Are You Providing the Right Information to Your Customer Service Representatives?
When you imagine a call center, you’re probably picturing a room full of customer service representatives rapidly working through emails or calls from customers to provide answers, schedule appointments, etc. What many of us don’t consider is the data tied to each call or contact with a customer.
Contact Centers & Metrics
Call centers, now called contact centers, have led the way for years on visualizing data that impacts productivity. The contact center of today, with varied means of communication, (calls, emails, chats, social media and more) has potential results-driven metrics coming from every call, email, or chat. Contact center executives and managers must decide which data or metrics have the biggest impact on their business.
Which Metrics Engage Your Employees?
Rather than focusing on simple facts, like the number of calls in the queue, average hold times, abandoned calls, and on and on, there are questions we should hone in on first. The questions that need to be asked are – are your contact center agents truly engaged with their work and are you providing them with the tools to improve their performance? After all, a successful contact center doesn’t focus solely on the number of calls handled, but instead the quality of each call and the customer’s satisfaction. Remaining cognizant of your customer service representatives’ drive to provide answers and support efficiently and effectively, and steering clear of hammering them with more “call stats” will ultimately build a more engaged and better prepared work force.
Customers Are Number One
Think of this simple scenario: 100 customer service agents with 400 calls in queue, and one representative is on a call with exactly one unhappy customer.
Your customer representative fielding questions from the agitated customer is not concerned with your Customers in Queue (CIQ) or Average Handle Time (AHT) of three minutes, 45 seconds. They are laser focused on the most important statistic of all - one unhappy customer on the line. The wallboards or digital display screens in your department can flash all kinds of metrics and data points in red, yellow and green. However, what your representatives need when handling an upset caller or answering a seething customer email are simple reminders like “Tips to Handle an Irate Caller” or “Offers for Customer Retention” or “Phrases to Use When Answering an Angry Email” or “Don’t Forget to Thank Your Customer for Their Business.”
Use Digital Displays For More Than Metrics
Instead of metrics, utilize your digital signage to promote great customer service, celebrate another customer retained, and commend agents on screen for good work throughout the day? The point is – use the screens in your Contact Center to engage your employees, to make them feel they are contributing to the company’s bottom line and that they are making a difference while seemingly bearing the brunt of customer criticisms. Do this and the metrics you will be bragging about are these:
- Engaged employees are more productive (17-22%) – Harvard Business Review (HBR) and Forbes
- Engaged employees are more loyal (65% reduction in turnover) – Forbes and HBR
- Engaged employees produce higher quality work (40% fewer quality issues) – Gallup
If you’re ready to dynamically drive engagement in your contact centers while still adding visual metrics to help your employees stay on track, let’s talk. Contact us to transform your digital displays using our simple Wallboard Software today!