There are many measurements used to determine the performance of a particular call center. Outstanding performance is vital because companies spend a lot of money on advertising and they need a good sales center to close as many deals as possible to boost their ROI. Satisfactory customer service is also very important to call center managers and to the companies that these call centers support. In this article we will discuss the common performance measurements of agents and the significance of each measurement.
1. Delays or hold times of callers: This is pretty straight forward. How long is a prospect or customer on hold before they receive assistance? Many companies now alert callers to their expected wait time, so they can choose to stay on the line and wait or call back at a less busy time. This greatly reduces the number of angry callers, because callers are informed and know what to expect in terms of weighting time.
2. The average talk time: This is a measurement of the amount of time actually spent talking to the caller. Agents want to be able to help as many customers as possible, but there must be a healthy balance between adequately helping the customer and helping as many customers as possible.
3. The average handling time: This is a measurement of the total amount of time spent on the phone by the customer. It includes the customers holding time as well. Call centers don’t want to unnecessarily take up a great deal of a caller’s time.
4. The number of calls handled by an agent every hour: This is simply a measure of an agent’s proficiency.
5. The amount of time a customer spends on hold while being helped by an agent: This is a measurement of how long it takes for an agent to do his or her job. Constantly places callers on hold to get information might be a sign that the agent needs more training.
6. The percentage of complete call resolution. This is a measurement of the percentage of times that an agent solves the customer’s problem or concern, the first time the customer calls in.
7. The percentage of hang ups: Because this is often related to long waiting times, it sends a warning that the call center might not be adequately staffed.
8. The percentage of time that agents are idle: This may be an instance of a lazy agent or simply an over staffing problem.
By keeping track of these performance measures, call centers can make sure they are effectively meeting their clients’ needs, and providing their clients’ customers with the proper support. Call center managers couple these quantitative measurements with qualitative ones by listening in on customer-agent phone calls. They listen for things like: Is the agent using the right tone of voice? Is he or she following the script correctly? Are objections being overcome? Is quality service in general being rendered? It is the responsibility of the call center manager to work closely with agents and change structures or policies in order to improve service.
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