Do you know the actual ways to improve the productivity and efficiency of the call centers? In this article from Call Center Café, you will come across some of the most essential ways to kick up the efficiency and performance levels of the call center employees.

Having the right contact:

Why do your customers call for a live help? The answer to this question happens to be very simple. When your Interactive Voice Response (IVR) is not capable enough to respond to the queries quite satisfactorily then it will be important enough for you to identify those reasons behind calls so as to reduce the total handling time quite significantly.

Some of the wonderful techniques like IVR recording, customer database, tick sheets, call coding can really help or ensure the less wastage of the time. If you can really ensure this above system, then you will be able to highlight what is likely from your company in terms of offering a range of quality call center services.

The need of Logical Skills:

It is the logical skills of the customer service representatives that can dramatically improve the call center output and reduce consumption of the total time on per service basis. In this respect, you can pair up both skills and work that are found relevant and symmetrical to one another in terms of customer services and knowledge retention. The administration should always be taking good care of the employees and not put much of burden on the employees in the process. This will help to improve the customer experience to a great extent.

Eyeing on the Recruitment Procedure:

Go for quality recruitment. Always make sure that you are conducting quality checks throughout the entire selection procedure. Be it a non-voice or a voice service, agents should always opt for rigorous procedures.

Choosing the best:

The workforce of any company happens to be your asset. Begin with picking up the gems right from the very beginning for your own customer service center. It will always be the experienced people or the quick learners who will be taking less time to learn and bring about the higher understanding of the job and their individual commitment.

Self-management:

There is no use of checking the call center employees 24/7. In fact there is no use of a strict reporting system unless the employees include the dedication towards their own commitment and work. To offer a suitable workspace while taking care of the work flow, the call center set-ups should also try to accept and maintain flexibility during the working hours.

Follow some of these above techniques and experience that this will surely help you to minimize the in-house costs. You will save your investment from draining out. Additionally, these ways will prove to be effective, fast and will never cost you. You can be sure of the methods to bring about the desirable results and efficacy at work.

Today, Tom Vander Well pointed out that not everyone responds positively to coaching. Even though the coach may approach the coaching sessions in a positive manner, the agents being coached may not approach the session with a rosy outlook.

Vander Well points out that you can't control how the agent approaches the session, but you can control how you approach the session. I agree with this sentiment, and also believe that you need to shift how you approach each individual agent. Everyone responds differently to feedback, and some require different delivery styles based upon their personalities. In January, I delivered a Webinar on agent classifications where we defined different personality traits and how you can potentially communicate with them more effectively. Ultimately, if you can discern which personality classification each of your agents fall in to, you can tailor your delivery to each agent's need, which can result in more positive interactions and outcomes.

What are you doing to make each of your coaching sessions positive? Are you tailoring your delivery to each agent's style? Are you seeing the "smaller" wins like Tom Vander Well (progress over time, etc.)?

Post tags: Tom Vander Well, call center culture, contact center trends, contact center Web event, contact center, call center, contact centre

Today's Call Center Quick Tip comes from Kim Goff, quality manager for Consumer Services at Nike:

Tool Time

Keeping our team up to speed on all of our products and procedures, means making sure they are familiar with the tools that hold all of the information to keep them educated. Every so often we will send out a question through eLearning that takes them to their tools to find the answer. The first to respond knows they are the winner of a fun prize when they hear the remote control Hummer coming down the hall with the prize in the back. It’s simple, easy, and fun!

What are you doing to keep your team engaged in training for products and procedures?

Post tags: Kim Goff, call center motivation, QA, call center coaching, call center, contact center

flickr photo courtesy of Capt Kodak.

The other day, I received the following question, and I thought that this community would be intersted in the conversation:

How do you know if an associate cannot do something, will not do something, or they do not know how to do something? I have gone as far as to ask them what we can do and ask for ideas on a situation. Some came up with ideas that cannot happen and I was honest with them. Some came up with ideas that we implemented and while it is helping, it is not taking care of the full issue. I am thinking because of the feedback, most of my associates do not know how to make it happen, but how do I know?

Here was my response: I think the best way to figure out whether an associate can’t, won’t or doesn’t know how is to hit it straight on with an honest approach. Whatever the skill gap the first thing you need to do is to communicate the gap to the associate and come to a mutual agreement that there is indeed a need for improvement. The next step is to ask the associate if they think the skill or task is important and why or why not. What you are looking for here is if they are "bought in" to the importance or need for the skill. If they don’t believe in it, there is a good chance they won’t work to demonstrate it. If they do understand and believe in the reason behind the skill, then it’s time to figure out if additional training is the answer and hopefully you are in a don’t know how situation. In many cases you will take this route and you will have one of two outcomes. If training fills the skill gap then you are good to go but if it doesn’t you have a can’t situation where the associate physically or mentally cannot perform the skill or task. When in doubt, always try the training route before resolving to a can’t. You’ve already invested time in the associate and it’s worth another training session to see if you can turn the situation around.

What do you think? How can you tell if an associate can't, won't, or doesn't know how to implement a skill?

