Improving quality scores in customer service is an ongoing process that requires dedication, effective communication, and continuous training. But what do you do when your teams plateau on their best quality scores?
To find out, we asked our consultants panel for their top tips on how you can push your team to make their scores even better. Here’s what they said…
1. Train Agents to Always Ask a Supervisor If They Can’t Say “Yes”
When you empower agents to say “yes” to customers, there will still be times when they feel the only answer is “no”.
Instead of them actually saying “no” and this negatively impacting their quality scores (and overall customer satisfaction), train agents to always escalate these situations to a supervisor by saying “I don’t know how to say yes right now, please help me.”
When the supervisor then steps in and shows the agent how to say “yes” or how to respond in that situation, it becomes a learning piece on how to better handle those types of calls in future – for an all-round, better-quality conversation.
Contributed by: Shep Hyken, Chief Amazement Officer (CAO) at Shepard Presentations LLC
2. Play ‘The Dartboard Game’ to Earn an Early Finish
In a previous life, we would set goals for people – such as high quality scores – and those who achieved their goals would be allowed to throw 3 darts at the electronic dartboard on the contact centre floor, with everyone watching.
The score they achieved was the number of minutes they took off at the end of the day – very few got a 180, but quite a few got over an hour – it was very popular.
Contributed by: Dara Kiernan, leadership development and contact centre consultant
If you want more ideas of incentives you can offer your staff, read our article: 100 Great Staff Incentives to Motivate Your Team
3. Translate Your Customer Promise Into Daily Actions and Routines
When it comes to achieving high quality scores, what really matters is that your agents can translate whatever the brand stands for into their daily routines.
This not only means that you need a Customer Promise – what your brand aims to deliver to your customer, both emotionally as well as rationally – but also that this is translated to daily actions and routines that resonate with the agent.
Contributed by: Michel Stevens, Customer Experience Master (CXM)
4. Group Agents Together to Collectively Improve Their Quality Scores
Encouraging teamwork through challenges, where groups of agents work together to improve their collective quality scores, can foster collaboration and a sense of shared responsibility. The winning team could then be rewarded with a team outing or a special lunch.
Contributed by: Dan Pratt, Founder & Director DAP Consultancy
5. Invest Time in Understanding How Your Team Members Learn
Improving agents’ individual quality scores really comes down to the personal touch and ensuring leaders spend time with their team, getting to know what motivates them and understanding how they learn.
Processes and technology are important. However, they have a significant flaw in that they are structurally sound and rigid.
When designing a process for any business, there is usually one main variable in the structure: the humanity and behaviours of the people. Knowing your people is the way to circumvent this obstacle.
Contributed by: Dara Kiernan, leadership development and contact centre consultant
6. Start Your Own Contact Centre Podcast
One way to boost quality scores is to support agents in freely exchanging ideas.
This could be through tried-and-tested role-plays, but what about podcasts, or an engaging reel, or a minute to share a story at the start of the team meeting?
Contributed by: Michel Stevens, Customer Experience Master (CXM)
7. Make Sure Every Customer Knows Their Agent Will Take Care of Them
You really want every customer to feel that they’re talking to an agent who’s going to take care of them.
I was recently talking to an agent, and at the start of the call they said, “I’m really glad we’re talking, I’ve got ya!”. It was such a positive start to a quality conversation.
Contributed by: Shep Hyken, Chief Amazement Officer (CAO) at Shepard Presentations LLC
Looking for some positive spiel to help brighten up your customer conversations? Read our article: The Top 25 Positive Words and Phrases for Customer Service
8. Check for Understanding in All Training – Not Just Completing It
Training should be viewed as ‘understanding’, rather than purely ‘training’. The key outcome of training should be that people have an understanding of the material so that they may think on their feet.
Treating training purely as a training exercise and not assessing the understanding of this training stifles your team’s ability to improvise, be innovative and truly assist your customer in the best possible way.
Contributed by: Dara Kiernan, leadership development and contact centre consultant
9. Ban the Use of the Word “Unfortunately…”
The words agents choose can significantly influence how the customer perceives the service. Using positive language can transform a potentially negative experience into a positive one.
Never use words like “unfortunately”, as that just shows the customer you are not interested in helping. Also, instead of saying, “I can’t do that”, agents could say, “What I can do is…” or “Let’s work together to find a solution.”
