Simpro Solutions Blog

Posted on : February 11th, 2012

Keeping agents motivated is a big part of what contact centers do.  A good incentive program can increase sales, minimize agent turnover, and keep costs to a minimum.  On the other hand, a poorly managed incentive program can have exactly the opposite effect, leading to a decline in sales, diminished morale, and ultimately increased costs.

The Simpro Solutions Approach

Motivating to increase sales is more than providing scratch-and-wins, coffee-cards, or an extra few bucks per order or sale.  People are motivated by a wide number of factors, from recognition, to money, to time off, and much more.  Understanding how each person is motivated, and then incenting them accordingly, is one way Simpro keeps our clients’ results on track.  And while the list below doesn’t include everything we do, it does provide a look at how we approach motivating agents to drive long-term results that are much more consistent than the “everybody gets a lottery ticket” approach to driving sales.

Monetary Rewards

Everybody likes a little boost of cash now and then.  Providing a few extra dollars to drive results can certainly be effective in the short term.   On the other hand, we’ve found that driving results by providing an extra few dollars can be a lot like the effects of caffeine in coffee.  While there is an initial lift, agents soon develop a “tolerance” for the extra money (just like drinking coffee).  For the sales lift to continue, the dollar incentive needs to constantly increase.  As well, just as the effect of caffeine from a cup of coffee wears off and leaves you feeling sleepy and sluggish, the thrill from a few extra dollars per sale also wears off, leaving agents feeling somehow “ripped off” if they don’t continue to get the bonus even when results aren’t there.   This causes morale to drop, creating a predictable drop in results. 

So, cash incentives can be effective, but we advise using this type of reward with caution.  There are better ways to drive results.

Giveaways

Giveaways can include travel, electronics, as well as tickets to shows and concerts.  But you don’t have to have a huge budget to provide giveaways.  We find that anyone likes a reward for their accomplishments.    Something small, like a picture frame for their desk, or a quality water bottle they can use at their desk, can go a long way in letting an agent know that her work is valued and appreciated.   It really is the thought that counts.

Recognition

Recognition is always the best motivator, and it’s free!   People who do a great job appreciate being recognized for their efforts.  This can come in the form of formal recognition like an award or certification of appreciation.    Or, it can be informal, like a thank you or a “way to go.”

Recognition from our Clients

We find that recognition has the biggest impact when it comes from our clients.  We encourage our clients to “mystery shop” their programs so that they have a precise understanding of their customer experience.   And when they hear an agent doing a great job (which isn’t always the case, but we like to think it’s pretty close to always), we encourage our clients to let us know, or better yet, let the agent know directly.  Agents love to hear – from our clients – that they’re doing a great job.  

And if you would like to learn more about how Simpro Solutions can keep agents motivated for top performance on your program, feel free to contact us info@simprosolutions.com .  We’d love to hear from you.

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Posted on : August 2nd, 2011

If you’re like most clients of contact centers, you get reports that tell you Average Handle Time, Average Speed of Answer, and Abandons. You might also get quality scores as overall percentages.  But what does this really tell you?

Below is an outline of what these numbers mean, how they’re calculated, and how, if you ONLY choose to look at them without spending time with your contact center service partner looking at context, you might only be getting half of the picture.

Average Handle Time (AHT):

As implied by its name, this is the average amount of time it took to handle a call as an average across all calls.  When you’re looking at this metric, check  if there are any variations in the standard (so, if your calls are normally 5 minutes, but you see a dip down to only 4 minutes and 25 seconds, you’d want to find out what caused this dip).  The typical thinking is that a shorter AHT is a good thing because it reduces costs, but more on that later.

Average Speed of Answer (ASA):

This is how long it took for your calls to be answered by the next available agent. This typically makes up the “20” in the 80/20 service level agreement (where 80 represents the percentage of calls that are answered in 20 seconds or approximately 3-4 rings.  So, 80/30 would be that 80 percent of your calls are answered in 30 seconds).

There is a lot of conversation around having calls answered quickly, but this can drive up your costs for something that may not be a big deal to your customers. They might not mind waiting 10 extra seconds, and that difference could save you tens of thousands of dollars per month in staffing costs. Research shows that the main factor contributing to customer dissatisfaction is the fact that customers don’t want their call transferred after they reach a live person . Most customers are tolerant to a longer wait time (within reason) as long as their call/issue is resolved.

