CALL CENTER continued from 46 is inarguably one of the best methods of improving call quality and service delivery. While companies can measure customer satisfaction through customer focus groups, customer contact follow-up telephone surveys and written satisfaction surveys, the results are often not timely enough or detailed enough to help individual agents understand their impact or contribution. A call monitoring session on the other hand, if done correctly, can instantly deliver a wealth of customer satisfaction information, gauge individual agent performance and reveal a lot about your business processes and policies.

No single call monitoring technique will always meet the needs of your agents or your operation. Most companies rely on recorded sessions in combination with live monitoring sessions, whether side-by-side or remote. Many companies feel the need to conduct side-by-side sessions just to keep in touch with employees. Q/A groups tend to rely on remote monitoring using recorded voice and data while supervisors conduct the traditional live monitoring sessions, using silent and side-by-side techniques. Use a combination of techniques and let the technology assist you where it can.

Commit the resources to adequately monitor, evaluation, and discuss results. Effective call monitoring is all about commitment of resources. If providing regular, fair and timely feedback is a

Cost Per Call

(All Industries)

Teleservices $2.75

Travel $2.78

Retail $2.87 Financial Services $2.90 Best PerformerAverage $3.29

Services $3.34

Insurance $4.53

Utility $5.20

Manufacturing $5.30

Healthcare $5.81

Telecom

Tech Support

$0.00 $2.00 $4.00 $6.00 $8.00 $10.00

$10.06

$11.14

$12.00

Percent Abandoned Calls (of Total Offered)

(All Industries)

Teleservices 2.9%

Retail 3.1%

Best Performer Average 3.4%

Travel 3.5%

Insurance 3.9%

Government 4.9% Tech Support 5.4% Financial Services 5.4%

Services 5.7% Telecom 6.5%

Utility 7.0%

Manufacturing 7.2% Healthcare 7.8%

0% 1% 2% 3% 4% 5% 6% 7% 8% 9%

challenge for your organization or if your supervisors are always pressed for time, consider setting up an in-house quality assurance group. There are also outsourcing options available, companies that specialize in agent behavior analysis. Contracted monitoring services can be provided on-site or remotely, based on your specifications and standards.

Calibration is essential to ensure consistency and build confidence in call monitoring results. The best way to gain consensus on a call is to design the proper review criteria and then test it over and over. These new systems facilitate this process by streamlining the selection, capture and presentation of calls and data. Group discussions comparing and discussing results help to focus and clarify the not-so-easy task of judging performance and they also build confidence and consistency.

The latest generation of automated monitoring solutions offers tremendous advantages over traditional live monitoring or analog recording. While prices are quite hefty for these systems, increased supervisor productivity, shortened talk times, better customer system usage, more targeted training, higher quality service and elimination of analog tapes and tape storage concerns are pretty strong payback arguments. Keep in mind that this is just another tool for your call center’s toolbox. As with any system, it has to be supported by sound management and effective work practices. It should be implemented as a tool and not as a weapon. The most wonderful monitoring system in the world will do no good without agent buy-in and supervisor coaching. If agents are involved in the selection, design and implementation of the system, the monitoring process will be much more successful and less stressful.

Do it right the first time. First call resolution is a critical determinant of customer satisfaction, whether your systems and policies make this possible or not. Customers expect to bring a problem or question to your attention and have it resolved in a timely manner. Not all inquiries can be resolved immediately or on the first contact, but advances in technology, increasing employee empowerment and scrutinizing evaluation will increase the number that can.

Try to view first call resolution from the customer perspective. Make sure you know what your customers expect and respond accordingly. Conduct focus groups, customer needs assessments and other surveys to gather the feedback necessary to understand expectations. Do not assume you know what your customers want.

You can’t improve if you don’t measure. Comparing your company’s call center performance with a representative peer group can provide tremendous benefits. Not only can you learn more about your peers’ approach to work tasks, you often learn more about your own organization simply by participating in the measurement process. You may confirm what management already knows as well as the belief that there really is a need to change. It may provide the “proof” that management has been struggling to uncover. When conducted properly, employees actively participate in the process and become part of the solution.

Keep an eye on what other companies in your industry and other industries are doing. Participating in a research effort is an excellent way to better understand your call center performance and to stay on top of the latest techniques.