In the call center we are very good at measuring stuff, especially stuff about agents! I’d be hard-pressed to think of another profession where every minute, every word, decision and action is scrutinized. But we do it all for our customers, right?
I work with a number of business partners who are in the enviable position to have agents performing at such consistently high levels that the only thing I can say when I meet with them to review their monthly results is “good job” and “maintain, maintain, maintain” before switching gears and saying “now let’s talk about what you should be doing for your customers!” These organizations have worked hard, but they’re not perfect. These organizations have mastered one aspect of service, arguably the smaller part of the service “equation.” According to Dr. W. Edwards Deming, 80% of a worker’s effectiveness is determined by the environment (created by you, the management) and only 20% is impacted by a worker’s skills.
In order to make their customer experience a better one, these organizations have to change their focus and begin to work on things that have nothing to do with the call center agents we so love to measure. Some have antiquated systems that don’t “share well” causing massive blind-spots in customer life cycle management. Some have business rules created so long ago that no one knows who to blame for their inherent stupidity. Others have so many vigilante vendors and partners that they no longer have any control over the customer experience beyond their own call center agents. And others see an immediate benefit from assigning tasks to individuals instead of no one (a.k.a – groups of individuals) that I want to pull my hair out every time I meet with them and find out they’re still “considering” the idea.
These are the environments in which Speech BI generates ROIs in the hundreds of percentages and where inaction due to indecision is obliterated with opportunity cost dollar figures. How long would you continue to allow faxes to be no one’s responsibility if you knew that it cost your call center approximately $900,000 annually to handle calls from customers inquiring if you received their first, second, ninth fax? (This is a real number folks!!!)
Everyone needs a little help from time to time when it comes to determining what’s truly important. In one of our more recent YouTube videos , and perhaps one of the more important ones, our Chief Spokesman points out that too many call centers are focusing on the wrong things, especially when it comes to your speech analytics program. Call center agents should not be the target of your speech analytics program and if they are, you are wasting your company’s money. Are you guilty of this too? It’s okay, we’re here to help. In the meantime, if you need some more ideas on what not to focus on, have a look at another recent blog post about mistakes that could kill your business.
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