Project Gap Analysis Strategy

for Team 3
March 12, 2016

Project Description
PJ Enterprises is a six year old retail store and mail order catalog company which
has enjoyed moderate success selling high quality gifts, jewelry, accessories and
seasonal items. In the past year, they have enjoyed a thirty one percent increase in
catalog customers and an overall increase in sales of forty one percent. With a net
profit of one million dollars over the past fiscal year, next years target is to double
the net profit to two million dollars.
PJ Enterprises has had a high turnover in personnel, particularly with customer
service employees. Also, customer complaints regarding the service received from
the telephone operators have increased 30% over last years numbers for the same
timeframe. With these factors in mind, the company has set some business
objectives to include focus on quality and customer service with a goal set for a ten
percent increase in customer service scores. PJ Enterprises is also focused on
cultivating a quality work environment and staff development.
The company has hired T3I to develop staff training for the various products that
are presented in their catalog so that the customer service employees have better
knowledge of the items, thereby increasing sales and decreasing customer
complaints.
T3I must first determine the exact needs of PJ Enterprises to assist them in meeting
their goals. T3I would like to conduct some research on the present state of the
company to determine how best to bridge the gap between what is and what is
to be.

Information Needed
T3I will examine PJ Enterprise business plan goals and business objectives

Sales targets have been set. Provide specific plans to see how these sales targets will be achieved

Resources that have been set aside to achieve specific financial targets

Historical data to support whether or not the business plan is achievable

T3I will examine the following with regard to standard practices and personnel
standards

Quality assurance measures currently in place

Staff development initiatives currently in place

Staff incentive plans that are currently in place

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Staff on-boarding practices particularly for call center personnel

Copy of current employee handbook

Copy of previous training materials

T3I will also examine records regarding the following:

Customer service surveys

Phone equipment usage records by shift and individual employee

Employee demographics

Company organizational chart

T3I will also need access to observe employees handling calls to document the
process from first ring of the phone until the call is completed.

Team Strategy
T3I will use several methods to gather the necessary data, including:

Interviews

Surveys

Review data including but not limited to call center metrics, customer survey results, and exit
interview responses

Staff observations

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Analysis Plan
Research Method
1.

Survey

Target Audience
Phone operators

Project Gap Analysis Strategy

Information You Hope to Gain

To obtain feedback from the operators
regarding:

Job duties

Job satisfaction and

dissatisfaction

Prior experience in a call center

Initial/on-boarding training
they received

Product knowledge

Familiarity with using the

companys ordering software

Recommendations to make
their jobs easier

Team Member Responsible

Rachel Donald and Oshea
Ricks

Research Method
2.

3.

Individual or
small group
interview

Interview

Target Audience
Customer service
supervisors

Management

Project Gap Analysis Strategy

Information You Hope to Gain

To obtain feedback from supervisors
regarding:

Call monitoring and quality

practices

Job duties and responsibilities

Common complaints from

escalated calls, and how those
complaints are addressed

Training or mentoring they

provide to the phone operators

What situations result in

customers being asked to call
back later, and how frequently
this occurs

Familiarity with the products

and ordering software

Job satisfaction and

dissatisfaction

Recommendations to make
their jobs easier

Greater insight into employee

dissatisfaction, strategic direction,
marketing and communication, and
key challenges they have encountered.

Team Member Responsible

Jessica Ireland and Rachel
Donald

Erin Abbott and Jessica Ireland

Research Method
4.

Gather and
evaluate data

Target Audience
Human Resources

Information You Hope to Gain

Identify recurring factors for
employees leaving PJ Enterprises by
reviewing exit interview responses.

Team Member Responsible

Pamela Jacobsen and Erin
Abbott

Records on the on-boarding process

and initial training new associates
receive.
5.

6.

Gather and
evaluate data

Gather and
evaluate data

IT

Customers

Requested records will include:

Oshea Ricks and Pamela

Jacobsen

Call volumes by shifts, days,

and quarters for the past year

History of technical issues

reported by customers and
phone operators, along with the
frequency of system issues.

Average call length, speed of

answer, and hold time

Greater detail into customer

experience and potential
dissatisfaction after speaking to a
telephone operator.

Rachel Donald and Oshea

Ricks

How do they find PJ Enterprises

products? How are they directed to
contact customer support or place an
order? What questions are they asking
the agent when placing an order, and
whether the information is missing or
ambiguous in the catalog.

Project Gap Analysis Strategy

Research Method

Target Audience

Information You Hope to Gain

Team Member Responsible

7.

Observation

Phone operators

Assessment of operators time

management skills, system familiarity,
product knowledge, and soft skills.

Jessica Ireland and Rachel

Donald

8.

Observation

Catalog director and

merchandising
manager

Evaluation of existing training

materials for content and gaps.

Erin Abbott and Jessica Ireland

Project Gap Analysis Strategy

Activity #1 Survey for phone operators

Details of Activity/Method
An electronic survey will be sent to all phone operators; they will have 3 business
days to submit their responses. All answers will be anonymous.

