agents Archives - Page 2 of 3

December 5, 2023

Why you should employ a predictive dialing system: I

As we all know, predictive dialing refers to a state-of-the-art pacing mode used to call a large number of customers within a short period of time. Predictive dialing system helps optimize agents’ time by reducing the idle times between connected calls and freeing agents from dialing calls. Predictive dialing gathers statistics related to the duration of calls, how long it takes for calls to be answered, and how often calls are answered. The system places several calls when an agent is about to become idle.

1.Enables call blending:

Predictive dialing system can help blend calls in a call center which deals with both outbound sales and inbound customer service. Calls can be efficiently assigned to the agents if predictive dialer and an automated call distribution system are used in combination. This system provides a provision for keeping the callers on the queue if agents are not available. It further allows the agent to pass on a message regarding the same. Thereafter, the agent can call the customer back and provide him and proceed with the query resolution.

2. Encourages unbiased delegation:

Predictive dialing system encourages unbaised assigning of calls such that all the available call agents have calls to attend. Since all agents on the team are expected to be equally competent professionally to handle any call, so, equal opportunities are given to all of them. Also, this eliminates the chances of the agent ignoring a call.

3. Allows call monitoring:

Employing a predictive dialing system means, it is possible to monitor the performance of agents through the integrated call monitoring and recording interfaces. In addition to this, these systems also include in-built reporting tools that allow the managers to extract the performance reports of each agent. Based upon these reports, agents can be provided with adequate training in order to improve the agents’ call handling skills and hence deliver an exceptional customer service.

December 4, 2023

Your guide to predictive dialing system

Predictive dialing refers to a state-of-the-art pacing mode used to call a large number of customers within a short period of time. Predictive dialing helps optimize agents’ time by reducing the idle times between connected calls and freeing agents from dialing calls. Predictive dialing gathers statistics related to the duration of calls, how long it takes for calls to be answered, and how often calls are answered. The system places several calls when an agent is about to become idle.

The performance of predictive dialing depends upon the accuracy of the contact lists and the policies on nuisance calls. If the contact list is poor, the performance of the predictive dialing campaign may be affected negatively as agents are not connected to live contacts and are not able to do business.

A predictive dialer is a type of dialer that dials a list of telephone numbers and connects answered dials to people making calls, often referred to as agents. Using statistical algorithms, predictive dialers minimize the time that agents spend waiting between conversations while minimizing the occurrence of someone answering when no agent is available.

There are two possible sources of delay when dialing numbers one at a time:

i) Only some fraction of dials are answered. As an example, if 1 out of 3 dials is answered, a predictive dialer might dial 3 lines every time an agent becomes available.

ii) Dials that are answered take some time before being picked up. If it typically takes 10 seconds for someone to pick up, and conversations typically last 90 seconds, a predictive dialer might start dialing at 80 seconds.

Predictive dialers may either be standalone hardware devices, or they may be integrated with software with call center or contact center platforms. Dialers integrated with software perform less aggressive dialing modes, such as power, progressive, or preview dialing.

December 4, 2023

All you need to know about power dialer

The term “dialer” refers to an electronic device that is connected to a telephone line to monitor the dialed numbers and alter them to seamlessly provide services that otherwise require lengthy national or international access codes to be dialed. A dialer automatically inserts and modifies the numbers depending on the time of day and country or area code dialed. This allows the user to subscribe to the service providers who offer the best rates.

A power dialer is defined as an automated telephone dialing system that connects prospects with agents more efficiently. It allows the agents to focus on live connections instead of manual dialing. The power dialing system automatically dials the next contacts, when an agent becomes available. With such a powerful setting, the contact center is given ultimate control over the automatic dialing rates. The power dialer is quite useful when a contact center has a small number of sales executives and a large number of prospects.

As an example, Dolphin dialer is autodialer software that enables telemarketers, sales teams, and call centers to dial a list of phone numbers automatically and completely hands-free. It basically helps them save valuable time and energy that would otherwise be wasted dialing by hand.

An agent is always available to talk to the customer in the case of power dialing. Moreover, it can be utilized for a number of campaigns like customer care follow-up calls, telemarketing etc. In order to automatically place a call to the agent, the automated dialers consider the priority and the skills of the agent.

