The global market size for call centers was valued at $339.4 billion in 2020. That figure is expected to reach an astounding $496 billion by 2027.
The role of call centers has always been prominent when it comes to boosting customer loyalty. These centers provide much-needed customer service. They handle incoming calls from both incoming and existing customers and provide answers to their quotations or solutions to their problems.
Call center management helps manage the day-to-day operations of the call center. As you can probably imagine, the workload in a call center can be formidable, and it’s easy for things to get out of control. With hundreds of phone calls, texts, messages, or emails coming in that need an immediate response, you need to come up with ways to keep things running smoothly and efficiently.
So, how does a call center manager keep operations running as expected in their call centers? We’ve prepared a guide on seven proven practices to get you started. Read on to learn more.
1. Hire the Best Staff
Having a winning team is essential for success in any department of your company. Unfortunately, many managers don’t put enough energy and time into the call center hiring process. They don’t take the time to conduct a pre-employment screening assessment, so they pick only the best talent for the job.
It’s not enough that a candidate has some training in customer service. You want people with a natural ability to deal with customers. You’re looking for candidates with excellent listening skills, stellar communication skills, a superb memory, and an enthusiastic attitude.
Certain qualities like the ability to empathize with customers cannot be taught. Yet these are the attributes that make the best customer care agents. Look for the same attributes when hiring for a more senior position as well, such as the position of an assistant call center manager.
2. Offer Thorough Onboarding
Hiring well is only part of effective call center management. Once you’re through recruiting new employees, it’s time for the onboarding process.
When done well, onboarding can help mitigate any hiring mistakes that may have occurred. Use the onboarding process to teach good habits and communicate your high standards as a brand.
In particular, focus on training agents to handle customer complaints correctly. It’s highly that the majority of customer calls will be of this nature. The goal should be for your employees to view customer complaints as an opportunity to offer better service rather than a hurdle that they need to cross.
An in-depth onboarding program makes your employees confident in handling all types of calls that come their way. Confident employees are happier employees, which ultimately makes for more satisfied customers.
3. Boost Employee Engagement
Call centers are widely considered difficult places to work. That’s why it can be difficult to find good candidates applying for call center agent or call center manager jobs.
If you’ve been lucky enough to attract exceptional talent during your hiring process, look for ways to hold onto them. That’s where employee engagement comes in.
Thankfully, effective employee engagement doesn’t necessarily need to wreck your budget. Even talking to your employees every day can help keep them motivated.
Brainstorming sessions, a team happy hour, or an occasional team retreat can keep your employees feeling like they’re part of a team. These high levels of motivation translate to top-level performance.
4. Ensure Proper Scheduling
Call-centers are usually high-stress environments. With time, your employees are bound to start feeling overworked. When that happens, your staff’s ability to continue performing at peak levels decreases.
To avoid burnouts and declining performance, make use of scheduling. The goal should be to allow employees enough downtime to recharge and refocus without affecting your call center’s processes.
There are, of course, many factors you need to take into account when scheduling. You’ll need to think of what’s best for the call center, employee availability and ability, peak and off-peak hours, and many more when reading a schedule. Consider investing in a call center management software that can help you put together teams to work in shifts, among other functions.
5. Provide Targeted Feedback
Giving your employees regular quality-of-service evaluation is essential for keeping operations running well in your call center. Set aside time to talk with your employees and listen to their views. Always be prepared to provide targeted feedback that helps them improve.
Do assessments systematically so you can gauge each employee’s abilities. Targeted feedback can result in a profound change in your employees. Complement this feedback with ongoing employee training to reinforce the standards you’ve already set for your customer service quality.
6. Make Decisions Based on Data
Just about any decision you make in business should be driven by data on hand. Set goals for your call center, and establish metrics to help achieve those goals. As a call center manager, ensure you’re familiar with all the metrics applicable to your employees and customers.
After you’ve established your goals and metrics, collect extensive data using your call center software so you can gain more insight into your operations. Some of the metrics you can use include customer satisfaction (CSat), Net Promoter Score (NPS), number of calls, successful outcome of calls, and so on.
7. Balance the Workflow to Meet Customer Demand
A common mistake call center managers make is to have too large or too small teams. If you have too many workers in your team, you won’t have enough work to keep everyone busy. Too few workers mean workers are overwhelmed by the amount of work they need to do.
The solution is to balance the size of your team and the workflow.
Stay on Top of Call Center Management With the Right Techniques
The success of your company depends on your ability to deliver an exceptional customer experience. Effective call center management can help you keep your customers happy by providing solutions to your customers whenever they call your company.
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