The breakup of America's telecommunications industry in 1983 put a strain on the resulting "baby Bell" companies both internally and externally. Internally, these companies had to learn how to cope with and adjust to a new corporate climate. Externally, they faced the difficult task of building public understanding and support.


For a midwestern telephone company, the external task has been successfully accomplished with the help of a telephone survey called CAS, Customer Attitude Survey. CAS has been used by St. Louis-based Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. since divestiture to pinpoint consumer perceptions and as a result, has proven to be a valuable contributor to the company's strong initial success. In just four years since divestiture, positive customer attitudes toward the company are at an all-time high.

CAS was developed internally by Southwestern Bell employees in 1983. One of those employees was Jim Porchey, currently president of Porchey Research, Inc., St. Louis. Porchey says the survey was created because Southwestern Bell wanted to find "a better way to stay in touch with its customers." It was part of a long-range strategy for the company to be successful in the external world, adds Ron Kemm, area manager, Issues Development at Southwestern Bell.

"The survey was critical to our success and beyond as we became a standalone organization. It provided us with the first steps as to how the public thinks about Southwestern Bell business and value of service," says Kemm. "It helped gauge some of our strengths and point out and identify things we needed to pay attention to and make improvements on. It helped us find out what our customers' inhibitions were about divestiture."

Customer participation

What is especially unique about CAS and what sets it apart from other research techniques is that customers participated in the design of the survey. That's because Southwestern Bell wanted to know what its customers thought would lead to the success of the company, not just what Southwestern Bell thought would make it so. The factors mentioned by Southwestern Bell customers fall under three categories: Management, service, and value. The 21 different "success" dimensions suggested by the respondents center under these three categories.

The types of questions in CAS revolving around management, service and value are: How well do you feel Southwestern Bell is keeping you informed? How easy is the company to do business with? How would you rate the quality of the telephone transmission? How would you rate the value of the service you're receiving? Do you believe you're getting your money's worth? and, Do you believe the charges are reasonable?

From 1983 to 1986, CAS was conducted quarterly among 3,000 randomly selected customers. As attitudes stabilized, however, the survey was changed to a semi-annual basis in 1987.

Says Kemm, "When the survey was first conducted in early 1983, customers thought Southwestern Bell was doing a good job. But in late 1983, the survey showed customer confidence had dropped. That's when we knew we had to make a change."

The survey findings were then analyzed to find out why this had occurred. "One reason for the drop was that customers didn't fully understand what was going on and didn't know what divestiture was all about," says Kemm. "As a result, Southwestern Bell implemented plans and programs to build customer understanding and support of its operations."

Informational campaign

One program was Tele-Help, a type of "hand-holding" informational campaign, describes Kemm, to walk customers through the reasons and implications of the U.S. telecommunications breakup. According to Kemm, Tele-Help "was the cornerstone of our efforts to improve customer understanding of industry changes."

Part of this campaign was the development of pamphlets which explained the types of changes which would be occurring with the customers' telephone service, for example, with their long-distance carrier. These pamphlets were distributed at no cost at community functions, and television advertising helped promote their availability. A telephone hotline was also set up so that customers could call to get a copy. Through these channels, more than 13 million copies of the pamphlet have been distributed.

"The campaign really worked," adds Kemm, "especially in the area of information needed."

The implementation of such a program as a result of CAS illustrates one of this survey's strengths, comments Porchey.

"CAS points out the company's strengths and weaknesses which leads to the development of programs to solve problems. The end result is better service to Southwestern Bell customers. That is what has lead to positive attitudes currently being at an all-time high."

Porchey continues to assist Southwestern Bell with CAS, conducting focus groups periodically as a follow-up to CAS surveys if there is an area which Southwestern Bell feels that more in-depth research is needed. "Southwestern Bell wants to probe customers' minds to fine-tune some areas of concern, areas that need attention," says Porchey.

Personal service

For example, focus groups were conducted a couple of years ago to address the issue of personal service. The survey indicated that the quality of personal service is very important to Southwestern Bell customers. It wasn't just the quality of service customers were getting when they picked up the phone, but the quality of service they received when they dealt with the company's operators and service personnel, explains Porchey. Focus groups were conducted with both customers and company employees to find out what they thought about the quality of Southwestern Bell's personal service and why they felt this way.

"The attitudes expressed in the focus groups have brought about some action," says Porchey. "We analyzed the strengths and weaknesses raised and developed techniques to make improvements."

While CAS has done an excellent job of addressing immediate concerns at Southwestern Bell, it's been instrumental in identifying long-term issues.

Adds Kemm, "CAS allows us to anticipate future changes in the industry and to plan for the future. It enables us to exercise control and influence our own destiny."