Call Center Agents’ Performance Metrics

Quality customer service is a high level of service attained when an

industry satisfies the unique set of customer needs.

This is achieved through the words and tone you use in dealing with
customers. Your choice of words and the manner of delivery (tone and volume)
suggests feelings that customers interpret positively or negatively. A sincere
and positive approach as reflected in your conversation would generate a
positive emotion thereby contributing to quality customer service.

Generally speaking, we practice quality customer service for the

following reasons:

 When customers wants to know basic questions about their

account

 When customers cannot understand the product or service they

subscribed to

 When customers are having difficulties with a product or service

 When customers are frustrated and irate with the product or

service

Understanding the customer needs is a key to quality customer service.

To assess the quality of performance or service being done by an

employee, call center managers use a set of standard measuring tools and
procedures, in the same way that your teachers check your performance in
school to maintain quality learning. This is essential if the company wants to
maintain a certain level of service quality.

Preliminary Activity

Using the initial concepts you have learned on the previous lessons,
predict the different quality assurance means that call center employees go
through to achieve high quality of service. Plot these on a Venn diagram shown
below to identify their similarities and differences. Use a separate sheet of
paper for this activity.
 There are no wrong answers in this activity. This will simply show your ability
to contemplate and relate two different concepts in terms of their similarities
and differences.

Competencies shown here are the bases for screening candidates when
recruiting call center employees.

What skills or competencies (capacities or abilities to perform certain tasks)

do you feel should an effective call center representative have? Why?

Typical Customer Service Representatives’ Competencies

Here are what employers look for in applicants desiring to work in a call center:
1. Business acumen - understanding the relationship between their jobs
and its impact to business and customers
2. Call management- controlling a call through effective
communication techniques
3. Change management- adapting to and handling changing situations
and environments
4. Conflict resolution - using effective interpersonal skills to resolve
conflict situations
5. Cross selling - selling upgraded or additional products to existing
customers
6. Decision making - gathering relative information, and analyzing
situations then applying appropriate interventions to resolve an
issue or come to a decision

7. Interpersonal communication - ability to listen actively, question

appropriately, provide feedback, and use the skills outlined to
build customer relationships.

8. Managing diversity - knowledge and ability to interact with a

variety of people in the workplace.

9. Managing stress – ability to maintain a calm demeanor and

mental state when situations and emotions escalate to higher
levels

10. Multitasking - managing multiple priorities or assignments

simultaneously (e.g., receiving customer information over the
phone while inputting/ searching for data on a computer)

11. Negotiating effectively –ability to direct situations toward a win-

win outcome

12. Organizing information and data- ability to assemble and maintain

information in a logical file system that can be accessed by
themselves and others

13. Problem solving – identifying root causes of problems through

questioning and applying appropriate interventions to address
them

14. Good team player – ability to work effectively with others and
contribute to team task accomplishment

15. Time management- ability to use available time and resources to

address assigned tasks and customer issues
16. Peer coaching – offering support and guidance to co-workers

Figure 10. Peer Coaching

17. Technical literacy- ability to apply basic knowledge of computer usage,

applications, e-mail and Internet, and the ability to learn organization-
specific software (requirement varies based on level of technical
competence needed by the organization.)

18. Using call center technology- e.g., computer, facsimile, printer/ copier,
database software
Performance Metrics

Call center managers use metrics which is a set of measurements to

quantify performance and results.

There are two types of call center performance metrics: productivity metrics
and quality metrics.

Call centers monitor both quantitative and qualitative aspects of calls

answered by employees.

Quantitative refers to calls per hour, average call time, time between
calls, etc.

Qualitative, on the other hand refers to content, style, adherence to

policies etc.

1. Productivity Metrics

Productivity metrics in a call center measure how effective agents are in

using their time and how efficient they are in maintaining the balance of the
various aspects of their jobs.

In measuring productivity, the one in charge of the quality monitoring

program keeps track of the metrics generated by the automated call distributor
(ACD), various computer software programs, or the phone system.

There are a number of call center metrics to track. Here are a few of
them:

a. Average Call Duration (ACD)

This tracks the length of time a customer is on the phone. It is

usually measured in minutes and exclusive of any pre-call
preparation or post-call documentation, referred to as “wrap”.
Measuring the duration of a call is a means to improve the efficiency
of the service, thereby improving the customer satisfaction while
controlling cost at the same time.

b. Call Quality

This attempts to determine customer satisfaction with the support

received by phone. Unless one listens to both sides of a conversation,
 however, it is impossible to know whether customers are receiving the
type of quality service that includes accurate information, adherence to
professional communication standards, and the feeling of being valued
by the company.

Measuring call quality starts by defining the components of a

successful call. These components are compiled in a monitoring form
listing the criteria by which each call should be evaluated. The best
monitoring forms differentiate between these two:

1. Standard criteria- are those elements that should be

included or “standard” in every call, by every representative
(e.g., include opening the call with the appropriate greeting
and asking customers if there are any other issues with
which they need assistance). It is reasonable to require all
representatives, regardless of their level of experience, to
include all standard criteria on each call.

2. Objective criteria- include elements such as building

rapport with customers and using proactive, and service-
oriented language. All representatives should attempt to do
them on every call, yet we anticipate that they will be
carried out more successfully by the more experienced
ones.

