DISH kicks off Spokeslistener-led customer service initiative
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Michelle Clancy
| 07 February 2017

US satellite firm DISH Network has invested in an initiative to buck the low ratings plaguing the pay-TV industry with a new ‘Tuned in to You’ brand promise and an accompanying Spokeslistener campaign.

“Customers just want to be heard in an industry that has forsaken its ability to listen,” explained Erik Carlson, DISH president and COO. “‘Tuned in to You’ is more than a marketing slogan. It’s a company-wide rallying cry and a long-term business philosophy. DISH has a history of putting our customers first and taking bold steps to make TV better. We are at our best when we listen to and fight for what our customers want.”

DISH said that it is examining every customer touchpoint, across all departments, to evolve the delivery of customer service throughout its nationwide workforce.

These efforts include the October launch of Base Camp, an immersive training programme for frontline employees. Corporate employees work in the field for one month to gain practical experience supporting new and existing customers. Participants field customer calls from billing inquiries to tech troubleshooting and sales inquiries from prospective customers. They also spend full business days accompanying DISH’s professional technicians to observe the in-home services completed daily.

“The notion that management should roll back its sleeves and work with its customer base is almost unheard of in corporate America,” said Carlson. “But we can’t possibly fulfil on our ‘Tuned in to You’ promise without a working knowledge of our customers and the interactions they have with our brand.”

DISH expects to graduate 700 employees – including senior leaders – from Base Camp by year-end. All interns and full-time new hires at DISH’s headquarters complete Base Camp within the first two months of their employment, while a plan is in place for all existing corporate team members to enrol in the training.

“Base Camp was one of the most eye-opening and educational experiences I’ve had during my tenure at DISH,” said Warren Schlichting, DISH executive vice president of media sales, marketing and programming. “One by one, Base Camp is instilling into the members of our headquarters team a ‘Tuned In To You’ mentality and a sense of urgency to improve our customer experience.”

An immediate change consumers will see is DISH prominently featuring feedback forms across every DISH.com webpage. The company proactively asking TV lovers to share the ideas they see as capable of improving the customer experience.

Meanwhile, a multimillion dollar ad campaign – The Spokeslistener – challenges the traditional spokesperson convention commonly used in television advertisements. DISH, with creative agency Camp + King, launched the series of television, radio and digital advertisements that illustrate the common frustrations experienced by pay-TV customers.

“A spokesman talks at you, while a Spokeslistener listens to and communicates with you,” said Jay Roth, DISH senior vice president and chief marketing officer. “It’s a demonstration of our commitment to acknowledge common customer frustrations, and then take the appropriate action to provide meaningful solutions.”