Extraordinary service. For companies around the world, it is the Holy Grail of business strategy, a much desired, much pursued goal that can lock-in customer loyalties, uncover new sources of revenue and keep competitors at bay. Service, in fact, is so important to business success because it feeds the life force of any enterprise – its customers.

But as customers demand more and more from service providers these days, many organizations are struggling to keep pace with basic expectations, let alone provide service that is marked by excellence, consistency, flexibility, convenience and a proactive approach to meeting customer needs. Clearly, many might be interested in the approach taken by Clarke American, Inc., a leading provider of checks and check-related products.

“It’s really all about a culture of passion and care where every contact matters,” says Kaari Swope, Clarke American vice president and general manager for Customer Services. “We know that customers expect to be able to do business how they want to, when they want to and where they want to. If we don’t provide the best possible service experience that meets all those requirements every time, someone else will do it.”

The company is serious about its daily opportunities to touch the account holders of its financial institution partners around the country with extraordinary service designed to delight account holders and financially benefit its partners. To accomplish that, the company has created a service platform around check orders, reorders, inquiries and other account holder activities that reflects its commitment to deliver what its partners may not be able to offer themselves because of time restraints, financial issues or a lack of resources.

Key components of its service commitment are two Clarke American programs, ServiceLine Plus^® for personal account holders and the Expert^® Solutions Program for small business account holders. Both have been built with two overriding goals in mind: customer satisfaction and retention. The company plays a supporting but significant role with their partners’ brand identities by providing a high level of service to account holders on the financial institutions’ behalf.

It is the company’s relationship with its partners – some large and sophisticated, some much smaller and less complex – that makes the programs really work.

“Our goal is to help our partners capture, retain and grow their accounts,” says Mary Lynn Wooten, Clarke American vice president for Contact Center Solutions. “We designed the ServiceLine Plus program to create a triple win where our partners win, account holders win and Clarke American wins. There are benefits for all when we offload service activities from busy branch associates and increase their efficiency, when we help account holders purchase additional products that they need and when we make all our services available to account holders of even the smallest financial institutions.”

To accomplish that, ServiceLine Plus directs account holder service calls to one of Clarke American’s five national contact centers through a toll-free phone number, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Callers speak to a Clarke American customer service professional, well trained in product knowledge, telephone etiquette, selling skills and service culture. Callers may also select service through a voice response system. For those who prefer the Internet, the company offers a full slate of online service options, including live Web chat and e-mail support.

With more than 16 million contacts annually, Clarke American’s ServiceLine Plus has proven its worth. Swope points to significant increases in “top box,” or the highest account holder satisfaction scores earned by the services provided through ServiceLine Plus.

“That translates directly to increased account holder loyalty, retention and additional revenue for our financial institution partners,” she observes.

Clarke American also recognized early on that small business owners have a unique set of needs when they open an account with a financial institution. True, they expect much of what personal account holders expect – convenience, accessibility, product selection and flexibility – but their check products are significantly more complex because of accounting processes and software requirements. And financial institution associates, Clarke American found, may not have the resources to help business account holders purchase the products that best meet their complex needs.

The company’s response, the Expert Solutions Program, is a valuable tool for financial institutions that recognize the small business market is both profitable and growing. “Expert Solutions ensures the small business owner a great service experience because the check product compatible with that person’s needs and accounting practices is selected from the beginning,” says Rebecca Helterbrand, Clarke American associate director of Business Solutions.

“Financial institutions that don’t have a program like this in place for business account holders are much more likely to place customers in a product that is not conducive to their software or financial needs.

As a result, business owners either start out buying their checks elsewhere or quickly replace what their financial institution ordered from another supplier. Each time a business account holder chooses to buy checks elsewhere, the financial institution loses revenue and profit, and puts the relationship at risk. With the small business market continuing to grow in double digits and the profit involved in these relationships, this is a high potential market.”

The Expert Solutions Program offers business account holders a business-oriented experience, through contact with a customer service professional specially trained to guide business owners to appropriate product choices. “The Expert Solutions experience is seamless,” Helterbrand explains. “If you are opening a business account in the branch, a branch associate will hand you a full-color Expert Solutions Program catalog and explain that you are about to speak to a product expert who can help you make the appropriate product choice. The branch associate then places you in the capable hands of an Expert Solutions representative who asks probing questions, and with the visual aid of the catalog, helps you determine which check and accessories are right for you.” For convenience, account holders can submit check reorders by telephone, Internet, Web chat, Web email, fax or in person at a financial institution’s branch.

Helterbrand believes that one of Expert Solution’s greatest strengths is its flexibility to work for any of Clarke American’s financial institution partners. “It isn’t a cookie-cutter approach,” she observes. “Options within the program make it appealing to any financial institution, regardless of its size, with opportunities for more revenue, reduced costs and maximum service to account holders.”

So Clarke American’s quest to provide extraordinary service to its financial institution partners and their account holders is embodied in the service models of its two premier programs, ServiceLine Plus and Expert Solutions. Together, the two define the company’s commitment to the ideal of excellent service and more importantly its commitment to its financial institution partners.

Clarke American provides checks and check-related products, contact center services and direct response marketing solutions for the financial services industry.  Each year, the company produces more than 10 billion personal and business checks in a variety of formats for more than 4,000 financial institutions throughout the country.  More than 3,200 Clarke American associates serve the financial services industry through a network of electronically linked production facilities and customer service centers across the United States.

For information about this press release contact
Mike Hannan
(210) 697-1299
Cary Corbin
(830) 609-1932