Call Center Management Featured Article
Five Ways to Use Call Recording Software for Managing a Call Center
While call recording software is alternately regarded as either an indispensable tool, or a beacon for hyperactive lawyers, there are some terrific ways to use call recording software to make any call center a much better operation overall.
1. Sweat the small stuff. While the usual inclination is to focus on the big things, like average call times and the end results of calls, as well as where the agents are dropping the ball in terms of procedures. But also consider looking at things that may not be so commonly noted, like the beginning and ending of the call. Are agents getting away from the script sufficiently to make consistency a problem? This is the best place to tell.
2. Focus on feedback. All this information is worth having, but disseminating it to employees can be a problem. Whether using one-on-one conferences, or getting the whole team together in one place, every enterprise has a different way to get the feedback about agent performance out and into the hands of the agents themselves where it can do the most good.
3. Follow up regularly. Micro-management can often do more harm than good, but it's still worthwhile to make sure that the feedback given to agents is being exercised. Waiting too long can remove a lot of the effect of reinforcement, and a quick spot check or two can do the job nicely.
4. Remember rewards. While much of the effect of call recording is to spot what agents aren't doing, merely focusing on that will disenfranchise agents and have the potential for increased turnover. No one only wants to hear what they're doing wrong, so be sure to point out the things that are being done right as well. Using call recording to spot the best agents, and reward them accordingly, reduces the chance that those good quality agents will go elsewhere, where not only does one organization lose its best, but also has its best used against them in turn by their competitors.
5. Ask for help. Particularly of note in small companies, where many of the co-workers are also friends, it's not always easy to tell people they're not doing things right. Calling in outside help, the kind that can provide clear and objective criticism according to standard metrics with no color of personal affection, can be helpful in ensuring the people who most need to know about the problems in their work get that information.
With these five tactics in mind, call centers can reach a whole new level of performance on the strength of call recording systems, and the businesses that maintain call centers can keep their best practices front and center, and contributing to the bottom line.
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Edited by Amanda Ciccatelli