Companies and their call centers must monitor quality to ensure that all their business communications conform to their standards. With this in mind, companies should implement a call center monitoring program that can keep tabs on how well agents and other team members converse with customers and other stakeholders.
About Quality Monitoring
Call monitoring can serve as a simple tool that provides an incentive for agents to meet organizational communications standards. After all, when employees know that their supervisors and managers might be listening-in on a call, they naturally will have a higher level of consciousness about their attitude, vocabulary and tone of voice. In fact, by simply monitoring calls, call centers can dramatically improve the customer experience that they deliver.
In addition to monitoring agent and organizational performance, call monitoring should assess the quality of calls from the perspective of a customer. As has been noted, a poor-quality call might have nothing to do with agent performance. Notwithstanding, the organization needs to know what circumstances degrade the customer experience and proactively use that knowledge to make call center operational improvements.
Purpose Of Call Center Monitoring
By integrating call center quality monitoring into the call center assessment, managers can identify and resolve problems without regard for their source. As a result, they can resolve those problems and thereby bring the call center into conformance with company standards. In the end, call monitoring serves to improve performance across the board as part of the effort to create an exceptional customer experience.
Quality monitoring contributes to goals of the firm in several ways. To begin with, it can help streamline the customer experience and enhance the performance of agents and, by extension, the call center. Additionally, monitoring can increase first-contact resolution rates and improve efficiency. In the end, call center monitoring can substantially increase customer satisfaction and thereby contribute to company growth.
Quality Monitoring Process
Obtaining the right call center solution
Quality monitoring begins with the implementation of call center software that permits supervisors to record and listen to calls. Additionally, the system should have a “barge-in” feature that allows supervisors to intervene to preserve call quality.
Defining requirements
Business owners, managers, supervisors, call center agents and other stakeholders should work together to define the factors that comprise a quality customer encounter. Furthermore, the specification should explain what key performance indicators (KPIs) such as “courtesy” mean and how they will be measured.
Developing a scorecard
Using the requirements established in the first step, the firm must create an evaluation form or scorecard to serve as a guide for monitors that standardizes quality monitoring throughout the call center.
Training call supervisors
Managers and supervisors who will monitor calls must first receive training on how to monitor calls using the call center software. By the same token, they must receive training for the proper use of the quality scorecard.
Training agents
Agents must receive training regarding the quality monitoring and assessment process. This process should inform agents of the purpose for the monitoring as well as a thorough review of the scorecard and evaluation criteria.
Monitoring calls
Using the scorecard and their training as guides, managers and supervisors should begin monitoring calls in compliance with the previously defined standards. Also, they should barge-in when necessary to protect the quality of an interaction.
Scoring calls
The people monitoring calls should promptly complete the scorecard to ensure the accuracy of every detail.
Analyzing data
Call monitoring data should be analyzed to assess call center performance. Managers should use the insights gained to target agents for training and improve procedures.
Providing feedback
Agents should receive feedback and coaching based on their call quality scores. Additionally, the firm should integrate call quality ratings in annual performance and compensation reviews
Calibrating scoring
Periodically, every call monitor should review and score the same call to ensure that everyone maintains a consistent approach.
Observing the Entire Experience
Managers must use a global view of a call to determine whether it meets the basic definition of a quality encounter. For example, every call should have a friendly opening that comforts the caller. Agents also should exhibit a willingness to address the issues that the call involves and assure the caller of a satisfactory resolution. Finally, every call should close by asking if the caller is satisfied with the outcome.
Benefits of Quality Monitoring
Quality monitoring offers valuable benefits to everyone involved in the customer experience:
Customers
Quality improvements derived from call monitoring helps customers by making buying goods and services an easy, efficient and satisfying process. As a result, customers can spend more time with their work and personal lives and less time on hold trying to get the service and support that they need.
Agents
The prompt feedback made possible by call monitoring helps agents adjust their performance to deliver a better customer experience while maintaining their eligibility for advancement, pay raises and other opportunities. Additionally, monitoring contributes to agent training which leads first to improved competence and ultimately to higher job satisfaction and employee retention rates.
Managers
Call monitoring gives managers vital tools for identifying and resolving problems, improving internal processes and satisfying customers. Armed with the data collected from monitored calls, managers can more precisely target agents for training and thereby improve organizational performance. In the end, better results from management can lead to job security and financial rewards.
The company
Companies that use call center quality monitoring to improve the customer experience also enjoy improving satisfaction and retention rates for their employees and managers. Furthermore, the firm can enjoy continuous improvement while simultaneously benefitting from a reduction in training expenses, and an increase in employee productivity. Altogether, these and other factors contribute to profitability.
Call center quality monitoring empowers firms to score calls for quality based on a standardized scorecard and use the information to improve agent training and optimize internal processes. In effect, by monitoring a meaningful number of calls, companies can ensure that they receive the maximum possible value from their call center operation.
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