How To Improve Call Center Agent Performance" 

Key Points for Improving Call Center Performance

• IVR is a tool that collects information from the caller before they're connected to an agent to improve call center performance and increase customer satisfaction.
• Blocking undesirable phone numbers and using comprehensive IVR menu options are two ways you can improve call center agent performance.
• Outsourced contact centers that offer continuous training for their employees increase productivity and agent performance.
• Another way to improve call center agent performance is motivating agents with user-friendly technology, including sales software, productivity metric reporting systems, CRMs, and help desk tools.
• Service level, average abandonment rate, average speed to answer, first-call resolution rate, and average call duration are important metrics call centers should keep on their radar to improve call center agent performance.
• You can improve call center agent performance by rewarding successful agents with bonuses, increased salaries, or tokens of appreciation.

Improve Call Center Agent Performance With These Tips

Whether you're already using an outsourced call center to help grow your business or looking for a new center to help with your needs, here are a few ways that quality companies improve call center agent performance. That way, you can look for key indicators that you've chosen the right company:

Use Interactive Voice Response To Segment Customers

Poor inbound call distribution can harm call center performance. That's why it's common for contact centers to implement interactive voice response (IVR) to increase call center productivity. IVR is a tool that collects information from the caller before they're connected to an agent. The information is shared with the agent in real time, so when the customer connects with a live representative, they get a solution faster and agents are free to resolve more complex customer problems.

Eliminate Avoidable Calls

Another way to improve call center agent performance is eliminating avoidable calls by:

• Blocking undesirable phone numbers
• Publishing FAQs on your website
• Using a comprehensive IVR menu

When you eliminate calls that don't require immediate attention, agents have more time to make customers connections on calls that benefit your business, increasing call center productivity.

Offer Continuous Training

Outsourced contact centers that offer continuous training for their employees increase productivity and agent performance. Many continuous training programs give team members the resources they need to resolve customer service issues—like how to communicate with angry customers—and grow their product and service knowledge. Training programs are also an opportunity to provide agents with individual feedback using call monitoring tools.

Monitor Calls and Share Best Practices

Call monitoring tools allow new and experienced agents alike to learn best practices for resolving customer problems. Many centers hold training sessions where they offer good and bad customer engagement examples to reinforce positive customer interactions, pushing team members to improve performance.

Empower Agents With the Best Technology

Another way to improve call center agent performance is motivating agents with user-friendly and innovative technology, including sales software, productivity metric reporting systems, CRMs, and help desk tools. Using the best technology that's easy to navigate eliminates IT-related frustrations and motivates agents to excel in their roles.

Monitor and Analyze Your Metrics

Monitoring and analyzing productivity metrics is an excellent way to increase productivity and performance. For example, service level, average abandonment rate, average speed to answer, first-call resolution rate, and average call duration are all important metrics call centers should keep on their radar to make sure performance and productivity are always improving.

Reward Successful Agents

Research shows that 69% of employees would work harder if they were recognized for their efforts. You can improve call center agent performance by rewarding successful agents with bonuses, increased salaries, or tokens of appreciation for their hard work, like a gift certificate to their favorite coffee shop or fast food restaurant. Even a small gesture goes a long way.

Make Data-Driven Changes

The final way to improve call center agent performance is to make changes based on real-time data and metrics. By reviewing data regularly to uncover problems related to agent performance, you can help employees adjust their customer service approach, resulting in improved performance and productivity.

There are different types of call centers that operate in unique ways to help businesses grow, from inbound and outbound to automated centers.

Using Call Center Performance Management To Increase Productivity

ListenTrust uses call center performance management to increase productivity for your business. Our performance management process starts at the recruiting level, where we take the time to find employees who have what it takes to be successful as a call center agent.

During the hiring process, each candidate is asked to complete a personality and skill assessment so we can get an idea of their work ethic, skills, and behavior to make the right recruitment decisions. Our efficient process ensures that by the time an agent begins training and onboarding, they already have the foundation to succeed at ListenTrust—that's where ListenTrust University comes into play.

ListenTrust University: Our Call Center Performance Management Training Program

ListenTrust University is our company training program that connects team members with coaches and trainers who provide feedback and areas of improvement for call center agents. This program also gives our employees the opportunity to understand specific clients and business needs.

Other ways we improve call center agent performance include QA processes like live and recorded call audits and email reviews. We point out the good and the bad, using examples of best practices executed by successful agents and not-so-great customer interactions to improve call center performance in the future. Contact us today to learn more about how we increase call center productivity to help your business succeed.