service skills is essential.
Interpersonal Competencies
 Communicates confidently, clearly and concisely both orally and in writing.
 Able to deal confidently with people at all levels and develop positive working
relationships with team members and colleagues.
 Ability to work as a member of a team.
 Attention to detail and accuracy.
 Flexibility in response to changing priorities and needs and able to demonstrate
a ‘can do’ and positive attitude.
 Willingness to acquire new competencies and accept new challenges.
 Able to analyse and solve problems and determine and recommend appropriate
courses of action.
Functional and Technical Competencies
 Excellent telephone call handling skills including questioning, probing, listening,
establishing rapport, matching and closing.
 Ability to learn and understand high volumes of product information.
 Ability to quickly learn how to use internal IT systems in order to log and retrieve
customer information.
 Able to search for and find information on the CIPD website and using the
Internet.
 An aptitude for learning new IT systems quickly.
 Good administrative skills.
 Able to understand and implement operational processes and procedures and
an ability to cope with change.
Note: This job profile is aimed at describing the core output that should be achieved in this
role. It is not intended to include specific tasks, temporary activities or projects. This generic
approach in writing overall purpose and accountabilities supports focus on key outputs and
flexibility in a changing context. Specific results to deliver each year in your role based on
your job profile are listed in your individual objectives.
You are required to demonstrate appropriate levels of competence and behaviours against
CIPD’s values and core competencies. Full details of our values and competencies are listed
on our website: http://www.cipd.co.uk/cipd-hr-profession/jobs/living-our-values.aspx