The power dialer, also known as progressive dialer enables you to manually set a calls-to-agent ratio, so you can take advantage of automated dialing benefits while retaining control over dialing rates. Also, contact centers can spend more time talking to live prospects. This avoids wastage of time, leads to more sales and increases revenue growth.

December 4, 2023

Agent status and its importance : II

1.Ensures efficient call routing:

Agent statuses are taken into account by the call center software in order to direct calls only to those agents who are available to take calls. As a result, the likelihood of inappropriate routing is eliminated. In other words, it helps avoid such situations where callers are routed to an agent who is not ready for their next interaction. This further ensures that calls are distributed appropriately among agents.

2. Provides the required guidelines to new agents:

A thorough analysis of agent status metrics enables the managers to determine the standard cadence of the work of the agents at their call center. It can actually act as a useful onboarding tool because it allows new agents to have a set of guidelines for how they should spend their time. This helps them to have a thorough understanding of the work they are supposed to do. So, they can efficiently handle all the calls, resolve customer queries in real time and provide exceptional customer service

3. Helps in proper billing:

Agent status is very helpful for billing purposes especially if you outsource your call center. Monitoring the agent statuses consistently helps ensure that you’re not being charged for minutes that agents aren’t actually working. Moreover, it ensures that your third party call center is meeting the terms of your SLA.

4. Schedule adherence:

Schedule adherence refers to a key metric that helps ensure that your agents are logged into the queue during their scheduled times. Call center agent status enables you to monitor, measure, and optimize this KPI. By viewing historical reports, you can actually see whether an agent is currently active or is on pause. This further helps you make sure that you’re scheduling enough agents at the right times, and that they are actually available during their scheduled shifts.

December 4, 2023

Agent status and its importance : I

Agent status refers to a feature that allows call center agents to display their present state of work to the rest of the team. The most common method of doing this is to select a status from a pre-created drop-down menu. Generally, there are six agent statuses. All of them have been listed below:

i) Available

ii) On a Call

iii) Busy

iv) Away

v) After Call Work

vi) Offline

Here we have mentioned the most important reasons for inculcating agent status in call centers:

1.KPI optimization:

With the aid of this feature, it becomes easy to extract agent status reports for the call center as a whole as well, as specific agents. These agent reporting metrics further enable managers to know exactly how agents have spent their time. Moreover, the agent status reports can also be utilized for diagnosing a number of call center issues and inefficiencies. Based on these key performance indicators, managers may determine if additional agents should be hired or that staff need to be let go to properly handle the call volume. Employing the agent status feature actually enables them to notice exceptional agent productivity and detect inefficiencies. Thereafter, strategies can be adopted to exempt the shortcomings of the system.

2. Encourages teamworking:

Agents can easily determine who is available to make and receive calls, with the help of this call center software feature. In the case of call transfers, agent status is very useful as it helps ensure that customers who are transferred are connected quickly with available agents. It enables the agents to easily stay updated with the present status of all the others, hence further encouraging teamwork. This efficacious software helps them know exactly when to reach out, when to transfer a call and when they should take a break. Thus, the entire staff can work as a team with the help of this software.

December 4, 2023

Advantages of having blended agents

In the context of a call center, the term blended agents refers to the agents who manage both incoming and outgoing calls and applications as needed. Need is determined by contact center traffic levels. The blended agents in any call center are trained to handle both incoming and outgoing calls. This training generally involves:

i) Automatic call distribution system identifying a rise in incoming call volume a

ii) Switching outbound agents’ duties to handle the overflow.

As an alternative, inbound agents can be assigned to outbound calls when the incoming volume is low.

In a blended call environment, the managers can decide when more agents are required for as particular role and instruct them to swith. And all this can be done in the absence of an automated system. Having blended call agents at your call center has a number of advantages like:

i) Increased occupancy

ii) Promotion of short-term offerings

iii) Reduced queueing

iv) Greater staff satisfaction

Blended agents have a huge potential of adding value to a variety of contact centres, and are especially useful in centers with few seats. The reason for this is that small centres are vulnerable to low levels of occupancy which further leads to low efficiency, based on peaks and troughs in call volume. In centres where low occupancy is a major issue, adopting a blended approach can prove to be highly profitable. Instead of revisiting scheduling practices, this technique can act as an efficacious solution to such a problem of low occupancy. Moreover, blended agents can be used on a short-term basis to promote campaigns. Inbound agents can be trained against a simple script to make outbound calls for the duration of a promotion. Employing a blended environment in call centers can also help utilize the resources efficiently and effectively.

