Call Center Scheduling Featured Article
How to Keep Customer Support Standards High in Company Growth Mode without New Hires
In a perfect world, every time a company grows, even a little, the customer support operation would be handed more resources. Unfortunately, like with many rosy scenarios, it’s often fiction. The contact center is simply expected to do more with less by finding ways to increase service levels without adding employees.
While growth of a business is a good thing, it can often be scary for those tasked with supporting customer, according to a recent article by Jake Wobbrock writing for AnswerDash.
“We often hear from customer service directors that they’re continually asked to serve more customers but not given additional headcount or resources to do so,” he said. “The business is growing and everybody’s happy while customer service is quietly terrified their ticket time-to-resolution will balloon as they try to keep up.”
To do more with less, managers can start by ensuring they are scheduling the workforce effectively. Many organizations operate with inefficient scheduling processes that waste time and don’t make the most of human resources. A modern workforce scheduling solution can help companies avoid over-staffing or under-staffing by using historical call volumes to predict the workload, and ensure there is time for meetings, training sessions and other non-call work. It can also ensure that when employees call in sick or take vacation, that the contact center is staffed well enough not to negatively affect the quality of customer support.
According to Wobbrock, an effective self-service program can also be a great way to keep the quality of customer service high without adding to the headcount.
“Today, when customers are on a Web site or using a Web application and need help, the best place for them to get it is on the Web site itself, right where they already are,” he wrote. “Web site customer self-service allows visitors to get help under their own power, at their own pace, feeling totally in control.”
Customers actually like answering their own questions quickly on their own time, which is why they respond well to properly crafted self-service options. To implement self-service effectively, companies need to determine why customers call the majority of time.
“The questions customers have when using a Web site or Web app follow a power law, or 80/20 rule,” wrote Wobbrock. “That means a small number of questions comprise a large percentage of the questions people ask. When self-service is implemented well, customers can usually find answers to these common questions for themselves, as chances are these questions have been asked before.”
The process might involve a little research and some professional services – don’t try to do it yourself if you’re not completely qualified – but in the long run, it will help take the pressure off the agents you have and ensure you can meet your customers’ needs without having to hire more employees.
Edited by Stefania Viscusi