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Casual Articles - Call Center Killers and How To Prevent Them
If you've lived near a beach, you've probably been enchanted by the idea of buried pirate's treasure, of gold coins and mouldy chests filled to bursting with pearls and rubies. You probably even spent some time searching. More than likely, the most you ever found were a couple of quarters and maybe some random junk jewellery, but you probably remember the excitement when your detector started beeping frantically. While you may not be able to get rich searching for pirate's gold, there may be at least one other way to cash in on your metal detector.Metal detectors are fun toys, which you can probably attest to if you used one, but perhaps a little bit disappointing in their actuality. People often forget that metal detect
Hard Dollars
In all Call Centers, your Workforce Management Team schedules based on assumed absenteeism. On the outsourcing side it is generally higher (probably because pay is lower and efficiency is that much more important.)
So basically if you predict that you will have a 8% absenteeism rate on a Tuesday and normally your staffing requirements dictate that you need 100 reps throughout the day to handle the call volume. If that is the case you will need to train 108 reps.
But if you could manage your absenteeism down to 2% then you would only need
One of the biggest questions asked by new potential team members and franchise buyers of a franchise system as they work to determine if they should purchase a franchise is; How much money will I make. This is a good question however one which is so very difficult to answer as it depends on so many factors, such as their work ethic, business acumen and location chosen, economic factors and a host of other potential eventualities.It is for this reason many franchisors do not state how much money one can make, but rather the franchise buyer can call up or visit with franchisees of the system and ask them directly. This eliminates any potential false, misleading or unsubstantiated earnings claims which could come back to haunt
Three Areas of Focus
1. Employee Retention (attrition)
2. Absenteeism
3. Ineffective Frontline Leadership
Can you see the relationship among all three? Clearly, ineffective frontline leadership can and does have an impact on Employee satisfaction.
This article will provide you with a brief explanation of the cost of each "Killer" and a brief overview of solutions to each of these three issues.
As you will see to truly solve these areas of opportunity you will have to approach the solutions from a Holistic methodology. I know your time is limited so
Employee Retention vs. Attrition
Simply stated....follow the golden rule and call center life will be productive. Meaning, treat people the way you want to be treated.
Looking at the importance of attrition reduction some say "so what we can hire and train for pennies on the dollar." This view is short sighted and I will explain why.
The cost of attrition needs to be calculated based on both hard and soft dollars.
Hard Dollars
Increased Training cost (Agent's hourly rate x hrs to train) Trainer cost = salary or rate of pay x hrs to train + prep time.
Soft Dollars
Lost revenue - This can be better gauged when working on the outsourcing side but the cost would;
Rate that is bill client x the hours lost due to attrition. For instance, the contract calls for $24.55 per hour. The agent usually works 37.5 hours a week then additional cost of attrition would be $920.63. This is lost revenue.
Performance Cost - What happens when you lose a veteran agent that knows and understands the performance metric criteria? Performance drops! The cost of this lost is debatable but clearly you lose in performance. This can be dramatic especially if you are bonused based on performance.
So for those that think attrition is not important, you just do not understand the true dynamics of call center management.
These costs become exponentially important on the Inbound side when you get to training times that take up to 5 or 6 weeks to prepare an agent for the phones.
Absenteeism
The cost of this "killer" is obvious. But let's apply the Hard/Soft dollars methodology again:
Hard Dollars
In all Call Centers, your Workforce Management Team schedules based on assumed absenteeism. On the outsourcing side it is generally higher (probably because pay is lower and efficiency is that much more important.)
So basically if you predict that you will have a 8% absenteeism rate on a Tuesday and normally your staffing requirements dictate that you need 100 reps throughout the day to handle the call volume. If that is the case you will need to train 108 reps.