December 4, 2023

Steps to design an effective quality monitoring process

Quality monitoring process aims at evaluating the agents in an effective manner. It is employed to identify the calls failing to meet predefined standards. Thereafter, you can make informed decisions to make the process better, faster and quicker. The following steps need to be followed when trying to design an effective quality monitoring process:

1. Determine and define the objectives:

The very first step of this process is to determine important goals. Once it’s done, these goals need to be defined along with intended results. Based on the goals and intended results, tasks should be assigned to the various individuals.

2. Educate the agents about the process’s merits:

When you decide to install a quality monitoring system, you may face resistance from the agents. You can combat this problem by explaining the merits. This would encourage them to support you.

3. Call selection:

Non-routine customer calls need to be selected for greater effectiveness of your QA program. These calls include the ones:

i) that were transferred multiple times

ii) those were either shorter or longer than usual

iii) that originated from certain geographies or customers

iv) that involved some particular activity on the PC screen of the agent

4. Conduct a monthly audit procedure:
Conducting a quality audit procedure can help examine the various qualities and skills like adherence to processes, product knowledge, call control, courtesy, empathy, accuracy, and clarity of voice. The scoring evaluation should be capable of reflecting the goal of a contact center. Moreover, scorecards or quality monitoring forms should be arranged by categories.

5. Make use of process maps:

Consider creating and documenting a process map for the call center’s quality monitoring system. The document should describe responsibilities of people, their roles, and the techniques/tools to be used. Calls recording should be employed and the agent must listen to his/her own calls from time to time to conduct a self-assessment.

December 3, 2023

Tips for designing an effective call scoring evaluation form

These days, call scoring evaluation forms are being extensively utilized when analyzing live or recorded calls. These forms, when used along with call recording are highly beneficial for the call centers as they can be used to help enrich the feedback provided to agents during coaching sessions. This helps enhance the agents’ motivation to improve their performance. As a matter of fact, a poorly designed call scoring evaluation form will result in data that does not accurately assess agent performance, lacks key performance areas and is not reliable. So, it is very important to design a call scoring evaluation form that eliminates all of the above errors. Here, we have mentioned some useful tips that you should consider while designing the same:

1. Encourage employee engagement at different levels:

For designing an effective call scoring evaluation form, consider involving employees at various levels to help you in your quality assurance program. Engaging employees fro various levels means, taking assistance from everyone starting from managers, trainers, supervisors, to even agents in the call center.

2. Leverage your internal Q&A system:

An internal Q&A system helps you determine the efficiency level of all the internal processes being employed. The measurement should be done based on the points that are regarded as important by customers.

3. Prioritize the categories in the form:

In order to make the call scoring evaluation form effective, you need to prioritize the decided categories with respect to their relevance and importance.

4. Test and review:

Once you are done with the form making process, you need to test and review your call scoring evaluation before it can be rolled out for implementation.

5. Train your agents:

After you have tested and reviewed the form, consider training all employees in your call center on the new scoring evaluation form. This will help them have a proper clarity on what items are being measured in the evaluation form and what is the process of doing that.

December 3, 2023

Call recording and its significance: III

1.Enhances customer satisfaction:

The quality of interaction between a call center agent and a customer decides the efficiency of customer service which further affects customer satisfaction. Therefore, the agent has to communicate clearly, maintain phone etiquette, treat the customer with respect, maintain a pleasant tone throughout the conversation, and provide resolution to all their queries. As mentioned earlier, call recording helps management check whether an agent has efficiently performed in an expected manner or not. It helps managers to resolve customer complaints in an appropriate manner. Also, it enables the agent to play nice knowing that his / her call is being monitored. Moreover, this forces the agent to be consistently professional in all the calls.

2. Improves security:

An appropriate call recording system can be highly beneficial to a company employing it. It helps reduce inappropriate calls and detect any security problems. It enables you to monitor employee interaction to reduce inappropriate conversations. Call recording exempts the chances of agents using the resources for personal use as it also helps to reduce personal phone calls. However, all the call centers are required to inform the customer beforehand that the call is getting recorded. This, in turn, causes the customers to refrain from using abusive language on the call. In other words, a call recording system actually helps to keep the conversations professional.

