Blog Archives - Page 25 of 37 - Etech Global Services

Want to Avoid Revenue Loss? Outsource Inbound Call Centers

While every company thirsts for growth, that increase in business could leave your revenue parched. It makes sense that you and your team want to handle every aspect of your booming business, but taking on too much in one area could leave other areas neglected. To balance your revenue with your business growth, consider outsourcing inbound call center services. The Truth About Call Center Services While answering the phones are considered a typical part of operating a business, employees who already have full plates may not devote as much time and attention as they should to taking care of callers. If those callers feel their needs aren’t being met, or that they’re being rushed off of the phone in order that your employees can work on something else, they may take their calls and business to your competitors. By outsourcing your inbound call center, you and your employees don’t have to hit the pause button to answer the phone. Thoroughness Consumers often feel as if they’re treated more like nuisances and less like customers whenever they call a business. While you and your employees may not mean to be brusque over the phone, a hurried tone can easily come off this way. With outsource call center services, you can be sure customers are treated with patience in order that they get the information and time they need to know your company cares. More Than Answering Questions Another great thing about outsourcing your call center is that customer service representatives can do more than just answer questions, they can also upsell and recommend your products and services as well a gather information regarding customer buying habits. Now you’re taking full care of your customers while increasing your revenue even further. Focused Employees While the phone has to be answered, some of your team members may wish to focus solely on the job for which you hired them. Their expertise may not be in customer service, and their lack of knowledge in this area can cost you business. Once their time is freed up by not having to answer the phone, they can put the entirety of their focus on their regular duties, ensuring their responsibilities don’t fall to the wayside. An Improved Order Process Call center staff members are specifically trained to take superior care of customers and their needs. Their talents go a long way in expediting the order process for the customer, making it as efficient as possible. Once your customers realize how quick and easy it is to order from you, they’re bound to keep coming back for more. Reduced Stress Depending on how many phone calls your business gets a day, your employees can easily feel stressed and burned out attempting to juggle phone calls and take care of their other duties. This often results in poor work performance and compromised job satisfaction. With outsourcing, you take care of both your customers and your employees. You have much more to gain than just revenue by outsourcing inbound call center services. Try it for yourself to explore the full range of benefits.

Moving Beyond Intrinsic Motivation

For years, the leading theory in motivation has involved extoling the virtues of intrinsic motivation over extrinsic motivation. However, the latest research indicates that even intrinsic motivation is not enough to gain optimal performance in the workplace. The newest results of research points out the legitimacy of moving beyond intrinsic motivation and assigning value to the work they do. As many people know, extrinsic motivation is based on tangible rewards that a person receives. This type of motivation occurs outside of the individual and can include fiduciary rewards such as money or emotional rewards, such as favoritism or an alteration of behavior based on what is received. Research has always pointed to the failings of extrinsic motivation as a temporary measure that cannot be sustained long term. The reason for these failings are two-fold: motivation will lag once the reward is removed or increasingly larger rewards have to be granted in order to sustain motivation. Another threat to extrinsic motivation is that the individual will start to feel overwhelmed by the work. Traditional studies on motivation point to intrinsic motivation as long-term and sustainable. Intrinsic motivation theory relies on the fact that good feeling of accomplishment. Intrinsic motivation is internalized to the individual and relies on the principle that work is its own reward. Therefore, it is considered more sustainable and long term. However, modern research suggests that while intrinsic motivation is important, it is not the end of the motivational spectrum. Modern leadership theory holds that in order for a person to truly remain motivated, that a sense of ownership must be involved. This increased sense of ownership creates three sets of optimal performance: Alignment, where an individual’s goals are in synchronization with that of the company. With alignment, ownership is implied because the person strives to what is in the best interest of the company and sees that as the same interest he or she holds. Integration, where implied ownership exists because the person sees an organizations goals as meaningful and purposeful. Inherent, where the company’s goals follow instinctual goals of the individual. Ownership is apparent because the goals of the company fall in line with the individual’s sense of self. In terms of employee motivation, moving beyond intrinsic motivation involves the positive influence of encouraging workers to take ownership of their work. In many ways, this ownership can be likened to that of any ownership relationship versus that of leasing. Owners tend to invest more time and care into something that belongs to them, assigning it value based on that stock that they have. Employees who value their product and see it as an extension of themselves will produce more in less time and of better quality.

