Monday, June 30, 2008

Call Center Staffing & Hiring

A call center is operated by a company whose function is to handle volume of calls for different companies. Being a centralized office handling considerable volume of calls, a call center is usually housed in an open workspace that could handle individual work stations for each call center agents. A call center’s main product is the service these call center agents deliver, needless to say that the most important staff in a call center are the call center agent themselves. The demands of the job require specific skills and since an agent is expected to handle different cases together with the different personalities of the callers, patience is a requirement. With this condition it is necessary to handle the staffing and hiring carefully.

The enormous demand for call center service is the reason for the increasing growth of the industry. However, one of the most difficult and crucial part of call center management is finding and keeping the right people for the job. This is the industry that has the highest record of turnover rates. Some estimates say that it suffers more than 50% turnover. Filling up vacancies, immediately or in a rush is not a solution to this kind of problem. Some call centers employ agencies to do the hiring for them, while some are handled by their human resource department. But since these people are going to work under the call center manager, hiring is still his primary responsibility. It is therefore imperative that a manager participate in the hiring process.

Here are few helpful guidelines in hiring that may help reduce if not avoid the large turnover rates.

• Clearly define the skills needed for the job.

Emphasize on the great need for excellent communication skills, customer service skills and sales.

• Interview and acquire evaluate overall personality.

Excellent patience and good sense of responsibility are two essential factors a call center candidate must posses.

• Involve your managers and supervisor in the process of selection.

• Make the applicant speak his mind out. Know his expectations and endeavors. Know what he thinks about an ideal call center and what would satisfy him.

• Be an excellent an effective interviewer.

It would be helpful to understand by heart every job description in your organization. This would be your guide in the process of hiring and staffing. Basically the most numbers of turn over happens in the call center agent position. So it would be best to understand the details of the job of a call center representative.

Hiring and staffing costs. Executives and contact call center managers must be able to design a program that would enhance agent loyalty. They should also look into creating plans and implementing programs that would prepare regular agents to a call center professional. This would build the moral of the agent and enhance his loyalty to the company since he would feel their concern in his professional growth. This would save a lot of expenditures in recruitment and training, lost management time, training new staff and other training programs.

What Is Call Center ?

Author: Hani Masgidi
A Call Center is simply a place where a group of highly trained agents sit and interact with customers using a telephone.
Call Center is where agents are making and/or receiving calls to and from customers for different purposes like
- Customer Service,
- Sales,
- Telemarketing,
- Technical support,… etc.
Call Center is a genetic or umbrella term that refers to Reservation Centers, Help Desks, Telemarketing Centers or Customer Service Centers, regardless of how they are organized or what type of transactions they handle. For example:
- Airline Reservation Center,
- Catalog Ordering companies,
- Problem solvers such as Microsoft Window's Customer support services.

So, the Call Center functions vary from one center to another, according to the nature of business and objective of Call Center. The Call Center could be a place for receiving customer enquiries and complaints or to place an order or to get help. It could also be a place from where customers are contacted for surveys, marketing or selling products.
The Call Center is equipped with various advance technologies that qualify it to handle high volume of calls promptly and efficiently.
The technologies are such as:
- Automatic Call Distributor (ACD),
- Interactive Voice Response (IVR)
- Computer Telephony Integration (CTI)
- Centralized Database System
Nowadays the Call Center has been recognized for its importance in both
- Increasing customer service and customer retention.
- For revenue generation.

Call Centers have become a business enabler or engine that allows customers to access the business when it best suits the customer, rather than the business contacting the customer when convenient to the business.
This new business concept has become possible due to acceptance of business telephony that improves customer service and provides for both inbound and outbound customer contacts. However, to improve business efficiency and increase profitability, Call Centers require good support systems and services.

