Turnover
reduction
Turnover
is the single most difficult issue ailing the call center industry.
This problem is not just an issue within the United States-based
call centers; it affects centers all over the world. Even though
the nature of call center work can drive many employees away, effective
management strategies are available that can be learned, adopted,
and measured to ensure long term turnover reduction success within
a call center. The CCRL has worked with call centers throughout
the country with both high and low turnover rates and has distilled
down key management strategies to permanently reduce turnover in
a call center.
Setting a call center strategy
Running a call center day to day is an exhaustive job.
Most of a manager’s time is spend focusing on local issues
within the center. However, without a strategy in place to align
the call center to the overall organizational mission with appropriate
tactical steps, a call center and its management can become misaligned
with a parent company or organization which can lead to problems
of mission and function over time. The CCRL has extensive experience
in working with individual call center managers and directors to
outline a strategy for their call center to ensure that it is operating
at peak efficiency while at the same time it is aligned with the
parent organization mission and quarterly and annual expectations.
Measuring
a Return on Investment (ROI)
One
of the more difficult challenges of a call center manager is to
justify its annual budget to the parent company or organization.
This is especially true for inbound centers which have been characterized
as “cost centers.” Being able to measure a return
on investment for a call center is a critical step in being able
to articulate the value of a call center to an overall organization.
Moreover, it is not only just important to be able to measure
an ROI, but also to be able to communicate this value in the language
of the company or organization-money. The CCRL has worked closely
with Drs. Patti and Jack Phillips of the ROI Institute to a construct
time-tested ROI measurement tool for the call center industry.
Working
with your local economic developer
Many
call center managers and directors do not know all of the economic
development benefits available to them and their center. These
benefits may come in the form of equipment tax credits, tax abatement,
training services for employees, training reimbursement, or discounts
on land and buildings. These benefits are often available not
only to the new employer in town but also to an employer of a
significant number of local employees every few years. The CCRL
has worked with local economic developers throughout the country
and catalogs the various and shifting benefits a call center manager
can take advantage of within their community.
Customer
satisfaction
Customers
are the source of revenue, directly or indirectly, for all call
center revenue. Without customers, call centers, companies, and
organizations will fail to exist. However, understanding customer
behavior is not a simple task for these people behave in various
ways that often seem contradictory. The CCRL has extensive experience
in measuring (both quantitative and qualitative) customer satisfaction
and loyalty.
Employee
Satisfaction
Just
as call centers are often the “face” of a company
to the customer, call center employees are the voices that these
customers hear and count on to solve problems and delivery services.
If employee satisfaction is low this message will be broadcast
to all customers. If employee satisfaction is high, the customers
will know that the company or organization they are doing business
with is well liked by the front line staff in the call center.
The CCRL has years of experience in measuring call center employee
satisfaction and bringing to the table tangible, real, and effective
action items to help improve employee satisfaction within the
call center and subsequently the message being broadcast to the
customer.
Effective
management metrics
The
number and type of metrics within a call center differ from each
call center and sometimes even between call centers within the
same organization. The purpose of such metrics is to ensure that
the call center is running effectively in a measurable way and
that the employees on the phones are productive. Most of metrics
available today and the fact that these metrics are often embedded
and pre-programmed into the technology, there is often little
room for a manager to be creative. The CCRL offers call center
managers help in defining the appropriate metrics for their center,
with the understanding that all call center are not the same and
thus each will require unique metrics. Moreover, the CCRL can
also assist the manager in creating the appropriate measurement
tools to ensure the new metrics created are measured accurately
and consistently over time. In this manner, the manager and their
goals drives the center versus the metrics driving the center
for the manager.
Employee
productivity
Because
labor cost account for approximately 85% of total call center
costs, having productive employees is not ideal, it is an absolute
requirement. However, measuring productivity is not an easy task.
The CCRL has the experience to assess an existing center and with
consultation with the center manager create, test and launch appropriate
employee productivity measures for a call center.
