In our last blog, we revisited the concept of boosting call centre production and offered up some effective ways to do just that. In today’s blog, we’d like to pick up where we left off and continue our list of production-boosting ideas.
Find ways to minimize idle time.
It’s hard to get call centre phone agents to take call after call without them taking mini-breaks in between. It’s only fair they get breathers. However, such idle time can sometimes drag on for a little too long. It’s important to be on top of this so as to not have too much time in your call centre wasted. As Rachel Saltsgaver on ICMI.com, call centre agents spend approximately 25% of their time idle.
“This paid downtime, when agents are not interacting with customers, is detrimental to contact center quality and productivity,” she notes, “Of course, some idle time is necessary in order to prevent agent burnout. However, contact centre leaders should view high rates of idle time as an indicator of inefficient operations.”
Display in-office standings.
Even if your call centre isn’t rife with sports fans, it’s hard to find people who don’t get motivated by a little friendly competition. It’s important to reward your top producers while also working to encourage others to improve upon their performances. By setting up in-office standings, not unlike those in professional sports, you’ll be able to show the entire team how everyone is performing. Make it fun by introducing mini-games that elicit boosts in production.
“On a regular basis, a leaderboard can be used positively to encourage and acknowledge the efforts and success of agents,” says digital marketing specialist, Jade Longelin on Playvox.com, “The top performing agents can be rewarded based on how many points they’ve earned…Make a point of congratulating staff who have improved their position on the leaderboard can serve as a great morale booster and push the rest of your team to do better next time around.”
Never stop your flow of feedback.
Be approachable. Let your team members know that your door is always open to them if they have questions. Offering your assistance on a regular basis is a key way to improve performances and maximize productivity at your call centre business. As Saltsgaver affirms, coaching is an effective way to teach new techniques and provide regular feedback to agents – all with the goal of improving call centre performance and quality.
“Once agents have learned important skills or pieces of knowledge, it’s easy to let those ideas get stagnant over time,” she notes, “Coaching sessions are a great way to refresh and develop employees or address glaring performance issues. Record agent interactions to use during coaching sessions to highlight areas and skills that can be improved—and applaud agents for superior examples of service.”
MeloTel’s innovative Monitor/Whisper Control Panel is practically a must-have feedback tool. The service allows you to both monitor your phone agents and whisper helpful information to them. The “monitor” feature lets you listen to the phone calls of your phone agents live and without being detected. The “whisper” features allows you to subtly drop in and coach agents on live calls at any stage of the sales process.
For more information about Monitor/Whisper Control Panel, please don’t hesitate to contact us at 1-888-MELOTEL or use the Live Chat feature on our website!
