Call Recording Featured Article

It’s a conundrum that vexes contact center managers everywhere: Where do you draw the line between giving the caller their proper attention, while keeping the Average Handling Time (AHT) to a minimum?

The issue was taken up recently in a blog post by Carolyn Blunt, Managing Director of UK-based training consultancy Real Results Training.

“The AHT metric gets a bad reputation at times in the world of Customer Experience,” Blunt says. “This is deserved when we don’t recognize that we should let each call ‘take as long as it takes’ so that it provides a personalized customer experience.”

To answer that and better deal with this vexing problem, Blunt posed three questions contact center management needs to ask, and provided some answers as well:

Why Do You Want To Reduce AHT? It seems like a logical first step, but it’s surprising how many managers don’t actually ask themselves this question. “Efficiency savings is usually the first response,” Blunt notes. “Sure, it would mean your ‘cost to serve’ per customer would be reduced. Your contact center could handle more calls with the same number of staff. Your productivity and efficiency would increase, thereby reducing costs and maximizing profitability. This, of course, is essential for staying in business! But dig deeper.”

She then goes on to note the importance of “making the experience slicker and easier for the customer, reducing on-hold time or wait times to improve the customer experience,” and also “Taking the complex negativity out of calls to increase staff satisfaction.” All points worth considering.

What would be the impact on customer experience or sales opportunities if you were to reduce AHT?  “Are you clear about which types of calls are an irritant for both the customer and the organization?” she asked. “Why are they occurring? Have you identified ‘self-generated failure demand’ – calls that occur due to failings further back in the service chain or system? Sometimes it can be better to focus on the root cause analysis and removal of these rather than tinkering with AHT,” she added.

Why would your advisors be motivated to reduce AHT? “If you are thinking about reducing the ‘general chit-chat’ that happens between customers and some advisors, then think about it from your advisors’ point of view,” she suggests. “This may be one of the most enjoyable parts of the job (especially if they are an extroverted ‘people’ person). Taking this away not only risks your customer loyalty, but can also cause expensive churn if your advisors get bored of being too robotic and leave.”

In short, cutting AHT might help in the short term, but it might have a negative impact overall. Tread carefully.