Small Business Tips - Increase Revenue Through Technology

6 Tips for a Successful Call Center

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Customer satisfaction largely depends on the level of support you provide your clients with when they have a problem. Establishing a proper and helpful call center provides your customers with a service they want to reach out to when needed. Use these 6 tips to set up a good contact center.

1. Ensure that agents have the right skills and temperament

Be actively searching for people with the right characteristics that make up a positive customer service representative. It’s easier to teach technical skills than to try to change someone’s character.

According to David Filwood, a Principal Consultant with Telesoft Systems, there are three grades of Customer Service Representatives (CSRs) found in a call center: Above Average, Average, and Below Average. An above average CSR takes initiative, exceeds expectations, and consistently achieves high-quality results. Average CSRs generally just do enough to get the work done, but don’t go any further. Below Average CSRs are people who just don’t fit the job. They require lots of coaching and extra supervision just to achieve average results. In order to find an above average CSR, use a competency-driven interview program that you established before the interview. This ensures that you make the right hiring choice without any regrets down the road.

2. Invest time in your staff by training and coaching

When managing a contact center, your number one priority should be making sure your supervisors know how to train. Make sure supervisors are spending one on one training time with each employee. If your supervisors aren’t training your CSRs correctly, you will have an inefficient contact center.

3. Give staff authority to make decisions

No one likes being sent from one customer service rep to another just to solve a simple problem. Rather than having your CSRs read from a script, put trust in their judgment by giving them the freedom to make the right decision to help the customer and find a solution that works for both parties.

4. Align metrics with results, not just low cost 

Of course it’s in the best interest of the business to reduce their cost as much as possible, but sacrificing customer satisfaction is one area where you don’t want to be frugal. Make sure you’re using analytics that line up with your target goals. Just because one agent has a very low average handle time, doesn’t mean they are truly generating a satisfied customer. Make sure you align your metrics appropriately.

5. Reward your agents based on performance and customer satisfaction

Don’t just reward your CSRs based on sales, make sure that customer satisfaction is also recognized and made a top priority. Here, at The Maynard Group, anytime a customer mentions one of our customer service representatives for doing a great job, they receive company recognition and a small token of appreciation, such as gift certificates to a local fine dining restaurant.

6. Implement your technology with the customer in mind

Customers want to pick up the phone and get in touch with support immediately. Providing a well thought out Interactive Voice Response systems allows customers to get answers themselves or simply press “0” to reach live assistance. Ideally, no customers would ever have to wait on hold, but frankly, that’s just not always possible. Notifying customers in queue with an estimated on hold time and an option of leaving their telephone number for call back is a great way to improve customer satisfaction before starting the call.

How do you measure performance in your contact centers? Leave us a post below.

Anthony Pagliaro
The Maynard Group
831.465.7728
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Reference:

Best Practices for Improving Performance in Your Contact Center - Focus Research