CALL CENTER PERFORMANCE EVALUATION

Are there any client references that you can offer for Benchmarking

Yes, we have many companies willing to talk to you about their benchmarking experience. We do not just give out names and email address, because we need to know who you are, and what industry you’re in, and then connect you with the best reference. I suggest you email me at DrJonAnton@BenchmarkPortal.com with your details. Thanks for your question. Hope to hear from you soon.

Are there any client references that you can offer for Certification?

Yes, we have many companies willing to talk to you about their certification experience. We do not just give out names and email address, because we need to know who you are, and what industry you’re in, and then connect you with the best reference. I suggest you email me at DrJonAnton@BenchmarkPortal.com with your details. Thanks for your question. Hope to hear from you soon.

Do your senior executives respond to results from call center performance benchmark studies?

As C-level interest in call center operations as grown over the years, more executives are asking the questions "How good of a job are we doing?" and "How good is good enough?" As interest in call center performance has grown, they are becoming aware that the most direct path to answering these questions is through benchmark studies comparing themselves with other similar call centers.

Doctor Jon I attend the ICCM conference this year and is was great! My questions, though, is something you presented back in the 2002 Conference in Chicago. That was: What are the top ten characteristics of a world class call centre? Do you have an updated list of those top ten or are they still the same? Thanks in advance for answering my question.

WOW, you’re someone who’s been around call centers for more than three years. Unusual, and I am delighted. Your question is right on. The current top ten characteristics of World-Class Call Centers are as follows (no special order):

· Applicant Aptitude and Ability Screening: World-class call centers are using some of the newly-released, call center-specific agent screening tools. These tools not only screen for skills/abilities but also for aptitude (i.e., sales aptitude versus a service attitude).

· Caller Feedback: World-Class call centers are using readily available caller feedback to change behavior at all levels. In this exciting new process, you request caller feedback (using post-call IVR surveys) and send this feedback directly to the agent to encourage the agent to self-manage her call handling techniques. Essentially, the caller is “monitoring” his own call and providing the agent feedback in real-time. This more authentic feedback (than the feedback that comes from supervisors or QA team members acting as if they are the customer) has a higher probability of improving the agent’s behavior as “driven” by the caller. With this approach, the QA team checks only for accuracy and adherence to policy and procedure. The caller performs the rest of the monitoring and coaching process. This practice results, not only in a higher probability of changed behavior but, in big cost savings too.

· Call Routing Based on Caller Satisfaction: Once world-class call centers have the ability to gather caller feedback (including caller satisfaction) at the agent level, it becomes possible to designate those agents who predictably and consistently are able to “delight” their callers. With this best practice, you then route your most valuable callers to the next available agent with the highest caller satisfaction scores.

· Call Quality Monitoring and Coaching: With the availability of immediate, post-call IVR (or e-mail) surveys, world-class call centers are using those calls that get the lowest caller satisfaction scores to trigger a complete audit by the QA team. Instead of monitoring calls randomly, the QA team can strategically select those calls with low scores to better determine if the low scores were due to agent call handling techniques or due to anti-customer policy and/or procedures.

· Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): With the ready availability of caller satisfaction through the post-call IVR or e-mail survey, world-class companies have made caller satisfaction their primary KPI for all levels of call center management – agent through operations manager. Popular secondary KPIs for agents include: attendance, adherence, occupancy, and calls per hour. Popular secondary KPIs for supervisors include: agent retention, calls per hour per managed queue.

· Performance-Based Compensation: World-class call centers are using a balanced scorecard of caller satisfaction and calls per agent per hour as the primary performance-based compensation measure.

· Dashboard Reporting at All Levels: Because self-management at all levels is the current best practice of world-class call centers, it is important to have level-specific dashboards for agents, supervisors, and managers. These dashboards have the KPIs that drive behavior at each level and allow for drill-down reporting whenever a particular KPI is not up to the required level.

· Computer-Based Training (CBT): As call centers must respond to the ever-changing landscape of caller information requests often instigated by surprise marketing campaigns, CBT has become all but mandatory in world-class call centers. This new and exciting software allows very fast team member development and almost immediate application.

· Passionate Leadership at the Top: World-class call centers all have the support of passionate corporate leadership, beginning at the CEO level and trickling down through all levels of management. These companies are truly customer-driven in all of their decision-making processes. Gathering caller feedback immediately after the call is a natural for these world-class call centers in that it fits the culture of the organization, which is one that listens to “the voice of the customer” at every possible touch point (i.e., calls, e-mails, Web chat, Web self-service, and many more).

· Supervisors Focused on Agent Development: World-class call centers ensure that supervisors are primarily agent “developers” instead of doing project management work away from the call center floor. The supervisor is a natural subject matter expert (SME), but her primary responsibility should be agent development and retention. World-class call centers reflect agent retention in the supervisor performance compensation package.

-Dr. Jon
Answered: 11/05

I would like to audit or benchmark my call centre. What methodology should I use to do this? I would like to first do a simple audit on the full value stream of the call centre, then drill down on areas where we are below par. Can you suggest a methodology? Thanks

The best first step is to go to our
BenchmarkPortal.com Web site, and complete our basic RealityCheck benchmark survey. This is the first step in our process methodology which includes all the things you are looking for in your email.

Thank you for your question.
-Dr. Jon

The term “world class performance” is often bandied about in the industry. Are there any metrics that are actually used as a benchmark to determine so-called “world class performance?” I think if anyone is qualified to answer this question, it is you.

“World class” is often used qualitatively but seldom quantified. In my opinion, the only way to truly determine world class performance is to compare yourself with a Peer Group of similar call centers with similar challenges. On our Web site, you can select your Peer Group by determining one or more of the following parameters: 1) percentage of inbound calls handled, 2) percentage of business-to-business calls, 3) total volume of calls handled annually, 4) total number of full-time equivalents, 5) type of call handled (such as customer service or tech support) and 6) many other “apples to apples” parameters. If you select such a group of “like” centers, and your performance places you in the top ten percentile based on the call center performance index (CPI), you are truly “world class.”

What does a call center have do to renew certification.

Once certified as a "Center of Excellence," a call center must maintain its superior performance and this is audited annually by a BenchmarkPortal approved auditor.