Driving Culture Change is a Long Term Journey

Today we celebrated our eighth consecutive J.D. Power award for being Highest in Wireless Purchase Experience Satisfaction among Full Service Wireless Providers* at AT&T. This is four straight years leading the industry in the best purchase experience at every customer touchpoint! Add that to our award two weeks ago for being Highest in Customer Service among Full Service Wireless Providers** and that means we swept these J.D. Power awards for all of 2016. 

Simply put, it means AT&T is providing an outstanding overall experience every time we touch a customer - when you shop with us and when you need help with your service. This is a huge accomplishment if you consider how fast AT&T is integrating and transforming into the premier entertainment and communications company in the world.

I’m so incredibly proud of our teams and our people – from the employees on the front lines in our retail locations, to the care representatives taking phone calls and chatting with customers online, to our marketing, network, IT, legal, finance, and HR colleagues, and everyone else at AT&T that supports our customers each and every day.

I’m bursting at the seams with excitement, but I get why some of you may not be as excited or impressed as I am. You may have another carrier’s service, or you just don’t think being ranked highest by JD Power is that big of a deal.

What you may be interested in knowing that it was a deliberate and significant effort over the past few years.

Many years ago, we weren’t wining these. We had our fair share of criticism in an industry that’s historically scored low on customer satisfaction.                            

We saw the data, talked to our customers and our teams, and knew we had to make some changes. That included giving our reps the tools and training to create a great customer experience. We re-engineered our teams to take a customer-first approach over the long term, not just the one time they come in a store or call, as it’s about the customer journey.

You cannot make this kind of change quickly. We did it over many years, with hard work and focus, through consistency of vision, strong leadership and by helping our employees see the impact of their work.

We use a simple, but powerful tool, net-promoter score, and showed our employees the results along the way. And we set clear expectations about the kind of customer experience we must deliver every time. We got manager buy-in at all levels and they drove a consistent, powerful message.

As I mentioned before, our fantastic people kept our top ranking in 2016 despite a huge year of change as our teams integrated DIRECTV into the products we offer customers. Hard work is table stakes in our business -- they also expanded their skills and stretched outside their comfort zone. They even enjoyed being a bit uncomfortable this year, across the country, by the tens of thousands.

The strategy worked, but it wasn’t done in a month, a quarter or even a year. So, today is the last, most important part of driving that culture change. Celebrating your people for what they do best – serving our customers. And we have an awful lot to celebrate today. 

*AT&T received the highest number among providers in the J.D. Power 2013 Volume 2, 2014-2016 (V1 & V2) and 2017 Volume 1 U.S. Wireless Purchase Experience Full-Service Performance Studies. 2017 V1 Study based on 8,058 total responses, measuring the perceptions and experiences of current customers, surveyed July-December 2016. Your experiences may vary. Visit jdpower.com.

**AT&T received the highest numerical score among providers in the J.D. Power 2016 (Vol. 2) and 2017 (Vol. 1) U.S. Wireless Customer Care Full-Service Performance Studies. 2017 V1 Study based on 8,135 total responses, 4 full service carriers, and measures the experience of current customers who contacted their carrier’s customer care department within the past three months, surveyed July-December 2016. Your experiences may vary. Visit j