Questions to Ask
1. How long have you been employed with PJ Enterprises as a Telephone
Operator?
a. Less than 1 year
b. 1-3 years
c. 3-5 years
d. Over 5 years
2. How much experience working for an inbound call center did you have prior
to joining PJ Enterprises?
a. None
b. Less than 1 year
c. 1-3 years
d. 3-5 years
e. Over 5 years
3. What do you enjoy most about working at PJ Enterprises?
a. Flexible schedule
b. Pay and benefits
c. Employee discount on merchandise
d. Other: (fill in the blank)
4. Are you assigned other tasks in addition to taking calls? Please list them
here.
5. Describe the process you use to answer a call. What do you do first?
Second?
6. Describe the process you use to place an order. What do you do first?
Second?
7. If a customer has a question on a product, what resource(s) do you use to
find the answer?
8. How do you use the product guide to find information?
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9. What is the most common question you receive from customers?

a. Price of an item
b. Return policy
c. Measurements or size/fit
d. Other: (fill in the blank)
10. What is the procedure for escalating a call to a supervisor?
11. Did you receive any training, other than on merchandise, when you were
hired? Please list the topics that were covered.
12. What do you least enjoy about working at PJ Enterprises?
a. Schedule
b. Pay and benefits
c. Other: (fill in the blank)
13. What changes would you like to see implemented in your department?
Please list all.

Activity #2 Interview with Customer Service Supervisors

Details of Activity/Method
Depending on staff availability, interviews will be conducted individually or in
small groups.

Questions to Ask
1. What are all of the duties and responsibilities in your role? (Please list all)
2. Do you give on-the-job mentoring or training to phone operators? If so, how
often?
3. Do you monitor calls or do call quality reviews for phone operators? If so,
how often?
4. What is the procedure a telephone operator uses to escalate a call to you?

5. How many escalated customer calls do you handle in a shift/week/month?

6. Are escalated calls more common during a specific shift/day/season?
7. Please describe the complaints you have received from these escalated calls.
8. How are customer complaints addressed?
9. What feedback is provided or actions taken towards the operator after an
escalated call?
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10. We have heard that some customer complaints are the result of being asked
to call back. Please describe the situation(s) in which customers are asked to
call back.
11. How often do these situations arise?
12. When handling a customers inquiry on a product, what resource(s) do you
use to obtain the answer?
13. How do you use the product guide to find information?
14. What do you like most about your job as a Customer Service Supervisor
with PJ Enterprises?
15. What do you like least?
16. What changes would you like to see implemented in your department?
Please list all.

Activity #3 Interview with Management

Details of Activity/Method
An in-person interview is preferred, though a phone or video conference may be
used based on staff availability and schedule conflicts. We will need a copy of the
phone operator and supervisor job descriptions.

Questions to Ask
1. What is PJ Enterprises vision and mission statement?
2. What factors contributed to the 41% increase in sales last year?
3. What characteristics or experience do you look for in job candidates?
4. What specific goals or quotas do you have established for operators?
5. What incentives do you offer employees who meet these goals?
6. What are the consequences for employees who do not meet these goals?
7. What are the consequences for an employee if a customer complains about
them?

Activity #4 Gather/evaluate Data from Human Resources

Details of Activity/Method
T3I will review on-boarding policies and procedures for new employees, and
assess the initial training associates receive. We are focused on whether the content
covers soft skills, such as telephone etiquette and handling an irate call, as well
as system navigation and usage.

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We will also review responses from exit interviews over the past two years. We
will assess the responses to identify common motivators behind employees leaving
PJ Enterprises.

Questions to Ask

Activity #5 Gather/evaluate date from IT

Details of Activity/Method
T3I will analyze call metrics for the past year, including call volumes, the average
length of call, average speed of answer, and average hold time. We will ask for the
data to be broken down by shift, day of the week, and monthly figures.
Additionally, we will ask for history of technical issues reported by customer and
employees and what fixes or changes were implemented to correct the issue.

Questions to Ask

Activity #6 Gather/evaluate date from Customers

Details of Activity/Method
T3I will review customer survey responses from the past year and analyze the most
common complaints. If available, we will listen to call recordings when the
complaint is against the operators skill or ability. We will also review the
questions they ask about the merchandise and compare this to the catalogs to
assess whether the information is missing or ambiguous in the catalog.

Questions to Ask

Activity #7 Observation of Phone Operators

Details of Activity/Method
Members of T3I will sit with operators and observe them for at least one hour. The
operators should be chosen with input from the Supervisors; the objective is to sit
with mix of the highest and lowest performing operators. We will be assessing
their time management skills, system familiarity, product knowledge, and soft
skills. T3I will also assess environmental impacts to call center such as ambient
sound, hardware/software performance, availability of resources and supports, etc.

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Questions to Ask

Activity #8 Observation with the Catalog Director and

Merchandising Manager
Details of Activity/Method
If available, members of T3I will review recordings of the catalog trainings
presented over the past year. If recordings are not available, we will observe an
abbreviated training demonstration from catalog director, Judie Thompson, and
merchandising manager, Sheena Perez. We will evaluate whether the half day
training covers all of the new merchandise for the new catalog, and to what depth
the content is covered. If no demonstration is possible, T3I will evaluate other data
generated by the gap analysis.

Questions to Ask

Roadblocks & Dependencies

Roadblocks / Dependencies

Mitigation Strategies

Incomplete surveys

Send out email reminders to staff,

ask the supervisors or management
to provide the operators time off the
phones to complete the survey,
provide an incentive for completing
the survey.

Lack of cooperation from staff

Build relationships by emphasizing

how this analysis will benefit them
(stronger training, increased job
satisfaction, etc).

Reluctance in providing negative

feedback for fear of retaliation

All survey responses will be kept

anonymous. Final data will be
reworded to remove any names,
dates, or interactions which may
identify an employee.

Call volumes do not allow time for

interviews

Work with scheduling team to

provide additional coverage during
interview times, or reschedule
meetings for times when calls are
typically low, such as early morning
or late evening.

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