Needs Assessment Strategy Team 2

Date: 11/16/2019

Project Gap Analysis Strategy

Information Needed
The following will be needed in order to determine root cause(s) of the
performance issue
PJ Enterprises is a mail order catalog business that develops, manufactures, markets,
and distributes gifts, apparel, and home accessories. Their target consumer is females
(ages 25-55) earning between $40,000 and $80,000. Although there was an increase in
sales, there was also a sharp increase in customer complaints. There is high turnover
within the customer service operators, who report they are highly dissatisfied with the
job.
An analysis of the PJ Enterprise staff will be needed to determine if there are factors
that contribute to the issue.
● Information about their hiring and training and onboarding from HR would be
helpful in determining more detail on the performance issues documented.
● Customer complaints documentation should be reviewed within the last year.
● All previous catalogue training materials (in addition to HR new hire training)
should be collected and trainers interviewed for detailed information on
strategies used to train employees.
● Phone operator (and their supervisors) interviews required to gain
perspective on their job demands, their perceived ability to perform at their best,
and the processes and procedures they are aware of and use when they need
assistance or have questions or feel uncertain in their own performance of
company expectations. Are company expectations even clear to all the
employees?
● An analysis of the phone upgrade implementation and training plan from IT
has been flagged required to find out how the state of the equipment itself may
be affecting job performance.

Below are details important to devising a solution to the performance issue:

Current state of JP Enterprises

● Space: 4,000 square ft. office building, 6,000 square ft. warehouse
● $5,000/month for use of space
● Annual sales of $6 million with $1 million in profit
● 31% increase in catalog customer lists (250,000 names)
● 41% sales increase in sales
● Number of employees: 50 people (40 FT, 4 customer-service supervisors, 25 telephone
operators)
● Training: Produce 4 seasonal catalogs each requiring 1/2-day training for supervisors
and operators - training is done in PowerPoint with 30 mins at end of QA. Training
materials include a summary product description for easy reference on the automated
entry system. Product catalog training is conducted four times per year prior to the
introduction of the new season's catalog.
● Telephone system that supports 20 incoming lines, 40 headsets, automatic call
distribution and activity reporting
● Phones are staffed 24-hours, 7 days a week
● Telephone system is used at 85% capacity (each telephone operator responding to 3
calls/hour)
● 2 out of 3 customers complain about the operator (product knowledge, telephone
etiquette, promptness)
● 50% of customers surveyed would not do business with the company due to poor
customer service
● Average order $250-$500
● Incentives are awarded to warehouse and customer service for error free performance
● High turnover: lose 1 staff member/month
● Poorly attended employee meetings that are unpaid
● 30% increase in customer complaints compared to last year
● Informally, more than ½ operators expressed dissatisfaction with jobs

JP Enterprise Goals
● $7 million in sales, with $2 million in profit
● 40% increase in customer lists (add 100,000 more names)
● Increase catalog sales to $13 million (requiring upgrades in current hardware
configuration, additional workstations, new equipment, technical improvement in
warehouse)
● $7 million from retail division
● $12 million from acquisitions
● 10% improvement on customer-service scores
● Quality of work environment
● Staff development recognition
● Answer 90% of customer calls within 2 minutes (each telephone operator should
respond to 6 calls/hour)
 Team Strategy
1. Discuss issues with stakeholders (meeting with key people)
2. Survey customers (online or over the phone survey questions)
3. Review customer complaints (documentation)
4. Interview telephone operators and supervisors (face to face, questionnaire)
5. Review training materials used at quarterly training sessions (objectives, strategies, and
assessments)
6. Interview previous trainers (Sheena and Judie)
7. Review of call center processes and procedures (training documentation)
8. Observe call center (listen in on calls)

Analysis Plan
Activity/Method
Purpose or Information You Hope to Gain
Person Responsible

1. Review current customer survey to make sure the right questions are being asked.
Purpose: To continue current practice through end of project in order to see change.
2. Analyze incoming data from customer survey on a periodic basis
Purpose: To continuously glean info useful to project solution and/or to determine if
survey questions are valid.
3. Develop interviews for operators and supervisors with valid questions that can get at why
a) they are getting complaints about product knowledge and friendliness, b) what they
would like to see in a training or why their product knowledge seems low relevant to the
current training, c) what would make their work environment better, etc.
Purpose: Go to the source of the problem for source info. about a solution, also to
empower this group to be a part of the solution.