3. Corporate liability and compliance:

As a matter of fact, even a simple miscommunication can lead to a potential lawsuit. So, almost all companies have the potential to face lawsuits. Hence, a call recording system enables your company to diffuse many such scenarios. Moreover, new and old government regulations require all companies to be compliant with their business practices. So, call recording also helps to maintain compliance with all these regulatory groups. In other words, it exempts any chances of you being prosecuted or fined.

December 3, 2023

Call recording and its significance: I

Call recording software records telephone conversations over PSTN or VoIP in a digital audio file format but it’s distinct from call logging and tracking. However, the software may include both recording and logging functionality. The actual recording takes place on a recording system with software for the management of calls and security of recordings. Most call recording software applications rely on an analog signal via either a call recording adapter or a telephony board. It offers a number of benefits to the call centers that use it. Some of those advantages are mentioned below:

1. Knowing agents’ struggles and helping them overcome them:

Call recording along with call scoring can be used for accurately assessing call center agent performance. While call recording helps gather qualitative data from customer interactions, call scoring helps gather quantitative performance measures. In other words, it helps managers gain a more comprehensive understanding of an agent’s performance deficits and proficiencies. They can know about agents’ struggles regarding various call types by analyzing call recordings. This also helps them to gain a comprehensive understanding of where the agent is going wrong. Thereafter, strategies can be employed to enhance agets’ performance.

2. Providing sales training to the agents:

Call recording and call scoring, together provide valuable insights into agents’ performance which can further be utilized to provide effective sales training to the agents. This training should include educating the agents about different tactics that can help improve customer service. For example, they can be taught about the correct ways of pitching a product to the customer. Calls of experienced agents can be played to trainees or junior agents so that they can gain points from it. Moreover, bad calls can be played to point out the things that affect the customer experience in a negative manner and should be avoided.

December 2, 2023

Call blending and its unmatched benefits

Call blending refers to the capability to make outbound calls while also being able to receive inbound calls, all in one easy technologically created the system. It helps in the equal distribution of calls among the workstations in a call center. This means that all the agents have the same workload which further leads to increased customer satisfaction. These days, call blending is being used by a number of call centers to maximize the productivity of agents without overworking them. This process is entirely automatic as an agent finishes with an outbound call and becomes free, a tone will emit from his or her headset signaling that the line is connected to another caller.

There are a number of benefits of using call blending:

1. It increases customer satisfaction:

When you allow your agents to take both inbound and outbound calls at the same time, a number of incoming calls lowers down. This causes the workload to be equally distributed such that each agent receives the same number of callers. Since everyone stays busy and productive, the number of net calls accommodated in a day boosts up which further results in a higher satisfaction level from your customers.

2. It helps cut down on expenses:

Call blending enables your agents to take inbound and outbound calls which cut down your need to hire more employees. Thus, you can save on your payroll. With proper training, each agent can take on the responsibility of handling both inbound and outbound calls. Also, they can carry out the task without sacrificing the quality of customer service calls.

3. It helps accommodate customers’ needs efficiently:

With call blending each agent is provided with all the necessary information through utilizing a feature called screen pop. This enables all your representatives to respond more intelligently to their calls. Thus, with sufficient information on hand, an agent is able to accommodate a customer’s needs effectively.

December 2, 2023

All you need to know about workforce management

Workforce management is a term used for an institutional process that maximizes performance levels and competency for an organization. This process consists of all the activities needed to maintain a productive workforce, such as field service management, human resource management, performance and training management, data collection, recruiting, budgeting, forecasting, scheduling, and analytics. In other words, workforce management is an integrated set of processes that call centers use to optimize the productivity of its agents on the individual, departmental, and entity-wide levels. It also includes determining and providing schedules, forecasting, and adherence for a workforce in their future events.

The process provides a common set of performance-based tools and software for the service optimization in corporate management, front-line supervisors, store managers and workers across manufacturing, distribution, transportation, and retail operations.

