American cancer society austin

The American Cancer Society centralizes its call centers

SINCE CONSOLIDATING its 40 call centers into two over the past four years, the American Cancer Society has built up an operation that will soon be able to handle 3.5 million inbound calls per year.

With the aid of data gathered by local field offices, the health-related charity has been constantly refining caller databases used for fundraising and providing free information.

The ACS began phasing out local call centers when it opened its first nationwide teleservices center in January 1997; a second center was added in August 1999. All 800-number calls were rerouted from the group's 40 centers to these two facilities. The ACS now has the capacity for expansion to 448 workstations.

Right now, the group answers 1.5 million inbound calls annually and responds to Web site (www.cancer.org) inquiries, sending out more than 55,000 e-mails per month. The e-mail portion of its service program will soon be relocated from Atlanta to Austin.

Phone reps and the Web site provide information about cancer, drugs and related topics. Typically 72% of calls received involve data inquiries, and 28% come from donors.

About 220 agents use the ACS online database to provide basic information with an emphasis on social services such as transportation to receive treatments, cancer diagnosis, risks and prevention. Those seeking more clinical details are transferred to a second tier of 10 representatives with nursing backgrounds.

"We're moving toward implementing a constituent management strategy so our calls can be more focused," says Georgette Porter, director of project development.

The database helps the organization perform skills-based call routing. Information collected during prior phone conversations is used to automatically route repeat callers to representatives with specialized expertise.

According to Porter, people feel better about asking for information when the agent can recognize their needs without asking them to retell their story with each subsequent phone contact.

All of the company's telephone reps are supposed to have college degrees and receive five weeks' training. The quality of calls and the reps' efficiency have improved over the last year since the ACS began using call-monitoring software donated by Irving, TX-based E-Talk Corp.

Porter says the software, worth nearly $500,000, helps ensure that representatives provide information in a consistent and professional manner. "The phone, after all, serves as a front door to the American Cancer Society," she adds.

Reps typically talk to each caller from 4 to 4.5 minutes. There's no time limitation on call length, but the employees are not allowed to waste time with idle chitchat. "They can stay on the phone for an hour and a half if necessary," Porter says.

Most months, the ACS achieves its goal of answering 90% of incoming telephone inquiries within 30 seconds. Agents spend 85% of their work hours taking calls, meaning 15% of their time is spent waiting to answer them or away from the phone. Fewer than 5% of callers hang up while waiting for someone to answer.

In addition to monitoring phone requests and tracking teleservices statistics, the ACS places follow-up outbound calls and randomly surveys inbound callers for feedback. "It's important to see how we're doing from our constituents' point of view," Porter explains.