7 Call center best practices

It’s the widespread belief that people contact the call service only when there’s a problem. In other words, only when they’re anxious or angry. However, that’s not the whole truth. On the contrary, people call for many different reasons. They want to ask questions, inquire about the delivery, check info, ask for instructions, etc. That means every customer service deals with various conversations and situations. Therefore, customer service reps must use all the solutions and tools, such as ConvertMore callback software. In addition, they need to have a variety of skills that will ensure everything goes smoothly. After all, the goal is to ensure that customers stay happy and loyal and that your employees don’t get overwhelmed. With that in mind, we’ve prepared a list of 7 call center best practices to help you!

#1 Automate the process as much as you can

A call center has to deal with many repetitive daily tasks. This is more than simply monotonous and exhausting for your agents. It drains a lot of your resources – from time and money to your reps’ motivation and energy. By using various software and tools, you can automate a lot of these tasks.

Self-service solutions such as chatbots or blogs can tackle many questions your reps have to answer a million times a day. Your customers will love it, and your agents will be able to focus on high-value calls instead of wasting their time. Plus, you might need fewer agents and focus on quality instead of quantity.

#2 Keep improving your scripts

Customer experience is at the heart of every business. Satisfied customers will come back and even become advocates of your brand on social media and elsewhere. Because of that, all your scripts are vital. For example, great cold call opening lines will leave a good impression and boost your sales. Likewise, the call center scripts play a significant role in enhancing customer satisfaction and experience.

For that reason, improve your scripts continuously. Run A/B tests and analyze the results to see what works and doesn’t. Also, appreciate your reps’ input. After all, they use these scripts numerous times daily and have valuable experience that can enhance how you approach your customers.

Collect feedback from your customers

Another valuable source of information is your audience. Your customers know what they need and want. They also know what they like and what they don’t. So, don’t hesitate to collect their feedback through surveys, questionnaires, etc. Moreover, you can compare the feedback you get before and after the new script is introduced and gauge how effective the change was.

#3 Set your goals and track the relevant KPIs

Having a clear goal is vital for the improvement of any kind. You probably already know what issues your call center is dealing with. If not, analyze the data you have and find the source of the issue. Then set your objectives with fixing that issue in mind. It would be best if you tracked all the relevant KPIs to do so and follow up on new measures and the like. The call center best practices tell us the most pertinent KPIs include:

• first response time
• average handle time
• average wait time
• first contact resolution
• customer satisfaction score
• customer effort score
• volume by channel
• employee turnover rate, etc.

#4 Create an effective and efficient workflow

A call center is always busy. It can come to the point that it becomes overwhelming and impossible to handle. So, what do you do? Hire more agents to deal with all the inbound and outbound calls. Not necessarily. Instead, the call center best practices show you need to analyze and optimize your process. Once you automate a part of it and refer a portion of the customers to other sources (chatbox, blog, FQA, etc.), you need to assess the rest of your resources. Ask yourself the following questions:

• Is there a particular day (or days) that is especially busy?
• At what time of the day do you have the most to do?
• How long does it take to handle the average call? Can you make it shorter?
• Is the influx of calls a result of the recent campaign or situation in another sector of your business?
• Could you change working hours or employee shifts to better correlate with the busiest hours of the day/days in the week?

Answering these questions will help you create a better workflow and use your resources more efficiently.

#5 Brand your calls

Research shows that customers are far less likely to answer a call if they don’t know who the caller is. The unknown number on the screen doesn’t exactly inspire trust and a positive attitude. Quite the opposite – it might be a scam, promo, or something unpleasant. That is why branding calls benefits your business. The ID caller apps will display your brand’s name, location, and (depending on the app) even the reason why you’re calling. That way, customers will know their call comes from a reputable and trustworthy source.

#6 Create an easily accessible database

Whether you call customers or they call you, there is a lot of data flowing around. When dealing with customers online, you use software that collects data automatically. Then you can use this data to increase sales on your website. For the same reason, your call center agents should have all the information they need at their fingertips. Therefore, it’s best to create a cohesive and up-to-date database easily accessible to all your reps. That way, sharing and exchanging all the essential information about the customers will be easy. With this data, your agents will have better insight into a situation and achieve better results faster.

#7 Provide the training your agents need

Last but not least, invest in your reps. Tracking and monitoring calls will show you what your agents struggle with most, individually and as a team. Use this info to create training programs and sessions that fit them best. The better your agents deal with all the situations, the more effective your call center is. After all, no other call center best practices can be effective if your agents can’t use and improve them.