Learn more about coaching to agent classifications and other ways to be a call center manager:

• Resolve to be a Better Call Center Manager
• Focus on What is Important
• Mentoring Works!

Post tags: contact center agent, call coach, coaching, call center best practices, contact center, QA, quality assessment

Frequent feedback

Our large sample size (15 evaluations per month) enables frequent feedback. It is important to emphasize the human element by meeting with each representative at least once a week. This is in addition to side-by-side coaching conducted multiple times each month. Scored evaluations are sent to representatives prior to coaching to avoid "sticker shock" and to facilitate a constructive coaching session. We think it is important to go over every evaluated call, highlighting a representative’s successes as well as areas where improvement may be required.

Hear more from Brian Freer on his archived Web event, "Employee/Customer Asset Value Chain: How satisfying your employees can optimize customer satisfaction and drive business growth."

Post tags: Capital District Physicians' Health Plan, Brian Freer, contact center, agent evaluation, contact center coaching, call center, contact centre

2. How about those senior agents where there isn’t a lot of side-by-side coaching opportunities to be had? Try turning the tables having them provide side-by-sides to their peers or have a trainer or a lead sit with them so they can show best practices they incorporate that can be emulated by others. 

So, what are you doing to spice up your coaching sessions? Here's another tip on side-by-side coaching from Joan Brennan of Weyerhaueser.

Post tags: contact center agent, contact center effectiveness, call center, contact center

Today's Call Center Quick Tip comes from Greg Gamble, a training and communications supervisor at Weyerhaeuser:

Judy McLeish at the Employee Factor points out that employees are stressed around the holiday season, and that one of the best things that we can do as managers is to express empathy. She suggests that employers can help employees through the holiday stress by creating an uplifting environment and by framing interactions with the notion that everyone's stress-levels are amplified this time of year.

Holidays can bring out the best and worst in people, and for those on the front-lines, it can be difficult to handle the deluge of customer interactions/inquiries. I agree that creating a positive work environment where employees feel motivated and supported is key. Last year I wrote about one company that provides small gifts when they hear a great "wow" or "save" call. Cammy McCafferty of Northwest Airlines has also told us about how her center "makes it fun" with stress carts and small give-aways for employees. There are a lot of ways to make your employees feel like millionaires and to keep morale high in your contact center.

Just remember there are three critical employee needs that rewards and incentives can't buy. They include: physical, mental, and emotional needs. As you're making your way through the holiday season, be sure to address each of these needs, and you'll be on your way to happy employees!

Post tags: Judy McLeish, Employee Factor, Cammy McCafferty, call center motivation, QA, call center coaching, call center, contact center

flickr photo courtesy of Georgie Sharp.

Today's Call Center Quick Tip comes from Dale Raduenz, quality assurance analyst for Great Lakes Educational Loan Services:

Encourage Ideas

Listen to your customer service representatives. They are on the front line. They are the ones who know what is working and more importantly what is not working. Because management needs to function with a larger picture in mind, they frequently lose touch with the day to day activities of a CSR who is on the phone all day. When we receive a large volume of calls regarding a specific problem, our CSRs are the first to notice. If we openly solicit their ideas and input, they are more likely to feel needed, appreciated, and part of the team. Discouraging input from CSRs will shut down a valuable source of information. Some of the best ideas for improving our overall operation have come from suggestions made by our customer service representatives.

Today's Call Center Quick Tip comes from Greg Gamble, a training and communications supervisor at Weyerhaeuser:

Empower your call reps

Call centers are known for high turnover. By empowering and involving your call reps in departmental initiatives and decisions you encourage involvement. Involvement leads to inclusion and inclusion is the gateway to loyalty. An employee who feels included is less likely to stray. Not only that, you will be surprised as to what ideas, efficiencies and cost cutting measures a fresh face brings forward. Besides, who knows better than the person doing the job every day?

Over the past few weeks, I have been on the road more than usual, and have had a great deal of interaction with airlines and airline employees. (Keep in mind, I previously worked in the travel industry and am very savvy.) Last week, I had a particularly long return trip home from the Boston area and encountered numerous delays and travel headaches. One incident in particular left me with a sour taste in my mouth... it was so bad, in fact, that every time I have a choice in which airline I fly, the airline in question will never be an option. Here is my tale of customer service woes:

It had been a long day for me, and I arrived late in Philadelphia due to flight delays and air traffic control issues. These delays caused me to miss my connecting flight back to Seattle, and there were no other flights available that evening. So, I had to overnight in Philadelphia. The airline that I had been flying booked me on a return flight to Seattle the next morning on a partner airline. I noticed that there were no seats assigned and was advised that I would have to go to the partner carrier for seats Unfortunately, they did not book an assigned seat for me, so I trudged my way that evening to the other airline's ticket counter to get an assigned seat, but the counter had closed 15 minutes before I arrived. The nice ticket agent that happened to walk out as I arrived at the counter smiled at me and apologized, as she couldn't help me because the closure meant that all of the computer terminals were inaccessible for the night.

