What are effective strategies for reducing average handle time (AHT) in a call center?

1-Gather All Information at the Start of the Call. 2-Create à knowledge base. 3-Look Carefully at the IVR. 4-Paying Special Attention to New Staff. 5-Create Cheat Sheets to Help Streamline Call-Handling Processes. 6-Let Agents Listen to examples of Low AHT. 7-Recruit Agents Who Speak Concisely. 8-Make consistent knowledge refreshment session for the employees. 9- Let agents shadow calls with collegues known by their ideal AHT. 10- identify silent times. 11- Use call and screen recording. 12-Take a look at the Health of Your Contact Centre Ecosystem. 13-Start monitoring. 14-Involve Staff and Supervisors in Creating Training Materials. 15-Make Your Knowledge Base Searchable

Based on my experience it is best to know how to listen to customers. It will give the edge, especially if your actively listening. It will help narrow down the issue plus it will be a big factor for customer rapport and empathy. Provide direct solutions, offer and explain steps on how to resolve the concern Furthermore, Call handling will be achieve based on customers concerns and the way you understand the situation

1. Understand and Acknowledge the customer issue without making him/her repeat same thing multiple times. 2. Probe Questions to have a clarity. 3. Aim at providing the FCR and also help with self service options wherever applicable so that customer can proceed with online options rather than calling if it is not needed

1. Well prepared 2. Accurate Information Provided 3. Stable Communication Technology/Equipment 4. Familarity with Environment/Timming/Acsent 5. Show Good Confidence 6. Be polite/helpful 7. More understanding attitude 8. Avoid misleading/misguiding 9. Avoid over clever/smart attitude. 10. Be humble throughout

Understand your Overall target as a supervisor or Manager, the one in the contract. Then work backwards how far off you or your team is. Estimate how much has improved your best agent and how little your worst agent form your last conversation. With that gap in mind, split the Goal in a weekly effort using the SMART methodology (Specific, Measurable, Achievable/Attainable, Realistic, Timley/Time Bound) you want to motivate them, and that happens when they feel the progress, progress is better than no - progress, but you still need to deliver results. So be conscientious about the effort that takes to get there.

Provide your staff time to review tickets with High Handle time. Get the staff to bounce around options for improvement. The best solutions comes from your employees.

Optimize call routing by implementing strategies such as skills-based routing and intelligent routing algorithms. Skills-based routing ensures that calls are directed to agents with the appropriate expertise to handle specific customer inquiries, reducing the need for transfers and callbacks. Create a positive and supportive work environment for agents. Recognize and appreciate their efforts, provide regular feedback, and offer opportunities for professional growth and development. Keep in mind that A happy and motivated workforce is more likely to perform efficiently, leading to reduced AHT.

Adequate training is very tricky, because you have to be very clear on what is missing in order to provide it, this is the secret part because a training that fits all is not a real solution. In general, the person has been trained already so if they are struggling it potentially has to do with the lack of proper understanding/explanation or the way it was delivered. We all learn different so adapt the way you teach/train is key for them to feel equipped to perform at the standard requested. Foster a culture of inclusion, where people feel safe to speak up and share, the maturity of a company relies on the phycological safety the employees have to express themselves. if not, they won't show their vulnerabilities, and everyone loses.

Invest in comprehensive training programs to equip agents with the skills and knowledge needed to handle calls efficiently. Continuous training can enhance their problem-solving abilities and familiarity with systems, reducing the time spent on each interaction.

Training should be prioritize even before putting the agent in the production floor. There should be series of assessment/mock calls to prepare them on how to handle different cx. At the end of the day there is no such thing as a perfect call so weekly or on the fly coaching is also a must to address the strength and weakness of the agent.

The task of cutting AHT starts before your customer even reaches an agent. If you can route them to the best person for their issue, your team will be well placed to provide quick service. Personalized call routing will help enormously. Some businesses seem to think personalization is a giant challenge, but it doesn’t have to be at all. With No-Code tools it’s easy to integrate your CRM, IVR, and helpdesk software. That puts your customer data to work and means you can route customers based on things like their previous issues or current tickets.

