HSBC
Emphasis has trained over 350 staff at HSBC to better connect with their customers through their letter writing, enabling the bank to live up to its brand of ‘global bank at a local level’.
Listen to an interview with John Baker, Manager of Customer Letters and Terms and Conditions at HSBC, about how we helped their complaint-handling teams. Listen here.
The problem
HSBC’s complaint-handling skills were frustrating customers. There were few controls in place and response letters tended to be long and indirect, and didn’t take ownership of the problems.
The bank wanted to develop a positive, active writing style, devoid of jargon and ‘bank-speak’, where the customer could feel their particular concerns were being addressed. It also wanted to deal with problems more quickly and reduce the drain on time and money caused by complaints not being resolved first time.
“When a customer complains to HSBC, we want to know that we’ll be consistent in giving a good-quality response; that people will own the problem and that the customer will know what to do as a result of getting the letter,” confirms John Baker, Manager of Customer Letters and Terms and Conditions.
What Emphasis did
Emphasis designed a course that examined the whole letter-writing process, from a complaint landing on the desk to a formula for a quick and logical letter structure. Participants worked on specific HSBC letters, enabling them to practise on ‘live’ complaints. The course looked at how to use language – the active voice, for example – to take ownership of a problem and come across in a personal, approachable way.
Emphasis also put together a glossary to help the teams avoid using unnecessary jargon. The training included a post-course assessment, with follow-up one-to-one coaching sessions.
The benefits
Staff now have a greater understanding of how to handle complaints effectively, by avoiding defensive writing and not hiding behind policies.
“The letters are a marked improvement from where they were before. Overall, the responses from customers have been positive. We’re seeing greater concentration in answering the questions, so there is less come-back from customers who say that we can’t handle the complaint,” says John. “That sort of feedback, almost non-feedback, is positive.”
“The Emphasis trainers make it a very positive, discussion based course – it’s not a series of rules in the classroom,” he continues.
The lasting effects
HSBC has since implemented distance-learning writing-skills training for its overseas complaint-handling teams. Emphasis created a bespoke, interactive e-learning course comprising three modules that each take around two hours to complete. And it includes one-to-one telephone coaching sessions.
In the UK and abroad, HSBC now has letter-writing standards based around the Emphasis training. The standards encourage ownership: a letter must be in the active voice and the writer must show understanding of what the customer wants and be able to answer specific questions. And they encourage clarity: no bank-speak or jargon; ‘thank you’ and ‘sorry’ where appropriate; and positive, succinct writing throughout.