When I awoke the next morning in my airport hotel, I noticed on the departures information that the flight that I was booked on was delayed by more then an hour which meant I would miss my tight connection.  My original airline's ticket counter was closest to my hotel, so I approached their ticketing line first. The line was very long (as the holiday travel season is underway here), so I asked one of the agents at the back of the line if I needed to stand in the line or if I needed to go to the other airline's ticket counter. I was brusquely informed that I couldn't bypass the line. The agent wouldn't even answer my simple question as to whether or not I was in the appropriate place! I commented loudly that perhaps the airline should consider taking care of their customers and then proceeded to the partner airline's ticketing counter of which I was rebooked on. 

After I approached the partner airline ticket counter that I was to be flying out on, I was informed that I would have to return to the original airline that booked my flight, as it was "more important for us to take care of our customers first." As a ticketed passenger on the flight, wasn't I a customer too? Frustrated and exhausted, I worked my way back to the first airline counter to once again sort out my travel woes and wait in yet another line.

After many hours, and two flights later, I made it back home with a few more travel war stories to tell and another urgent sense of the importance of customer service and the impact my experiences will have on one airline's future bottom line. Here are a few key take-aways from my travel tale:

• Customer service happens at every interaction -- from the simple questions of "should I stand in this line?" to the bigger questions of "please help me utilize your services." Your employees' responses and your reactions make a big impression.
• Employee empowerment and knowledge is key. There were several times in my travel where simple gestures and empathy from the airline and/or the agent would have made a difference.
• Every customer, no matter how big or small, is important and valuable. Taking the time to help every customer through their plight improves the customer relationship and can cement customer loyalty.
• There is one airline which will remain nameless here but will be mentioned to many of my family and friends in a negative way and I will do my best not to give them any of my future business.

What can you do to improve your customer interactions today? How can you make sure that every customer feels taken care of and important?

Post tags: customer interaction, travel, customer service

flickr photo courtesy of gisarah.

Today's Call Center Quick Tip comes from Dale Raduenz, quality assurance analyst for Great Lakes Educational Loan Services:

Today's Call Center Quick Tip comes from Jamie Torgerson, a general manager in the contact center at Costco Wholesale:

Silver balloon awards

On Monday of each week, each supervisor picks one person on their team that has gone above and beyond in the previous week. It could be catching them on a quality monitor, doing something great for their co-worker, over-exceeding their stats on any particular day, or coming up with a fantastic resolution to a specific member issue. This person is given a bouquet of silver balloons attached to a candy bar (usually a $100,000 Grand bar, a Pay Day, or a Starburst).

How are you rewarding your contact center agents for a job well done? I'd love to hear about it!

Post tags: Jamie Torgerson, Costco, agent effectiveness, agent motivation, contact center, call center, motivating agents

flickr photo courtesy of ChrisAC.

I am constantly on the look-out for unique ways to motivate employees, and this morning I came across a great story from the Successful Blog. In her article "Change the World: It's Millionaire Day," Liz Strauss writes about the ritual that she and her team shared: enjoying a decadent piece of Belgian chocolate from a local store. She writes:

This delicacy was made both in milk chocolate and dark chocolate versions, each filled with praline. One piece was 1.25 x .5 x .5 in size and was shaped like a US Dollar sign — $ . That was the hit! A single chocolate dollar sign sold at an exchange rate equivalent to that of the Australian dollar at the time.

I would buy those chocolate dollar signs, and we’d have an emergerency team meeting. An official announcement would state that we had once again become millionaires in the chocolate lottery. Then we’d spend 30 minutes or so eating one luxury chocolate a piece.

It was a ritual. It was a game. It was the best time and a way of saying what needed saying.

And our moods and minds changed. We stood taller, smiled more, and were more generous toward each other We also laughed. We were millionaires for the day. One piece of chocolate made that difference.

It wasn't a raise or bonus, it was a simple piece of chocolate. But that "emergency team meeting" with a great piece of chocolate boosted the morale of her staff and peers. The team came together to share a simple luxury, and left with a great feeling and even better energy. What small thing can you do to motivate your team? How can you show your front-line staff that you appreciate their hard work without "breaking the bank?" How can you make others feel like they are "millionaires for the day?" Here are a few links to other posts about agent motivation to keep you inspired:

• Motivating Agents
• Agent Motivation: Tips and Strategies
• Quick Ideas: Make It Fun!
• Cultivating Employee Morale and Motivation

Post tags: Liz Strauss, Successful Blog, chocolate, agent effectiveness, agent motivation, contact center, call center, motivating agents

flickr photo courtesy of EuroMagic.

Call Center Quick Tip: Be Honest

It is hard to deliver the news of an area where a representative may need to work. Even if they get defensive at first, they will end up appreciating your honesty in the end. Many people who may lack a skill or may not have fully developed a skill may not even realize it unless you deal with it directly.

Another idea for coaching reps comes from Tom Vander Well: Listen first. Before you deliver feedback in a call coaching session, try asking the reps what they believe went well and what they could improve upon in their calls. Read more here.

