phase 2
CBP v3
foundations – data gathering & checking a planners guide
.
keeping customers informed
Collections Best Practice revision changes
Communicating with customers through operational change –
support is at hand
Introduction
With all the operational change happening within Royal Mail and
so much planned for the coming months, it’s essential we tell
customers about this change and how it will affect their
service. Formal customer feedback indicates clearly that one of
the main drivers of customer dissatisfaction is not that we make
changes to our services – customers understand we need to do
that – but when we change things but don’t tell our customers.
We therefore need you to work with the Customer Service
Communications team to keep customers informed about the changes
you’re making.
The CS Comms Team provides a range of support options for
operational planners and managers. They can produce and
distribute branded, professional communications to customers
about the changes Regional Ops Managers are planning, whether
that’s through collection and delivery revisions, office
relocations or closures, mail centre activity or any other
change affecting their service.
Additionally, Customer Service advisors and Service Managers are
at the forefront of customer contact and they too can help make
your change programme a success, if you tell them what changes
you are planning to make; another reason to make sure the CS
Comms team is involved.
For more information about the CS Comms Team, who they are and
how they can help Collection Planners please see the attached
slides. Please don’t hesitate to contact them by emailing
customer.service.communications@royalmail.com or calling 0800
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keeping customers informed
Collections Best Practice revision changes
012 1639.
Contacts:
Dylan Casewell – CS Comms Information Manager. Mobex: 5367 3576
Anne Ballantyne - Keeping Customers Informed, Service Integrity
Team. Mobex: 5363 1381
Collections Revision – Customer Comms Process
We need to make sure we let customers know when we are planning
to change their collection arrangements. The process below
outlines the steps we need to take when your revision activity
affects Business Collections, street Postboxes and Post Office
Counter collections.
Step 1. Initiation, planning stage & customer information gathering
Regional or local collections planning teams to advise the CS
Communications team about the initiation of collection revision
activity
When planning starts the CS Communications team need to know the
following:
 A list of all business customers and Sub Postmasters within
the catchment area, with FIR numbers and addresses.
 An overview of the type of collection revision activity
being planned and likely outcomes - e.g. revised routes and
duties, new Postbox Final Collection times, business
collection times changing - including the reason for the
change.
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keeping customers informed
Collections Best Practice revision changes
 A list of the postcode areas affected.
 What the specific impact may be on your customers’ service
– eg earlier or later collection times, a change to
drivers. How will individual customer collection times be
affected etc.?
 Are there any known business customers or staffing issues?
 The collection revision deployment timeline, including all
the key planned go live dates.
 Have External Relations been engaged yet?
Please email these details to
customer.service.communications@royalmail.com, or call the team
directly on 0800 012 1639.
At this stage CS Communications will:
 Arrange production and distribution of the initial letter
to customer and Sub Postmasters, introducing the idea and
advising them that a collections revision is underway.
Where this involves more than 1000 customers and Subpostmasters the local planning team will need to supply a
budget code to cover the cost of this activity.
 At the same time arrange production and distribution of the
standard questionnaire inviting customers to supply a range
of information about their collections (plus any tailored
requirements or additional questions as agreed).
 Both items to be returned to the local collections manager
by the customer but any calls to be fielded by the Business
Customer Services team whose number (03457 950950) will be
shown on the customer letter.
 Alert all appropriate CS teams to the customer letter to
enable account handlers and relationship managers to field
any consequent calls from account managed or non-account
managed customers.
Step 2. One month before your changes are due
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phase 2
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foundations – data gathering & checking a planners guide
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keeping customers informed
Collections Best Practice revision changes
Regional Planning Team need to confirm final deployment plans &
expected impact on customers to CS Comms team.
The CS Comms team will support the local planning team in
developing a specific customer communications plan, engaging the
relevant External Relations team if required. However, local
collections planners will need to supply the following:
 An Excel spreadsheet showing details of all customers and
Sub-postmasters affected by the revision, clearly showing
whose collection times are changing and to what time and
whose are not changing. The spreadsheet needs also to show
all FIR numbers and customer addresses and postcodes.
 Details of any specific or unusual collection times that
are changing (e.g. removal of all early, unpaid-for
collections).
CS Communications will:
Manage the customer communications plan. This plan will consist
of any or all of the following, as relevant and agreed between
Regional Planners and CS Comms team:
 Produce and despatch direct letters to affected customers,
28 days in advance of the changes going live. This will
primarily be business customers and Sub-postmasters as
advised in the above Excel spreadsheet. Where this involves
more than 1000 customers and Sub-postmasters the local
planning team will need to supply a budget code to cover
the cost of this activity.
 Assist with the production of Postbox Final Collection time
change notices, advising customers of changes to Postbox
collection times, as required/agreed by/with local
planners.
 Information posters and leaflets. If your drivers and/or
customers would welcome a physical reminder of the change,
the CS Comms team can create these for you.
 Customer web pages - Change details will be posted on our
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Collections Best Practice revision changes
regional ‘service update’ web pages, the ‘Ask Sarah’
customer self help facility and OneNetwork as appropriate.
 Background information, briefings to CS call handlers and
Service Teams about the changes. This will help them answer
any telephone or written customer queries and make
proactive calls to customers if necessary.
 Details of your changes will also be included in the CS
Comms team’s regular and ‘ad hoc’ proactive customer
updates: ‘My service updates’ and the Daily Operational
Customer Statement.
 Engagement with the COM community and Regional External
Relations teams as required, concerning the change. Agree
what messages are given to customers.
Step 3. Deployment of revision
Regional Planning Team to update the CS Comms Team about
deployment
At the time of and/or just after your changes go live, CS Comms
need you to:
 Let your contact in CS Comms know what has gone well and
not so well.
 Make sure any remedial or corrective action you are
planning is communicated to CS Comms, eg any further
changes of times, last minute refinements etc..
 Decide if you need any follow-up or reactive messages to go
out to customers, either directly or via our customer
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Collections Best Practice revision changes
handling teams – CS Comms can arrange this for you.
 Make sure Customer Services input is included in any Post
Implementation Review you undertake.
_____________________________________________________________
___________________
Dylan Casewell
Anne Ballantyne
January 2010
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