Top Ten Tips For Implementing A Call Center Quality Monitoring
Solution
1) Write a clear
outline of the reasons behind bringing a call recording system
into your call center’s work flow:
o Benefits to agents
o Benefits to customers
o Benefits to company
It’s always good to start with an outline before rolling out
something new. It’s like using a recipe before you cook. Not
sure if that’s the best comparison, but you get the picture.
Your outline is your blueprint for success.
2) Introduce the concept
of quality monitoring well in advance and initiate tasks to
empower agents to participate in the process
o The purpose of call quality monitoring is NOT to catch
employees slacking off, but to help improve customer service
and meet overall performance metrics.
o Employees can help define the quality assurance metrics and
play a significant role in continuous performance improvement
Always use the word “we” when addressing your employees. Make
sure they know that you’re on the same side and that this
implementation will benefit everyone in the company – you
aren’t trying to catch someone playing solitaire or visiting
illicit web sites.
3) Reiterate company
customer service goals
o Customers are the ones who actually pay salaries and wages
o It is often much easier to retain customers than get new
ones
o Treat all co-workers as customers and good habits will form
This should hardly be done only for purposes of the call
monitoring implementation, but should be reiterated often. The
most successful companies in the world are the ones with the
strongest customer service beliefs, unless of course, you
count organized crime.
4) Create a “team”
atmosphere for your agents
o Set up a team recognition and rewards program
o Highlight stellar service examples via internal emails and
newsletter articles/photos
o Sub-teams should be formed to make task management easier
Is it any wonder why basketball teams full of confident role
players (2003-2004 Detroit Pistons) always overachieve while
collections of individuals seem to fail (2005-2006 New York
Knicks)?
5) Make sure the
Telephony and IT sub-teams know their roles and
responsibilities in carrying out their end of the plan
o All part of the same larger team along with the agents,
managers and supervisors
o Create detailed project plans for each sub-team
If your IT and Telecom teams are uninformed about a new
implementation, and they find out about it just as the call
recording servers are rolled in to the data center, there may
be unforeseen complexities that could have been prevented
unnecessary problems.
6) Educate your call
center agents on their sub-team’s specific quality improvement
goals
o Increase upsells
o Increase saves
o Increase new sales
o Call time to resolution
o Caller time on hold
o Ask them for other ideas
“Our common goals are to increase upsells by 40% over the next
two quarters. We believe we can accomplish this by focusing on
improving our customer service techniques in the call center.”
7) Include agents in
coming up with evaluation criteria and forms o once the
metrics are defined, your agents can help you define
evaluation criteria, in essence, creating the forms
Self-evaluation is often one of the most effective building
blocks to improvement. More and more companies are asking
their employees to perform self-evaluations – and it’s not
because managers are lazy.
8) Appoint a few agents
to a “system review sub-team” to represent agent feedback on
what could be improved with the quality monitoring program.
o System improvements wish list
o Team goal review
o Evaluation criteria review
This would be akin to asking Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada and
Mariano Rivera to provide input to Yankees GM Brian Cashman
relative to personnel additions, potential team chemistry
issues, etc. Their input is invaluable because they are out
there everyday in the trenches, just like their call center
agent counterparts.
9) Throw a great kick off
party
o Announce weekly performance goals and prizes
o At the party, allow your agents to evaluate supervisors’
calls Every great party needs a contest with fun prizes. Give
the best evaluations a cool gift, such as a Starbucks card or
Ebay gift certificate.
10) Schedule a
benchmarking session with another call center that has been
quality monitoring for over a year and seen improvements
o Exchange discoveries, stats, tips
Not only would this be a fun exercise, but watch people relate
as they realize common issues in their everyday jobs – and
watch them bond as they solve these problems….then watch your
company’s customer service goals be accomplished.
Richard Marcia is the marketing director
for Coordinated Systems, Inc., a
call center
monitoring software system provider that has been building
great customer experiences since 1972.
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