Post tags: contact center agent, call coach, coaching, call center best practices, contact center, QA, quality assessment

Becky Carroll at Customers Rock! recently posted about her experience with a Disney World behind-the-scenes tour. She describes how she inquired about attending a tour that was already booked up and the interactions that she had with the Disney "Cast Members." After waiting patiently to see if there were any cancellations, Becky was informed that since she was such a courteous customer, and had waited so patiently, the Cast Members were going to make an exception for her and run the tour with 21 people instead of the standard 20. In addition, she was amazed to learn that they were also going to give her a complimentary ticket on the tour--including lunch!

That kind of employee empowerment led to great conversations within Becky's blog, and I'm sure elsewhere, all because of her great customer experience. Imagine if your agents were empowered to "WOW" the customer in the same way... you would have a long list of happy customers and evangelists for your company. It doesn't have to be the "big" things, so what can you do to help your agents "WOW" customers today?

Post tags: Becky Carroll, customer service, customer satisfaction, customer experience, call center

I've just stumbled across another great example of a company that "gets it:" MGM Grand Las Vegas. Bob Nelson writes in his article "Motivation Matters: Employees Are the Brand" about MGM Grand's employee philosophy and corporate culture. He writes, "In the highly competitive Las Vegas market, [MGM Grand's] philosophy is that employees are what brings the customer back. In other words, the employees are the brand." Nelson goes on to outline practices that helped MGM Grand earn the distinction of being one of the United States' "Best Places to Work" including:

• Continually training and communicating the company's core values and service standards
• Connecting with employees during a pre-shift team meeting
• Recognizing employees through various internal programs
• Promotion from within
• Extensive (and award winning!) internal education/university program

I've written extensively in the past about the Employee/Customer Value Asset Chain, and I believe strongly in the connection between employee experiences and customer experiences. MGM Grand is another shining example of best practices in employee retention and relations. The results speak for themselves:

"Besides the awards that have established MGM Grand as an employer of choice in a competitive hiring market, employee satisfaction has steadily climbed. Turnover has dropped to 11.4 percent, which is extremely low for the Vegas market. The average length of service is an amazing five years, 165 days."

How are you engaging your employees today? What are things that you can do within your contact center or broader organization to improce employee satisfaction, customer experiences and ultimately your company's bottom line?

Post tags: Bob Nelson, MGM Grand, employee satisfaction, customer service, customer satisfaction, call center

flickr photo courtesy of "BurntNorton" / Joel Afferty

Service Untitled posted an entry today entitled "Do happy employees give better service?" and I thought that it was another great example of the Employee/Customer Value Asset Chain, which I have talked about many times here. The article states:

You’ve probably had a job you didn’t like. Were you motivated to provide great service? I know I wouldn’t be. When I like my job, I really want to provide great service. I want to go above and beyond to make the customer happy - that way they have a positive view of the company I’m working for.

There will always be really exceptional people that will provide great service and maintain a good attitude even if the rest of the things aren’t that good. Those people are very rare, though, and I am sure they would provide even better service if they were in a job that they really liked.

I agree with the assertion that when people like their jobs, they are more likely to provide legendary customer experiences. So, what is your company doing today to make CSRs set for success? How can you provide a great employee experience so that front-line employees are motivated to provide legendary customer experiences?

Read more about the Employee/Customer Value Asset Chain:

• Employees as Assets
• Employee Value = Company Value
• Employee/Customer Asset Value Chain
• Taking Care of Employees
• Employee & Customer Experiences

Post tags: Service Untitled, customer service, customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction, call center

Today's Call Center Quick Tip comes from Gail Workman:

Transition Training 

Transition training is a major factor in the success of a customer service rep at our company. After classroom training, and before going to their team, the rep is afforded a 3 week period of on the job training with an individual trainer.

Post tags: Gail Workman, call center training, call center agent, call center, contact center

I have come across another example of a company that "gets it." According to the October 2007 case study by Ken Magill in Direct Magazine, "Worker's Paradise," Zappos.com believes happy staffers lead to happy customers.  The article states:

It's all part of the company's maniacal focus on a customer service-driven culture. Employees have been known to wear costumes while interviewing prospective hires.

This dot-commesque style seems to be working. The company is on track to do $800 million in sales this year, up from $597 million in 2006. That's a good chunk of the total online footwear market for 2006, which totaled $2.9 billion last year, according to Forrester Research.

Zappos eked out its first profit in 2006 — about 1%, according to [Zappos.com CEO, Tony] Hsieh — and is on track to do just a little better this year.

The guiding philosophy? Hsieh refuses to see customer service as an expense. Rather, it's an investment, he says. “Our business is based on repeat customers and word of mouth. There's a lot of value in building up our brand name and what it stands for. We view the money that we spend on customer service as marketing money that improves our brand.”

The Zappos case study is another outstanding example of how happy employees can provide legendary customer experiences and impact the company's business value.

Read more about the Employee/Customer Asset Value Chain:

• Employee Value = Company Value
• Employee/Customer Asset Value Chain
• Taking Care of Employees
• Employee & Customer Experiences

Today's Call Center Quick Tip comes from Gail Workman:

Learning Library

How do you train your call center staff? Do you have any contact center tips that you would like to share?