Regularly review and optimize call scripts to ensure they are concise, clear, and effective. Avoid excessive scripting that may hinder agents' ability to adapt to different customer situations. Instead, focus on providing key information and guidelines that help agents address customer needs efficiently. Periodically gather feedback from agents and customers to identify any areas for improvement or updates to the scripts. Utilize real-time analytics tools to monitor call center performance and identify potential bottlenecks or issues that may impact AHT. R By proactively addressing issues as they arise, you can minimize disruptions and optimize AHT in real-time.

Review and optimize call scripts to ensure they are concise and effective. Agents should be encouraged to personalize interactions while adhering to key points, avoiding unnecessary details that can prolong conversations.

ACW is actually the ONLY controllable portion of their call and their AHT, so teach people how to optimize that time, will make them reduce their AHT almost immediately generating confidence and a sense of accomplishment that has been worn out over the weeks of failure. It also shows them that there's a way. Rely on technology to automate and standardize processes, written communication, or submissions. Create pre canned responses that require little adjustments, this will reduce the time and create consistency in the Customer Experience. Review every step the CSA takes during ACW and try to eliminate things that can do on real time while speaking with the customer. Lastly make sure people take their breaks on time.

ACW is not controllable if there isn't an automated work flow that navigates this time. If manual typing/Cuttimg sims and or tickets is required for aftercall then depending on the specific customer the acw can vary and that is why an automated system would be the solution. Some customer care consultants need to research which ticket to cut to which team and make notes on the account so if there is an automated work flow that generated the customers account info on the ticket and populates the desires action, then ACW can be optimized.

Use IVR systems to route calls efficiently and provide self-service options for common queries. Ensure the IVR is user-friendly and offers easy navigation for customers.

Regularly review and optimize internal processes to eliminate redundancies and bottlenecks. Simplifying workflows can contribute to a more streamlined and efficient call resolution process.

Close ended questions help with controlling the call. Once the agent learns how to obtain control of the call, they often independently figure out how to reel the caller back on track if they get off topic, maintain control and ultimately fine tune those skills. Scripting the call helps as well, be it agent created scripting or company provided/required scripting. Setting small obtainable, weekly AHT lowering goals based on previous weeks also inspires the agent to strive for lowering it. Keeping the increment small, makes it easily manageable. Achieving the goal boosts confidence and that just trickles down through their whole job. Everyone likes to see results, and relieved recognition for their all of their efforts big or small.

We always think about recognition and rewards as “after the fact”, which is important too. But loyalty, empowerment and even training go a long way towards showing your commitment to your people. Recognition takes many shapes but nothing is more powerful than building trust and relationships with your teams.

Recognizing performance does not mean having a expense relate to it, you can recognize a great AHT improvement by sending a short email, or while grabbing coffee in a coaching session. This will reinforce their ability to improve. Don't forget recognition can be uncomfortable for some team members so make sure you know and ask how is best for them to be recognized. Build a team that supports each other where they can uplift their peers, share successes and failures, so everyone learns and helps each other creating accountability.

This is a good practice " carrot and stick ", but this might build an environment that will just perform because of the incentives and might go overboard just to meet their handle time ( release or aux jump ), one great motivation was provides here is the recognization and appreciation. Having them feel that we valie their effort, appreciate them and we will always be supporting them.

Introduce performance incentives tied to AHT goals. Recognizing and rewarding agents for achieving efficient call handling times can motivate them to continuously improve their performance.

It is easier to train someone that is having small issues than to replace them. But if your employee is very high maintenance to you or your staff. Consider replacing them before they run off your good staff. A Call Center Administrator should always look for ways to streamline or automate repetitive tickets or solutions.

Well, research from the Harvard Business Review has shown that when service leaders *stopped* highlighting AHT, handling time went… down. So what’s going on here? The theory goes that when agents focus on solving problems rather than shortening calls, they find better paths to solutions. Service is always better this way… and surprisingly, it’s faster too!

Establish feedback loops with agents to gather insights into common challenges and areas for improvement. Agents on the front lines often have valuable perspectives that can inform adjustments to processes and systems.

Rather than coaching agents to hit a specific average handle time (AHT), it is more effective to provide guidance on optimal call behaviors. Listen for instances when an agent spends excessive time documenting or repeating information instead of resolving the issue. Offer tips on how to tactfully move conversations along when needed while still building rapport. Suggest ways to consolidate documentation tasks where appropriate. Building these consultative habits will naturally decrease AHT while leaving customers more satisfied—better meeting the spirit rather than just the letter of the metric.

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