Realistic ABA Percentage

[mofo196]

Let me run this by a few of you. I currently work in a call center that is in need of some serious adjustment. We are small in size at the moment and have 25 agents taking our Care calls. If you subtract 3 agents for sales only and 2 agents as leads that don't take calls that leaves us with 20 agents. Now, of those 20, a few are part time so I'm going to say we have a grand total of 17 agents on the phones taking calls.

Here's the snag. Management here likes to use their yearly budget to make all decisions around here. According to the budget, they say we need 20.5 agents. Despite being under budget on agents, they are counting the part timers and the sales people. Add into this the fact that we have been over budgeted volume by 18% for January, 20% in February and it's looking like the same for this month.

Given these factors, what is a realistic ABA %age? I ask because management seems stuck on the 5% rule. However, this isn't a situation where 5% is feasable or even possible.

I have mentioned that the only 2 ways ABA can come down is to hire more agents or to lower call volume. Both solutions will take time and money that the company doesn't want to spend.

I have been watching the agents and their talk and call work times are pretty good. Of course, some agents aren't as good as some other but that's a given.

Our daily ABA has been running between 7 and 10%. I would like to suggest a temporary goal of 7.5% until they can fix the problems that are causing such a boom in volume.

Any suggestions on lowering ABA or dealing with management would be appreciated.

btw, I know ABA is a lousy stat to guage a call center by but the higher-ups just don't seem to grasp the concept of SVL.

[EMachinski]

After what time frame do you begin calculating the %?

If you do not have the budget to hire more Reps and the powers that be still want 5%>....

Try to get them to accept a higher time to begin calculating...

[Frank A. Engle]

Looking at the situation, there are 3 possible ways to remedy it:


1. Increase your staff during peak times

Determine the average or typical time to abandon and put the salespeople and leads on the phone when queue time approaches or exceeds that threshold. Use skills based routing to direct "easy" calls to the less skilled salespeople via switch logon ID.

2. Divert Calls to reduce volume

If some of the calls you receive can be answered with standard responses, divert the the calls to an IVR and deflect some of the volume. You can also front-end your calls with this service to deflect calls. There are service bureaus that provide IVR service on a usage basis. I can direct you to a couple real good ones if needed.

3. Provide other "less timely" points of contact

Is your website customer friendly enough to allow you to direct customers to it for information? Do you employ chat on your website? Chat agents can handle up to 3 or 4 customers at a time. Again, there are some good ASP vendors out there that charge you on usage only. Let me know if you want their names.


One last way to get the point across to senior management is to "invite" them to perform the lead position for 1/2 day. Let them see the call flow first hand and solicit them for improvement suggestions. Nothing like allowing them to walk a mile in your shoes to get your issues across in a non-threatening manner.

Hope this helps..Good luck!

[JoeB]

Abandonment rate is a function of call volume, talk time, and the number of agents, as well as the abandonment threshold, which depends on the level of urgency and the (perceived) quality of service. With these data the abandonment rate can be computed fairly accurately to determine if 5% is a realistic goal. Possible solutions:

1. You need to determine your abandonment threshold. Sometimes a small improvement in ASA will have a significant impact on the abandonment rate
2. Adjust the IVR to ring a couple of extra rings – people’s mental counting of wait time starts after the last ring…
3. As Frank suggests, increase your peak time staffing (after confirming that it will have sufficient impact). You may be able to utilize your existing staff by creative scheduling.
4. Adding to anther point made by Frank, is there a cost-effective way to reduce call volume by employing less expensive staff to handle the simpler calls? In other words, increase headcount within your existing budget. How about self-service? Again, I would model these mathematically and calculate the benefits before embarking on any drastic changes.

Feel free to contact me if you need more details how to measure your situation and evaluate the impact of the different options.

Joe Barkai
DIAGNOSTIC STRATEGIES
www.DiagnosticStrategies.com
Tel. 781-433-0833

[mofo196]

Thanks for the suggestions. I will look into each of these options for a viable solution.

One of the problems is that our budget is waaay under what we are actually receiving call-volume wise. We are looking for solutions to lower call volume but it takes time.

[mikael]

<<"Management here likes to use their yearly budget to make all decisions around here. According to the budget, they say we need 20.5 agents.">>

This is your real problem, and it's probably going to be the most difficult one to solve.

How are they arriving at this curious conclusion? Are they using some form of "support costs ought to be x% of gross sales?"

I suspect that the most effective way of addressing this very real problem is to have a qualified consultant --ie one that Mgmt will listen to-- come in and do an assessment. Yes, the consultant will probably end up telling Mgmt exactly what you've been saying all along, but they'll listen to him/her because at the end of the day, the consultant goes away. Therefore, they can say the things to Mgmt that would be politically unwise for you to say with the emphasis that will be required.

This is a classic case that shows how the source of many call center problems is actually external to the center.