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From Boot Camp to Teamwork:How to Create a Positive and Profitable Call Center Culture
09-08-11
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Agenda
IntroductionsPositive and Profitable Call Center Culture Operationalizing Culture ImprovementsQuestions and Answers
David L. Butler, Ph.D. Director and Associate Professor, The Call Center
Research Laboratory, The University of Southern Mississippi
Executive Director, The National Association of Call Centers - a not-for-profit membership organization
Author of Bottom-Line Call Center Management
Today’s Presenters
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Today’s Presenters Continued
Matt McConnell CEO, Knowlagent
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Knowlagent at a Glance Call center agent productivity solution
Founded in 1995
300,000+ agents in 17 countries using Knowlagent
SaaS
Quality of the Customer Experience
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The Attitude of Agents
The Ability of Agents to Understand the Issue
Queue Lengths
The Ability of Agents to Resolve Issues at the First Attempt
26%
23%
20%
20%
Agent Knowledge 8%
Consistency of Information 2% Based on #1 choice ONLY
Source: Ventana Research CEM Benchmark Research
Agent performance is vital to the customer experience and customer satisfaction
By the Numbers
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The Nature of the Beast
Call center created to deal with customers more efficiently
Volume
Lower cost resources
Metrics critical
Easily leads to a command and control environment
Response Defines Culture
Pressures remain the sameHow you respond to them defines your cultureA tale of two centers
Know Thy Agents
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Know Thy Agents Continued
Do you find your work challeng-ing?
No24%
Yes76%
A Tale of Two Call Centers
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Same citySame labor area500 seats each
Similar working hoursSimilar benefit plans
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Pays $2 more an hour moreTurnover rate 3% vs. 90%
Waiting list to join companyNegative culture
A Tale of Two Call Centers Continued
Volume
Can’t Change varying volume
Can
Make sure agents are prepared
Break up the day with different tasks, alleviate boredom and burnout
Change measurement focus
Resources
Can’t Change demographics of labor pool
Can Give a career path
Change management approach
Invest in skills
Metrics
Can’t Stop measuring
Can
Balance productivity and performance
Focus on metrics that matter most to customers (which empower agents and drive behavior)
Empower agents with information, not punish. Drive improvement while investing in skills
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The Payoff
CONFIDENTIAL
Source: Metric Net
Agent Training/Coaching*
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73% say service level agreements don’t allow enough time for training
29% provide as much training as they target:
Coaching: 37% have no set target for amount of coaching time
Source: Ventana Research Call Center Agent Productivity Poll
Category 1
60%
11%
17%
12%
Wait Time: Five Weeks of Really Bad, Boring VacationWait time = Five weeks; 2 minutes at a time.
Secondary Loss (off-phone work)
Primary Loss (Absenteeism, vacations, etc.)
Wait Time
Call Handle time
24 x 2 minute breaks/ day
120 x 2 minute breaks/ week
480 x 2 minute breaks/ month
5,760 x 2 minute breaks/ year
Costs our industry $30 billion/year
Source: 2010 Contact Center Shrinkage Survey
Agents have 17 hours of Idle Time Every Month
Contact center agents spend 11% of their day unproductively waiting for the next customer interaction
Lunch
Break
Break
50 minutes of unproductive wait time
Category 1
60%
11%
17%
12%
Wait Time: Five Weeks of Really Bad, Boring VacationWait time = Five weeks; 2 minutes at a time.
Secondary Loss (off-phone work)
Primary Loss (Absenteeism, vacations, etc.)
Wait Time
Call Handle time
Source: 2010 Contact Center Shrinkage Survey
Active Wait
Find time by Converting Idle Wait Time into Active Wait time
Leverage technology to redistribute the idle time and create 15-20 minute activity sessionsUse these dynamically scheduled sessions to improve skills, communicate must reads, coach agents
Lunch
Break
20 minutes of“Active Wait”time+30 minutes of unproductive wait time
Time Invested for Improvements
Industry Average Composition of Secondary Loss
Source: 2010 Contact Center Shrinkage Survey
Category 1
60%
11%
17%
12%
9%
9%
11%
16%
17%
21% Training
Coaching
Team Meetings
Projects
Paperwork
Call Research / Follow-up
17% - Email, Call Back, Knowledgebase, Etc.
Secondary Loss
Primary Loss
Wait time
Call Handle time
Occupancy
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Structured Activity Queues Drive the Right Work at the Right Time
Personalized based on agent need, prioritized based on business objectives
100%
95%
90%
85%
80%
75%
70%
1) Urgent Must Reads
2) Social Learning
3) Coaching
4) QM Review
Customer SatisfactionGetting First Call Resolution Done
Using Knowlagent to deliver more training, coaching, and communications to over 45,000 agents
Increased Delivery“Delivered more training time to a site in 5 days using RightTime than was delivered over 1 month when manually scheduling time”
Improved Take Rate“71.7% take rate for RightTime vs. 59.4% take rate for pre-scheduled breaks”
Major U.S. Telecommunications Company
Operationalizing Culture Improvements
Volume: Make idle time work for you and your agents
Resources: Find time to make them better
Metrics: Guide your improvements, prioritize off-phone activities