Canned Responses: an Important Tool for Live Support

There’s no question that live chat is a robust channel for customer engagement and resolution. Besides training staff to handle each contact in a professional and personable manner, it’s important to consider that some common interactions may benefit from pre-written scripts designed for rapid answers. For example, a live chat quick response may be appropriate if it’s a simple question about return policies, bill payment methods or refunds. During a session, it’s vital to give agents access to a bank of these responses to aid them in speedy yet complete resolution. Ready When Your Agents Are A “canned response” is a short script written ahead of time with enough details to assist the customer with an inquiry. If a live chat platform supports an in-application database of these scripts, this is especially useful. With some simple navigation, representatives can import the text into their chat sessions. Shorting response times and reducing the probability of errors and typos are just a couple of the benefits. Know When to Use Them A mix of personal interaction with a live chat quick response is ideal. The experience is still built around the needs of the client, while offering the benefits of speed and accuracy to both customer and representative. Then, live chat support becomes a powerful resource and medium, and is best positioned to serve customers. When drafting your pre-written scripts, craft greetings to be short, simple and professional. Also, include some appropriate replies for common situations, such as: Finding more information Admitting a mistake — and offering to correct it Telling a customer that he or she is unable to comply with the request and Involving other staff to obtain a resolution. Also, draft text to address typically questions — for example, items that might be found in a business’ frequently asked questions (FAQ) file. Don’t forget that a simple yet cordial wrap-up is also needed. Ideally, the text should encourage the client to reach out to the company again if additional support is required. A Bit of Discretion It’s vital for agents to understand appropriate scenarios in which a live chat quick response should be used. Everyday questions are fine, but for more complex situations, it’s best to rely on more customized personal responses. Not everything can be handled with a scripted reply, and it’s important for representatives to remember this. Live chat support is one of the most powerful tools in a contact center. In addition to providing a speedy and convenient channel for customers to reach a business, it’s also an opportunity to build rapport with them. As one of the many resources in web chat, canned responses are key time-saving items that add to positive customer-business relationships. This blog was first published on LinkedIn.

Five Steps to Qualify for a Job Interview

There is no doubt that interviewing for a job is a stressful experience. It can feel like you are being judged, and, in a way, you are. Remember that your interviewer is a person too. Most hiring managers are looking for a qualified employee who can be trusted to do the job well. Stand strong behind your qualifications, and present yourself in a confident and trustworthy manner. There are some basics of interviewing that will help you build that trust in an interview. Proofread Your Resume There is no excuse for spelling errors or grammatical mistakes in your resume. Take the time to thoroughly proofread it before sending it to prospective employers. Careless mistakes on a resume reflect poorly on your attention to detail and cast doubt on your work quality. Go beyond spellcheck and grammar check on your word processor. Take the time to read your resume out loud. Have another person review it; they are more likely to catch mistakes you have looked over. Take advantage of tools like grammarly.com, and start out on the right foot. Research the Company Do your research. There is a lot to be said for a candidate that cares enough to know the company he or she is interviewing for. Scan over the LinkedIn profiles of your interviews. This simple step goes a long way to build trust. Educating yourself on an organization also gives you the confidence to answer questions in a way that relates back to the company and its goals and objectives. Be Humbly Confident You are there to show off your expertise, but do it in a gregarious and professional fashion. Assuming you know more than your interviewer and bashing them over the head with your knowledge will get you nowhere. Focus on using “we” language instead of “me” language. Tell about your group projects and collaborating with team members. Give credit where credit is due. Be Honest and Transparent Be honest about your skills. Do not be able to shine a little light on your weaknesses as well as your strengths. A certain level of vulnerability comes across as genuine and authentic. But don’t be afraid to explain how the awareness of weaknesses has actually strengthened you. Send a Thank You Note Thank you notes are not a thing of the past. Follow-up quickly with an electronic note. It doesn’t hurt to send a handwritten note soon after as well. This solidifies you in your interviewer’s mind and shows you truly care. This gesture goes a long way in this fast paced world. These trust-boosting behaviors will leave your prospective employer confident in your abilities. Enter your next interview with your head held high because you have followed these simple tips.

Four Things to Know Before Merging AI to CX

Before you make the switch to utilizing bots which can be more cost effective and less frustrating to deal with, it is vital to keep in mind that they are a means to an end. Implementing them into your current strategy can be advantageous, but keep the following things in mind before merging artificial intelligence in customer service to CX. Not all customers will be satisfied One thing to keep in mind is that introducing bots into your strategy is not for everyone. It is true that now is the time for implementation and some people are open to the idea of dealing with bots, however, not all people are not convinced. Some prefer to deal with humans and will not be satisfied solely communicating with robots. Keep in mind also that despite your belief that the customers will not be able to tell, this is not true and it is wise to have a human being ready to take over for a customer who is frustrated with a robot. It is crucial to script your bot correctly If the bots are not set up properly, the customers will more likely become frustrated. Bots run mainly on scripts because they are not as sophisticated as Al-driven machines. If the script of a bot takes a customer astray, they will become even more frustrated and this can have detrimental effects on your business and reputation. In some cases, customers may even start to migrate to alternative companies and spread the work that their experience on the phone was frustrating. Bots are an agent’s best friend When a bot is capable of taking care of part of the call such as confirming an order or resetting a password, this helps avoid wasting the agents time and keeps them available to answer more specific customer questions or concerns. Bots are not able to provide care to customers Despite common beliefs, it is not possible to form relationships with bots and customers may miss the experience of connecting with a human being on the phone. When there is only one person, the emotional element of the conversation is missing and this can affect the customer’s overall experience. It is undeniable that people appreciate the value of human interactions. Carefully implementing bots into your current strategy can be beneficial to both your profits and the company as a whole. It is important to keep in mind, however, that the value of human interactions is priceless and delivering a high quality customer experience should be a top priority.

