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5 Reasons Why a Low-cost Call Center Can Result in High-Cost Consequences

Posted by Dennis Grove on 19, June 2012

Photo courtesy of Tom Baugis

1. Poor call KPI’s

Key performance indicators should be at the core of how you analyze and report your call center’s effectiveness. The KPI has to be suitable for your business, industry and organization and related to the targets in the long run. The solution to the problem of poor call KPI’s is to monitor the most important measurements effectively. Such important measurements include:

+ Occupancy: how much time an agent is actually speaking live to your customer

+ Abandoned calls: the lower the number, the better

+ Average call length: this number depends on what you may be selling

+ Customer call frequency: this number represents the frequency of repeated calls from the same customer

Each of these KPI’s should be easily influenced for improvement and have a dedicated owner for monitoring. The KPI’s will build on each other and provide guidance on the initiatives you pursue.

2. Low Agent Skill Set

The contact center design is the notion of one person (the user) controlling the interaction, but another person (the caller) directing. There must be a proper design in place so that the needs of the contact center user and caller are satisfied. Designs must anticipate what callers will say and design for the next step. The agent’s living is determined to a large extent by the design of the user interface; applications can either facilitate or impede an agent’s ability.

Here are some things to consider when working with low agents skill:

+ Determine value drivers: find out what motivates agents through observation and interviews

+ Create decision support initiatives: identify the processes that agents have to go through to accomplish a given task

+ Design for the expert, but support the novice: both the expert and the novice must be considered

3. Having the Wrong Focus

The call center must have a clear focus on the goals of the company. Agents are often under pressure to meet the performance criteria and their focus becomes blurred. For maximum business value, the call center focus must be placed into a meaningful context.

Consider these questions:

+ What is right for your business and the type of center you are running?

+ What can you actually report on accurately? What is the quality of your data?

These considerations can help clarify the purpose of the call center and narrow its focus to be more efficient.

4. Non-customized Solution

The main service provided by the call center is customized support. There is no such thing as a “one size fits all” call center. Progressive designs must be created so that it can handle changes. Remember, every caller is different.

One possible solution could be creating a change management team to oversee transition planning and change management. This team should be led by an experienced and focused change advocate. Because change is a basic fact of life for contact centers, you want to create an environment that accepts change rather than resists it.

5. Poor Reporting

Being able to report, measure, review and interpret the results of your call center campaigns is paramount to the ongoing success of your direct marketing strategy. There are many reports that can help the call center make informed decisions:

+ Closed loop reporting: Which sales opportunities are being missed because we don’t know our customer’s needs?

+ Campaign execution reporting: Uncover the source of a variety of campaign execution problems so you can reduce poor service, retain customers longer and increase repeat sales.

+ Quality and Assurance reporting: Have call center reports that measure if you are meeting customer service needs and if you are sending a consistent message from your business with every interaction.