Contributed by: Dan Pratt, Founder & Director DAP Consultancy
For more advice on what agents shouldn’t say to customers, read our article: 15 Things You Should Never Say to a Customer
10. Make Data-Driven Decisions – Rather Than Emotional Ones
Use your data effectively to be more objective in how you give out quality scores – for a truer picture of what’s driving improvements.
Quite simply, make data-driven decisions and assessments rather than emotional decisions!
Contributed by: Dara Kiernan, leadership development and contact centre consultant
11. Make It Easy for Customers to Get Through to Agents in the First Place
Make sure you do what you can to set every agent up for success!
For example, it’s important to think about how easy it is for the customer to get through to the agent in the first place.
Of course, this is out of the agent’s control, but the agent will have to deal with any friction resulting from their journey into the contact centre so far – and this will negatively impact on call quality if it’s not addressed by the wider organization.
Contributed by: Shep Hyken, Chief Amazement Officer (CAO) at Shepard Presentations LLC
12. Make High Quality Scores Into “Tickets” for Any Games
When playing any games, make sure certain goals are achieved to gain admittance, such as achieving high quality scores.
For example, during the Olympics, we bought a Nintendo WII, connected it to our contact centre screens, and those who were successful had to compete against each other on the WII in the physical events.
We also used PowerPoint to create a Catch Phrase game, where an agent would get the opportunity to remove a square, and then guess what the picture was. It was always a celebrity, or famous landmark, but only that person was allowed to guess. This created great motivation to achieve the goal of the day and get a ticket to have a go, especially if you guessed the answer during the day.
Contributed by: Dara Kiernan, leadership development and contact centre consultant
13. Pair Agents Up for Call Shadowing With More Experienced Colleagues
Pairing developing agents with more experienced colleagues for call shadowing can provide invaluable insights.
After the call, the more experienced agent can offer feedback on what went well and what could be improved.
Additionally, listening to recorded calls as a team and discussing them can highlight effective strategies and areas for improvement.
Contributed by: Dan Pratt, Founder & Director DAP Consultancy
14. Make Sure Any Surveys Ask Fair Questions About Your Agents
The wording of your customer survey can make a real difference to how your overall quality scores are captured, as asking “Would you work with that agent again?” with a yes/ no response is a far clearer indicator of agent performance than “Please rate your experience from 1-5”.
This is because some customers may still feel frustrated about having a problem in the first place and use this opportunity to vent about the company as a whole – unaware that they are also punishing the agent, who may have been a great help.
[With credit to American Airlines for using this approach in their customer surveys.]
Contributed by: Shep Hyken, Chief Amazement Officer (CAO) at Shepard Presentations LLC
Looking for advice on creating a great customer survey? Read our article: How to Create the Best Customer Service Survey – With Examples
15. Host Regular Workshops Focused on Quality Assurance Standards
Quality assurance standards workshops should include reviewing call scorecards, discussing common pitfalls, and brainstorming solutions. This approach can help agents understand what is expected of them.
This reinforces the importance of quality metrics and keeps best practices at the forefront of agents’ minds.
Contributed by: Dan Pratt, Founder & Director DAP Consultancy
Set High Standards of What Will Be Deemed Normal
And finally, don’t forget that training amounts to just 30% to 40% of a change. All the rest consists of (intrinsic) motivation, coaching and follow-up.
That’s why I believe that delivering the best possible quality starts with strengthening the customer-centric culture. This means it starts before the agent ever sets one foot in the building.
Ask yourself: “Does this person add to the culture? Will this person contribute to our success? Will this person truly represent the brand?” Hire the smile, train the skill is a mantra I’ve lived by for more than a decade.
But the work doesn’t end there. How you welcome that person in those early stages of employment is vital, as you set the standard of what will be deemed normal!
Contributed by: Michel Stevens, Customer Experience Master (CXM)
If you are looking for more information on call centre quality assurance, check these out next:
- Video: How to Choose Which Calls to Evaluate
- Call Centre Quality Assurance: How to Create an Excellent QA Programme
- How to Create a Contact Centre Quality Scorecard – With a Template Example
Author: Megan Jones
Reviewed by: Xander Freeman
Published On: 11th Sep 2024
Read more about - Call Centre Management, Call Quality, Dan Pratt, Dara Kiernan, Michel Stevens, Quality, Scorecard, Shep Hyken, Top Story