The solutions using this management process can be deployed enterprise-wide and through mobile platforms. By using a software solution for demand-oriented workforce management, planners can optimize staffing by creating schedules that obey the forecasted requirements at all times. Moreover, it helps users to observe all relevant legislation, local agreements and the contracts of individual employees including work-life balance guidelines.

These efficient solutions are meant to satisfy the reality of the work that is being presented to agents. These solutions help the agents to inculcate a pool of in-depth and specific talent to be available in order to satisfy customers fully. Some of these talents include:

i) good listening ability

ii) familiarity with keyboard and IT skills and a

iii) knowledge of the business they are working in

iv) familiarity with either specific customers or customer subsets

v) specific technical knowledge

vi) exceptional customer experience and empowerment for the customer

vii) language skills (both in domestic and international markets)

viii) ability to deal with multimedia interactions

ix) Similar regional accent to the caller (where applicable).

December 2, 2023

Tips to reduce after call work time: II

1. Use repetitive calls as an advantage for wrap time:

Repetitive calls can be advantageous for work time. Consider making a process document of common best practice call text paragraphs. These call text paragraphs can further be classified into the types of calls your agents receive. This categorized process document can then be sent to them electronically so that they can have it open on their desktop and paste across without re-writing standard advice/actions every time. Some of this text may also be useful to paste into emails which would further save their time.

2. Make the most out of “hold time”:

There are many instances when calls may have to be put on hold to verify some facts or to route it to another agent or to look up for a solution. This hold time can actually be leveraged to increase the efficiency. Therefore, if you train your agents properly, they may be able to utilize this time to make some entries into the call log in order to reduce the ACW load.

3. Consider getting feedback:

This strategy can be highly helpful in reducing the after call work time. For this, you need to find out how useful the call text is to the people that depend upon it (other departments, levels of escalation, field operatives, etc.). You also need to know if the details that are being entered are correct or not. In case something is essential or not needed let your team know.

4. Review:

Lastly, review the statistics and quality of call text from a cross section of team members. Identify the good ones that could be shared as best practice. Also, make sure to identify people that continually take longer in wrap or produce poor results so as to coach them and improve their efficacy.

December 1, 2023

Tips to reduce after call work time: I

After call work time is a term used to describe the time taken by an agent to complete any transactions or work for a customer after the call has ended. This is considered as an important bit of time in a contact center once a call has ended when the advisor can update the system with the caller’s resolution, next steps, details or order notes. Apart from this, they may also need to make some outbound calls or send emails during this time to progress the caller’s resolution. Once it is done, the agent has to feed the relevant data into the CRM software so that it can be recorded for security purpose and for future marketing needs.

Now, we know the significance of after call work time. Let’s have a look at some of the strategies to reduce it in order to increase the efficiency of the call center:

1. Provide proper training to the agents:

In order to reduce the after call work time, you need to train your agents clearly on what is required in call text, logs or notes. You can consider employing speech analytics software to make entries into the CRM data sheet or call logs automatically. You need to train your agents appropriately before they can use this technology efficiently. Their minds should be trained in a way that they are able to multi-function. They should be efficient enough to not make typos and spot them quickly. Moreover, they should be able to make some notes and entries while talking to the client without taking the attention of the caller. This would help improve KPIs.

2. Strive to manage time classifications:

The overall wrap times of a call center will be hugely inflated if people are using these for breaks, chat time, drink refills, etc. As a matter of fact, most contact centers do have targets on wrap time, which can vary depending on the type of center, but often around 5% of average handling time is used. Making the time classifications clear at a team briefing can help in improving the metrics to a large extent.

December 1, 2023

Your guide to speech analytics software

Speech analytics refers to the process of analyzing recorded calls to gather customer information to improve communication and future interaction. The process is primarily used by customer contact centers to extract information regarding client interactions with an enterprise. Speech analytics is somewhat similar to automatic speech recognition, however, it can also be used for analyzing the topic being discussed, which is weighed against the emotional character of the speech and the amount and locations of speech versus non-speech during the interaction. The technology can be leveraged to know about cost drivers, trend analysis, identify strengths and weaknesses with processes and products, and help understand how the marketplace perceives offerings.

Speech analytics applications are capable of spotting spoken keywords or phrases, either as real-time alerts on live audio or as a post-processing step on recorded speech. It can also be used for categorization of speech in the contact center environment to identify calls from unsatisfied customers.