Article Source: http://www.1888articles.com

7 Techniques for Creating a Motivating Workplace

Creating a motivating environment for each agent is one of the supervisor’s most important jobs. It is important to remember that everyone can be motivated, but they are motivated by individual reasons. There are seven techniques for creating a motivating environment:

Guidance and Support

The key components of motivation include being a role model, providing coaching on a regular basis, “listening” to the agents, clarifying expectations, and providing objective feedback. Agents need to know what is expected of them and how they are performing. Without coaching and feedback, they have no way of knowing if they are on-target or missing the mark. It is also key to remember to provide feedback to the agents who are performing at or above standards, and not spend all of the time with those who are under- performing.

Recognition

Recognition is one of the most effective ways to reinforce the call center’s culture, support its objectives, and retain top performers. The supervisor should provide recognition for improvements along the way, for initiatives, as well as recognition for results. The goal is to recognize desired behavior so it will be repeated. Recognition can be given for perfect attendance, volunteering for a tough assignment, helping others meet their goals, cost or time-saving suggestions, or going above and beyond for a customer. Recognition should be provided “on the spot” and should be in verbal and written form. The supervisor should create a mix of both public and “one-on-one” recognition strategies and encourage agents to recognize their peers. One way to do this might be to create a recognition box and fill it with sticky notes, smiley faces, gold stars, and other stickers for all employees to use. Or, write the word “recognition” on a calendar and make this a trigger word to quickly think of people who deserve recognition. Look at these excuses listed below and see if any of them sound familiar.

Top 10 Excuses for Not Giving Recognition

1. I don’t know how.

1. It becomes meaningless if done too much.

2. I don’t have time.

2. I’m very limited in what I can do.

3. People don’t care about it all that much.

3. Sometimes it’s awkward and uncomfortable.

4. It’s not my job.

4. People will think they’ve ‘made it’ and stop working hard.

5. I don’t believe in rewarding people for just doing their job.

5. I don’t get it. Why should I give it?

Take a moment and make a list of all the people who work with or for you. When was the last time you gave recognition to each person for a job well done? If you can’t remember the last time you recognized or praised most of the people on your list, you’re probably not doing it enough.

Rewards

Rewards should be unique and relevant to the participants, so they fulfill their need for acceptance, recognition and personal esteem. When using rewards, it is important to remember that if an employee expects it, it may no longer be viewed as a reward. Also, rewards need to match the employee’s needs and wants and should be used for specific accomplishments or efforts. It is common for call center managers to use lack of budget as an excuse for having no reward system, but the universal reward is praise, and it’s free. Cash, or a monetary reward, has the advantage of being easy to administer and simple to handle. Cash is understood by everyone, it is desirable, and can provide an extra boost to a long-term program. The drawbacks to using cash include the fact that there isn’t a “trophy” or lasting memorial of the award, it’s not considered exotic, can’t be enhanced, and tends to become an expected reward. Cash is typically confused with other compensation and is therefore easily forgotten. A non-cash reward is memorable and reinforces the relationship between the reward earner and the reward provider. In defining a reward and recognition program it is important to create excitement at the program launch. Make sure the objectives are clearly defined, take time to explain the rules, awards, and provide ongoing communication. The program should encourage continuous improved performance by providing ongoing measurement and feedback. Progress reports should be distributed in a timely and consistent manner. The reward and recognition program should provide a wide range of positive consequences, encourage recognition by management and peers, and include rewards that have value, choice and are easy to administer. Providing positive consequences using a reward and recognition program help call centers achieve business results. In order to change behavior, participants must understand what it is the management team wants them to do and what they will receive for doing it. Participants must also receive constant feedback to know where they stand in relation to the goal.

Sense of Belonging

The best way to create a sense of belonging is to use teams. With a team structure, the team members assume responsibility, creativity and potential are recognized and fostered, trust and camaraderie develops.

Most supervisors use competition between teams to build effectiveness and efficiency. Competition should be positive, free of ridicule, and non-threatening. The competition should optimize the number of rewards by providing rewards for both outstanding and improved performance. The criteria and standards used for competition should be based on the performance goals each team is expected to meet.

