Getting the balance right

Everyone in call centres knows about the need for efficiencies.

But if efficiencies and cost cutting were the only goals, customer service would go out the window. The whole point of having a call centre in the first place would be destroyed.

It’s always a balancing act. Normal call centres want efficiencies, of course, but they also want to provide an excellent standard of service. But here again, it is not simple. What do you mean by ‘excellent’?

In many cases, you begin answering this question when you make decisions about training. How much to spend on training and on which types, is like figuring out how much to spend on call centres and for what tools. Both call centres and training are expensive and complicated to implement, maintain and upgrade.

In more detail, the questions about call centre training can include:

• How does one determine the optimum skill level for a particular agent?
• How do you figure out what mix of resources should be allocated toward reaching individual agent goals?
• With so many new technologies coming to bear on training issues, (and some not-so-new), how does the tension between cost-cutting and revenue-generating play out in deciding which technologies and strategies to adopt? |

Two of the specifics that call centre managers and agents have to resolve at the core of the efficiency versus customer service riddle are ‘first call resolution’ and ‘wrap times’.

If you double the amount of training you provide for agents, you can probably increase first call resolution rates, but would such a move be justified from a business point of view. Similarly, a substantial increase in training will usually cause wrap times to drop. It is always a matter of getting the balance right.

Most experienced call centre managers would probably agree that first call resolution is the single most important key challenge to improving customer satisfaction. At the same time, where first call resolution does not happen, or where the rates achieved are very low, there can be huge costs associated with improving those rates.

It is important, therefore, that the call centre be structured in such a way that first call resolution is possible and easy for agents to achieve. Detailed product training is essential for agents to have the required knowledge, to complete first call resolution. That’s obvious. But a full list of the sorts of things agents need in order to make first call resolution happen, would include:

• Information systems which give agents a single view of the customer on the screen in front of them;
• Sufficient training in order to understand the culture of the company and the desire of everyone that the norm is to achieve first call resolution;
• Sufficient training to be comfortable with all aspects of the procedures, rules and products and services;
• Training in how to engage the customer, establish communication, build a relationship, identify the real need and fulfil this need; and
• Personal autonomy or authority to make decisions, and ensure that matters are settled for the benefit of the customer, without costing the company unnecessary expense.

For a call centre or an individual to manage wrap time, takes commitment and planning. A centre is most effective at doing this when everyone understands what to do, why to do it and when.

So that other activities do not get bundled in with wrap time, it is important to identify the different things an agent does during the day. You need to define the ideal state or code for agents to use when conducting each activity.

You can really only get an accurate handle on wrap times, by watching and monitoring agents over time. In general, most call centre specialists would say that it is better to avoid using wrap time, or any single measure, as a hard and fast measurement for performance. Coaching on quality and schedule adherence will produce better long-term performance than focusing on a specific measurement.