Post tags: Gail Workman, call center training, call center, contact center

flickr photo courtesy of timetrax

Today, I came across another article about the relationship between employee experiences and customer experiences. In his article, Doug Meacham asks if you are giving your employees a great experience. Doug presents some compelling numbers around the cost of recruiting (versus the cost of keeping employees engaged and happy). He also outlines a few items that provide great employee experiences, like career pathing and frequent and honest feedback mechanisms. Here is the comment that I left on Doug's site as well:

In a retail environment store employees are not the only ones that deliver customer experiences.  Contact center employees have an even tougher job as they do not have that face to face opportunity and rely on a telephone or email conversation to convey to the customer that they value their business. 

 

Whether you are a store or contact center employee, here are some other ways to create great customer experiences:

• Recognize and thank employees for a job well done
• Talk to them about how their position makes a direct impact on the company and the customer
• Communicate with them frequently and honestly
• Ask for their opinion on how to improve customer service… after all, they are the direct link to the customer
• Provide them with the tools and training they need to be successful

As I have written in the past, I believe that there is a link between customer experiences and employee experiences. Happy employees definitely contribute positively to customer experiences.

Post tags: Doug Meacham, customer loyalty, customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction

I've written in the past about the Employee/Customer Value Asset Chain, so when I came across an article today from Scott Deming titled "Brillant Branders: 5 Companies That Know the Importance of Customer Experience," I was compelled to write again. In his article, Deming speaks to brand promises, and how those promises effect customer experiences. Two of our customers are cited in the article, and this excerpt about Costco really inspired me:

"3. Costco

Through their excellent employee retention plan, Costco shows that providing the ultimate customer experience starts with treating your employees well. Costco is a general merchandise company that sells high quality, low-cost items from mayonnaise, to automobile tires, to crystal chandeliers. A crucial component of its success is employee loyalty, which translates to employee evangelism. In fact, Costco has the lowest employee turnover rate in retail.

The average wage for a Costco employee is more than 40% higher than its closest competitor, Sam’s Club. And the company provides excellent benefits, contributing to employee 401(k) plans after two years and providing health insurance to part-time employees after six months of employment. Employees say they want to work at Costco until retirement—a rare expression of employee satisfaction. Naturally, the effects of the company’s approach to employees ripple outward as Costco shoppers appreciate the fact that the low prices they enjoy do not come at the expense of workers’ wages and benefits."

The last line especially hit home, as those happy employees are the ones who shape the customer experiences. Once again, this is a great "real-world" example of the Employee/Customer Asset Chain in action: satisfied employees lead to satisfied customers.

Post tags: Scott Deming, Costco, customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction

Today's Call Center Quick Tip comes from Joan Brennan of Weyerhaeuser:

Post tags: Joan Brennan, Weyerhaeuser, contact center agent, contact center effectiveness, call center, contact center

Today's Call Center Quick Tip comes from Cammy McCafferty of Northwest Airlines:

Post tags: Cammy McCafferty, Northwest Airlines, call center best practices, call center coaching, call center, contact center

Today's Call Center Quick Tip comes from Joan Brennan of Weyerhaeuser:

Kathie Zeier of SUPERVALU once posed the question: "Do your CSRs know what quality is looking for?" She states that: "During CSR training, the Call Evaluation Guidelines document and evaluation scoring are covered in depth. I usually spend at least 1 ½ hours on this." This is a great call center quick tip from Kathie, and I echo her sentiment of needing a clear, concise call evaluation guide.

We will be touching on the importance on call evaluation guides in our September 20 Webinar:

Envision and Great Lakes Higher Education Loan Services Present— Is it Time for an Evaluation Form Makeover?
September 20, 2007, 9:00 a.m. Pacific / 12:00 p.m. Eastern

Join Dale Raduenz, quality assurance analyst, Great Lakes Educational Loan Services and me, Connie Smith, chief evangelist for Envision as we share best practices in a new era of creating effective evaluation forms. I hope that you will join us on this informative Web event!

Post tags: Kathie Zeier, SUPERVALU, Dale Raduenz, Great Lakes Educational Loan Services, call center

Today's Call Center Quick Tip comes from Joan Brennan of Weyerhaeuser:

Post tags: Joan Brennan, Weyerhaeuser, customer service, contact center agent, agent effectiveness, call center, contact center

Today's Call Center Quick Tip comes from Cammy McCafferty of Northwest Airlines:

Recognize Your Employees

Recognition: everyone likes to be recognized in some way or another for a job well done. Find out what your agents like, and how they like to be recognized. We recognize agents for having a great call, perfect attendance, receiving a complimentary call or letter and/or meeting all work performance goals. The recognition is sometimes as simple as adding a note to our memos or running a congratulatory message on our LED board or giving them a balloon bouquet.  In addition to having weekly or monthly incentives, we find that agents love the daily games. We sometimes “play” bingo, spell a word, or see who can sell the highest priced ticket. Agents can use confirmation numbers or other items from their phone calls.  This seems to break the monotony of some of the phone calls and allow them to have fun and compete with their co-workers. 

