Qualities of Great Call Center Management

The backbone of every successful company is a dedicated call center that puts the customer first and keeps consumers coming back for more. Without a great customer service staff, a company would have no idea what’s going on with its customers. To keep customers happy, businesses need to know all about their concerns, problems, questions, likes, dislikes and so on. The only way to collect that information, while solving any and all problems in the process, is through the call center.

Although the call center may be what keeps an organization going, call centers are nothing without great agents and managers. Both agents and managers play key roles in keeping customer service going. Agents, of course, are the ones who deal directly with the customers and help meet their needs. Managers, on the other hand, are the ones who are supposed to empower agents to do the best work possible through proper training, incentives and so on. So, when it comes down to it, a lot of pressure rests on the shoulders of call center management. Here are some traits that the best call center managers tend to have.

Stay up to date with the latest technology. One of the easiest ways to let a call center fall behind is to ignore technology upgrades. Companies are always coming out with new and improved solutions to help agents handle calls. While it may be impossible to take on every single update—after all, that would get pretty expensive—it’s important to make sure that agents aren’t working with outdated technology. Workforce management (WFM) solutions can make life much easier in the call center. And, with companies like Monet Software integrating with Salesforce, WFM solutions are becoming more powerful and beneficial all the time.

Make work fun. The call center certainly isn’t the most glamorous place to work, there’s no denying that. However, that doesn’t mean that it has to remain a mundane workplace. The most beloved managers are the ones who make agents look forward to coming into work through incentives and gamification. Building camaraderie by creating teams that must work to have the most first call resolutions stats, or throwing events that get agents away from their desks for a little while are some great ways to shake up an otherwise uneventful day.

Be welcoming. Call center managers are the leaders in the call center, no questions asked. As leaders, it is their job to make sure that agents feel comfortable going to them for help, whether with an angry customer that they don’t know how to handle, or with a simple suggestion on how to improve operations. No matter the concern, agents should feel like they can talk to their managers about their thoughts.