operations questions

[comman]

Just recently we have expanded our sales floor from 15 to a 60 seat inbound sales campaign, which consists of 25 receptionists filtering calls and over 30 sales agents. Two managers accountable for the receptioninst and two on the sales floor with a VP over seeing all.

Now, performance has become horrifying in the past two months, and I realize how unorganized we have become from the rapid expansion.

I'm looking for ideas to not only motivate and inspire agents but also managers. Or maybe I need to break it down and start from scratch? not sure.
I would appreciate any suggestions of what has worked in similar circumstances or campaigns.

[getgunner]

Are the secretaries just filtering the calls or are they doing other work?

what are the sales agents job requirements, are they all sales calls or are there customer service issues like billing and returns involved?

are they part of a team or are they employed as individuals with no clear leader?

What are the managers requirements, do they look after a set team or do they look after the group as a whole?

if you can answer these questions It will be easier to guide you through a project plan

And by the way, managers should not need motivating, they should be the motivators, and if they are complaining and not giving solutions, redirect their efforts in a positive direction, to see negativity from managers is the biggest killer of morale on a call center floor.

[blm1971]

Have you ever considered offloading your front end calls into a call queue or an IVR and have them go directly to the agents? Based on how you conduct your sales model, you can program for skills based routing based on a number of factors: product specialists, region/territory, employee skill sets or even distribute in a circular routing pattern if all agents are cross trained equally. Eliminate the front end, as most people don't like to sit in limbo waiting for a call transfer or being placed on hold for an extended period. You can also automate responses if your queue hold times get too high to prompt for an outbound call back.

With automation typically comes increased efficiency and may also result in caualty as some of your front end positions could or would be eliminated. Unfortunately if they do not have skill sets that fit in elsewhere, that headcount could be eliminated. These are not decisions that are entered into lightly and nobody likes to fire anyone (well, I take that back because I've worked for people in the past that I believe took pleasure in these types of events but it is not the norm) However, If your current strategy is proving to not be effective and causing productivity to drop and conversely also driving your customers to look at alternatives there are some immediate concerns that need to be addressed, and quickly.

There also sounds like there is a motivational problem and I do agree with the statement that the managers need to do the motivating. If that is not happening, there may be other internal issues that need to be addressed as well. There are courses for short $$ that teach motivational techniques for sales and call center management.

I'd be more than happy to share some information with you on the automation process. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Brent Matheson
978 952 0476
brent.matheson@concerto.com