Sometimes the best parts of an interview don't come until after the article is finished. I'd had a great conversation with Andrew S. Rosen, vice president and deposit product manager of Fifth Third Bank in Cincinnati, regarding the bank's Save or Sell outbound telemarketing customer relationship program. He had mentioned that some bank officials had been reluctant to make their five-customer-calls-per-week quota, which I noted in my article.
Two days after the piece went to press, he sent me an e-mail which linked to an internal promotion. The e-mail features "Angry Dan," an animated version of Dan Fischer, senior VP for the Cincinnati bank. Angry Dan sprouts horns and a ring of fire while observing that that managers who don't make their calls make him mad.
Fifth Third has recently created a "Happy Dan" message as well for managers that completed their quota of customer calls.
Rosen said he hadn't mentioned it previously because it was an internal campaign. While he didn't mind discussing it, he didn't think it was relevant to the article.
Angry Dan was dreamed up by Rosen and Eric Weissmann, assistant VP, marketing manager-Cincinnati, and designed by local graphics firm Quest Communications Group.
"The challenge was to make this a high priority on the list of someone who is overworked," Rosen said.
"Sure, [recipients] thought it was funny, but they also knew they were on the list," Weissmann said. "If there is any way to get chewed out, they'd rather be chewed out by the cartoon than by having Dan in front of them."
The piece went out in an e-mail on April 29 to 20 managers. Before it was sent, these managers had been making 60% of their calls. By the following week compliance had jumped to 91%. (It helps that there are quarterly financial incentives backing up Angry Dan.)
It's always nice to see a company applying CRM techniques internally.
The Fifth Third folks have provided a link for DIRECT Newsline readers to view Happy Dan – they wanted to spare readers the Angry One's wrath: http://www.questmps.com/53/DAN/danlaunch-b.htm.
If there is a drawback to Angry Dan, it's that the piece is easily transmitted. It initially went to 20 managers. Rosen estimates that by the end of its first day in circulation, more than 200 people had seen it, reducing its effectiveness as a rebuke. Both he and Weissmann are working on a series of follow-up e-mails to keep the concept fresh.
But I won't stay mad at Rosen for not sharing it initially. I'd hate to incur the wrath of Angry Dan.
To respond to the opinions in this column, please contact rlevey@primediabusiness.com.