Abandon(s):

This is a straightforward metric showing how many people disconnected while they were waiting to speak with an agent.  Like Average Speed of Answer, you’ll want to determine the precise point in the queue when you contact center begins counting these.  Some contact centers won’t include abandons on their report unless they happen after a certain point in the IVR, or later (so the people that hang up earlier aren’t included in the report).  You’ll want to verify this with your outsource partner so you’re all on the same page here.

Beyond the Metrics

Okay, so now that we’ve looked at the numbers, let’s see how they can lead you astray; If you recall, I mentioned that Average Handle Time is often kept to a minimum, and agents (and the outsourcing partner) can be incented to keep their handle times short, and even penalized when their handle times are longer than the norm.  If you or your call center partner are taking this approach, what you may not be considering is the context of the longer calls.  There’s a good chance that the agent spending longer with your customer is providing more thorough issue resolution, and saving your customers in the process.  To determine this, spend some time listening to the longer calls to see what’s happening there.  You might uncover some important customer insights that, if addressed proactively, will reduce your overall call volume and increase your customer satisfaction levels.

So, while KPIs such as Average Handle Time, and Average Speed of Answer have value, it’s best to view them in context of a bigger customer experience picture.  Managing only by the numbers could actually be creating the very customer experience you’re hoping to avoid.  The best way to validate these is to identify the calls that are outside the norm, and then listen to them.  You might be surprised at what you find.

For more information on how Simpro’s “beyond the numbers” approach to call management can benefit your business, give us a call. We’d be delighted to speak with you.

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Posted on : June 3rd, 2011

5 Essential Questions to Ask when Choosing a Contact Center Outsource Partner.

When a business is considering a contact center outsource partner, they end up speaking with a lot of contact
centers and hear pretty much the same thing with each meeting.  I know this because in my time as VP at American Express , I reviewed many potential contact center partners.  The typical approach is to reference the “People, Process, Technology” equation, make a passing reference to how amazing the agents are, and then spend the rest of the presentation on technology. Personally, I have never entirely bought into that approach.

In my extensive career in contact centers,I’ve seen a lot of advances in technology to help deliver improved customer experiences.   From advancements in call routing, to scheduling, and finally more recent advancements data analysis and voice analytics, there are hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars,
spent annually on technology to improve that crucial 5 minutes when your customer calls you.

But my question has always been:  With all of this advancement, wouldn’t it stand to reason that by now the customer experience at the contact center level would have been perfected?  Or at least significantly improved?

But the fact is that despite all of this technology, the average customer experience when calling a call center has
improved only minimally over the past 20 years. To provide you with a perspective on how serious this is:   One in four calls to a call center results in a customer walking away from a brand.

Great Experiences

On the other hand, what about those times when the experiences are great?  When customers call your company and have a great experience, they don’t later tell their friends, “Wow, the ACD was seamless,” or even, “The intelligent call routing technology was awesome!”  What they say is, “The agent I spoke to was terrific.  She was really helpful.”  Then they might even add, “That company is great.”

When it comes down to it, it’s not so much the technology that makes a great customer experience, it’s the people using the technology that makes a greatcustomer experience.

So the next time you’re considering a company to outsource your contact center function, try to look beyond the technology razzle dazzle and see through to the agents and front line staff. To help you with this, here are some questions you might consider asking a potential outsource partner before signing on the dotted line:

1. Can you speak with the agents?
2. When you do speak with the agents, does management hang around menacingly?
3. Are the agents and front line supervisors happy?
4. What do they like best about their job?
5. Finally, and, most importantly,do they speak directly with their call center’s clients on who’s account they work? (This question will tell you the amount of access you will have directly to the front line.  And while you don’t want to be talking to them every day, you may want to have the opportunity to hear how things are going directly from the front line, at least from time to time).

Answers to these questions will tell you alot about the “people” part of the “People, Process, and Technology” equation Imentioned above.  There’s a reason“people” comes first in that list.  Without that, nothing else matters. For more information on how Simpro’s approach to people is truly different,feel free to contact us here info@simprosolutions.com

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