6 Strategies to Optimize Call Center Quality Assurance

Quality assurance involves maintaining a desired level of quality and it is crucial for your call center to be aware of the ways to do this. In order to optimize call center quality assurance, take advantage of these six strategies. Focus on quality as a behavior One strategy to utilize is to evaluate the quality of your agents during training. Keeping them informed about the call selection process and telling them how well they are doing will keep them more engaged with the calls and more willing to improve. QA evaluations also allow you to measure the performance of your agents. Use analytics Another strategy is to use analytics to your advantage to find higher value calls. A few examples of higher value calls include calls that were tagged by an agent, called that were placed multiple times, calls which involved transfers, calls that were extremely long or short and calls that were directed to specific numbers within a small time frame. When you are able to pinpoint high value calls, you can detect issues you’re having and correct them accordingly. Automate QA workflow Something else to consider is to classify calls and collect data which can help determine criteria for quality monitoring. An automated QA workflow helps monitor calls with long handle times and identifies specific causes. Once again, you can pinpoint issues and decipher where the main problem lies. It can also help monitor calls with a lot of transfers and help you determine if customers are even calling the right numbers. Increase agent feedback Another strategy to consider is to speed up the feedback you give to agents. A few ways to do this is to make QA evaluations more frequent, allow the agent to have time before the call to review some information, provide call reviews on a regular basis, implement peer to peer coaching or even rotate the coaches to keep your agents from getting bored or comfortable with the same supervisor. Frequent calibration sessions A fifth way to optimize call center quality assurance is to schedule calibration sessions more frequently. This can eliminate the differences between supervisors on how they view various skills and agents may be less likely to object their ratings based on specific supervisors. Auto-scoring Lastly, you can use a speech analytics tool to use auto-scoring. Speech analytics software allows for you to set up buckets for various categories such as greeting, call recording disclaimer, contact terms and more. Utilizing these six strategies and focusing on improving call center quality monitoring can improve your call center and enhance the excellence of your agents as well as improve your customers’ experiences on the phone. This blog was first published on LinkedIn.

5 Steps to Increase Efficiency and Effectiveness in Your Quality Monitoring System

When quality monitoring for a call center is only focused on problem detection and resolution, it falls short of its full potential. A methodology that also identifies opportunities for building customer loyalty is essential for supervisors, upper management and strategic planners. These advanced, robust technologies should not forgo the “personal touch” — in fact, they are ideal opportunities to better incorporate it. These suggestions will aid anyone seeking to successfully fine-tune a call center quality assurance system. Make Sure Basic Protocols Are Followed Quality monitoring is a vital tool for ensuring that best practices in a contact center are observed. Placing new agents — as well as continuous improvement for current representatives — involves follow-up to determine if additional training is required. It is important to make sure agents get the basic protocols for call handling right, such as greeting, putting callers on hold, engaging the caller while researching information, and closing the call. With observation, it is easier to catch undesirable practices before they stick. Use Metrics Effectively Information does no good unless it is actually applied. Once gathered, it should be leveraged in order to train and develop agents as well as improve overall center performance. Call length, speed of answer, first time resolution percentage rates and other data can also be used to set performance standards, which can be evaluated and retooled as needed. Create Systems Gradually It is tempting to jump in feet first, but this can lead to being easily overwhelmed and decreases changes of meaningful application from a quality monitoring approach. Staring with simple monitoring is always a good start, and it assists with creating the building blocks for a future call center quality assurance plan. Make Data and Feedback Available Information and training intersect well when performance statistics are not only shared, but used to improve agent performance and motivate representatives who already demonstrate high levels of call handling and resolution skills. Group sessions are great for sharing best practices, and individual metrics can be used in performance reviews as well as awarding incentives. Build a Specialized QA Team Assembling a quality management team is crucial for operations. Once it is in place, these individuals must be given the necessary training and support. Identifying internal staff for this team or hiring externally based on needed skillsets are both options. Implementing call center quality assurance can often be a challenge. However, a properly executed system provides a host of benefits. Ensuring basic protocols are followed, using metrics effectively, building gradually, using the data and building a QA team are all keys in a successful plan.

