Call Center Intelligence
Call centers are in the customer service business. Everyday,
call center employees provide customers of the client's company
with their first, or perhaps last, impression of their company.
If your call center is doing a quality job, you certainly won't
damage the image of your client, and you may even enhance it. If
your call center isn't performing up to standard, you will
certainly alienate customers. Your call center quality assurance
program needs to be fully integrated into every aspect of your
call center to ensure success. We refer to this as call center
intelligence.
Many centers do some monitoring, a little training and some
reporting. As long as there are no major customer complaints,
they feel comfortable with the services they provide. However,
providing quality service is an ongoing initiative that can make
your center stand out from the crowd. How can you make quality
assurance a way of life at your call center?
First, integrate quality into every aspect of recruiting and
training call agents. Hiring individuals with a "knack" for
providing customer service can be tricky, but design screening
tools based on the attributes of your best performing current
employees. What skill set do they have, and how do they approach
their jobs? This information can be used as a basis for an
interview process that can screen for agents with good
potential.
New agents should be trained in quality customer service from
their first day. An intensive orientation and training period
that allows the new agents to learn and practice good customer
service skills can result in agents who not only understand what
is expected of them, but also possess the skills to accomplish
their objectives. I once worked at a call center that required
two weeks of intensive training, including role playing and
several simulated "live call" experiences, before we were
allowed on the floor. After this training, we were confident in
our abilities to serve the callers, had practiced taking calls
and were well aware of the company's resources if we couldn't
answer a request. A "refresher" course was mandatory every six
months as well. Of course, this company won many awards for
customer service.
If supervisors and managers can't be recruited from the call
associates, they should undergo the same call agent training. A
manager who understands the unique difficulties of the call
center associate's position is ideal. Managers should also spend
time learning the quality assurance representatives' position as
well. This ensures that the supervisor is not only echoing the
same quality expectations as the QA department, but that they
can provide interim training and counseling for the call center
associates.
Many call centers review production reports daily or even
weekly. These reports are very useful, but don't address the
problems as they are happening. Call facilities that employ
"real time" reporting programs can identify problems much more
quickly, and avoid even one day of customer dissatisfaction.
Agent's statistics can be viewed continuously, and those that
fall outside of the norm can be addressed quickly. Taking too
little time on calls is often just as worrisome as taking too
much. It also allows quick identification of good performers and
quicker recognition and duplication of their efforts.
Of course, call monitoring is an important part of any quality
assurance program. Adding a program to your system that allows
shadow monitoring (or the ability to see what the agent is
typing while they're talking) can identify problems with
software and database usage.
Ensuring that your call center is providing the highest quality
service shouldn't just be a job for the QA team. Integrate
quality assurance throughout your processes and watch your
quality, and satisfaction, skyrocket.