But if you could manage your absenteeism down to 2% then you would only need t
Most of us are involved in some form of business acquisition for our respective companies. We all know that winning business often requires a significant investment in time, resources and energy and that the thrill of the chase is an exciting one. Isn’t it a shame that sometimes the customer, who you worked so hard to win, cancels the order during the initial stages because someone somewhere has let them down.The sequence of events is often typical – an ‘important’ meeting of department heads is set up to find out who the culprit was and why, but its too late – all you can do is learn from the mistakes – or at least that’s the logical outcome.In this article, I want to cover issues which your company faces in retaini
As you will see to truly solve these areas of opportunity you will have to approach the solutions from a Holistic methodology. I know your time is limited so
Employee Retention vs. Attrition
Simply stated....follow the golden rule and call center life will be productive. Meaning, treat people the way you want to be treated.
Looking at the importance of attrition reduction some say "so what we can hire and train for pennies on the dollar." This view is short sighted and I will explain why.
The cost of attrition needs to be calculated based on both hard and soft dollars.
Hard Dollars
Increased Training cost (Agent's hourly rate x hrs to train) Trainer cost = salary or rate of pay x hrs to train + prep time.
Soft Dollars
Lost revenue - This can be better gauged when working on the outsourcing side but the cost would;
Rate that is bill client x the hours lost due to attrition. For instance, the contract calls for $24.55 per hour. The agent usually works 37.5 hours a week then additional cost of attrition would be $920.63. This is lost revenue.
Performance Cost - What happens when you lose a veteran agent that knows and understands the performance metric criteria? Performance drops! The cost of this lost is debatable but clearly you lose in performance. This can be dramatic especially if you are bonused based on performance.
So for those that think attrition is not important, you just do not understand the true dynamics of call center management.
These costs become exponentially important on the Inbound side when you get to training times that take up to 5 or 6 weeks to prepare an agent for the phones.
Absenteeism
The cost of this "killer" is obvious. But let's apply the Hard/Soft dollars methodology again:
Hard Dollars
In all Call Centers, your Workforce Management Team schedules based on assumed absenteeism. On the outsourcing side it is generally higher (probably because pay is lower and efficiency is that much more important.)
So basically if you predict that you will have a 8% absenteeism rate on a Tuesday and normally your staffing requirements dictate that you need 100 reps throughout the day to handle the call volume. If that is the case you will need to train 108 reps.
But if you could manage your absenteeism down to 2% then you would only need
Achieve Herbal Medicine Careers in the United States and Canada. With the demand for alternative and complementary medicine on the rise, individuals that are interested in pursuing herbal medicine careers will find it is essential for aspiring healers to acquire appropriate education and training from one of several natural health schools in order to land any number of herbal medicine careers.Herbal medicine careers today offer a variety of professional fields including positions as herbalists, naturopaths, natural healing practitioners, Chinese medicine practitioners, homeopathic practitioners, Ayurvedic practitioners, and related fields in iridology.Individuals seeking to fulfill their dreams of entering herbal m
Hard Dollars
Increased Training cost (Agent's hourly rate x hrs to train) Trainer cost = salary or rate of pay x hrs to train + prep time.
Soft Dollars
Lost revenue - This can be better gauged when working on the outsourcing side but the cost would;
Rate that is bill client x the hours lost due to attrition. For instance, the contract calls for $24.55 per hour. The agent usually works 37.5 hours a week then additional cost of attrition would be $920.63. This is lost revenue.
Performance Cost - What happens when you lose a veteran agent that knows and understands the performance metric criteria? Performance drops! The cost of this lost is debatable but clearly you lose in performance. This can be dramatic especially if you are bonused based on performance.
So for those that think attrition is not important, you just do not understand the true dynamics of call center management.
These costs become exponentially important on the Inbound side when you get to training times that take up to 5 or 6 weeks to prepare an agent for the phones.
Absenteeism
The cost of this "killer" is obvious. But let's apply the Hard/Soft dollars methodology again:
Hard Dollars
In all Call Centers, your Workforce Management Team schedules based on assumed absenteeism. On the outsourcing side it is generally higher (probably because pay is lower and efficiency is that much more important.)
So basically if you predict that you will have a 8% absenteeism rate on a Tuesday and normally your staffing requirements dictate that you need 100 reps throughout the day to handle the call volume. If that is the case you will need to train 108 reps.
