Contact Center Convictions

I have recently focused some of my efforts around quality management (QM.)  We want to deliver QM tools to our clients, and I have been tasked with determining our strategy to do that.  As part of this “focus” I visited ten call centers to get an up-close look at how they manage quality.  These were inbound call centers that have a reputation for good service.  Some were larger and some smaller, with the average size around 75 agents.  And just so you know… this was a blast!  I love this kind of stuff; for me it was like going out on a vacation.

 

The end result of my call center visits was a reminder that call centers are broken and we still have a long way to go.  When I say “broken,” I mean that while many managers are making an effort to improve the customer experience, most lack the tools to do so.  I did find good ideas and practices in every call center I visited, but overall I was reminded that several areas are broken. I’ll start with the top three:

 

First-contact resolution (FCR.)  Not being measured accurately and thus not able to trend if the call center is  getting better or worse.  Not able to diagnose issues fast enough that impact FCR.  Not able to attribute or link new efforts in the call center to FCR improvement (such as training strategy, hiring, coaching, incentives, etc.)  Of course most centers recognize that FCR is a key indicator of quality; they are just not using this indicator correctly today.

 

Customer satisfaction.  Like FCR, not measured accurately.  Not able to trend.  Not able to tie back to a specific agent and give instant feedback.  Not used to drive change and improvement.

 

Incentives for agents.   I discuss this in an earlier blog entry. We need to explore this further because it is an issue in many call centers.  What I found was too many centers not able to pay for quality and performance.  The result was low-performing agents who make nearly the same amount of income as high -erforming agents.  This is a HUGE issue.

 

I will stop there because these items are the fundamentals.  If we are unable to measure and impact these indicators, then there is a landslide that negates the potential impact of other indicators (e.g. service level, average handle time, etc.).

 

Okay… enough with the negative stuff.  I did see heroic efforts at many centers to improve quality.  I found people passionate about customer service.  I found many managers giving an honest effort to make a positive difference for the agent and the customer.   What was lacking were the tools, the techniques, and the practices leveraging the tools. 

 

This was an exciting re-awakening for me in that a service provider like inContact really can help by delivering effective tools and empowering call centers to implement better practices that drive real improvement in quality and efficiency.