AN AGENT S ROLE IN CONTACT CENTERS

Transcription

1 AN AGENT S ROLE IN CONTACT CENTERS Participant Workbook 2014 ICMI // All Rights Reserved icmi.com //

2 AN AGENT S ROLE IN CONTACT CENTERS Participant Workbook WB-1

3 Purpose of An Agent s Role in Contact Centers A successful contact center requires a number of things to be perfectly balanced and aligned. Discover the important role that you play within the contact center and how the power of one impacts both your customers and fellow employees. An Agent s Role in Contact Centers contains the following four modules: Module 1: The Dynamic Contact Center Module 2: The Three Driving Forces of Contact Centers Module 3: The Planning and Management Process Module 4: Key Individual Performance Objectives WB-2

4 Module 1: The Dynamic Contact Center Objectives Define Contact Center Identify the Three Levels of Perspective Describe the Role of a Contact Center Employee Summarize the Characteristics of a Contact Center WB-3

5 Module 1:1 The Dynamic Contact Center An opening question! What is your definition of a Contact Center? ICMI s definition of a Contact Center: New channels, higher value contacts Contact centers exist because there is an, variable demand for. Contact centers are focused on aligning with customer demands through any channel of communication. WB-4

6 The Hub of Communication WB-5

7 Module 1:2 3 Levels of Perspective 1. The Perspective Be Treat me courteously Show about what I need and want Do what I ask promptly; save me time Be well-trained and informed Meet, keep. Do it right the time; follow up Tell me what to expect Be 2. The Perspective Contributes to unit strategies. a. Enables improved quality and innovation b. Enables highly-leveraged marketing c. Enables and Major drive of and loyalty Provides efficient delivery of services. Cultivates - usage and system design Creates revenue/sales* *In revenue-producing environments WB-6

8 Module 1:2 (continued) 3. Your Perspective What are the skills and knowledge required to do your job? Module 1:3 The Profession Contact center management is the of having the right number of and supporting resources in place at the to handle an accurately forecasted workload, at service level and with. EXERCISE: Is it a profession? Do you need to have specialized knowledge? Do you need specialized technology? Is there a unique vocabulary? Is there a trade press? Is there formal training? Is there recognition as a market? Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes No WB-7

9 Objectives Module 2: The Three Driving Forces of Contact Centers Explore the three driving forces of contact centers: Workload Arrival The Queue The Seven Factors of Caller Tolerance Module 2:1 Workload Arrival Calls arrive randomly most of the time in a majority of inbound contact centers. In other words, calls up! WB-8

10 Module 2:1 (continued) There are three types of incoming traffic: Smooth 3. The Implications of Random Call Arrival: Uses or Computer Simulation Requires Real-time Management Impacts Drive WB-9

11 Module 2:2 The Queue Queue The customer knows how he/she is progressing. Queue Customer doesn t know how long he/she will have to wait. Is your contact center s queue visible or invisible? The Implications of an Invisible Queue: Customers may be Quickly empathize handle their request to your schedule It s the customers decision WB-10

12 Module 2:2 The Seven Factors of Caller Tolerance 1. Degree of 2. Availability of substitutes 3. service level 4. Level of 5. Time available 6. Who s for the contact 7. WB-11

13 Module 3: The Contact Center Planning and Management Process Objectives Understand the process used to ensure that the contact center effectively meets its objectives Review the impact of this process on phone calls, s, social media and other types of contacts. WB-12

14 Module 3:1 Choosing Objectives Step 1: Choose Service Level and Response Time Objectives Contacts are either handled they arrive or at a time. Those that must be handled when they arrive. Performance objective: Expressed as: Those that can be handled at a later time. Performance objective: Expressed as: WB-13

15 EXERCISE: Categorizing Contacts Service Level Response Time Inbound phone calls Outbound phone calls Social real time Social deferred SMS Webchat Web call-me-now Web call-me-later Web click-to-talk Fax Postal mail Video calls Walk-in customers WB-14

16 The Three Types of Response for Deferred Contacts: 1. Reply (automatic) 2. Response (completed or directed by an agent) 3. Resolution (in the case of an open ticket) Your Impact #1:! WB-15

17 Module 3:2 Collect Data Step 2: Collect Data Talk Time: After Contact Work Time: Handling Time: Call Load: Your Impact #2:! WB-16

18 Module 3:3 Forecast Workload Step 3: Forecast Workload It s a prediction Workload includes: - Based on past & future Contacts arrive in three dominant patterns: of the year of the week of the day WB-17

19 Emerging Channels How is social media having an impact on your business? What methods of social media is your organization actively pursuing? What volume of customer engagement exists in the social media you are using Twitter, Facebook, blogs? How important do you feel social media is for your organization? With , web, chat and now social media for reaching out to your customers, have you noticed a DECREASE in voice traffic to your contact center? WB-18

20 Step 4: Calculate Base Staff Module 3:4 Calculate Base Staff Erlang C formula: Calculates the number of base staff required to keep waiting times within target limit. Erlang C Inputs for Calculation: Talk Time in Seconds After-Call Work in Seconds Calls per Half-Hour Service Level Objective in Seconds WB-19

21 Erlang C Calculation Graph Key Terms Agents represents the minimum number of people to achieve a given service level (also known as Base Staff) Service level is the % of calls that will be answered within our stated objective. ASA is the Average Speed of Answer, so in other words, if I were calling into the contact center the average amount of time it would take for my call to be answered. Occupancy is the percentage of time that I spend handling contacts. Occupancy Exercise 1. How many calls did this agent take? 2. What do you notice about when the dark blue boxes that represent after-call work appear? 3. What do you notice about when the orange boxes that represent availability appear? WB-20

22 4. Does the agent control when the orange boxes appear and how long they are? Your Impact #3:! Step 7: Organize Schedules Module 3:5 Organization of Schedules WB-21

23 Objectives Module 4: Key Individual Performance Objectives Review the two key performance objectives: Doing the Right Things QUALITY At the Right Times ADHERENCE Module 4:1 Adherence to Schedule You can do four things to ensure that you re adhering to your schedule: 1. Use correctly 2. Practice good 3. Be well 4. Comes with experience Other ideas? WB-22

24 Module 4:2 Importance of Quality on the customer s needs and expectations. Self-reflection: What s your worst customer service experience? We can still meet service level, but... Misunderstand Enter wrong information Relay wrong information Make callers angry Miss our primary purpose Cause repeat contacts Miss valuable feedback WB-23

25 Self-reflection: What s your best customer service experience? Self-reflection: What could you do differently in the future? WB-24

26 Module 4:3 Quality Monitoring Quality monitoring is around to benefit! Monitoring considerations: Measures quality Provides insight for improvement The quality of the call is in your Quality is just key aspect of your overall performance Module 4:4 You are a Vital Part of the Team Three Areas of Impact Do the at the WB-25

27 What I found most valuable today: WB-26

28 Notes: WB-27

29 An Agent s Role in Contact Centers ICMI 121 South Tejon Street, Suite 1200 Colorado Springs, CO USA U.S. and Canada: (800) icmi.com Copyright 2014 International Customer Management Institute (ICMI). All rights reserved. ICMI assumes no liability for error or omission. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the consent of the International Customer Management Institute (ICMI), with the exception of trade publications reporting on the data. In such cases, credit must be given to ICMI. The International Customer Management Institute (ICMI) is a registered trademark of United Business Media Limited in the United States and other countries. ICMI is a part of UBM WB-28