When designing the competition, involve the agents in the evaluation process. Have them play a key role in establishing the competition and rules. Be sure to set up individual and team challenges and to give awards to the winning team and individuals. Competition brings team members together for a common goal, provides a sense of belonging, and creates a spirit of cooperation. If the competition is not carefully designed, it can reinforce the “end justifies the means” thinking, limit learning/sharing between teams, and can shift the focus away from performance to “winning”.

Development and Challenge

One of the ways to provide growth to agents is to create a learning environment. This can be achieved by combining tasks, forming teams, and rotating assignments. Regardless of the method selected, the goal is to build in feedback, to encourage widespread participation, and to nurture creativity.

Employees should have a career plan and know what they need to do to progress toward their goals. This may require outside education, a chance to work in different areas of the call center, or a training class. But as long as the steps to achieve the career goal are well defined, the employees can move at their own pace toward realizing them.

Fun

Which of the following statements are false?

  1. Professionalism and fun are incompatible.
  2. You need toys and money to have fun.
  3. Fun means laughter.
  4. You have to plan for fun.
  5. Fun time at work will compromise results.

The answer is that all of the above statements are false! You can have fun and still maintain a professional work environment. Also, you don’t have to have a good sense of humor to have fun – you can support rather than create fun.

Using games is one way to have fun in the call center. Most games are meant to involve every employee. Games can soften the rough edges of trying to work together in unfamiliar ways and can engage the employee in some kind of action, or by leading the employee to an intellectual revelation or change of attitude. Games can help boost morale, generate a positive atmosphere, and create enthusiasm.

Events and themes can also be used as a way to have fun. Some events and themes include asking agents to create a holiday mural on large sheets of white table paper that is taped to a central wall in the call centers. Another event or theme is to promote a physical fitness week with all of the agents coming to work in their exercise outfits and bringing healthy snacks.

To recognize diversity in the call center, some call centers celebrate an International Day. Agents are asked to bring food (morning/afternoon snacks) from their country or region by assigning theme countries/regions by queue type. During this celebration, agents decorate their cubicles with regional/international photographs and dress according to the theme. Another event is to celebrate Customer Service Week by creating a different theme for each day of the week.

Other types of themes include a poetry contest, back to childhood day, crazy hat day, and a sports day for the agent’s favorite professional sport team (football, basketball, hockey, soccer).

Employee Satisfaction

Employee satisfaction is tied closely to motivation. It is important to find out if employees are happy or not, because a satisfied employee will remain with the call center longer than a dissatisfied employee. Lack of motivation is one of the major reasons why employees leave. To find out if employees are happy, ASK! An employee satisfaction survey can be created and distributed to find out what employees think about their jobs. The survey should include questions related to what they like about their jobs, what they don’t like, and what motivates them.

In summary, supervisors can create a motivating environment by providing guidance and support to the agents so they will know how they are doing and by providing feedback through coaching. A motivating environment includes recognition since it not only builds self-esteem, but also fosters job satisfaction and reinforces the desired performance. The universal reward is praise. It doesn’t cost anything, so use it! Teams help create a sense of belonging in the call center. When competition is used, it can bring team members together to create a spirit of cooperation. Supervisors should strive to create a learning environment to encourage agent development and to provide growth opportunities for agents. Keep in mind that a fun-loving workplace generates enthusiasm among the agents and teams, and the end result is increased productivity, lower turnover, and better service for the customer. And finally, if you don’t know what your agents think about your call center, be sure to ask.

How To Become A Call Center Agent ?

Author: Jayson

A call center is a good place for people with sales background. Even for people without sales background the training may suffice for the requirement. Before you apply however, research the call center you want to apply to.

Do you want to apply as a call center agent? Does it excite you to enter this exciting field because many of your friends do? If you are interested in a call center job, let this article guide you. This article will give you a clearer understanding of what a call center is and what call center agents do.

