Call Accounting is More Than Just Numbers
February 20, 2015
By Susan J. Campbell
TMCnet Contributing Editor
How much does customer behavior impact your activities in the call center space? If you had to stop and think about this, chances are you’re missing key opportunities to improve interactions. It’s likely you’re using call recording to help with your call accounting, but are you also gathering insights from that data?
When you record calls for training and quality purposes, this is an important step. But you are also capturing valuable information that customers are willingly sharing in those interactions. If you’re not doing something with that information to improve your processes and better engage with your customers, you’re missing opportunities to improve your products and services, as well as the bottom line.
For instance, there are solutions available that can determine whether or not a caller is sarcastic, outgoing, serious, upset, shy and more. If customers are reacting to a certain element of the script, the way the agent is talking or even the amount of time they wait on hold, that’s an indicator that something is either working really well or that changes need to be made. This is the ultimate voice of the customer capture, with authentic feedback.
Distress triggers are also important to capture. If you know this information ahead of time, your agents can quickly de-escalate a situation that may be occurring. According to an InformationWeek article, such information is critical in the call center. Yes, your call accounting is concerned with the volume of calls, but your management overall should be concerned with the content and tone of those calls.
Capturing data patterns can also show trends that you may not be aware of in your agent activity, client feedback and more. This gives you key insight into things you thought you had right, that may need just a little more attention. Plus, this information could help you pair the right agent with the customer on the phone. Known callers especially provide insight for the call center from the beginning of the call. If other elements are identified right away, the right person can get on the call and produce a better outcome.
In all, the goal is to improve the outcome for the customer so you can stand apart from the competition. If you don’t put the right tools in place to use information you already have, you’re in a position to hand the customer to the competition. If that isn’t your intent, it’s time to get busy.
Edited by Stefania Viscusi