The success of your call center is a vital component of the success of your business.
A successful call center certainly contributes to customer satisfaction, and can also be a source of valuable information that you can use, such as common customer complaints – or compliments.
On the other hand, a call center that isn’t performing at its best can lead to wasted time and resources, and dissatisfied customers.
Paying attention to your call center isn’t just the province of large companies with extensive call centers.
If you have a number customers call to get in touch with you, a regular flow of calls to that number, and a few staff members manning it, you have a call center.
So what can you do to make sure your call center is working at its best? Start by paying attention to these 5 key areas:
Route Calls Correctly
Routing calls correctly will save a lot of stress on both your staff and customers.
Providing clear menu options for callers will help them get routed to the best agent or department to deal with their query.
Meanwhile, agents are more likely to receive calls that they can help with. Many phone systems allow you build in menus that your customers can use to let you know what they need help with.
Make the Most of Hold Times
Aiming to reduce hold times is important, but for those times when your customers have to go on hold, try to make that time useful.
Try adding informative announcements to your hold music, such as suggestions for other options your customers might choose, like paying online or visiting a URL to get more information. That way, some of your callers will be able to get what they need without waiting.
Prioritize Staff Training
Staff training is key to call center success.
As the article “6 Tips to Ensure the Success of Your Call Center” points out, today’s call center solutions make it easier to include staff training every day.
Try using functions such as whisper (talking to an agent without the customer hearing) to guide new staff, or listen in to help you monitor calls, and demonstrate to other staff what a good call sounds like.
Give Your Staff the Information They Need
Giving your staff the right information at the right time will improve customer service and empower your staff to handle calls more confidently, too.
Consider choosing a call center system that links in with your CRM system, ensuring that staff can see each customer’s history when they call. That way, your customers won’t have to tell the same story on every call, and your staff will be better placed to help them.
Use Analytics
Analytics are a store of information you can use to improve your call center success.
Hold times and average call handling times are a good start, and you can use analytics to make sure you don’t have some agents idle while others are flooded. Try and go beyond the basics though:
Analytics can also tell you about the outcome of calls; new sales or accounts created, and even customer satisfaction. Monitoring your analytics and mining them for information takes the guesswork out of making a success of your call center.
Today’s flexible phone systems make it easier than ever for businesses to monitor and analyze what’s happening in their call centers.
By prioritizing good training and providing helpful information for both customers and staff at the right time, you can build a call center that offers customer satisfaction and provides valuable feedback for your business.
About the Author: Tristan Anwyn writes on a wide variety of topics, including social media, branding, call center solutions and customer service.
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