Getting Smart With: Project Implementation

When project managers plot out a course for a project, they all too often take missteps that ultimately result in a project’s failure. Managers may have to deal with an unrealistic outlook, limited resources, a budget that is less than ideal, and other factors that can sabotage a project’s success. With so many obstacles in front of a project, whether that project is call center campaign implementation or anything else, how can a manager set up his or her team for success? These five best practices may help: Objectively Analyze Issues All aspects of the project should be analyzed objectively, without emotion and with a focus on clarity. This means that the project manager needs to always consider the interests of third-party vendors, stakeholders, and everyone else who is involved. This process should continue throughout the project’s duration. Create a Realistic Schedule Call center management is a delicate balancing act; you want to be optimistic about reaching objectives, but you don’t want to be so optimistic that you set yourself up for failure. Take into account the project’s limitations and potential roadblocks so you can draft a production schedule that aligns with your goals and does not put undue pressure on you. Keep a close eye on the project’s progress, and regularly discuss key dates in the project with your team. Use Real Time Monitoring Unless you constantly stay on top of a project’s progress, you may think that all is well when it is really not. How have things gone so far? Are all the pieces in place for the next phase of the project? Use metrics and other indicators so you have a clear view of both the project’s past and future. Set and Manage Expectations Avoid setting your heart on overly optimistic deployment dates and unrealistic goals for deliverables. Don’t put on your rose-colored glasses. From the get-go, set practical goals for each stage of the project, and make sure that everyone involves understands these goals and keeps them in mind. You don’t want your team to get bogged down by everyday details and forget the project’s overall objective. Take Advantage of External Audits Getting a fresh perspective from someone outside the project can help you objectively monitor its progress. You can also get new ideas on how to improve implementation, and you may get the reassurance you need to set aside any doubts and misgivings you have. Try to find a true implementation expert to help with these audits. Project success is never a given, but the above best practices can make it more likely that you’ll reach your goals.

5 Call Center Vendor Management Best Practices

As the call center vendor manager, you have a company’s success balanced on your shoulders. While the business has its share of risks, you want to make sure to minimize those risks as much as possible. After all, not only is the business at stake but so is your reputation. Here are five practices that will help you succeed. Assess Compatibility of Values When it comes down to talking to a vendor, you need to make sure that the vendor’s values align with the company’s. The best way to check this out is to take a look at their website and find out what their mission is. Look into their social media and get a feel for the organization. The more information that you can learn about the company, the more you’ll understand what’s important to them. This can help with communication and trust in the future. Establish Prices Right Away If a vendor is secretive about the price of their services, this is a big red flag. During those first conversations, you want everything to be laid out on the table. Their prices and agendas shouldn’t come as a surprise later on. You should also follow this advice and be completely transparent. If a vendor is honest, what do they have to hide? Push Boundaries and Ask Questions Have you ever been in a conversation and thought to yourself: this is too good to be true? It’s important for you to look at your potential vendor’s critically. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Even if they seem to be saying all of the right things and don’t have any flaws, you need to push those limits. Ask the hard questions so that you can see their true colors. Track Quality and Set Goals One of the keys to call center vendor management is to make sure that you know what goals your vendor has. It’s hard to get anything accomplished without a plan as to where you might be going. Talk to your vendors regularly, track their progress, quality and make sure that you’re all on the same side. Discuss Vendor Time Commitments Time management is critical to success. As a call center vendor manager you should stay on top of your vendors. Make sure that they follow through with their goals and time commitments. This will keep productivity rolling. When it comes to vendor management, it’s important that you keep success at the forefront of your mind. Hopefully, with these five practices, you will be able to meet your goals alongside your vendors.

Top Five Secrets of Vendor Management

Today’s economy is vastly different from that of the past, and it requires an increased attention to building and maintaining meaningful and mutually beneficial relationships. Not only do you need to build relationships with your customer base, but you should also make every effort to create strong relationships with your vendors. Here are a few tips to help you get started with ideal vendor management. The Relationship Is Everything When working on building trust between your company and the supplier, make sure to be completely open, honest, and professional. There is simply no room for anything else in supplier relationships. By listening to your suppliers’ concerns and keeping them involved in your process, you’ll increase your chance of strengthening your relationship and keeping your supplier around for the long haul. Identify Weaknesses In order to continue to grow as a company, you must be able to take a careful look at your successes and weaknesses. Work with your supplier and regularly evaluate the supplier data to pinpoint weaknesses in both companies. By doing this, you’ll both be able to improve your businesses, and together, you’ll be stronger. Build a Partnership Call center vendor management relies upon a partnership with your suppliers. When you treat your suppliers like the valuable partners they are, both parties will benefit. Benefits from creating a strong partnership include a willingness to collaborate, higher quality outcomes, dependability, and reduced costs. Increased Opportunities If you’re hoping for financial prosperity, you’re most likely to achieve this when you have a relationship with your vendors. Supplier relationship management often results in lower risks, higher efficiency, and increased financial benefit for all parties. All businesses tend to thrive when there’s a collaborative effort on all accounts, from managers, to employees, to suppliers. Do your best to connect and maintain positive relationships with everyone you work with, and you’re on your way to a successful business. Use the Technology Available Technology is evolving quickly, and there are many different systems you can use to simplify the process. SRM technology can be extremely helpful to both your company and the supplier, as valuable information is at your fingertips in an easy to digest presentation. With the data you need just a click away, make sure to routinely analyze this information to get the most out of supplier relationships. By utilizing the technology available to you, you’ll be able to keep your communication with suppliers strong and continually evolve your business to improve upon weak areas.