Post tags: Cammy McCafferty, Northwest Airlines, contact center agent, contact center effectiveness, call center, contact center

flickr photo courtesy of bubblestar

Today's Call Center Quick Tip comes from Joan Brennan of Weyerhaeuser:

Today's Call Center Quick Tip comes from Joan Brennan of Weyerhaeuser:

Today's Call Center Quick Tip comes from Gail Workman:

Mentoring Works!

Buddy or mentoring programs have been very successful for us as part of our welcome / new employee program. Upon arrival, a seasoned rep is paired with a new rep who helps with the on-boarding process for the first month on the job. Then, during classroom training, the new rep visits the work floor once a week to listen in on calls with their partners to see how to apply what they’ve learned each week.

Here are a few other quick tips about peer-to-peer coaching within the contact center:

• Personal Trainers
• Coaching the Coaches
• A Few Guidelines for Coaching the Coaches

How do you get your new agents up-to-speed while keeping your seasoned agents engaged?

Post tags: Gail Workman, contact center agent, contact center effectiveness, call center, contact center

Today's Call Center Quick Tip comes from Cammy McCafferty of Northwest Airlines:

• Screen Capture and ROI
• Bookmark Calls by Cammy McCafferty of Northwest Airlines
• Performance Coaching

Post tags: Cammy McCafferty, Northwest Airlines, Click2Coach, screen capture, contact center agent, contact center effectiveness, call center, contact center

Today's Call Center Quick Tip comes from Kathie Zeier of SUPERVALU:

• Call Focus by Morris Branson of VSP
• Bookmark Calls by Cammy McCafferty of Northwest Airlines
• Benchmark Your Best CSRs

Do you have any handy coaching tips? I'd love to hear some of your call center best practices as well!

Post tags: Kathie Zeier, SUPERVALU, Morris Branson, VSP, Cammy McCafferty, Northwest Airlines, contact center agent, contact center effectiveness, call center, contact center

I’ve been speaking with quite a few companies lately about the employee / customer value asset chain, and the value that we need to place on employees. So when I came across a blog posting by Michael Moser of Call Center Script titled "Thank you for calling. Can you tell I’m undervalued?" I felt compelled to weigh in on the subject.

• Are 50% more likely to have lower turnover
• Achieve 27% greater profitability
• Have 56% higher customer loyalty

I am a huge proponent of companies spending marketing money on employees. It's simple. Astonish employees and they will, in turn, astonish customers. Giving every full-time employee a $600 (retail value) iPhone is an astonishing act that will only help to feed the already vibrant evangelical corporate culture within Apple.

Today's "Call Center Quick Tip" comes from Kathy Zeier of SUPERVALU:

Promote the positive
Positive comments from the evaluation are always put in the "comment" area on the evaluation form so that this is the first thing the CSR sees when they open the review. This sets the tone for a positive experience!

Post tags: Kathy Zeier, calibration, call center agent, agent development, call center, contact center

flickr photo courtesy of p...kin...e

Today's Call Center Quick Tip is from Morris Branson of VSP:

Show Them Where They Stand

If you have a goal for your call center and are seeing people fall below the goal, let them see what their peers are achieving. I’m not talking about a situation where the CSR is not meeting standards, it is about those areas where they could improve but for one reason or another they do not. For example, our call center does not have a set handle time; however, it is a goal to get calls below a certain level. Some CSRs were resistant to lower their handle time believing that it compromised quality. Once we were able to show that they had peers whom had good handle time AND good quality we saw them automatically improve. We also proved to ourselves that there isn’t any relationship between high talk time and better quality.

If you'd like to hear more from Morris, check out his archived Webinar or visit with him at the 2007 Envision Customer Forum on June 12-14, 2007.

Post tags: Morris Branson, VSP, contact center agent, contact center effectiveness, call center, contact center

flickr photo courtesy of amfindingmyself

Post tags: Joan Brennan, Weyerhaeuser, Click2Coach, contact center agent, contact center effectiveness, call center, contact center

flickr photo courtesy of DuncanC

Today's Call Center Quick Tip comes from Gail Workman of Premera Blue Cross:

Our coaches are known as “personal trainers,” and the reps look forward to their customized workout where they can really concentrate on areas of opportunity that they personally have identified.

Post tags: Gail Workman, Premera Blue Cross, contact center agent, contact center effectiveness, call center, contact center

flickr photo courtesy of rengirl

Today, Tom Vander Well over at QAQNA.com posted a thought-provoking entry on the topic of IVR post-call surveys versus call monitoring and QA. I agree with Tom's position on the topic, and also posted this comment:

I am not a fan of utilizing agent specific post-call surveys exclusively as a way to measure an agent’s performance. It has been my experience that no matter how tight or immediate your survey questions are, outside factors influence the customers’ opinion of the service they’ve received. Say the agent respectfully quoted a policy or procedure that the customer was not happy about. Chances are that the customer would mark the agent down in the category of being helpful. Perhaps the hold time was a bit long. The customer could mark the agent down for not being efficient as in his/her mind, the interaction took too long. And then there is the matter of calibration or a lack there of within our customer base. Each customer has different expectations of what it takes to meet or exceed their expectations.

