4 Words Guaranteed To Torpedo Call Center Productivity & Customer Experience

Contact Centers with a “Butts in the Seat” mentality are typically “Revolving Door” employers – with high levels of staff attrition – especially Quick Quit/Fast Fire “Just Out of Training” (less than 3 month's employment) turnover.

As a result – callers are constantly exposed to relatively new Customer Service Representatives (CSRs) – who are less than proficient with the products & services they’re supposed to represent.

Contact Centers with a “Butts in the Seat” mentality tend to be high volume / short duration / tightly scripted work environments – where the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) emphasized are Average Call Waiting (ACW) / Average Speed of Answer (ASA) / Average Handle Time (AHT) / Maximizing Calls per CSR per Hour – instead of Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) & First Call Resolution (FCR).

Consistency / error reduction / adherence to rules are stressed.

Contact Centers With A “Butts in the Seat” Mentality Have Poor Hiring Habits

Call Centers with a “Butts in the Seat” mentality tend to fill their vacant CSR positions haphazardly – by “throwing spaghetti against the wall to see what sticks” – regardless of whether or not the candidate is a good fit for the job to begin with.

Perhaps they’ll test their applicants for basic language skills and/or typing speed & accuracy – and conduct a Fast Food Restaurant level job interview – but they essentially use a “mirror test” for hiring. That's when you hold a mirror under the applicant’s nose – to see if the mirror fogs – and to see if the applicant is breathing. If the mirror fogs … “Congratulations. You're hired!”

They generally hire anyone & everyone in order to compensate for their high turnover.

Contact Centers With A “Butts in the Seat” Mentality Don’t Empower their Staff

Call Centers with a “Butts in the Seat” mentality usually only fund the most “Basic Training” for new hires.

Senior management in Contact Centers with a “Butts in the Seat” mentality typically don’t empower their CSRs to make enough “Yes/No” decisions for callers by themselves on the spot – or to create high quality customer experiences.

There is little to no coaching culture. Supervisors/Managers are so busy with administrative tasks – call escalations – and managing other day to day Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) – that time for mentoring CSRs gets “lost in the shuffle” with the other competing priorities.

As a result – particularly in high volume / short duration / tightly scripted Call Centers – where the CSRs have minimal control over their work – too many calls wind up escalating. Callers become agitated – costs rise – KPIs suffer – and the company winds up losing customers & future sales.

Contact Centers With A “Butts in the Seat” Mentality Are Toxic/Negative Work Environments

Supervisors/Managers in Call Centers with a “Butts in the Seat” mentality typically display distrust towards their CSRs (even going so far as to clock bathroom time). There is endless pressure for productivity improvements.

Supervisors/Managers view their role as overseer – disciplinarian – enforcer – and pushing people to their maximum – or they “play favorites” for reasons other than merit.

These are toxic & negative Call Center work environments that breed fear / anxiety / stress / apathy / frustration in the staff.

Contact Centers With A “Butts in the Seat” Mentality Quickly Drive Away Their Actively Engaged Above Average CSRs – Who Quit Prematurely & Job Hop

The Call Center is left trying to manage with the not engaged Average & actively disengaged Below Average performers – who perpetuate the toxic & negative workplace attitudes.

These are the CSRs who put in their time in body – not in spirit. They’re demoralized / cynical / unhappy – displaying “I Don’t Care” apathy & a “Slacker” attitude.

Not engaged Average & actively disengaged Below Average CSRs become more easily annoyed by callers. They’re poor at avoiding or diffusing conflict – and don’t handle complaints – close sales – or retain customers well.

Average & Below Average CSRs receive lower Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) scores and/or fail to meet their Revenue Targets. They become burned out/emotionally exhausted faster – prematurely quit – or are fired for cause sooner – because they are a poorer job fit.

They tend to hold hostile/negative “Us vs Them” attitudes toward management/employer – actively undermine supervisors & engaged coworkers – sabotage callers/damage brand – and have high Absenteeism levels.

They have a toxic effect on coworkers – infecting them with their poor work habits & attitudes. The negative thoughts & feelings these Average & Below Average ‘Poor’ Job Fit CSRs trigger in customers & coworkers are far larger – and longer lasting – than the positive responses generated by Above Average ‘Best Fit’ Top Performers.

Contact Centers With A “Butts in the Seat” Mentality Are Bad for Business

Just because someone can use a telephone – speaks & understands English reasonably well – has an acceptable level of Typing Speed & Accuracy – and can navigate their way around a computer – it doesn’t mean they’re cut out for a CSR job in your Call Center.

It’s the Personality / Job Fit / Soft Skill / Work Ethic traits of a CSR – and a specific mix of these traits – that delivers value when it comes to the kind of service customers demand – and the level of performance your business requires.

Call Center work is not for everyone – and is generally acknowledged to be tedious / stressful / repetitive / boring.

A CSR is required to combine reliability with flexibility – and mix adherence to a schedule & procedure with adaptability in order to meet customers’ needs.

CSRs are rewarded for metrics such as customer satisfaction / volume of calls taken / sales quota / product knowledge to name just a few.

CSRs have to manage customer interactions constantly – in an environment driven by targets – remaining resilient to the stress / anger / hostility that often comes their way – while their job is being constantly monitored electronically.

Working at a frontline customer facing Call Center job involves the performance of emotional labor. CSRs are expected to create Empathy / Rapport / Trust with callers – and to express socially desired emotions – to always appear happy & eager to serve the customer – and to display positive emotions and to suppress negative ones.

Since these traits can’t easily or quickly be taught – you need to hire workers that already have them. Some of these traits take on even more importance for Work@Home positions.

Bottom Line: Just Putting “Butts in the Seat” Is Wrong On Many Levels

Every failed hire causes you to throw wasted dollars down the drain hiring & retraining recruits for the same position.

“Revolving Door” employers – who feel they “Can’t Afford To Be Too Picky” – and just want “Butts in the Seat” – create toxic work environments that damage productivity & the Brand – and quickly become Call Center “Refugee Camps” for bad hires & burnouts – the Average or Below Average performers.

Caring about finding Call Center employees with the right Personality /Job Fit / Soft Skills / Work Ethic is at the heart of what makes the Customer Engagement business model so successful – a work culture built on the idea that if you attract talented ‘Best Fit’ people to work in your Contact Center – and you properly train them – empower them – and keep them happy – then they will become your most valuable assets.

These happy & engaged CSR Brand Ambassadors will generate more revenue – and are the likeliest to keep your customers the most satisfied.

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Just because someone has ‘The Right Stuff’ to be a Customer Service Representative (CSR) on premise in a Bricks & Mortar Contact Center – they may not be cut out to do the same job well in a Work@Home position. The required levels of self discipline/self motivation/energy (among others) are higher.

Of those who do have ‘The Right Stuff’ to be a top Work@Home CSR – it doesn’t necessarily follow that they’re also a good fit for revenue target positions such as Telemarketing – Biz Dev - Inside Sales – UpSell/CrossSell/Customer WinBack – TeleCollections - that require influencing customer/prospect behavior.

Customer Service & Support or TeleSales - building a Bricks & Mortar or Virtual Work@Home team that meets/exceeds your performance standards starts with hiring people with the right mix of Personality/Job Fit/Soft Skills/Motivation/Work Ethic traits & Business English Language Competency to begin with.

These traits & competencies can’t be easily/quickly taught – so you need to hire people that already have them.

With a 90% Predictive Ability – the legal/proven/cost effective SPAS Call Center Agent Pre-Employment Screening Software Psychometric Pre Hire Assessments do just that.

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