New Contact Center

[atrujillo]

We are a new Bank Contact Center with only 3 employees. We have only been taking calls for about a month, and I am finding that some of my agents are feeling "burnt out" already. Does anybody have any good ideas to keep such a small Center motivated?

[rokima]

Hi:

There could be many reasons why your employees are "burned out," and - like for any other call center out there - very likely these reasons are related to one (or more) of the following:

1. People: schedule adherence, CSRs (and Management) skills, training, scheduling, etc.
2. Technology: what type are you using?
3. Processes: CRITICAL (having the rigt people and the appropriate technology is not enough, if your processes are off)

If you can provide more details, I may be able to help you streamline your operation.

Regards,


Rokima
Sr. Consultant

[atrujillo]

Rokima;

Thank you for responding. We are currently using Cisco's Call Manager Software, however, we are not using any Contact Management Software (as of yet).

Our Scheduling is farely simple. We have three employees (myself included). We all work 8-5 Monday thru Thursday and we rotate one employee to work 9-6 on Fridays. Everyone has two 15 minute breaks, and a 1-hour lunch.

We are taking calls currently for two branches. We average about 125 phone calls per day. We will eventually be taking on a total of 14 branches, and hiring approximately 2 - 3 more employees.

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by processes. We have regular training and have procedures written for every incidence.

Thank you for your time.

Angela

[rokima]

Hi Angela:

Provided you already have a way to control the quality of the calls and somehow monitor the level of customer satisfaction with the service (would be helpful to track/record calls - types, repeat callers, etc?), I would suggest making the time to do some of the following:

- reinforce good call handling by genuinely and PUBLICLY congratulating some associate(s) for a job well-done, e.g. quote a satisfied customer
- (if time allows) conduct a creative thinking session with others, to get them to see what was great about the call reviewed
- create some "Certificate of APpreciation" to hand out or/and hang on the walls (make sure they are visible for all to see!)

Also, for those associates who would need some help, try to reinforce (as much as possible, do this in private - allow associates to save face, and avoid embarassing them in front of peers) good call handling practices. Ideally, get them to listen to their own call, and tell you themselves what they could have done differently... you'd be amazed of the result!

NOTE: (if you have not done so already) you may want to start thinking about ramping up your staffing, since it appears that you will be handling a lot more calls in a near future. Remember: upper management might not want to hire too many more associates, but that policy could backfire. There IS a measurable benefit in holding meetings and pre-shifts, to motivate employees (think of how much each turnover % costs companies every day)...

Just a few recommendations.


Cheers,


Rokima