How To Make A Call Center More Productive

Today call centers have become the lifeblood of the BPO industry and it plays a very supportive and crucial role in the outsourcing business. So it is extremely important that we focus on increasing the productivity of the call centers so that we can get the desired results and generate more business from it.

At the initial stages, it might seem to be an overwhelming task but in reality, you can make a huge impact on your productivity by doing certain basic changes and adjustments and this can result in huge business growth from a call center. You need to remember that a call center can only become successful by delivering good customer service and that is only possible when the call center agents deliver service support of the highest standards.

So today we will go through and understand the critical strategies and innovative ways to make a call center more productive.

Proper Training

Proper training of all call center agents is extremely important and it can be crucial in determining the success of the call center in the long term. Most of the call center supervisors do not put much attention to the training part and try to do away with it quickly in expectation of high performance from a new employee from day one. But you need to understand that a new employee must be well trained enough to handle certain issues efficiently and deliver higher performance.

The agents will have proper knowledge of all the functionalities only if he or she is trained well and can deliver higher performance in the long run. Thus training of new employees or agents in a call center is extremely important at the initial stages to make a call center more productive.

Give Autonomy To The Agents

Working in a call center might become boring at times with repeated process and canned way of dealing with the customers. Thus it becomes important that you give a certain degree of autonomy to your agents so that they can deal with the customers in their own way rather than interacting with them with a set system of response.

This will make them feel more important and valuable to the process and they will enjoy their work. This will definitely improve customer satisfaction and help your business grow further. Moreover, the agents will utilize their skill to the maximum possible level and go beyond the ordinary to make their customers happy.

Agent Performance Measurement

You need to measure the performance of all the agents in your call center both individually and as a group in order to boost the overall productivity and performance. You need to go beyond the traditional Key Performance Indicators and take the help of newer technology in order to have a better analysis of the daily workings.

New technology will help in providing a performance graph of individual employees and point out the key areas which need improvement. You will get detailed information about speech analytics, response time, time spent on client calls and other critical information which you can utilize to improve the performance of individual agents and make your call center more productive in the long run.

Motivate The Agents

​​ Your call center can only be productive when your agents perform well and in order to make them perform the best you need to keep them motivated at all times so that the team spirit remains high and the overall performance of the call center improves. Provide the agents with positive feedback and reward them with incentive and recognition for hard work. This will make them feel that they are an important part of the organization and they are making a difference to the customers and the company.

Even small incentives can go a long way in motivating the agents and make them perform better. You can provide the best performers with higher bonuses and free lunch and these small factors can play a vital role in motivating the agents and fostering a friendly atmosphere in the office. Happy agents mean better customer service and hence higher productivity and more business for your call center.

Minimize Stress

Stress can play a negative role and lower the overall performance of the employees in your call center. So it is important that the employees are stress-free and relaxed so that they can perform in a free mind and give better output. Thus you need to look after the agents and ensure that they are provided with the opportunity to take short periodic breaks in between work so that they remain active and fresh.

The agents should have the freedom to go out for fresh air whenever they like and have a coffee or tea break with their colleagues. Providing this kind of flexibility will enable them to have better control of the overall process and increase the productivity of the organization.

Friendly Atmosphere

​ A friendly atmosphere in a call center can go a long way in proving higher productivity. You should ensure that all the agents of your call center work in an atmosphere full of mutual trust and cooperation.

If the organization becomes a fun place full of positive vibes and mutual respect it will become like a second home for all the agents working there and they will become freer and work in a tension-free mood. This will obviously increase the level of performance of all the agents as they will give their best and work their heart out for the organization.

They will become more flexible at times of need and will also be ready to work for extended periods as well. This is definitely a wonderful thing for any call center and it will boost productivity by several times.

 Thus to conclude we can say that a call center has become an indispensable part of any BPO or outsourcing business. It is the sole point of contact with customers. Thus it is extremely important that every call center remains productive and provides excellent customer satisfaction.