7 Incorrect Ways of Call Quality Monitoring

Keeping your customer service quality at the top of its game is an important tool for your company’s continued growth. This truth drives the central purpose of call quality monitoring, which is to ensure that customers get what they need in an accessible, professional way every time they call. Maintaining this standard is about more than just developing quality assurance evaluation criteria that work for your customers. It is also about making sure you avoid these seven major missteps that take your call quality in the wrong direction. Monitoring Only Agents IVR systems are a major point of customer dissatisfaction in a lot of situations where call centers wind up getting less than stellar reviews. By monitoring when customers opt out of the IVR system, when they hang up, and how they use it to complete their calls without needing an agent, you are able to build a better idea of how it is working for you, and eventually a better system. Without that information, you will never even know if your IVR is the problem. Failing to Provide Training and Support The entire purpose of call quality monitoring is defeated if employees receive ratings and feedback but not training and support to effect change. If you want to see real results from your quality team, they need to use feedback as a pivot, moving from issues into direct strategies employees can use to be successful. Yes/No Evaluation Criteria Just like a failure to provide training, a failure to provide nuanced feedback really keeps employees from following through on quality goals and improvements, because it doesn’t provide them with the information they need to successfully navigate the situation. Failing to Get Agents on Your Side Your quality program is only as good as its support within the department. If agents view quality feedback as policing, or as unproductive, then they tend not to follow through with the steps needed to grow and to attain the objectives that define the purpose of call quality monitoring. This means that in a situation where you do not have the backing of the agents, it is likely that quality assurance is not working at all. Individualized Interpretation of Guidelines This is an issue for any organization, but if you hold regular calibration sessions, it does not need to be. Most employees will do their best with guidelines and instructions, but only by reviewing the expectations together in an environment that allows for questions to be asked and clarification given can you be sure everyone is understanding the goals and procedures in the same way. Being Secretive Your best results are obtained when employees understand how and why they are being evaluated, as well as what to do with the information they receive. By being secretive about sampling, monitoring, or any other aspect of your ongoing evaluations, you only work against your own objectives. Failing to Reward Staff for Improved Satisfaction Last but not least, quality programs fall apart when staff does not feel invested in quality. That means that when your program starts to reach its objectives, you reward the agents and other staff involved in making it to this new benchmark. By steering clear of these seven wrong ways to do quality monitoring, you begin to carve a path toward a sustainable, consistently improving quality program. This blog was first published on LinkedIn.

Enhance Call Center Productivity With HR Involvement

If you run a call center, your main focus is probably on efficiency at all costs. Of course, call centers rely on efficiency to gain the best results, but you might be surprised by how to attain a high level of efficiency from employees. Improve Employee Morale Call centers are notorious for producing unhappy employees, and in turn, productivity suffers. Some call centers attempt to break the cycle of disinterested employees by implementing a rewards system for placing more calls. However, this often backfires, as the pressure to make more calls increases and the employees actually end up feeling more discouraged than before. While incentives have the potential to work well, bringing in a strong HR team to a call center environment has a much bigger chance to have a positive result on employees. Create Happy Staff The ultimate goal of HR in any company is to create a work environment that both employees and employers can feel comfortable in. Without a qualified and experienced HR team in place, it’s likely that your workplace will suffer. It’s essential that every employee be treated fairly as a valued member of the team to keep call center productivity high. In call centers, it’s easy for these employees to simply feel like a cog in the machine. This leads to a drop in meaningful work, and the final result is a blow to the company as a whole. If your main priority is keeping your employees happy, take the steps toward hiring an HR team to help you reach your goals. Change Your Business to Reflect Customer Needs As customers continue to enjoy engagement with companies, call centers are wise to change their policies to reflect this desire. In order for employees to be effective in all channels of communication, HR should step in to provide training and guidance. When every employee is confident in his or her abilities and is excited about the work, your business will thrive. Act Quickly If you do not currently have an HR team for your call center, consider starting the process to hire an HR leader immediately. However, be sure to take some time to conduct a bit of research on what to look for in HR professionals before hiring. For best results, consider applicants with previous experience in HR, or those with HR or communications degrees. Once you add a team of HR professionals to your workplace, it’s likely that you’ll notice a change in call center employee engagement.

3 Ways to Create Authentic and Relevant Connection with Your Team

In order to have an authentic connection with people at your workplace, you need to show a certain level of vulnerability. Your leadership journey should start with a Leadership Point of View. Wickline describes this in an August issue of Blanchard Ignite as a story about, “. . .the people and events that have shaped who you are. It also speaks to your values, your beliefs and what drives you as a leader.” This is not always easy. Many people find opening up to be scary and emotional. Wickline suggests a couple of first steps to get you started on your journey. Take Time to Reflect Look back on where you’ve been and how you gained your current perspectives and values. Your past is part of your leadership journey as well as your present. Reflecting back gives you a lot on insight into who you are now. Even Wickline gained value from this exercise. “When I started working on my Leadership Point of View, I had to think long and hard about my current attitudes and how they came to be. For example, when somebody tells me I can’t do something, I immediately fight against that and do whatever it takes to prove them wrong. Where on earth did that come from?” Tell A Story Many times reflecting back will bring to light stories. Stories help you connect with people. An employee relationship is easy to build when you present your authentic self through these successes and failures. Wickline expounds on the importance of stories: “People remember stories. If I just say, ‘Here is a list of things I think are important,’ people won’t remember that. But when I tell stories about experiences I’ve had or share something I learned from my mom or dad, it makes a connection.” Creating a Deeper Connection As you open up to people, they will start responding to you. A leader is more than just a boss. A leader is someone you respect and want to follow. Through your stories you allow people to connect with you in a more meaningful way. Your leadership experience helps guide others in their own journey. Good things to share include life events that have shaped you, people who have influenced you and everyday happenings that keep you motivated. Wickline shares the benefits of this process by saying, “People who put the time and energy into this process consistently look back on the experience as something that helped them rediscover the values and beliefs they hold dear. Sharing your story with your team creates a deep connection.” So don’t be afraid to share a bit of yourself and allow yourself to be vulnerable every now and then.

