Top 20 Mistakes Found in Call Centers

With all of the new technologies available, it is easy to assume that the basics of call center management are covered. Even as the customer service industry matures, it is still common to see the same mistakes in fundamental call center management practices occurring in center after center.

 

  1. Lack of an accurate call volume forecast – You cannot put the right number of people in their chairs unless you know how many calls you will receive and when you will receive them.
  2. Not understanding Average Handle Time (AHT) – This is part of a classic industrial engineering problem. How many and how long? You must also understand how AHT changes over the day, week, month and year.
  3. Not tracking shrinkage – Managers have lost their jobs because they could not document the difference between what they pay for and time spend on the phone.
  4. Missing call center mathematics – Communicate to everyone the mathematics of service level. Demonstrate how schedule adherence mathematically relates to service level.
  5. Not understanding call center technology – The IT group gets the technology training. This results in the center being designed around the limitations of the technology, not the needs of the customer.
  6. Not having a published disaster plan – Planning to ensure technology and people are able to quickly react to disasters is not expensive, just time consuming.
  7. Service level setting – Eighty percent of calls answered in twenty seconds cannot be found in the bible. Not all calls deserve this level of service. Some deserve better.
  8. Service level goals over too long a time period – Service level should be measured each half hour. Setting service level goals over too long of a period results in service level banking. Depositing good service level when call volume is low, averaging in bad service level (withdrawing service level) when call volume is high.
  9. Not understanding the value of your calls – Your calls have value. This value can help determine service level, technology investments, and management practices.
  10. Poor/no quality monitoring – Monitoring is a basic tool in the manager’s toolkit. Invest in monitoring processes. Monitor frequently and utilize the monitoring results to coach and review your agents.
  11. Poor senior management reporting – How you present something to senior management is as important as what you present. Many reports to management show center performance that is worse than it really is.
  12. Absent management – You can see service level improve when a manager walks through the center. Too often managers and supervisors are found outside of the center.
  13. Not understanding call center tradeoffs - The classic bubble principle. Each area of a call center is tied to every other area. Pushing on one management area will result in expansion in an other area.
  14. Agent incentives – Be careful what you ask for! If you pay for low AHT you will get it. You will also get poor quality customer service. Incentive programs should include a quality component.
  15. Not using all of the features of your ACD – Most ACDs have robust call handling features. These can be utilized to inexpensively provide abbreviated versions of sophisticated technologies.
  16. Utilizing "Industry Standard" implementations of technology – Each operation is different. What are appropriate implementations of technology in one center can have negative service impacts in other environments.
  17. Voice response design – Everybody’s an expert (Wrong!) Hire a recognized expert to design the voice response call flow. Utilize a professional voice. Proper VRU design can increase utilization dramatically.
  18. Reader board usage – Reader boards are best utilized to provide information agents need to service customers, not as a whip.
  19. Outbound calling – Be able to distinguish a valid outbound call from abuse. Organize processes to centralize outbound calling for better manage and control.
  20. Agent Priorities – Agents are paid to 1) wait for a call 2) talk on a call and 3) wrap up from a call. Ensure these are their top priorities.