To paraphrase the words of the late Stephen Covey, the balance is in the ‘AND’ not the ‘OR’.
Therefore, when it comes to real-time or historical management, both are definitely crucial for anyone in a leadership role.
They each have a specific place in our management acumen.
By “real-time” I mean that observations and perhaps even decisions are made from information drawn from the current day’s recent hourly data.
Many of us have experienced the frustration of not knowing how to get some of our employees to perform according to our expectations.
In our hustle and bustle day-to-day bump and grind we may even miss the obvious signs.
Here are 3 fundamental reasons why employees do not perform:
If you have been working in call centers for a while doubtless you have heard it said years ago that the standard goal for service level was 80% calls answered in 20 seconds.
Nowadays businesses recognize that you can’t pigeonhole everyone with the same goal.
The goals must derive from the nature of your business and your market and what arsenal you choose to position yourself as a leader in your field.
Everyone knows that to run an efficient call center you focus on the time it takes for agents to handle calls.
Everyone is also painstakingly aware of the disadvantages of focusing too much on this indicator.
Some experts and some companies have decided not to consider this factor at all using the argument that the cost and ramifications of managing handling time far outweighs its benefits.
It’s always better when you can hire new employees with the amount of experience you require.
But this is not always as easy as it seems.
Usually your competitors are also out there scourging the terrain which creates a higher demand on an already short supply.
There are some things you may be able to do to mitigate this challenge.
As you already know, whatever industry you are involved in, you and your competitors experience the same ebb and flows of that market which in turn influence your decision-making.
Perhaps, you could adjust your recruiting timeframes and start sooner to avoid the “peak” in the demand from the industry.
However, that may be too costly.
For any of us who run a call center it is easy to lose sight of an important fact.
Yet this fact literally means the difference between a great brand and a dud.
We can spend millions of dollars on a great ad campaign and still end up short of establishing a great brand if we have lost sight of this critical success factor.
Ever wonder what your customers think about the new improvements on your product?
Or ever wonder about why people do not visit your website?
Ever wonder why your employees don’t seem motivated about your rewards program?
Nobody`s perfect.
True.
But that should never stop anyone from trying to achieve it.
What is perfection anyway?
If you treat the concept “perfection” as an objective idea rather than intrinsic or subjective one you might well achieve it.
What I mean is perfection presupposes the question “perfect for what”.
In other words, it depends on what you are trying to accomplish.
Is the screwdriver perfect for the job of tightening or loosening a screw?
Yes it is.
Is a hammer perfect for a nail?
Yes it is.
Yet the screwdriver or the hammer are not perfect for every job.
The Oxford dictionary defines customer as follows: “a person who buys goods or services from a shop or business”.
By that definition we all have been customers – a fact we often forget when we are on the other side of the “counter” and are looking for ways to attract more customers.
Let’s face it, you want to enhance customer experience because you want to attract and keep customers.
Delivering outstanding service is especially challenging in a call center environment.
It’s time to re-acquaint yourself with what it feels like not only be a customer but what it feels like to experience an extraordinary customer service experience.
Many clients do not get answers to their questions on their first call, and thus creating unnecessary callbacks.
Call center managers are dying to find ways to be able to measure performance as it relates to First Call Resolution.
Perhaps only those with unlimited resources might even get a glimpse at it.
I recommend in cases where it is virtually impossible to get an accurate score to focus primarily on proper methods to improve first call resolution and attach scores to each of these methods.
The methods are more easily measurable because you control them.
To better illustrate my point let’s begin by applying a problem solving approach.
At the end of which I promise you will have plenty of ideas to improve your customer satisfaction.