Call Center Scheduling Featured Article
4 Tips to Drive Performance Improvements in the Call Center
Have you ever talked with a call center leader who feels there is no room for improvement within their environment? Given that the call center is generally a cost center for the organization, focusing on a reduction in costs tends to be a consistent strategy. Without a proven plan to carry out, however, it can be a challenge to identify the best areas to control costs without hurting productivity or customer care.
A recent Fonolo (News - Alert) blog suggested that the answer may be found in better call center scheduling. In fact, the blog offered four ways you can easily improve call center performance. Even if you only have time to put one strategy in place, it could help you achieve the measurable change you need for a healthy bottom line. Let’s take a look at the suggested strategies and whether or not they make sense for your center.
The Buddy System
While this has been a long-proven effective approach to taking elementary students on field trips, it can also work wonders in the call center. When agents have the ability to lean on each other for education, encouragement, clarification and even motivation after a frustrating call, they are more likely to improve interactions with customers. They are also more likely to become more consistent in their performance and helps to create one voice throughout the organization.
The Experience
The customer experience is really what can set you apart from the competition. This means you have to make it memorable for all customers. To do so, you need to ensure that your agents have what they need in terms of motivation, satisfaction and simple happiness. When this is a priority and you then effectively communicate to your frontline staff the importance of the satisfied customer, your performance metrics improve.
The Coaching System
No agent is so perfectly trained that he never needs coaching. Customer expectations change consistently and even the perfect script can become obsolete. Make sure your agents have what they need to be productive by screening their calls and coaching them at appropriate times. This includes positive reinforcement as often as possible.
Call Center Scheduling
While this one is unique to our list, it’s an important one. You need to be sure that agents are scheduled according to availability, projected call volumes and skill sets. If you have more calls coming in than you have agents scheduled to handle, you know the outcome will be long hold-times, frustrated customers and frazzled agents. Likewise, if you schedule green agents during a complex campaign, the results could be disastrous. Pay attention to your scheduling need and how best to meet them.
At the end of the day, the positive outcome on the call has more to do with your agents than with customers. If you focus on any one of these key elements, performance and attitudes are bound to improve.
Edited by Stefania Viscusi