6 New Year’s Goals for Contact Centres

We are all accustomed to the phrase “New Year, New You“. With the celebrations completed and the holidays wrapping up, it’s always good to set goals for yourself in the new year. Starting fresh and trying to change your routine is something that is positive and necessary, paving a path of new opportunities and changing your outlook for the better.

While this idea is great for an individual and their mindset, creating resolutions and goals as a group for your contact centre can help produce better results on every level, from management to customer.

In this article, we take a look at the different steps your contact centre could implement to start the new year fresh, boosting work performance and results.

1. Treat every caller empathetically to make them feel comfortable.

Every customer wants to be treated as important whenever they call customer care, and it is the duty of the agent to make every customer feel special, with timely service, first call issue resolution, and cordial conduct. Your agents are the point of contact for customers, who want to feel safe and reassured that their problem is the number one priority. Being empathetic with the customer can help keep the frustration towards an agent to a minimum, helping resolve the problem faster.

2. Ensure on-hold times are kept to a minimum for customers.

Shorter waiting times keep customers happy and, ultimately, make them much more comfortable and satisfied with the services you are providing. The last thing a frustrated customer wants is to be told to wait for a long period. They will start to feel like their agent is not taking their issue seriously, no matter how polite they are.

Although it is impossible to eliminate waiting time, there are many techniques that companies can use in the new year to reduce the on-hold time and minimize frustrated customers.

3. Acknowledge your staff.

Recognizing your staff and their accomplishments, regardless of the scale, is something every good manager should do. Proven to be more than effective in boosting morale and confidence in the workplace, it also helps your agents be more productive when dealing with their customers.

Not only does it increase engagement and satisfaction for their jobs, presenting agents with a clear route of growth, but public acknowledgment can also spark that healthy competitive edge that some may need.

4. Instigate team fitness and well-being classes.

Group activities and taking the time to ensure all your staff has a healthy lifestyle can increase productivity and mental well-being. A positive workforce becomes a more productive workforce. Organizing fitness classes, gym membership, remote working, well-being sessions, coffee mornings and others are all positive and useful ideas that your company should start in the new year.

Continuing from the previous point of staff acknowledgment, simple things such as surveys, weekly meetings or just asking for their input on how to develop the workplace and taking the suggestions into consideration can be extremely beneficial in the long run. It’s an excellent sign of leadership to show your staff that you care about their well-being while also keeping things fun.

5. Reduce costs.

Entering the new year means a new budget and deciding on reducing costs in different areas. Before the new year properly kicks off and things get more than a little hectic in the workplace, it’s best to take a step back and analyse what costs need to be cut, what resources and suppliers need to be used more or less, and what investments (if any) need to be taken into consideration. Not everything has to be cut, but it’s best to look at the bigger picture and fix what may have been less than economical for the previous year.

6. Ensure call quality is optimal.

Terrible audio quality is one of the worst things a customer and agent can face during a call. Not only will customers become more frustrated with your services and potentially move to a competitor, but your staff motivation will decrease at a rapid pace. Your agents deserve the best quality in everything, whether it be the correct tools, the style of leadership or call quality.

By enabling proactive monitoring and testing to your phone lines, your business will be alerted and given the time to fix any issues your agents could be facing before your customers are affected. If you haven’t been proactive in solving problems previously, let the new year be the best time to start fresh and proactively fix any problems that may arise.

To help you, contact centres, start 2020 on the right foot, follow these customer service trends if you want to ensure excellent customer experience, positive staff morale and brand protection. For the new year, be proactive in solving your problems, from a managerial position all the way to the customer, and you may just see better results.

For more information, visit www.spearline.com

Author: Robyn Coppell