5 Strategies To Boost The Economic Growth Of Call Centers

The current cost of living crisis combined with the usual stress of managing a hybrid workforce and increased customer expectations put enormous pressure on customer service organisations. These pervasive challenges also prevent many companies from delivering exceptional customer experience (CX).

In fact, according to the ‘State of the Contact Center 2022′ report, 83% of call center managers say that “job challenges have affected their customers’ brand experience”, citing “stress/burnout agents” and “operational difficulty of remote/hybrid work” as the most important issues (both at 40%) followed closely by “high churn/turnover” (38%).

Flexible working practices and high customer expectations are here to stay, and when budgets are tight, hiring more staff isn’t always a viable option. In these uncertain economic times, contact centers need to find new ways to increase business revenue.

5 Strategies To Boost The Economic Growth Of Call Centers

1) Discover Opportunities For Profit

Many companies are going through a significant and often disruptive period of digital transformation that costs time and money. At a time when 3 in 5 consumers say they would switch brands due to negative call center experiences, organisations cannot ignore poor service experiences.

By quickly spotting customer frustrations and then alerting an agent or supervisor to call back later, you can reduce the churn rate and turn potentially negative CX into positive for the brand. Analytics help you find win-win opportunities, highlighting where to invest and where to make small changes that ultimately yield big customer service wins.

2) Elevate Functionality In Workflows

Combining data from Workforce Management (WFM) and Quality Management (QM) systems provides additional value that optimises call center performance.

A good example is using quality scores to impact schedules instead of creating schedules based solely on agent skills. Performance metrics and training techniques need to be reassessed to guide agents in delivering fast, efficient service with empathy. The latest Workforce Engagement Management (WEM) solutions automatically schedule agent training to meet individual needs at a time that suits their new telecommuting lifestyles. The best WEM platforms also offer high levels of agent mobility, hybrid scheduling, and digital channel support to meet the needs of the modern contact center.

3) Integrate WEM Tools With Call Center Systems

In the rush to adopt the latest technology trends, organisations often overlook the basics, such as integrating WEM tools with a wide range of other systems. On a purely practical level, this is important because many companies operate multiple contact centers using various phone systems that increases the risk of creating harmful data silos.

Additionally, other areas of the organisation, such as human resources and marketing, are increasingly interested in workforce data, call recordings, transcripts, and customer sentiment scores to drive effective hiring or sales strategies. As a result, there is a growing demand from companies to connect WEM tools with other business systems, such as CRMs.

4) Centralise Personnel Management

Success comes when call centers have a complete, coherent, and centralised view of their staff. Ideally, all call centers would use the same telephony, but many are cobbled together using a variety of systems depending on the preferred local provider. Fortunately, vendors specialising in Work Engagement Management (WEM) can integrate any number of telephony environments to centralise Workforce Optimisation (WFO) and QM data, regardless from the provider. This approach also works for companies that operate an outsourced model to handle their customer contacts, allowing them to share and maximise their agent resources.

5) Focus On The Team

Many contact centers recognise the importance of focusing on their team with 96% or organisations planning to prioritise upgrading agent skills in the next 1-2 years. That’s why it pays to empower agents by equipping them with the top five soft skills that are set to reshape the customer experience: empathy, kindness, adaptability, active listening, and patience. Combining these with traditional technical skills like response times and product knowledge will turn agents into brand ambassadors with the power to increase customer loyalty and increase profits.

When managers were asked what are the most effective ways for the call center to support and empower agents, the “right tools and technology” topped the list (42%), but invest wisely and be selective. Helping agents grow by providing them with the flexible, personalised training they need to understand and respond to each step of the customer journey using the latest automated performance coaching and Voice of the Customer (VoC) analytics solutions is a priority.