It is important to complement the call quality criteria of the

monitoring form with appropriate questions asked in the customer
satisfaction survey. For example, surveys that include questions like
“Did the representative explain things in a clear manner?” and “Did the
representative ask if there were any other issues with which you
needed assistance?” provide feedback that accurately depicts the
representative’s communication skills and allows you to correlate call
monitoring scores with customer satisfaction.

c. Customer Service Satisfaction Score (CSAT)

The customer satisfaction score, or CSAT, intends to mea- sure a

customer's satisfaction with the received service.
 In its simplest form, CSAT is expressed as a percentage
between 0 and 100, with 100% representing complete customer
satisfaction. CSAT is often determined by a single question in
follow-up surveys along the lines of “How would you rate your
overall satisfaction with the service you received?”

This is often graded on a scale of one to five, with a score

of one (1) representing “very dissatisfied” and five (5) represent-
ing “very satisfied.” All surveys are then averaged for a composite
CSAT score. Some organizations set their standard at a 4-out-of-
5; any customer who provides a score of 3 or less triggers a call-
back from a manager or quality assurance (QA) team member.

The CSAT can help companies determine the effect of

new initiatives on their customer satisfaction.

Figure 11. A Team leader with a Call Center Representative

d. Escalation Rate

In an actual call center interaction, we know that some

issues will need to be brought up to higher levels of management
in the course of supporting our customers. Keeping the escalation
rate low helps boost customer confidence in our products, ser-
vice, and company, and supports overall customer satisfaction.
 Whether an escalation is requested by a customer or initi-
ated by a representative, the reasons for the escalation are often
that:

 the customer realizes that the representative does not

have the authority or knowledge required to resolve the
problem, or
 the customer has become angry, and speaking to some-
one of higher authority will be a prerequisite to calming
this customer down.

In either case, the best way to deal with escalations is to

try to prevent them from happening in the first place. The best
preventative steps include:

 making sure that all representatives have adequate tech-

nical training and customer handling skills. Monitor the
performance of representatives through the use of your
contact center's monitoring technology by listening to live
calls. Coach and provide additional training as needed.
 teaching team members how to project confidence when
dealing with customers. Speaking with confidence
includes using an up-beat tone of voice and choosing
positive, and service-oriented words that demonstrate
competency and self-assurance. The more confident a
representative sounds in her/his abilities, the less likely
a customer will request escalation to a supervisor.
 illustrating the difference between confidence and arro-
gance, making sure all representatives know how and
where to draw the line between these two very different
ways of dealing with a customer.

e. First Call/Contact Resolution (FCR)

This is at the top of the list for many organizations when it

comes to the metrics they are tracking. Also referred to as first-
call resolution in contact centers where the primary mode of con-
tact is by phone, FCR helps organizations track the efficiency with
which their representatives are able to resolve customer issues.
 Customers who avail such service/s as billing, account
status, product information, technical assistance, among others,
would want their inquiries be answered as quickly as possible.
Companies share this goal, as faster resolution equates to lower
support costs. For basic issues, this may be accomplished on the
customer’s first inbound call; for more technical or complex
issues, multiple contacts are often inevitable. Some issues
require research and cannot be resolved on the spot. In either
case, ongoing communication with the customer while the prob-
lem is being resolved is the critical factor.

To effectively measure FCR, organizations need to track

the number of customer contacts per issue, regardless of the
communication channel.

As with other contact center metrics, one of the main

advantages of tracking FCR is to help measure the effectiveness
of new initiatives. Baseline is measured by determining the first
contact resolution before a new process is established, then
comparing it to the subsequent measurements taken after the
implementation of the change, or after training or coaching of the
representative.

If there is improvement, progress can be tracked. If there

is none, you have to look back at the changes you have
implemented.

f. Resolution Time (Time – to – Resolution or TTR)

Resolution time (or TTR for time-to-resolution) helps

organizations track the average amount of time spent in resolving
customer issues.

This is of great importance, especially in technical sup-

port, where organizations and their customers share the common
goal of resolving customer issues as quickly as possible. For cus-
tomers, this means returning to “operational status” or “good
working condition” as quickly as possible; for employers, this
means controlling support costs while maintaining customer
satisfaction.
 TTR is typically measured in hours or days depending
on the nature of the product or system being supported, and is
measured from the time a support is requested.

Many factors can contribute to TTR. These factors

include:

 communication skills and technical expertise of both the

representative and the customer;
 access to relevant resources of the representative and
his/her troubleshooting skills; and
 caseload of the representative and his/ her diligence in
following up with customers play into the equation.

While keeping TTR as short as possible is a goal of

every technical support team leader, care needs to be exercised
so that the goal doesn’t become ever-shorter resolution times. If
root cause analysis is abandoned in favor of a quick workaround,
or if rapport is jeopardized by an overworked or under-trained
representative, then customer satisfaction may be diminished no
matter how quickly an issue is resolved.

2. Quality Metrics

Quality metrics in a call center refer to how well agents accomplish their
tasks, especially their primary function of customer contact.

These quality metrics fall into two categories:

 Standards

Standards describe the minimum acceptable level of

performance for all agents. These vary from call center to call
center, but include behaviors such as giving the appropriate
greeting, verifying the customer name and address, and giving
accurate information. When measuring standards, the
representative determines whether or not these were met. This
can be assessed through observation of actual or recorded calls
by the agent.
  Objectives

Objectives are qualitative. They describe something

that will be accomplished to different degrees depending on
the agent’s skill level and on the unique properties of the call,
email, or chat session.

Typical objectives include building rapport with the

customer, handling challenges effectively, and using empathy
as appropriate. When measuring objectives, the
representative assesses how well they were met.

REFERENCE
https://www.scribd.com/doc/267763691/TLE-ICT-Contact-Center-Services-
Grade-10-LM