Call centers employ speech analytics software to identify things like the reason for the call, the products mentioned and the caller’s mood. Speech analytics software is capable of quickly identifying a customer’s needs, wants and expectations if used efficaciously. Moreover, it also helps in identifying areas that need improvement for agents and the business.

Speech analytics software can also be used to monitor and coach agents. It can further be used for assisting in managing customers and their data. In the case of call monitoring, speech analytics software can help identify selling opportunities and track script adherence and regulatory compliance. When inculcated in the training module, this software can help to improve first call resolution and shorten call times. Operational and performance issues can be found and managed effectively through customer as well as agent monitoring.

December 1, 2023

Your guide to call center schedule adherence

Call center schedule adherence is an important terminology related to call centers. It refers to the common metric used in the call center to determine whether or not call center agents are working the amount of time they are scheduled to work. Schedule adherence can take into account time spent on breaks or do non-call related work.

Measurement:

Schedule adherence is measured as follows:

Total time a call center agent is available for call work / The time they are scheduled to work

The result is expressed as a percentage. Most call centers define a target schedule adherence percentage that allows for some free time beyond the known scheduled lunch and break times. However, there are instances where agents to go out of adherence as call center schedules tend to be complex.

Importance:

Call center schedule adherence is a crucial call center metric that ensures smooth transitions between shifts assigned to the agents. These days, web-based call center scheduling solutions have become essential to track schedule adherence in real-time with automatic alerts. You can leverage these tools for an appropriate calculation of schedule adherence. Moreover, these tools can be used to track adherence in real-time. Thereafter, these adherence reports can be shared with agents and they can be told how they are doing as it is important to give regular feedback regarding adherence statistics.

Web based tools for workforce management — Web-based tools for workforce management

You need to consider informing and educating your agents before implementing a new program. This is vital in order to reduce negative backlash from your agents in such cases. Agents need to understand the relevance of schedule adherence and how it affects the call center’s performance. Also, providing incentives by rewarding agents that adhere to their schedule through recognition within the team, will further motivate them to perform better and deliver exceptional services.

December 1, 2023

Tactics to reduce your call abandon rate: V

1. Provide your agents with the right tools:

The tools that you provide to your agents play a crucial role in deciding the quality of their service. In certain scenarios where the agents are provided with complex tools, that they are unable to use appropriately, they take much more time than expected to handle calls. This affects the quality of customer service and boosts the call abandon rates. Thus, instead of using five different tools which are for free, consider having a developer create one tool that incorporates all the five tools and is easy to use as well. This will help increase your agents’ efficiency and ultimately lower the call abandon rates.

2. Find the appropriate agents:

Finding the right people to do work can help assure that calls would be handled quite nicely. With all the calls handled well, the time spent on one call should be short and there would be a lot less number in the queue. Thereafter assigning the respective tasks to the appropriate agents will help you be sure that work will be done well and there will be minimal or no delays. This further means that the callers will not have to wait for long time intervals and their calls will be transferred to the agents as soon as possible. Therefore, customer satisfaction would be an added bonus along with a lowered call abandon rate.

3. Make use of the right technology:

Though there is no harm, making use of old tools and old equipments but sometimes these can run slow and affect how agents work. This can, in turn, increase the call handling time and also increase call abandon rate. So, you need to find and use the best, fastest and most efficacious technology. An upgraded, efficient technology helps a lot, especially when you are multi-tasking.

November 30, 2023

Strategies to improve first call resolution stats: III

1. Avoid conflicting metrics:

Call centers make use of a number of metrics to determine quality and profitability. Some of these metrics are business oriented and others are customer oriented. In order to boost the first call resolution stats, the metrics provided by the call center should be clear enough in order to avoid any confusion. Let’s take an example of conflicting metrics: If the focus is on reducing the time per call the call centers might find FCR rates falling as agents would be looking to wrap up the call as soon as possible, irrespective of the customer issues. Thus, the call center metrics should be exempted of all sorts of confusions.

2. Make use of agent feedback:

Agent feedback is yet another tactic of improving first call resolution stats. This requires instituting a system of soliciting feedback from your agents. Since they deal with customers all day long, they can provide insights on what changes can be made to improve FCR rate. These agent feedbacks can be used to ask about workflow, systems and processes that need to be tweaked or implemented to achieve higher rates.