Before we move on, let us define what a call center is. Knowing the set up and the prime responsibilities of a call center agent will help you decide if this is the job for you. It may be good for some of your friends, but is it good for you to work in a call center? You decide.

What is a call center?

A call center is a centralized office where volumes of calls are handled. It may be a call center for a large marketing company or a call center for a collection of companies where products and services vary.

A call center handles sales, sales support, debt collection, lead generation, and other customer service functions.

Call centers operate 24/7/365. This is the reason why you will hear people working starting at wee hours and ending in the morning. This is specially so for call centers serving overseas clients.

What does a call center agent do?

A call center agent is the person that answers calls or generates calls. They either handle calls singly or transfer it to higher level if her expertise does not suffice.

They sell products, offer services, or act as technical support for their clients customers.

Products training are necessary for call center agent in order for them to be able to provide the assistance necessary for their callers or clients as the case may be.

Problems encountered by call center agents

Safety is a foremost concern. Some agents end their shift at 2:00 a.m. while others start their shifts by then. If you will travel to and from your home at this hour, it may be dangerous. To answer this problem, some call centers provide quarters where agents may stay over to avoid traveling too early in the morning.

Unrealistic targets – because some call center agents are good, the pattern of setting targets made it difficult for some call center agents to follow.

Cramped office environment – some people find it difficult to work with limited space.

A call center is a good place for people with sales background. Even for people without sales background the training may suffice for the requirement. Before you apply however, research the call center you want to apply to. Do they protect their employees with a place to stay after a wee-hour shift? Do they give good benefits?

If they do, hop on the call center bandwagon, join the many call center agents happy with their job.

Article Source: http://www.1888articles.com

Why you need a contact center partner?

A contact center is a centralized area where overall customer relationship management is their prime responsibility. In a contact center, email inquiries, catalog distribution, website inquiries chats, and collection of information from customers happen.

Are you in need of people to assist your customers 24/7? Do you need people to handle telesales and customer support? Is your communication with customers or potential clients limited to voice support? If you want to diversify, as many large companies do, you may need a contact center. Now, what is a contact center and how will this benefit you, the business owner? Let us answer this question and understand why a contact center is necessary in a globally competitive environment.

First off, what is a contact center?

A contact center works similarly like a call center except, contact centers are not limited to call center agents attending to inbound or outbound calls with your customers.

A contact center is a centralized area where overall customer relationship management is their prime responsibility. In a contact center, email inquiries, newsletter distribution, catalog distribution, website inquiries chats, and collection of information from customers happen. This is not limited to these items alone, a contact center is your overall customer relationship tool.

This is where it is different from a call center. It manages your customers’ data other than customer service alone and they do it in all possible mediums.

What are the benefits a contact center provides the business owner?

• Attends to your customers anytime and anywhere
• Your customers can reach you in any form i.e., email, chat, phone, mail or even mobile internet.
• You can attend to your customers wants and needs easily without irritating your customers for long call in queue.
• Improve customer service because the efficient customer routing in a contact center assists your customers without much delay.
•Contact Management you will not loose any contact because the contact center will be managing it for you including periodic update.

You will therefore be able to satisfy the demands of your customers. It will lead to trust in your products and service.

Trust from satisfied customers spreads like wildfire in the internet.

If you are perceived as a customer oriented entity, customers will flood your website and money will keep pouring in even as you sleep.

Contact management is helpful in many ways; however, for some businesses who want control over their customers, this may be a difficult change for you. However, many large companies and successful businesses use contact centers advantageously.

Do not be left behind, serve your customers in the media they are comfortable with. Your competitor may be using many forms of customer relationship management programs; it is high time for you to do the same.

Take advantage of the ecommerce including call centers and contact centers. You may also outsource your needs overseas where cost is lower as compared with domestic contact centers.

Article Source: http://www.1888articles.com/author-jayson-11500.html

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