Company: BRP Inc.
Entry submitted by: Peggy Carrier (Peggy) After Sales Service & Community Manager
Community: BRP Community (www.brp.com)
Lithy category: Best Social Support Program
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BRP is the world leader in the design, manufacturing, distribution and marketing of motorized recreational vehicles and power sports engines. BRP products are distributed in over 100 countries by more than 3,500 dealers and distributors.
Our Community is a private community which has been active since February 2012. We are still relatively young and learning a lot on dealing with our Community, but how can we not be? For years we have supported our Dealer Network by picking up the phone and answering questions. Although 1:1 support continues to have its benefits, we realized over the years that the overall technical complexity of our products meant that Dealers needed to call us more often and therefore experience longer wait times on the phone. Our customer service support began to suffer. We needed a better way to support and communicate with our Dealers.
For us the Community meant a huge channel shift on how we support our Dealers, and we began to see benefits right from the start: Dealers answering Dealers, members answering or asking questions on evenings and weekends, videos and diagrams being shared on the community 24/7 and all of this across the globe in different languages. The fact that a post and subsequent solution can be read by our entire global Dealer and Distributor network has saved us many, many 1:1 encounters.
Our support process on the Community is structured as follows:
- Our Product Specialists are assigned to keep our Dealer Network informed with the latest technical information. They are also there to share best practices, tips and tricks as well as engage in any discussions they deem fit. They are the deepest technical resource for Dealer Technicians.
- Our Parts Specialist is there to ensure that information on estimated time of delivery, any transport issues or general parts questions are addressed. When we see a call driver, we immediately post the latest information on the community.
- We also have moderators, across the globe that monitor the site to ensure that guidelines are being followed. They escalate cases in times of need.
- We use the automated escalation email capability for posts that have not received replies after 24 to 48 hours depending on the product and season. These e-mails are sent to our Product Specialists who respond to the posts.
- We include community support (case escalation) in our daily roundtable meetings. Our community is a success today because everyone supports one another and both Dealers and BRP staff provide diverse solutions and fast resolutions to problems. The community has helped to increase communication within our company and with our global Dealer Network. We are able to share information globally so much faster than before.
We do not go one day without speaking about our community here at our call center. We have never been more certain that supporting our Dealers through our online community is the way of the future. 1:1 support for complex situations will always be a part of our business strategy , but supporting hundreds and thousands of Dealers at one time through our online community definitely elevates the customer experience. Our young community is quickly maturing and we are excited for what the future holds!
