6 Signs of Under-performing contact center

Every business looks up for a higher return of investment and so do contact centers. Creating positive customer experience is everything but there are factors affecting the end goal including agents, technology, supervisors and more. Tremendous call pressure leaving no room for motivation and growth can further result in agent attrition. Here are some problems faced by businesses that have a quick fix contact center solutions.

1. Problem: Agents struggling with communication challenges & compliances

Agents are unable to resolve queries and maintain consistent call process. Targets are never met by the new agents who could not complete training because of work pressure and now go out of context when answering calls. So, customers are unable to get preferred resolutions leading to a poor experience. Resulting in demotivated customers. They unknowingly mess up with the compliance required.

Solution: With the large call volumes, businesses don’t get enough time for agents to get trained. The simplest solution for this is to have an agent scripting tool installed in your agent desktop. So, you can have a guided series of dynamic scripts for your agents that move forward with a logical workflow answering all customer queries. This works as an on-job training for the new agents and helps them handle calls like a pro, keeping up with regulatory and compliance requirements seamlessly. Call center scripting tool helps agents to upsell and cross-sell products/services, thereby boosting sales. Additionally, the scripts can be modified as and when required without affecting other processes.

2. Problem: More of work pressure less of motivation

In any contact center, agents are expected to resolve customer queries and offer a solution at the earliest via different communication channels. All-day they might have to hear a lot from their customers. This turns out to be demotivating at times. Also, not achieving the defined target acts as a cherry on the cake. Such stressful scenarios lead to an underperforming agent

Solution: “If you take care of your workers, they’ll take care of your business” — Richard Branson.  The performance of agents needs good monitoring and appreciation; this is possible with call center wallboards. Plain data presented in the English language is not the solution. You need to have intuitive and interactive wallboards that showcase the real-time performance of agents to everyone on the floor. A gamified view would be the best confidence booster. Agents can know at what level they and their team-mates are. Also, an individual’s achievement will be displayed and recognized by the whole floor. Wallboards help you set KPIs for the team and monitor even via mobile dashboard when not on the floor.

3. Problem: Agent needs to toggle screen to fetch customer details

With numerous calls coming in, it is impossible for an agent to remember the customer’s details. So, they require to switch the screen to fetch the required information and continue the conversation. Most of the time customer is required to repeat the details leading to high-level of frustrations. This time-consuming process makes agents inefficient in achieving their targets.

Solution: The simple solution to this problem is integration. Your contact center needs to have an agent desktop that offers seamless integration with CRM or other 3^rd party applications. This will offer a single screen view of customer details. An agent won’t be required to switch multiple screens to collect the information. This will help them greet the customer with their first name, know their purchase details and more. Further, this will reduce the average handle time (AHT) and with all information in hand, there will be improved first call resolutions (FCR). So, an agent will be able to handle a greater number of calls or other communication services in a day.

4. Problem: One-size-fits-all interface of the desktop

Every industry has its own requirements. Here, a single dashboard can’t make agents productive enough. An insurance agent might need details on the premium paid but a telecom agent would never need that. So, agents again are required to spend time searching and entering the relevant information. A clear wastage of time for which you can’t blame an agent’s performance.

Solution: Your contact center agent desktop needs to be industry-specific. Today, everyone prefers tailor-made solutions and so do your agents. The dashboard created should have business defined fields that save an agent’s time lost in collecting or entering specific information. Further, you should opt for customizable wallboards from NovelVox. It has the world’s only Cisco Finesses drag and drop designer studio that allows you to customize the interface without the need for coding.

5. Problem: Desktops deficit of in-built gadgets

The underperformance of a call center is largely affected by the lack of different kinds of support an agent while on call. They are unable to know their caller or related information. Further, when on a call, agents stumble or go off track if they don’t have organization or processes related information anywhere. Many a time, they are unable to connect among themselves to seek guidance. Additionally, most contact centers face the issue of ticketing, where the call needs to be transferred to a separate department to handle such ticketing tasks.

Solution: Get in-built gadgets installed in your agent desktop that includes a knowledge base, ticketing, agent personal phonebook and more. Here, knowledgebase will allow the agent to have all the required knowledge in hand. Ticketing gadgets will save an agent from transferring a call to another department for raising or modifying tickets. A phonebook gadget creates better inter-team communication in case of guidance or calls transferring. You can anytime take or delete in-built gadgets, just check for their integration.

6. Problem: On-field agents are unable to offer a similar experience as in contact center

On the floor, customers have agent desktop with seamless third-party integration but on-field agents are out of such a resource and lack to provide a similar kind of experience to the customers. They need to coordinate with floor agents often to fetch details.

Solution: You are losing a huge count of your existing and potential customers if you are unable to offer a consistent experience to your customer. You need to have a mobile app for on-field agents. This will help the agents feel like working on the floor with seamless integration with 3^rd party applications to know your caller and industry-specific optimized interface. A mobile app allows location-based agent tracking that will grow your business exponentially with a cost-effective medium.

To wrap up, underperformance can arise in any contact center but you need to understand its always directly or indirectly linked with the agent’s performance. Try to equip your customers with the best of technology, knowledge, and experience so that they can subsequently create happy and satisfied customers for your business.

Do let us know what other problems are faced by your contact center where NovelVox can be of help.