5 Best Strategies For Contact Centre Management

Author: Chris Robinson | Date: 07/07/2020

We’ve talked at length about the latest technology to help you drive frictionless customer experience (CX) but there are several other crucial elements to creating and maintaining a great customer journey. As any contact centre manager will tell you managing a team of agents and meeting numerous deadlines is not for the faint-hearted. Since March 2020 this has become even more of a challenge thanks to Covid-19 with many agents having to work remotely. Proper contact centre management is essential for the smooth running of any call centre. Read our thoughts and top tips for improving your management and staff efficiency.

Call Centre 101

Firstly, a great contact centre manager will have a ‘can do’ attitude and be able to cope with a high-pressure environment, whether on the contact centre floor or having to spur on the troops remotely. Regularly talking to agents and maintaining two-way communications whether face-to-face, over the phone, via email or a messaging channel, is key to motivating individuals. It has been found that taking the time to listen and engage with people improves productivity. Indeed, a study by York University psychologist Faye Doell found those who “listen to understand” have better, happier relationships with others. If you are the person at the workplace who gives others the space to communicate fully and openly, co-workers and employees will be more likely to come to you with new ideas and include you in collaborative projects.

Leading by example and creating a stress-free environment while demonstrating their own abilities means that any capable contact centre manager will inspire those around him or her. When you enthuse and support those around you, you create the added bonus of loyalty which in turn should help to reduce agent churn – something that’s a real challenge in the contact centre world. According to Cornell University, the average cost to replace an agent is typically between $5,000- $7,000, with entry-level employees being the greatest number to leave (27%). Furthermore, contact centre workers are absent for approximately 8.2 days a year, that’s higher than any other industry. You have the power to avoid becoming a statistic and enhance the agent experience within your contact centre – remotely or otherwise.

By partnering with Awaken, remote Contact Centre Aquarius has been able to benefit from:

  • The creation of 300+ scripts every day
  • Frictionless customer support resolutions
  • Delivery on important SLAs

See our case studies

Call Centre Tips – what great contact centre management entails

  • Hiring the right people and making sure that the onboarding process is as smooth and as informative as possible will go a great way in maintaining a happy and productive environment.
  • Dynamic agent guidance should be embraced in our new world of remote working. It will dramatically reduce your onboarding timescales and simplify the process for any new starter whether he/she is in the office or working from home.
  • Embracing the data that you collate will inform you and help you to determine what works best for your customers and staff as well as identify any underperforming areas.
  • Rewards and initiatives tap into our basic human needs and incentivising great performance can help to keep agents motivated.
  • Taking a break has always been important in a call centre environment but is even more so now with people working remotely or in strained circumstances. Ensuring that employees get time away from screens and calls will help to keep all engagements in perspective.

The benefit of sound call centre operations

Making the right management hires, providing the right training and supporting your agents with great technology will dramatically enhance your CX. Ultimately, being able to drive efficiencies through stronger management, call centre scripting best practices and behaviours will pay dividends. Call centre quality assurance is a benefit to knowing how to improve on customer service, supporting your agents with the right infrastructure will not only deliver significant savings but also increase profitability.