Quality Management and Call Centers
Think back to the last call you made to a business. Perhaps it was to your mobile network to find out about changing data packages. It could have been to a store to find out about their refund policy on that product you bought that does not work. Every day, queries just like this are done over the phone – your company is no different. Depending on how your own personal experience was, you may have noticed a few things. The quicker it was to have your question answered, the more polite, helpful and professional the call agent was and the level of knowledge that he or she had all counted in your overall impression. Now, what quality management does in this regard is to focus on service delivery – putting processes and procedures in place that make it far more likely for customers to have a good impression. Here are a few ways that this is done:
The Call Center is Key
Don’t assume that your hardworking call team is not as important as say, product development or other focus areas. Putting too little resources into frontline roles such as customer service agents is never a good plan – in fact, it can lead to a far higher chance of business loss and other issues. From sales to questions, feedback, troubleshooting and even praise, your team works with your clients every day – what are you doing to invest in the work they do?
The Right People for the Job
But of course, this job often boils down to the right sort of person rather than any person at all. Often, this role is considered entry level, and therefore suited to any candidate – regardless of their skills, qualifications and personal attributes. By developing a better process for recruitment, and investing sufficient time and resources into paying the right wages and providing the right training, you will be able to help your contact center grow and perform at its best consistently.
Training and Improvement
As we mentioned above, training plays an important role in building a call center that is rooted in quality management best practices. You could opt for on the job training, formal sessions complete with material, mentorships and even incentives based employee training programs that aim to increase learning. Not only do agents need to be trained in business areas – your products, services and values – they also need to be well versed in your quality goals. Procedures, processes and other important aspects of your quality strategies need to be learnt too. Other options for improvement and performance tracking could include call monitoring, while setting realistic targets and tracking call data is also done. At the end of the day, the people you deal with on the phone are the ‘face’ (or voice, in this case) of the company. Whether they are representing the company in a positive way or not is often a simple case of quality management – investing in your team goes a long way in making a positive impression the first time.
