Call Center Management Featured Article
Why Call Center Management Should Prioritize Calls and Look to 3rd Party Audits
Prioritizing calls is a challenge every call center has to overcome. How do you determine which calls should be handled first? Does it always need to be that calls are handled in the order in which they are received? Call center management solutions can make it easier to determine whether or not the person calling with a complaint on a $10 item is equally as important as the caller from a volume account.
One easy answer is that these two customers wouldn’t be calling the same number. But that isn’t where the prioritizing of the call should end. Call center management has to put the right routing rules in place so that these calls are properly handled when they hit the center. After all, different numbers ringing into the same center is not enough. Prioritizing the calls according to the origination contributes to a more effective approach to customer care.
The same can be said for calls among like customers. For instance, a number of calls may come in at the same time from several high volume accounts. If the call center has the right tools in place to note the calls according to the purpose of the call, they can be routed according to the best agent to handle the interaction.
The best method may be though an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system that allows for self-service interactions to direct the destination of the call. If a live operator is still used, noting tools are important so calls can be prioritized when forwarded on to the right individual.
Despite the seemingly endless array of call center tools to enhance performance and even allow for intelligent self-service interactions, callers still tend to prefer interacting with the live agent. In fact, a recent Call Centre Helper article focused on 10 tips that could improve performance in the call center by as much as 30 percent, many of which are focused on the live agent.
While prioritizing calls was one recommendation, another tip pointed to an independent audit of performance. Why take this important step outside of basic call center management? It’s one thing to measure abandoned calls, First Call Resolution and the amount of time it takes to handle just one customer interaction. It’s a whole new approach to measure performance from a third-party perspective. The subjectivity is immediately removed for more accurate results.
A third party can bring a wealth of in-depth expertise and a clear focus that will help drive results faster than any source working on the inside. Plus, there’s no motivation to produce anything but the actual results so call center management can identify what’s working, what’s not, and make the necessary changes moving forward.
Edited by Stefania Viscusi