Tracking Call Center Metrics to Improve Agent Performance
Tracking Call Center Metrics
Call Center Insights - August 2024
The highest-performing #homeservice companies understand that success starts in the call center. When agents convert a high percentage of leads into booked jobs, the company benefits in many ways. Operations can spread their marketing dollar further, seeds are planted for upselling and cross-selling, and dispatchers can assign jobs to the right technicians to maximize opportunities and revenue potential.?
But what if your call center is not performing at a high level? And how do you know??
With so many advances in technology, automation, and advanced software such as #ServiceTitan, call centers have more opportunities than ever to continually improve their operations and agent performance. This is done by tracking key metrics in the call center. Companies that have identified and tracked these key metrics are able to provide focused training and continually improve their call centers' performance.
As I think about the technological advances over the last 20 years, I remember having a difficult time monitoring the performance of the CSRs (customer service representatives) in my own HVAC company. As a smaller company, I did not have a way to record their phone calls to review and dissect each conversation. I monitored their performance by sitting near their desks and tried to overhear the other half of the conversation from the customer’s point of view.?
In those early years, I had no way of tracking our booking rates, the number of incoming calls, the length of the call, the spam calls, the response time, or the quality of each call. Like other companies, I did my best to create systems and procedures to manually track these metrics, which left me with inaccurate data.?
Eventually, I was able to invest in a third-party service that would record our phone conversations, once we were able to transition to a VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) system. This third party would review several calls, and send me a monthly report to share insights for each call. Even then, I was still not able to capture those important operational data points mentioned above.?
Perhaps even more important, I was not able to monitor the soft skills of each agent, including their tone, their ability to show gratitude, their word choice, their empathy - or lack thereof. These are the crucial skills that build relationships and book jobs. These are the skills that build trust with your customers and turn them into returning loyal customers who refer your company to others. These are the skills that help improve the most critical call center KPI, the booking rate.?
CSRs have a tremendous responsibility not only to book calls and fill the schedule, but to solve problems, answer questions, and provide knowledge and insight, all while creating an amazing customer experience, in which the customer feels heard, validated, and respected.
As someone who has coached hundreds of #CSRs, I have witnessed a handful of trades owners and operators refer to their CSRs as the people who “just answer the phone.” However, many owners and operators do understand how crucial this position is and the integral role that CSRs play in their company. A CSR’s main purpose is to convert potential leads into booked jobs.?
The CSR is typically the customer's first point of contact and first impression of the company. They influence the customer’s decision to book with the company through their tone, word choice, empathy, willingness to help, and competency. The CSR's performance will ultimately sway the customer into booking the job or not.?
To help agents improve their performance, it must be tracked and monitored. After researching some of the top-performing call centers in the trades industry, there are several key performance indicators (KPIs) or data points to track and measure that show the big picture:
领英推荐
From an operational standpoint, it’s also important to track the volume of incoming calls and, for marketing purposes, how many of those calls are bookable leads. When inbound volume is low, outbound calls must be made. The conversion rate on outbound calls is also a significant metric.?
While these data points vary by trade, region, and seasonality, they can provide remarkable insights to help your marketing team understand the number of calls needed to meet revenue goals. With the proper technology in place, many of these metrics can be captured and reported in real-time, giving management a clear view of the overall performance of the call center.?
The key to improving the overall performance of the call center begins by monitoring the individual performance of each CSR. Agents with a lower booking rate are most likely struggling with some core soft skills such as tone, word choice, lack of empathy, or friendliness. Quite possibly they may be missing part of the call flow completely, such as asking the proper questions or building value.?
How do we help poorly performing agents??
There are three simple steps that call centers can implement to help improve their agents’ performance:?
1 - Set expectations and create a model. Clearly define expectations and provide resources as a reference point. Some companies use a playbook such as the ServiceTitan Call Center Playbook template. Create or provide a scorecard that is aligned with the expectations and standards set. Then weigh each item to align with the importance or value of the item. Sample scorecard items may include the following:
2 - Teach agents the process. Be sure to provide effective training to help CSRs understand exactly what they need to know so they can perform to their full potential. Effective training will clearly demonstrate how to effectively master all of the items on the scorecard. Engaging in training will include opportunities to roleplay and practice the process.?
Throughout the training, be sure to emphasize the WHY. Help agents understand what your customers really want. Customers want quality service that is warm, professional, and respectful. They want to talk to someone who can offer competent customer service so they can get help with their issue and get on with their day.?
Teaching a CSR the desired model and practicing the system is not a “one-and-done” thing. Effective training must be ongoing and consistent to help agents continually improve and progress. Many companies hire coaches or join best practice groups that provide ongoing training. Companies often invest in weekly training for their technicians or field staff and should do the same for their call center staff.
3 - Hold agents accountable. Do this by monitoring and scoring calls. Meet with agents often to discuss their performance, listen to calls, clear up any confusion or misunderstanding, offer one-on-one training, and set personal performance goals. Provide the CSR with any resources or additional training to help them meet the expected standards.?
The goal is to turn poor-performing agents into skilled professionals. Confidence will increase as CSRs become more aware and are empowered with clear and focused training that provides transparency and detailed instructions on how to fix the call.?
By implementing this three-step process, CSRs will have a clear plan, ongoing training and support, and a system to track performance and hold them accountable to the standards set. When agent performance improves, so do the overall metrics and performance of the call center, which leads to greater success for the company as a whole.
Consultant | Speaker | Investor | Song Writer | Worship Leader
6 个月Great insights on the importance of tracking call center metrics and investing in CSR training! The focus on KPIs and soft skills like empathy and communication is crucial for converting leads and building strong customer relationships. Thanks for sharing these actionable steps to improve call center performance! My company,?Sock Knocker,?specializes in Call Center Training and Development for home service companies. We helped our client save over a million dollars a year in software and technology spending while also improving their metrics.
CEO at Ramp Services
6 个月What is your process for outbound calls? Are you just selling open estimates and club memberships or is there a better way to book outbound calls?
Delivering Results Through Trust, Truth and Transparency
6 个月I've worked on and run multiple campaigns and this is a great way to distill it down to the basic principles. This is a very helpful informative ready. I am amazed at how many business owners undervalue or outsource such an important function. The first impression that makes or breaks companies is their first contact.
Technology & Systems Implementation Strategist | Industry Advisor
6 个月Brittany Knapp
Center of Excellence Team Leader
6 个月There’s a lot of good insight here about contacts centers, especially in section 2 about teaching agents the process. Having a dedicated center of excellence where processes get documented, improved, and trained-on is key. My only suggestion is to change the title of this article… and the perspective. In the end, if you change your mindset from “improving agent performance” to “improving department performance” then it forces you to consider the pressures that agents feel to perform — and to outperform their colleagues. This kind of mindset may make your contact center too competitive, and become a turn-off for agents.