Call Center Scheduling Featured Article
Dump Your Customer Service Department to Drive Success
Customer service in one of the popular retail stores in our town, it has its own department. If you need to return something, ask a question or apply for a job, you walk to the back of the store to this designated counter. While it’s clear to customers that this is where you should go for any of these issues, does that also indicate that customer service only exists at this particular counter?
While we assume the answer is no, the message this retailer is conveying says something different. The reality is there shouldn’t be a customer service department – there should be a customer service culture that permeates throughout the store and every employee. If it isn’t something lived and breathed by the CEO down to the part-time sales clerk, the store is missing the point.
The same has to be true in the call center environment. While the entire organization should be focused on a culture of customer service, the reality is there has to be a centralized approach to interactions. The philosophy of customer service means that everyone understands the expectations and is focused on the customer. That means you have to anticipate customer needs and that plays into proper call center scheduling.
When decisions are made with the customer in mind, outcomes tend to be different. Call center scheduling that looks only to the demands of the agent will leave holes in the schedule overall. The center that instead reviews activity, understands the needs of the customer and tracks popular calling times is more apt to schedule according to peak calling times. That ensures that customers are less likely to wait on the line to talk to a live agent and can get their issues resolved much more quickly.
A recent Forbes article focused on this concept, highlighting that it’s OK to make decisions that customers may not like – pricing and product line adjustments are sometimes business decisions that have to be made. The key here is to anticipate customer reactions and outcomes and move forward with interactions with this information in mind. Sometimes all it takes is respecting the customer’s feelings on an issue and then resolution is easy to achieve.
For this to work with call center scheduling, the culture is such that agents work around the anticipated call times. Sure, they can ask for particular shifts, but their experience and skillset will dictate whether or not they get first crack at these perks. A willingness to pay their dues and step up to the plate when it comes to customer satisfaction will go a long way. Eventually, that habit will produce even better customer satisfaction outcomes and then everyone wins.
Edited by Stefania Viscusi