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How do you ensure exemplary call center customer service?
We all know how important customer service is for keeping clients happy. How do call center managers make sure their team is doing a great job? What are some strategies for measuring call-center agent performance?
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3 Answers
Hi Mary,
When the dinner bell rings – any recipe is only as good as the chef who executes it.
Equally – when the phone rings in your Call Center – any “recipe” for ensuring exemplary customer service is only as good as the Agent who answers the call.
While almost everyone can use a telephone - not everyone is cut out to work successfully as a Customer Service Representative (CSR) in a Call Center environment. And while someone may have “The Right Stuff” to be a great Customer Service & Support CSR – it doesn’t necessarily follow that the same individual is also cut out for the more demanding & sales-oriented requirements of Up-Sell/Cross-Sell/Customer Win-Back. When it comes to any “recipe” for ensuring exemplary customer service – fundamentally - it’s all about the quality of the “Humanware” you deploy to begin with.
Top performing Call Centers drive Revenue & Performance through superior hiring tactics. Finding ways to hire better quality Agents is consistently placed as a priority by senior management. Deploying tools that give you better insight and more accurate predictions as to which applicants from a pool of Job Candidates would perform up to, or beyond your established standards contributes most significantly to increased Call Center productivity – and to maximizing your Levels of Customer Satisfaction.
Hiring the wrong Call Center Agent is the Root Cause of most Contact Center Performance Issues. It’s a significant drain on your Budget & Bottom Line, on First Call Resolution & Customer Satisfaction Ratings and on Up-Sell/Cross-Sell/Customer Win-Back Results. Every failed hire represents wasted dollars down the drain. Not to mention the Lowered Productivity, Poor Morale & Higher Absences associated with hiring a Poor Job Fit.
SPAS Call Center Agent Pre-Employment Screening Software is Easy-to-Deploy, Very Cost-Effective and Highly-Predictive of an Individual's Suitability for a particular Call Center Agent Position. SPAS Pre-Employment Screening Software is a Proven Technology that meets and exceeds all Federal/State/Provincial Government Employment Standards Requirements as a as a Hiring Tool in the USA, Canada, the UK, Australia/New Zealand, South Africa and everywhere else in the world where the ‘Language of Work’ is English.
SPAS Software screens out the Job Candidates who will burn out fast because they aren't suited for the work - and identifies the people with the Personality/Job-Fit, Soft Skills, Motivation, and Work Ethic to be Top Call Center Agents.
SPAS Software is sold on an Unlimited Usage License basis - there are No "per Test" Fees - "Annual Renewal" Fees – or any other User Fees whatsoever. Technical Support for the SPAS Software is free & unlimited as well. SPAS Licenses are also sold with a 6 Month, 100% Money-Back Guarantee of Satisfaction.
You can find out about a Free Trial of SPAS Call Center Agent Pre-Employment Screening Software at: http://www.telesoftsystems.ca/64201.html
Hi Mary,
There are plenty of contact center performance management solutions to choose from these days. The right product can help you identify staff strengths and weaknesses, reward stellar workers, as well as deliver coaching and training to the employees that need it most. Definitely technology worth looking into.
From the perspective of the several thousand call center workers I've spoken to over the years, the answer is simple: money.
Tell them exactly what you want, let them tell you what they do and do not have control over out of that list, pay them well, and when they consistently exceed one standard deviation above the call center average, pay them bonuses accordingly.
Because every call center is different, the best metric is to measure the agents against their own averages, and consistently monetarily reward performances above some not-impossible level based on that average.
I have never met a call center agent who is willing to consistently push their performance envelope for anything other than cash. Not rewards, not medals, not "employee of the month" lists, not plaques, not certificates. Not trophies, not recognition, not vouchers/discounts for products/services of the employer nor any other company. Not food, not drink, not lunches or free beer/pizza (at least, not consistently). _Very_ occasionally, paid time off, but do not bank on this being a goal most agents will strive for unless it can be trivially cashed out. If you want permanent performance boosts across the board, it has to be cash (or equivalent paycheck boost), it has to be at least three figures, and it has to be paid frequently and on time.
By this, I mean that Christmas bonuses will not inspire performance in the first half of the year. Nor will bonuses which are delayed by more than a very few days (and ideally, not even that much). Monthly calculation (based on hours worked during that time) and immediate payout is a good compromise.
On the plus side, if you set up your payout structure properly, you will gain an enormous amount of additional productivity for relatively little cost. To the point where your actual cost-per-metric/goal will fall noticeably.
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