How Call Center Management Can Improve Agent Scoring

The agent is often the most valuable tool within the call center, making it important to rate their performance as it impacts the overall outcome of the center. If the center is part of a multi-location operation, however, the evaluation process becomes more difficult. Call center management should focus on consistent rating from center to center. Getting agents involved in the process is a great place to start.

A recent Monet Software blog highlighted this challenge, noting that scoring calls is a measurement of agent performance against a uniform standard. When this process is used correctly, it can eliminate personal bias from the evaluation and help to improve quality management overall. The challenge, of course, is identifying the successful process and putting it in place.

To overcome this challenge, call center management should start with clearly defining the criteria that makes up a successful customer service interaction. The process should involve call center supervisors, managers, agents and even customers in the form of surveys and other feedback channels. Call recordings can also be used to review transactions and discuss the elements that lead to a successful interaction and those that create lackluster performance.

In the process of selecting a call recording solution, call center management should look for one with a quality assurance tool already built-in to promote agent scoring. A single integrated solution can offer all of the required functions through automated processes. Such a solution can include functionality like evaluation form creation with configurable sections, form sharing among agents and management, call assignments for assessments and report generation based on evaluation and statistics.

When implementing an agent scoring or rating process, feedback at first from the agent base may not be consistent. Agents may feel they are performing according to expectations whether they are or not. Discussion should be encouraged and participants should be asked to explain why they received specific scores. This will help individual agents better understand their performance and where they can easily make improvements.

Once these standards for scoring have been established, it’s important that they are kept consistent for all evaluations in the future. The scoring process should also be enforced through scheduled contact and assessments between agents and call center management. This regular engagement and feedback sessions are not only an opportunity for scoring activities; they’re also the perfect time to provide coaching and motivational tools to empower the agent to succeed.

Edited by Amanda Ciccatelli