3. Ensure the proper functioning of your IVR system:

A properly functioning IVR system is highly recommended for improving first call resolution rates. It exempts customer frustration so that do not hang up. Moreover, this improves the efficiency of the call center system.

4. Ensure proper resource access to the agents:

There are instances where given the dozens of applications agents need to deal with on each call, they aren’t able to quickly access that information. This causes customers to be transferred multiple times which further leads to customer dissatisfaction. Another common hurdle to first call resolution is that agents are not given the authority to deal with issues beyond the basic, such as dealing with returns, offering discounts, etc. and then the customer call gets forwarded. Therefore, providing proper access to resources can help your agents work efficiently and hence increase FCR stats.

November 29, 2023

Strategies to improve first call resolution stats: I

In our previous post, we talked about the importance of FCR for call centers. You are now familiar with the numerous benefits that first call resolution can provide you once you start using it in your organization. Now, let’s look at the some of the effective strategies that can be employed to improve your first call resolution stats:

1. Leverage knowledge database:

In order to boost the FCR rate, knowledge database can be used as a powerful tool. Provide updated, highly informative and quality knowledge databases to your agents. Make sure that the articles in the database should be clear and concise, with good instructions on how to fix the issues. The knowledge database should be efficient enough so that the agents do not have to scroll through tons of unnecessary information.

2. Train your agents and provide them superior analytical tools:

Invest in training your front line agents in all the necessary elements related to your business operations. Properly trained agents can do little even if they do not have good customer service tools and resources at their disposal. To boost the FCR stats further, you can even consider investing in an efficient live chat solution that identifies where the other person is chatting from. You can deploy tools with superior analytics capabilities and knowledge resources that make updating your FAQs and knowledge base easy.

3. Monitor call quality:

Monitoring involves checking call quality, making sure the agents are not being rude and checking that the right processes were followed . In cases where the agents miss an easy FCR, a helpful email should be sent informing them of where they went wrong and what they can do next time. Meetings can be set up in those cases where the agent is making consistent mistakes and the FCR level is far below what it should be.

November 29, 2023

Your ultimate guide to first call resolution

First call resolution is a term related to CRM system. It means properly addressing the customer’s need the first time they call. This eliminates the need for the customer to follow up with a second call. The average time an agent spends on each call is known as talk time and is a common call center performance metric. Moreover, fast talk time averages are desirable. However, fast talk time averages accompanied by poor first call resolution rates are a sign that customer calls are not being answered satisfactorily.

Follow up calls are consistently monitored by the call center managers because in addition to being an indication of customer dissatisfaction, follow-up calls create an overall increased call volume. This further indicates the increased requirement of agents. In most cases, an increase in talk time is acceptable as long as the first call resolution rate increases along with the talk time.

According to a research conducted by CFI Group states that FCR has the most impact on customer satisfaction, and therefore, a customer’s loyalty and likelihood to recommend. It also states that across all industries, almost a fifth of all callers hung up due to dissatisfaction as their issues could not be resolved. Out of these dissatisfied callers, 68% are at risk of defection, 43% said they would definitely defect, and 25% weren’t sure. Also, it has been reported that for every 1% improvement in FCR, you get 1% improvement in customer satisfaction. Moreover, if a customer’s inquiry or problem were resolved in the first call, only 3% of those customers would be at risk of switching to a competitor.

Unresolved queries lead to dissatifaction — Unresolved queries lead to dissatisfaction

These days, some of the centers allow agents to determine if the customer’s issue was resolved on first contact while other centers use their QA (Quality Assurance) people to decide whether calls were resolved on first contact. However, this method is based on random sampling and doesn’t reflect a complete picture. On the other hand there are a number of centers that employ post-call surveys and directly ask the customer whether or not their issue was resolved on the first contact.

Tag: agents

Why you should employ a predictive dialing system: I

Your guide to predictive dialing system

All you need to know about power dialer

Agent status and its importance : II

Agent status and its importance : I

Advantages of having blended agents

Steps to design an effective quality monitoring process

Tips for designing an effective call scoring evaluation form

Call recording and its significance: III

Call recording and its significance: I

Call blending and its unmatched benefits

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