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96 CONSIDER THE CULTURE

We are always being told that we live in a multicultural society,
yet most of us know relatively little about the other cultures we deal
with. This is a particularly acute problem when we are dealing over
the telephone, since it requires our telephone staff (sometimes an
entire call center full of them) to be culturally sensitive in many
different ways to many different cultures.

The problem is exacerbated further by the fact that call centers often
have a high staff turnover rate: these are jobs that are stressful, so
there is a constant pressure to leave. Making cultural gaffes and
annoying the customers simply adds to the stress.

The idea

Aviva is a major financial services player, and consequently the
company runs several large call centers. In common with many other
companies, Aviva has located some of its call centers in India, where
costs are dramatically lower and an educated, English-speaking
workforce is readily available. However, the vast majority of this
workforce have never been to Britain, and are unlikely ever to do so,
so Aviva runs courses on cultural understanding. The courses are
not only about what people say, but how they say it: the courses cover
issues such as the weather, the state of the roads, current issues
in British politics, polite expressions and over-familiar or impolite
expressions, and so forth.

The aim is not to allow call center operators to pretend that they
are actually British: it is simply to ensure effective communication
between call center staff and customers.

100 GREAT MARKETING IDEAS • 191