But if you could manage your absenteeism down to 2% then you would only need
What is the best way to inform employees when you sell your business? Wait until the transaction is a done deal.After many years of representing people who want to sell their businesses, experience has taught me that complete confidentiality about any thoughts of selling are in the best interests of every business owner. Consequently, the best time to make any announcements about selling will be on the afternoon of the day your transaction closes. That announcement should be well rehearsed and should include a personal introduction of the New Owners.The meeting should be planned in advance so that 100% of all employees are in attendance. In that meeting, you can explain your personal reasons for selling and that,
So for those that think attrition is not important, you just do not understand the true dynamics of call center management.
These costs become exponentially important on the Inbound side when you get to training times that take up to 5 or 6 weeks to prepare an agent for the phones.
Absenteeism
The cost of this "killer" is obvious. But let's apply the Hard/Soft dollars methodology again:
Hard Dollars
In all Call Centers, your Workforce Management Team schedules based on assumed absenteeism. On the outsourcing side it is generally higher (probably because pay is lower and efficiency is that much more important.)
So basically if you predict that you will have a 8% absenteeism rate on a Tuesday and normally your staffing requirements dictate that you need 100 reps throughout the day to handle the call volume. If that is the case you will need to train 108 reps.
But if you could manage your absenteeism down to 2% then you would only need
It never ceases to amaze me. Almost everyone peers into the future through a rear-view mirror. The future is imagined as a continuation of the past. I suppose there is a certain security in that; much like a padded cell. Hardly anyone practices creative envisioneering.To be an envisioneer, you must: first have the courage to look into the future with the recognition that there is nothing there yet, except that which you imagine; and then, the force of will to imagine a personal ideal; and then, the impertinence to believe in that imagined ideal as being more real than all that has come before or exists in this present moment. In short, you must be an idealist.Each of us is educated to be a realist, to deal with thing
Hard Dollars
In all Call Centers, your Workforce Management Team schedules based on assumed absenteeism. On the outsourcing side it is generally higher (probably because pay is lower and efficiency is that much more important.)
So basically if you predict that you will have a 8% absenteeism rate on a Tuesday and normally your staffing requirements dictate that you need 100 reps throughout the day to handle the call volume. If that is the case you will need to train 108 reps.
But if you could manage your absenteeism down to 2% then you would only need to train 102 reps. This will cost you less.
Soft Dollars
Brings down morale by pushing more work onto the agents that are coming to work.
Service levels suffer as does customer service, As a result, you may lose some customers. Ouch!
Ineffective Frontline Leadership
This issue is a slippery slope. This issue affects everything in your center. Therefore, being on top of this "killer" can turn it to your centers advantage.
If you think about it, what your leadership team does with the Agent resources can have an incredible effect on:
1. Performance
2. Attrition
3. Absenteeism
Morale - This effects all of the above. And effectively managing the above determines if YOU and your center is successful.
Ok, let's learn how we can reduce these costs!
First and foremost your Leadership team determines how successful you are in reducing these cost and increasing performance and profit!
The following are some techniques and skills that are most likely to allow you to be successful:
According to Dan Coen in his book, Building Call Center Culture, "the communication presented to call center in the first thirty minutes of their day will set the stage for the rest of the day.
Greeting your agent with enthusiasm is the single most important point to positively impact their day when they arrive. Imagine walking into work on a Monday morning (you don't want to be there) but your boss greets you with all the enthusiasm in the world and says to you..."Good morning how was your weekend?" I bet you will be pleasantly surprised and that positive touch will be contagious.
In Building Call Center Culture, Coen, provides 5 styles and techniques of greeting your agents.
Motivating your employees can be as easy as engaging them in the overall process of the Call Center....In laymen terms include them in the decision making process.
Some critics say that this will only slow down our ability to move forward. This is nonsense!
Yes, decisions need to be made on the fly but if you do a good job planning you can incorporate this engagement as an ongoing process, which WILL NOT interfere with moment to moment decision.
There is a great book out that very few leaders know about. If they did then we would have a whole lot more success in business. The name of the book is titled..."Enlightened Leadership, getting to the heart of change, written by Ed
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