How do I reconcile my executive level management’s requirements for better customer service with their restrictions on hiring?
As a client service centre manager, you’re caught between a rock and an exceedingly hard place: the executives want excellent customer service numbers but leave you little to no wiggle room to hire additional staff. An impressive stat a business industry publication, indicates that 60 percent of consumers say that they would pay more for better customer service. Here are 10 questions you should you ask yourself to determine whether your client service centre is operating at maximum efficiency while providing a high level of customer service.
- What calls are coming in?
You need a smart call tagging system that assigns a specific marker to each type of call so that you can track repeat issues and come up with a solution to handle them.
- What times do they come in?
You need precise data that lets you know peak times for particular issues to ensure that you’re fully staffed during key hours. Your dashboard should operate automatically so that you can log in and verify that peak call times are effectively staffed but not overscheduled and operating at a loss.
- What is our AHT?
Average handle time (AHT) is one of the most crucial statistics in a call center service. This number can be unnecessarily high due to factors you can take action to manage, such as poor employee training, slow computers, and unnecessarily long hold times.
- Do you have rushes?
Does your existing call centre software solution give you accurate data on when “rush hours” hit? If you don’t have access to this vital information, you’re dropping the ball.
- Could part time or remote call takers help?
It may be time to consider bringing in outsourced overflow staffing to help you cover rush hours and last-minute substitute staffing needs.
- Are standard 8-hour shifts doing the trick?
Is it time to re-evaluate your shift assignment system? If standard 8-hour shifts leave you overstaffed during lull times and short-staffed during peak hours, you need a better scheduling solution.
- Am I using scheduling software?
Still handling scheduling with a dry erase board? It’s time to upgrade your scheduling software to make sure you’re efficiently staffing to keep the higher-ups satisfied with both customer service numbers and hiring restrictions.
- Does the software I use import call stats and use that to determine scheduling?
If your client service centre software isn’t giving you useful stats and using them to automatically determine employee scheduling, you’re behind the times.
- Does my call centre software measure response time?
You need accurate reporting on another vital metric: time to resolve. This is a key indicator of your customer service level that means low hold times for customers, low cost per call, and low average handle time. It’s the trifecta of call centre service stats, and you need smart software to measure it.
- Is what I’m doing working?
You don’t need fancy software to determine whether or not your current system is working. If you’re not seeing the customer service statistics you’re after and know that your company’s executives are concerned about your hiring, absenteeism, and employee morale numbers, it’s time to change courses.
CONCLUSION
To keep customers happy, you need to be on top of key performance indicators you may not have access to if you’re using outdated or underperforming software.