So many times, you read an article along the lines of “Things to do to enhance agent performance, optimize call center operations, etc.” But when was the last time you read an article that was basically giving you a slap on the wrist for the things you’re not doing right? Quite frankly, this seems like more valuable insight then yet another version of supposedly helpful tips in an ultra-competitive field with unbelievably repetitive habits.
If you’re doing something wrong in the call center, it’s honestly more trouble than the effort is even worth because bottom line, you’re not optimizing performance in the call center – perhaps at the very best, you’ll be maintaining. That’s not the objective here, though, is it? So in light of that, here are three things that you may be doing completely wrong in the contact center that are actually doing more harm than good for your operations.
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1.) Giving the customer too much control
This can be a tricky one, because it seems to be widely understood that a major “do” in the industry is giving customers the utmost control over their agent interactions. There is a very fine line, however, between giving the customer control over the call and flat out disengaging as a call center agent. Not only is this a no-no for the agent due to general courteousness, but it’s also a business cost concern. CallMiner (News - Alert), a speech analytics solutions provider and call center performance expert, explains in a recent whitepaper that average handle time (AHT) is a vital part of ensuring thriving contact center performance metrics.
Imagine that every second on every call costs the contact center money, and sometimes, these calls are filled with a static and frustrating silence. Usually, the caller is put on hold for an extended period of time while the agent is figuring something out (or what customers like to envision as frolicking among the fields of what lies beyond the other end of their line). Oftentimes, nothing is relayed to the customer on why they are being left silent numerous times during the call, and this silence can easily become contagious. Of course, this directly impacts productivity. It’s okay for your agents to remain present in the call and to not let the customers have too much control to the point that there is no two-way communication taking place.
Of course, the above stresses for complete and thorough understanding of personalized customer service to ensure a seamless caller experience from dial to hangup. Let’s face it, if you don’t have real-time, updated customer information readily accessible to all of your agents, then you’re not going to get much of anything done (except, of course, frustrate your customers).
2.) Selectively measuring call durations
It’s time to step outside of the call center box here – specifically, giving a call an average length of time to be considered an actual call. This means that you’re missing out on valuable and priceless customer insight and feedback. The whitepaper notes that most traditional methods of measuring fail to uncover the true issues at hand because they are not measuring everything that’s going on in-between the majority of the call (ie. transfers, long holds or soft-holds). These are equally, if not more, important.
“While you may also wish to disqualify these calls for normal agent scoring, it is very useful to be able to measure them and quickly discover their root cause for resolution,” CallMiner advises.
3.) Stop the soft-holds
You know, those obnoxiously long periods of time where an agent puts the caller on hold to “look something up in their system.” Most times, however, the agent only mutes their phone and doesn’t actually put the customer on hold, leaving the customer to listen in to the ambience of the call center and even background conversations. While this should never be something a customer is subjected to, these kind of calls that are not typically considered “normal” should also be qualified for agent scoring, as well.
To check out CallMiner's whitepaper titled, "Making the Grade: Using Automatic Scorecards to Improve Agent Performance," click here for access.
Edited by Ashley Caputo