Is Your Call Calibration Integrated to QA Scoring and Coaching?

During a call center interaction between a representative and customer, a third participant sometimes monitors the call to ensure quality. This is called call calibration, and it is a very effective way to ensure that the quality of your customer service remains high. Businesses score the quality of the call using the call quality guidelines and quality monitoring form to provide representatives with feedback. If there is a problem with your call calibration, it will inevitably lead to customer service issues. Read the information below to determine if your call calibration is properly integrated with your coaching and scoring technique. The Benefits of a Uniform Approach Your calibration sessions will only be helpful if everyone has agreed to adhere to a single set of standards and objectives. If all participants have not agreed, there will be no uniform scoring method. It can take a while for your workers to adjust to a uniform set of guidelines, but once they do, your calibration sessions will allow you to enjoy the following benefits. Calls are measure consistently, regardless of which calibration professional scores it. Call monitors understand how to properly evaluate calls and adhere to performance standards and objectives. Representatives or agents receive fast, consistent feedback regardless of which QA monitor issues it. Calls are evaluated uniformly by all supervisors and QA monitors. Coaching improves because everyone is on the same page and uses the same approach. Tips for Successful Calibration Sessions There are numerous ways to ensure that your call calibration sessions are successful, including the following. Classify the nature of your calls, and select them according to your own QA needs. Devote at least one hour to each calibration session. If you need to determine which participants need coaching, send a copy of the recorded call to a QA monitor, and have them score it prior to the session independently. Record these independent scores for your own records. Have a single person give a summary of the call. Discuss variations in scores and review objectives with participants. Once a call is scored, ask the scorer for an explanation. Summarize lessons learned at the end of each session. Help each member understand whether or not they met the standards, and review the standards after each discussion. Take notes for future reference and for your own records. Prior to each session, go over the Call Quality Guide. Scores may vary, but you should always set an acceptable variance standard. Once the participants get used to the new guide, you can lower the window of variance to five points or less. If you are utilizing recorded calls, you may want to post the scores so that any variance will stand out. If you prefer to utilize live calls, you can have the participants score them one at a time. Just be sure that you go over the results with each scorer. Review the guide with participants before the start of each calibration session. Following the tips above will help you make the most of your calibration sessions. It will also ensure that the participants have a non-confrontational and supportive environment to voice their opinions and concerns in. This blog was first published on LinkedIn.

Call Center: Myths Vs Reality

There are a lot of misconceptions when it comes to call centers and how people perceive them. They don’t often realize how drastically call centers have changed over the years. Thanks to constant advancements in technology, call centers are transforming the way they do business and deal with customers. Here are three common myths associated with call centers. Contact centers are “cost centers” not revenue generators One common misconception is that contact centers are simply cost centers as opposed to revenue generators. The customer service experience is a top priority. A satisfied and happy customer is far more likely to recommend a company than someone who is dissatisfied. This makes creating a positive experience for the customers absolutely crucial. There is tremendous emphasis on providing quality service which translates into positive promotion and a higher potential for more leads, more customers, and ultimately more revenue. Customers don’t use the phone for support anymore This is one of the biggest myths out there. Customers mostly prefer to speak to agents over the phone, according to research, to resolve complicated issues. The telephone is a great way to connect and get questions or problems solved in a timely manner. Often times customers have to switch from web to phones to get their questions answered. It is much easier to clarify a point when you are able to articulate it. Call center managers are only concerned with cost-per-call and chat-bots are replacing humans Although cost-per-call remains extremely important, customer satisfaction and the quality of service are now the priorities. It is how companies are differentiating themselves from the competition, and new development metrics have been put in place to measure those areas. It is also often believed that chat-bots will completely replace humans in the contact center. This is definitely a myth as that personalized interaction is the foundation of good service. Humans will continue to answer questions and support customers and will always remain critical components of call centers because the value of human interactions is priceless. Don’t get me wrong, bots can be beneficial because they can eliminate the need for agents to have to answer the same questions time and time again, but the critical and complex situations require that agents are always readily available. A lot misconceptions will continue to arise as our technology continues to evolve. Human interaction, however, will always be an integral part of the contact center industry. As bots become more apparent their use will continue to serve as a way to answer quick, easy and frequently asked questions. This will allow the agents to do more to positively influence the customer experience… A personalized, human, experience.

