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Call Center Measurement Hot
Topic Checklist
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Centerserve's
benchmarking results from 270 call centers found
actual abandon rates were almost twice the
abandon rate performance goals
in 3 of the 14 industries we surveyed. |
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According to Centerserve's benchmarking results, most
call centers who want to decrease costs and increase
customer satisfaction are setting goals to improve
responsiveness to their customers' requests in the first
call. So, how is that working? According to our
benchmarking results, first call resolution goals in
call centers today are between 50% -80%.
Only one industry
participating in our benchmarking study
is meeting their first call resolution goals!
For more KPI data and to compare your call center to
other call centers in your industry. Be sure to download
an excerpt of
Benchmarks in Call Center Operations. |
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Customer Satisfaction: the key
to our success! Avoid these items in your
surveys: Be sure not to ask two questions at a time, be
specific and concise. Also, be sure not to use
company lingo and stick to basic common use of the
language. Of course, keep the number of questions
to a minimum as you want complete surveys and un-frustrated customers. Make sure your
sample size is valid and represents all aspects of your
customer base (business, customer, different
geographical areas, frequent callers, first time callers
and so on). |
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How can abandon rate
be controlled? There are four primary changes to make in
order to control abandon rate: |
- Reduce hold times
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Outsource overflow calls
- Use callback options
- Inform customers about expected wait times
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The most basic method of addressing
agent availability
is by individually coaching agents. Set clear goals and
communicate those goals to agents frequently. Help
agents understand their impact on the customer and what
it means to the agent. Recall from
last week's tutorial: one on one interaction with
supervisors and strong leadership were the
#1 motivators for agents! |
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Is outsourcing the answer to your
average speed of answer goals?
Consider redirecting calls when they exceed time
thresholds or when call volumes exceed scheduled
resources. |
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Cost benchmarks: The
cost of doing business is on the forefront of our minds,
Here is an inside peek at other call center's costs.
The average cost per call across 14 industries in our
2007 Benchmarks in Call Center Operations report, is
$4.58 and steadily increasing. |
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How often should span of
control be measured? Typically, span of
control is not measured until one of the following
situations arises: |
- quality monitoring is identified as an
improvement area
- supervisors are stressed due to workload
- budget costs
- organizational changes within the department or
company
Current benchmarking data
indicates over one-fourth of surveyed call
centers in Benchmarks of Call Center Operations have a
span of control of 8 to 12 agents per supervisor. |
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There is no standard way to measure turnover, as
turnover is dependent on your call center's location,
industry and objectives. However, Centerserve's
research touts one factor to reduce costly, unwanted
turnover: leadership. One
of the major factors that impact turnover rate
is the quality of direct supervision. Though
already stated in this week's tutorial and last week's:
one on one interaction with supervisors and strong
leadership were the #1
motivators for agents! Working with
your supervisors on leadership skills will reduce costly
turnover and increase supervisor job satisfaction. It's
a win-win. |