4. Determine procedure for gathering all the survey information, for storing it, for analyzing
it, etc.
Purpose: So that the right people have access to it and that the process is as efficient
as possible.

5. Review training materials used at quarterly training sessions relative to known adult
learning theories, retention / knowledge transfer theories / motivation theories. Analyze
ways to determine if learning has happened and develop a plan for what to do if it is
found that learning has NOT happened. Since there are no assessments with the
 current trainings, only QA, develop assessments that address knowledge (do they
KNOW the products), skill (can they answer questions about products) and attitude
(how do they understand the company needs of happy customers and return business
relative to their tone of voice and choice of words when speaking to a customer with
questions).
Purpose: Determine whether the current training could be the source of all the issues,
and whether the science of learning and motivation could instigate change.

6. Develop a rubric (or find if it exists) as an assessment to "grade" the calls listened in
on (or recorded for efficiency and cost) so that the data can be collected systematically

Stakeholders:
● Who are the key stakeholders that will give approval?
● What are your main priorities/concerns for training?
● What is your company mission?
● What are your company values?
● What is the timeline for any training to be complete?
● Who will sign off when the project is complete?
● Who are the subject matter experts we will be working with? Job descriptions?

IT
● How will the learner access the eLearning? (desktop, laptop, mobile, etc.)
● Does your company have an LMS?
● Does your company currently have a license for any training software other than
PowerPoint?
● Do you have a preferred software for creating the course?
● Who will maintain the eLearning after the project is complete? Will they need training?

Staff/Telephone operators
● On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your job satisfaction?
● What prevents you from doing the best job possible?
● Do you feel that the provided training prepares you to handle customer questions on
each new catalog?
● What areas do you feel that you need additional training on?
● Do you have the correct equipment to do your job?
● What could be improved?
● What is your current relationship like with other team members? Supervisors?
● Do you receive regular performance feedback?
● How would you like to be recognized?
● If you were to quit today, what would be the reason?
● Have you ever attended an employee meeting?
● If so, was it valuable?
● If not, what would motivate you to go to the next one?
● Would you be more motivated to go to an employee meeting if you were compensated
for your time?
● Is there a certain day or time that you believe would work best to hold employee
meetings?
● Are company goals clear to you?

Staff/Supervisors
● What types of questions are being transferred to you in the call center? What are the
top 5 issues?
● Have you received any training in customer service or telephone etiquette?
● What areas of your job would you benefit from additional training?
● How would you like to be trained on the new catalogs?
● What causes you the most frustration at your job?
● How could this be improved?
● Do you have the tools you need to do your job?
● What do you like best about your job?

Staff/Trainers
● Can you explain your method of training and what has worked for you?
● Where do you see areas for improvement?
● Have you seen a common theme in the questions being asked during the question and
answer portion of the training?
● What do you feel is the most important idea or fact that needs to be taught during the
training?
● What seems to be one area that the supervisors and telephone operators just aren't
"getting it"?
● Who designed and compiled the information for the current training?
 Customers
● How many times have you made a purchase with PJ Enterprises?
● On a scale of 1-10, what was your experience like?
● Was the customer service representative helpful? Courteous?
● Will you order from PJ Enterprises again?
● If not, what could we do to improve the customer experience?
● How long did it take you to place your order?

Finance
● How will funds be disbursed for training? (All upfront, half in the beginning-half at the
completion of project, etc.)
● Who is the contact point?
● Are there any restrictions on the how the money is spent?