How to Avoid Frustration and Still Lead with Patience

Leaders are often tasked with dealing with several different personality types, some of whom are difficult to cope with. However, even in the most trying situations when working with difficult people in the office, it is important to maintain a sense of decorum. Part of that decorum is knowing how to avoid frustration and still lead with patience. A working knowledge of the different personality types can help effective leaders with employee grievance handling and enable them to avoid conflict and improve overall workplace productivity. Though there are many types of difficult people in workplace, the five most common types that leaders will have to handle typically fall into these categories: the bully, the gossip, the narcissist, the naysayer and the passive aggressive type. While each of these personalities have their shortcomings, each of the negative traits they display can be turned into positives with patience and perseverance. From a leader’s perspective, a way to turn negative behavior into a positive experience is to remember to stay focused on the specific goal that is trying to be obtained. One key to neutralizing the negative behavior in the workplace is to actually include the person in the conversation. Even the most hostile negative behaviors can be neutralized when attention to the task at hand is prevalence. Regardless of the type of worker encountered at work, a true leader knows how to handle confrontations in the workplace, and in many cases, is able to diffuse the negative traits of many personality types. Another key to neutralizing negative behavior is following Franklin Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. One of these habits involves an internal shifting of attitudes toward people with problem behavior. Called a paradigm shift, this approach often allows leaders to gain a better understanding of an employee’s reason for the negative behavior. Many will think acknowledging negative behavior is counterproductive. However, leaders who keep the goal of a meeting in mind know that negative behavior is often a manifestation of frustration on the part of the employee who feels unheard or undervalued. The simple act of listening to an employee and encouraging participation can not only alter the course of a company, but also the negative behaviors. The leader who know how to avoid frustration and still lead with patience can gain not only the confidence of those he or she leads, but can also bring out the best qualities in employees who sometimes exhibit the worst traits.

How to Boost Call Center Quality

Your call center is the first point of contact customers have with your company, and your customers will form an opinion of you based on the quality of your call center team. Therefore, the importance of maintaining the highest standards of call center quality assurance cannot be overemphasized. The goal of every call center should be constant improvement. A contact center quality monitoring system can help you achieve this goal, but is most effective when combined with these additional strategies for boosting call center quality assurance. Have a Quality Goal in Mind If you aren’t working towards a concrete goal, you might as well be grasping at straws. The key to growth and constant improvement is to have a clear goal of the quality standards you want every agent to adhere to. This goal should be a minimum requirement and should be achievable without being too easy to obtain. When setting your quality goals, keep every aspect of the customer interaction process in mind. For example, you should aim to have separate, distinct goals for each of the following areas: Sales Customer support Problem resolution Follow-up Feedback If your team does not know what is expected from them during each stage of the customer interaction process, it will be difficult for them to maintain a sharp, goal-driven focus. It is important to understand that no call center team can achieve perfection, but perfection is the very goal they should be striving for individually and collectively. Reaching for the stars ensures that they still come out on top even if they fall slightly short of their goal. Utilize Technology If you don’t provide your call center managers with sufficient technology to monitor their progress and shortcomings, you are setting them up for failure. The best call center quality assurance programs are typically those that include call tracking, accounting and recording technology. Rely on your managers to decide what type of technological systems will best help them accomplish their goals and identify weaknesses and strengths with ease. Keep Track of KPIs and Metrics Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and metrics are invaluable tools that should be tracked and analyzed religiously. These tools can reveal invaluable information including average call handling time, call resolution rates and more. If you are not currently keeping track of your KPIs and Metrics, you have no way to measure your weaknesses or the improvements that your team makes. Rather than using the information gleaned from your metrics to punish your team or impose additional rules on them, use them as an opportunity to show your team what areas have room for improvement. Showing the data to your team and helping them come up with call quality procedures and goals will help them take pride and ownership in their roles. Improving call center quality assurance is one of the most important things you can do for the benefit of your company and the improvement of your employee morale. When your employees know they are giving their best, they are more likely to take pride in their work and treat customers the way they should be treated. This blog was first published on LinkedIn.

