News Release
Contact: Frank Richter
Telephone: 800.700.3033
Frichter@callcenter.com

For Immediate Release

IRT Wins ACCE Award for Best Online Customer Service Program

South Florida call center combines telephone, email and
web response to deliver results for carclub.com.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida, September 4, 2001 -- IRT, a leading multichannel call center -- IRT, a leading multichannel call center services provider, has announced that it has been awarded the 2001 Award for Customer Contact Excellence (ACCE) for the Best Online Customer Service Program by a service agency. The Award for Customer Contact Excellence is presented by Customer Interface Magazine in recognition of outstanding achievement in the field of customer service by an in-house contact center or outside service agency. Industry experts make up a panel of judges who score each entry according to four required sections: business and clientele, program objectives, solution and the program's end benefit.

According to Mary Slepicka, Group Editorial Director, "Each year, Customer Interface strives to find the best contact centers in the industry. The ACCE program represents this magazine's long-standing effort to recognize in-house centers and service agencies for customer care and CRM programs."

IRT received its award for work on behalf of carclub.com, an online automotive membership club. In order to be considered for the award, IRT provided detailed analysis of the benefits delivered, including revenues and cost savings, satisfaction scores, new-customer acquisitions and retention statistics. IRT's targeted training of Web agents improved sales techniques and increased carclub.com membership rates. Increased efficiencies and a focus on first-call resolution lowered carclub.com's costs while enhancing customer satisfaction and loyalty.

According to Richard Eychner, chief operating officer for IRT, "We are delighted to be recognized with this year's ACCE Award. The carclub.com program centered around a highly skilled, dedicated agent team, highly focused training, a technologically advanced yet user-friendly application, and proactive management. Agents communicated with carclub's members not only over the phone but also through live chat and e-mail responses 24 hours a day."

Carclub.com, the first of the J.D. Powers clubs, was created to help its members shop for new and used vehicles, to facilitate selection of financing and insurance and to provide sources for vehicle maintenance. Members had to be able to communicate with member service advocates through various media as well as on a personal level. "Rather than reading directly from a script, our agents needed to focus on the person before talking about a product or solving a problem. It was essential that they understand the reason for the call before they could understand the solution," said Eychner.

As a result of its quality training program, IRT's partnership with the online company was extended far beyond the initial member services arrangement. IRT developed a front-end processing system using a pure Oracle database, recommended technical solutions to achieve cost-efficiencies in the contact center, and helped test and implement a Global Positioning System for carclub.com members. "We became an R&D arm of their organization," Eychner concluded.

About IRT

IRT is a leading provider of integrated customer relationship marketing services and contact center marketing programs. The company's strength lies in its ability to combine sophisticated multi-channel marketing programs and leading edge technology in support of inbound and outbound calling, email and live agent web chat, collaborative web browsing, focus groups, training, quality assurance and fulfillment. The company, founded in 1993, specializes in customer service and retention programs, inbound technical support, one-to-one marketing campaigns, and the selling and support of sophisticated products and services for the consumer products, e-commerce, financial services, and telecommunications industries. For more information on IRT, contact Frank Richter at (800) 700-3033 or visit their web-site at www.callcenter.com.

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