As far as traditional call monitoring, I don’t believe that forward thinking companies will abandon their traditional call monitoring software. These companies understand that this tool gives them the ability to identify skill strengths and weaknesses. They use this information to coach and develop agents, thus increasing performance, lowering turnover and increasing customer satisfaction. Those that find traditional quality monitoring ineffective are not taking action on the valuable information these tools provide to make these performance improvements.

What do you think? Will post-call surveys ultimately replace in-house QA programs? Feel free to post your comments here, or join us on Thursday, May 10th for an interactive Envision Exchange™ call and hear what your colleagues have to say.

Post tags: Tom Vander Well, agent effectiveness, post-call survey, quality monitoring, call center surveys, call center, contact center

Post tags: Morris Branson, employee training, agent effectiveness, call center agent, agent development, call center, contact center

flickr photo courtesy of Vigil M_

Post tags: Cammy McCafferty, employee perks, agent effectiveness, CSR recognition, call center agent, agent development, call center, contact center

flickr photo courtesy of Mike Waller

Post tags: Cammy McCafferty, agent effectiveness, fly-by, CSR recognition, call center agent, agent development, call center, contact center

flickr photo courtesy of DigiPicker

Post tags: agent effectiveness, fly-by, CSR recognition, call center agent, agent development, call center, contact center

flickr photo courtesy of Blue Shoe Photography

When you do training, you need a process to measure effectiveness. Give each individual a personal action plan. Here is an idea that has been used successfully for many years and it’s really simple to apply:

Develop a form with the following words on it. Stop, start and continue. At the top of the page write STOP. In the middle of the page write START. At the bottom of the page write CONTINUE. Now give each person that will be trained their own stop, start and continue sheet. Throughout training, ask them to write what they will STOP doing from now on, what they will START doing from now on out and what they will CONTINUE to do. An example would be that a rep might be going through empathy training. They may write down, that they will START showing more empathy by acknowledging the customers problem. “I’m so sorry to hear that you are having a problem with our product.”

Post tags: agent effectiveness, CSR, agent development, call center, contact center

flickr photo courtesy of tayker

Post tags: agent effectiveness, CSR, agent development, call center, contact center

Today's quick tip comes from Morris Branson, quality assurance supervisor at VSP:

Post tags: Morris Branson, performance improvement, CSR, QA, CSR evaluations, call center, contact center

flickr photo courtesy of Thieving Joker

Continuing with my quick call center ideas series, I thought that I would share with you a little bit about call evaluation guides. On today's Webinar, Mary Gooding mentioned that ShopNBC has a call evaluation guide that has proven invaluable to their QA and coaching process.

Here is a quick idea from Morris Branson of VSP on call evaluation guides:

• The skill you want them to demonstrate. (What)
• The purpose behind measuring that skill. (Why)
• A definition and guidelines around that skill. (How)

Post tags: Mary Gooding, ShopNBC, Morris Branson, QA, call evaluations, call center coaching, call center, contact center

flickr photo courtesy of songlines

Post tags: contact center coach, call center coaching, coach the coach, call center, contact center

flickr photo courtesy of mdt1960

Post tags: Seth Godin, customer service, contact center coaching, eLearning, quality monitoring, call center agents, call centre

1. Asking probing questions
2. Identifying customer needs
3. Asking for the sale

Post tags: Tom Vander Well, contact center coaching, QA, quality monitoring, call center trends, call centre trends

flickr photo courtesy of Limna.

I recently received a phone call from a call center manager asking how to attract more frontline reps to their company.  With unemployment rates at an all-time low in many parts of the country, I’m guessing this might be a problem for many of you.  My recommendation was to work with your internal marketing and HR departments to come up with a campaign to introduce your company, job openings and benefits of joining your team.  Be creative. Recently, one of the large centers in my area invited candidates out on a dinner boat cruise where they could get to know one another, talk to current personnel and learn more about the company.

Do you have any ideas that you would like to share when it comes to attracting possible job candidates? Here are a few online resources that may help you set-up a contact center program that attracts top agents to your company:

• "Making People Priority #1" one of my blog postings on agent motivation and agent effectiveness
• "How do you get more with less?" a blog posting on agent motivation at Call Center Cafe.com
• Customer Centric Jobs: a job posting site assembled by customer service bloggers from "Customers Are Always" and "Service Untitled"

Post tags: contact center jobs, Service Untitled, Customers Are Always, agent motivation, call center trends, contact center recruiting

"Regardless of rising costs, challenging contracts, air travel hassles, the seller's market, or any other issues you're dealing with, finding the right employees — and keeping them motivated (and keeping them, period) should be one of your top concerns in 2007 — and every New Year."

I can't agree more: efficient and effective employees are one of the enterprise's greatest assets. Ensuring that we invest in the physical, mental and emotional needs of our employees, especially customer-facing representatives like our contact center agents, will pay off with increased customer satisfaction and ultimately a healthy bottom-line.