Four Vendor Management Tips to Make Outsourcing a Win-Win Venture

Outsourcing has been responsible for the success of many companies, but how do you make it work for you? If you want outsourcing to be a win-win venture, there has to be an effort from both parties. The exceptional success that you’re capable of seeing has everything to do with the way that you manage a vendor. Here are four tips on how to see real success. Share Ideas With Vendors If you want to strengthen the relationship that you have with an outsourcing provider, make sure that you share information that would help with service. For example, if you have an offshore marketing representative, then telling them about new product designs might be beneficial. Trust is a staple of any business relationship. If you are open and honest about your ideas, it will give them the opportunity to offer better service and to reach your goals. Collaborate With Vendors When you choose a vendor to perform a major business function for your company, you clearly trust in their expertise. With that type of trust, there’s no reason not to let them in on strategy meetings. In fact, their team might be able to come up with fresh strategies. There’s a competitive edge that allowing your vendors to strategize with you brings to the table. Commitment With Vendors One of the top tips that you can be given is to make sure that there is mutual commitment. Both parties want to succeed, so it makes sense to work together to reach the goal. With your outsourced vendor, you should expect the commitment to delivering the best service possible. Likewise, they are expecting a level of commitment out of you. In order to make sure that you get the best service possible, make sure that you’re paying your fees and providing the correct information and materials necessary to see the goal come into fruition. Mutual Benefits With Vendors Call center vendor management requires that you have a contract that is mutually beneficial for you and the vendor in question. It’s important to look at the points that will affect both parties and help them to achieve their goals. It’s important that no matter what negotiations you’re in that you make sure that everyone is benefited. Don’t let anyone tell you that outsourcing can’t be successful. You can see incredible results that will benefit you and your vendors. In order to make the most out of your business relationship, follow these tips. It can be a win for both parties.

8 Objectives of Quality Monitoring

Your quality program for customer service is the main way your company directly interacts with customers, and that makes it a key component in your strategies to retain customers and to convert first time purchasers into repeat business. This puts a lot of stress on the program, especially if your organization has any questions about the role of quality monitoring. Ensuring that your employees understand your quality monitoring objectives and the overall impact that they have on the company means getting better responses to feedback and better returns on your quality improvement gestures. Individualizing Forms and Procedures The first quality objective should be to move the customer service personnel away from a “one size fits all” method of responding to customer concerns. That means understanding the variety of concerns customers have, as well as using quality monitoring to address any issues with understanding different customer needs and concerns. Keeping Forms Up to Date Your forms and procedures also stop working at the point where they no longer reflect either your customers’ experience or your offerings. Unfortunately, it can take some time for outdated forms and procedures to work themselves out naturally. This is where quality monitoring has an opportunity to take responsibility for not only the revisions, but the proliferation of those documents after each change is made. Avoid Technology as a Cure-All It is tempting to think of technology as the eventual answer to any business challenge, but the fact is that more often than not, the real change needs to be made at the level of human implementation. That means your quality objectives should weigh both what technology is used and how it is used if you are to make the most of the role of quality monitoring in your organization. Track and Share Your Results One of the major goals of your quality team should be to get the entire department excited about quality improvement. That means sharing the results of your monitoring and making sure that everyone understands the ways that these results are used to make the entire organization better. Avoid Being Seen as the ‘Call Police’ There’s no doubt that your quality monitoring objectives include some direct and quantitative goals for your company, and that is great. Being a supportive resource for growth provides an alternative that makes it easier to build rapport and gain cooperation from all the employees in a department. Hold Periodic Calibration Sessions Just as your forms and procedures need to be updated to ensure that they are changed and detailed enough to support your customer support needs, your overall approach needs to be re-calibrated from time to time across the whole department. Use Representative Sampling Many call centers rely on small samples of their overall call volume to make decisions. One of your most important customer experience to move toward representative sampling. That way, you have the confidence of knowing that your results fit the big picture. Use What Works In the end, quality monitoring objectives are about understanding what your company needs to be successful. As you calibrate yours, keep in mind that some objectives might be lower priority for your business model than others. Throw out any that don’t work, and keep on running updates and re-calibrating your procedures until the right balance emerges. This blog was first published on LinkedIn.

Three Critical Things to Know While Leading a New Team

Good leaders are never completely satisfied. They are always reaching for higher levels of excellence, and this requires a combination of self-awareness and personal growth. Leadership can be particularly challenging when you’re transitioning to a leadership position with a new team. What are some critical things you need to know if you’re going to be successful? Always Aim for Transparency One expert on leadership takes clients and leaders through a process called Leadership Point of View, which is essentially a look back at one’s own leadership journey. Think about how you got to where you are as a leader. Where did you start? What challenges did you overcome? When you share the details of your path with your new team, it helps them to better know you as a leader and a person. If you don’t share your story up front, it could take months or even years for you and your team to reach the level of understanding that could have been achieved through a simple introductory session. On occasion, take time to ask yourself, “How well does my team know me? Is there anything I can do to become more transparent as a leader?” This may mean that you have to implement a new information sharing protocol or take a more active role in team building activities. Look for Feedback The members of your new team may hesitate to give you feedback because they fear a negative response. Take the time to ask for feedback, and do so regularly. Ask for patience from your team members, and make sure they understand that you want to work with them, not lord over them. This is particularly challenging if you’re transitioning to an environment with a different cultural understanding from your own, such as if you are leading an overseas team. Don’t be afraid to be vulnerable, and be humble enough to make adjustments. Be Committed to Growth Be willing to step outside of your comfort zone for the sake of growth. Identify what isn’t working, try out new behaviors, commit to change, and rally the support you need to accomplish your goals. You may even find it beneficial to find a coach who can help you progress in your career and personally. Don’t be discouraged if at first you don’t mesh with your new team as well as you would like to. It can take time before you adapt to them and they adapt to you. However, if you remain open to growth and change, you’ll be on the pathway to success.

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