In Honor of July 4th: Top 4 Call Center Management Tools

July 4^th seem like an appro­pri­ate time to bring out a top 4 list. This week, we’ll be explor­ing the top 4 man­age­ment tools that you can bring to your call cen­ter.

Your end goal as a man­ager is to achieve increased cus­tomer sat­is­fac­tion, so the behind-the-scenes oper­a­tions that you over­see need to work toward that goal. Though your cus­tomers may not under­stand the com­plex­i­ties that go into run­ning an effi­cient, pro­fes­sional staff, they will most cer­tainly notice if your staff is not trained cor­rectly and there are break­downs in your processes. To pre­vent this from hap­pen­ing, improve how you man­age and orga­nize your call cen­ter with our top 4 man­age­ment tools.

Man­age­ment tool #1: Call cen­ter agent training

Your call cen­ter agents are the front­line of your agency and, often, become the voice of the brand. Don’t under­es­ti­mate how impor­tant call cen­ter agent train­ing is – you need to thor­oughly equip your staff with the cor­rect tools, so that they can respond appro­pri­ately to cus­tomers and solve their issues.

The right kind of call cen­ter agent train­ing should empower your agents, above all. The more knowl­edge agents have, the more they’ll be able to make deci­sions, know what processes to fol­low, and solve a customer’s prob­lem with­out hav­ing to trans­fer the call or have to get a man­ager involved. Addi­tion­ally, orga­ni­za­tions that have more empow­ered agents have lower turnover, and their agents report higher job sat­is­fac­tion. Invest­ing in your agents’ train­ing, there­fore, is your first tool in man­ag­ing an effec­tive call center.

Man­age­ment tool #2: The right call cen­ter tech­nol­ogy tools

There is no short­age of call cen­ter tech­nol­ogy in the mar­ket­place; the tough deci­sion is sort­ing out which tech­nol­ogy is the most appro­pri­ate for your cen­ter and needs.

When research­ing var­i­ous tech­nolo­gies, look for one that puts the customer’s needs in mind. Ask your­self ques­tions such as: Will this invest­ment shorten the aver­age wait time? Will it route the calls to the most qual­i­fied agents? Will it record and mon­i­tor calls to help me offer bet­ter coach­ing? Addi­tion­ally, you’ll have to choose whether you want a cloud com­put­ing sys­tem, and fig­ure out if the com­plex­ity of the sys­tem will be bur­den­some for your agents to learn.

Don’t min­i­mize the impor­tance of the tech­nol­ogy sys­tem you choose – call cen­ter tech­nol­ogy is a tool worth research­ing and choos­ing wisely.

Man­age­ment tool #3: Call cen­ter processes

A cru­cial tool in call cen­ter man­age­ment is orga­ni­za­tion. What are your processes? How do you cat­e­go­rize how things are done? Call cen­ter processes include func­tions such as:

• Sched­ul­ing
• Fore­cast­ing
• Prob­lem resolution
• Ana­lyz­ing root causes
• Script­ing and call guide­lines for your agents
• Report­ing processes
• Agent hir­ing and training
• Employee devel­op­ment
• Com­ply­ing with indus­try and gov­ern­ment regulations
• Man­ag­ing your cen­ter to com­ply with over­ar­ch­ing com­pany goals

The list goes on – and is undoubt­edly spe­cific to your com­pany. To com­ply with your center’s processes, what is your strat­egy? How does each piece fit together and affect the other pieces? How do you stay orga­nized to keep your processes in place, and how do you prioritize?

Assem­bling a sys­tem that works for you is an essen­tial tool in man­ag­ing a call cen­ter. Invest in your own train­ing, read books, and even reach out for men­tor­ship assis­tance to help you arrive at a process that gives you a bal­anced way to man­age your center.

Man­age­ment tool #4: Get on the floor with your team

Do you know one of the best ways to earn respect from your team? Don’t man­age from the com­fort of your walled office; be will­ing to get on the floor with your team. Take calls. Attend train­ing with your staff. Spend time with them, lis­ten­ing to calls, sit­ting with them, and hear­ing first­hand the types of cus­tomer expe­ri­ences they’re hav­ing. If your man­ag­ing phi­los­o­phy is to sit in your office, send out emails, and coach from afar, chances are, you’ll have a hard time win­ning loy­alty and respect from your team.

Our fourth tool, there­fore, is to be per­son­ally involved. Be will­ing to do the same job that your employ­ees do. If it’s an espe­cially busy day, jump on calls your­self. The more you go through what your employ­ees are going through, the more empa­thy you’ll have for them, and the more team sup­port you’ll engender.

Have a safe and happy 4^th!

We hope you put our top 4 call cen­ter man­age­ment tools to good use this sum­mer – they’re proven tech­niques to ele­vate your call cen­ter to the next level and improve cus­tomer service.

Happy 4^th, every­one!