How are you investing in your employees? Is it paying off within your organization?

Post tags: agent motivation, Donna Fluss, Barbara Scofidio, contact center, call center, contact centre, motivating agents

I came across an article today by Donna Fluss about motivating agents. She has some great tips and strategies to motivate and provide growth opportunities for call center agents. I encourage you to take a look at her article.

In addition to Donna's comments, I would add that there are three critical employee needs that rewards and incentives can't buy. They include: physical, mental, and emotional needs.

Physical needs include making sure that they agents are working in a clean and safe environment.

Mental needs include making sure that your agents receive enough training and coaching to confidently complete their jobs.

Last but not least, are emotional needs. It's important to make sure that you're communicating with CSRs on a frequent basis so that they have a sense of belonging and can experience positive work relationships.

If you're not meeting these three critical needs, rewards and incentives will only act as a Band-Aid.

Post tags: agent effectiveness, agent motivation, Donna Fluss, contact center, call center, motivating agents

Post tags: contact center trends, contact center, QA, quality monitoring, call center supervisor, call center, contact centre

I was having a conversation with one of our customers last week as to the benefits and ROI related to screen capture technology. Screen capture has given contact centers the ability to evaluate and coach to the entire interaction not just the verbal side of things. Without screen capture, the evaluator is left to guess as to why the agent has placed the customer on hold or why the request takes longer then anticipated. Benefits for screen capture that have been reported to me include:

• Ability to evaluate and coach email and/or web chat.  If a center is offering multiple channels of interaction, you need to evaluate and coach to each of the channels equally.  This will ensure consistency in servicing and improve rep performance.
• Additional skill gaps are identified as you are able to find out if the rep is lacking in computer, typing or application skills. Identifying these skill gaps, then coaching to them will allow you to improve the performance of your reps.
• Ability to shave seconds off the phones because you are able to identify a way to shorten keystrokes in a given application.

Post tags: contact center trends, screen capture, ROI, contact center, call center, contact centre

Recently, we held an Envision Exchange conference call entitled “What’s the Score on Quality Evaluation Forms?” and one of the participants asked if anyone had a particular skill that was so important to the organization that they made it be a pass/fail for the entire evaluation form. I thought I’d ask you guys this quesion. If you have a particular skill that is an automatic pass/fail for the entire form, what is it, why is it so important and what percentage of your evaluation forms are a fail because this skill is not met?

I’d love to hear from you…

Post tags: contact center best practices, agent evaluation, contact center, call center, evaluation forms

Did not demonstrate the skill (= 0 points)

Developing the skill = (partial points)

Mastered the skill = (maximum points)

Post tags: contact center best practices, agent evaluation, contact center, call center, CSR skills

Post tags: contact center best practices, agent effectiveness, contact center, call center, Starbucks, Call Center Magazine

As the holidays approach, and contact centers become busier, I thought that I would take a moment to speak to keeping morale high with your agents. There are a lot of different techniques that can be employed to reward agents for their "wows" and "saves." One of my favorites includes a contact center where when QA managers heard an outstanding call, they would place a small reward (coffee card, candy bar, etc.) on a remote-controlled car with a balloon attached. The car would then be driven through the contact center to the agent's desk. This was very effective because it generated a lot of energy on the floor, with agents buzzing about where it would stop or what award was attached to the car. It was a simple and cost-effective way to reward and recognize great agent behavior. 

What are you doing within your contact center to reward and recognize your star performers?

Post tags: agent effectiveness, agent motivation, contact center, call center, motivating agents

• Both QA and Supervisors evaluating and coaching
• Supervisors evaluating and coaching
• QA evaluating and coaching
• QA evaluating and then passing it on to supervisors to coach
• Peer evaluating and coaching
• Self evaluating and coaching

Post tags: contact center coaches, contact center evaluations, call center QA, contact centre

Post tags: service to sales, contact center coaching, call center, contact centre

Post tags: contact center coaches, contact center, call center, contact centre

Many of the supervisors in contact centers today do not possess the appropriate skills, nor have they had sufficient training on coaching techniques. We spend a lot of time and effort training our agents, so why aren't we training our supervisors? We make the mistake of promoting our star agents to supervisors and expect them to flawlessly perform but find that many star agents do not automatically make good supervisors, and most do not make good coaches.

Post tags: contact center supervisors, call center coaches, contact center, call center, contact centre

Post tags: contact center culture, culture shift, contact center, call center, contact centre

• Highly respected employees
• Customer-driven philosophy
• Goal of exceeding customer expectations
• Everyone in company lives by the same guiding principles
• Communication of values
• Can do attitudes!
• Embraces change
• Learning through self discovery
• Life-long learners
• Commitment to continuous improvement
• Imposes single accountability
• Communicates strategic plans
• Agents want to be coached and supervisors want to be coaches

Post tags: high performance culture, contact center, call center, contact centre

Post tags: contact center culture, CSR, company culture, call center, contact centre

Post tags: contact center performance, CSR, contact center, call center, contact centre