The services outsourced by businesses to call centers can only guarantee favorable results if the outsourcing providers know how to improve their processes. Open Access BPO gives some universal strategies that a call center can use to boost productivity.
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Businesses outsource a variety of call center support services today. This includes customer service, technical support, sales and marketing, and multilingual support among many others. Needless to say, it's important for call centers to give their best in delivering these services in order to secure productive outcome.
While every call center may develop its own strategies, there are universal methods that can be applied by any outsourcing provider to boost productivity. Here are some of them:
1. Establish benchmarks and know what reaching each of them may mean for the call center.
Each call center goal has its own rationale, usually establishing an image of timeliness, credibility, or quality work. Understanding the importance of acing each productivity area can help call center managers design a course of action needed to meet the desired result.
2. Improve agent training and evaluation. Regular training must be employed in order to make sure that call center agents are always working at their finest.
Training must also be dedicated to orienting agents with new processes or products. Evaluation of agents' readiness must be done comprehensively so that they won't underperform when making live calls.
3. Test all equipment and processes being used and make sure they are in good shape.
Provide software updates whenever necessary. Make sure agents are also oriented about the technical operation of each tool to improve efficiency.
4. Conduct live call monitoring and evaluate call handling skills of agents.
Identify possible causes of delays or call mishandling, such as human errors or lack of orientation. Modifying processes to eliminate unnecessary procedure or to correct improper steps can reduce call duration and increase the total number of processed calls.
5. Schedule agents wisely.
Take into consideration the expected peak call times when assigning schedules to agents. For instance, new product launches and promo periods usually attract high call volumes. Agents must also be trained in handling different tasks so that vacant slots can be filled in temporarily whenever needed.
6. Work on reducing agent attrition rate.
Provide opportunities for agents to voice out concerns or give feedback and suggestions. Since hiring and training new agents can be costly for the call center, it is best to maintain a pool of seasoned and expert call center agents. They can be very helpful in securing productivity because their skills have been molded through years of experience in the business.
