As every call center manager knows, assembling the right mix of resources to ensure high-quality, cost-effective
care is a constantly evolving challenge. Selecting, managing, and motivating a large pool of employees
labor market requires creativity, enthusiasm and ance. While advancing technologies offer a constant pportunities, keeping up requires more and more that often distract from the core business. rmining the right combination of technology and ouch is also a moving target as customer needs and ns evolve. Many companies that have hit the mark d it’s even more challenging to stay on target. this in mind, the Ascent Group conducted research of 2007 to better understand how companies are inbound customer care. We asked companies to erformance benchmarks (see sidebar) so we could identify “best performers,” companies providing the best service at the best cost. We also asked companies to share call center experiences to help us identify the practices that make or break a customer contact center. The results of this research are contained in our report, “Call Center Strategies 2007,” the Ascent Group’s second annual benchmarking study of inbound call centers.
When evaluating performance of any organization, it is important to look at performance from three perspectives: productivity, cost and service. By examining call center performance on these dimensions, companies can understand if service is being compromised by cost-cutting, or conversely, if a company is spending too much to attain a high service level.
During this study, we compared performance in key benchmark metrics to identify “best performers” for each industry, above average companies that deliver low cost, high productivity and high service. We calculated a “best performer” average for these high performing companies. We also calculated an industry average for each benchmark metric to demonstrate the performance of participants by industry.
Charts 1 and 2 present the Unit Cost and Abandonment Rate for our study group. More benchmark performance comparisons are contained in the published research report.
Author
Christine K. Kozlosky is president of The Ascent Group Inc., a management consulting firm specializing in customer service operations and improvement. Ms. Kozlosky is publisher and managing editor of the “The Service Delivery Advantage.” Her areas of expertise include call centers, customer service operations, performance measurement and benchmarking, innovation and best practice discovery, business process re-engineering and information systems management.
What did we learn?
“Best Performing” call centers are more likely to use behavioral-based screening to select candidates; empower employees to make decisions; actively reward and praise employees for superior performance; commit resources to consistently monitor call quality and provide feedback; offer
by Christine K. Kozlosky
periodic refresher training; and actively measure and monitor performance. The following collection of best practices is summarized from our benchmark research.
It’s all about people. Numerous studies and surveys repeatedly confirm what almost every employee already knows—recognition for a job well done is the top motivator of employee performance. As Key Benchmark Metrics a manager, you positively reinforce, through rewards and rec- ■ Cost per call ognition, the behavior you want ■ Calls handled per FTE repeated. Aubrey Daniels, a ■ Percent of calls resolved on first contact leading performance specialist, ■ Percent agent availability explains it best: “You reinforce ■ Service level conformance behaviors and reward results.” ■ Percent abandoned calls
Informal incentives are ■ Average speed of answer often more effective in boosting morale. One of the most powerful employee motivators is personalized, instant recognition from a manager. Informal rewards are usually spontaneous, inexpensive and require minimal planning and effort.
Do your homework. Talk to employees at all levels, in all job categories, to understand expectations and drivers of performance. Identify meaningful rewards for each employee.
Companies with smaller call centers are often better at staying in touch with employees. The smaller center lends itself to a small town environment. In a small town, everyone knows everyone. Small centers can benefit from that small town feel; communication is usually easier and employees are less likely to feel lost in the machine. The bigger you are, the harder you are going to have to work to stay in touch with employees.
Hire the right people. Make sure you are hiring the right kind of employees. No sense investing weeks of training in an employee who doesn’t have the personality to fit in with your group. Use all means possible to screen candidates— test, interview and role-play—to make sure you understand the candidate’s experience, personality and expectations. Also be sure the candidate understands the type of environment in which he or she will work.
Ask your agents to interview and further screen candidates. Let candidates sit in on calls to get a feel for the type of work and the work environment. In short, learn as much as you can about candidates before you offer the job. The goal is to hire someone who has similar expectations. Your chances of retaining that employee will be that much greater.
Consistency in call monitoring is key. Call monitoring
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