In a nutshell, the typical call center will have the following roles and responsibilities:
In a nutshell, the typical call center will have the following roles and responsibilities:
The complete guide on how to effectively manage a call center
With shifting technologies and new ways of managing call center operations, effective leadership requires solid planning, ongoing development, and hard work. In addition to ensuring smooth internal operations, modern call center leaders must provide top-performing customer service that is worthy of 5-star reviews.
But getting those five stars won’t be a walk in the park. With so much to think about, it may seem overwhelming:
This guide will cover everything you need to effectively manage a call center, including some actionable tips and common mistakes to avoid.
So, read on to learn more about:
In its simplest terms, call center management refers to the strategies and processes devised and implemented by managers and supervisors to run a call center.
Call center management involves ensuring your team members have all the required knowledge, skills, and tools to do the job and do it well.
Some of the most common business operations that fall under call center management include:
A call center operates as a central hub for either inbound calls, outbound calls, or both. To elaborate: inbound call centers address incoming calls from customers. Inbound agents are trained to handle queries, provide support, book appointments, etc. Outbound call centers handle outgoing calls. Outbound agents call customers to offer promotions, do market research, find or close sales leads, etc.
Some businesses only need inbound call centers for customer support. Others need an outbound call center to help with promotions or sales. The aim is to provide the correct support as efficiently as possible to ensure a good customer experience.
Traditionally, call centers operated on office premises. Nowadays, they can operate in many forms, including remote or hybrid. With cloud-based tools and an internet connection, many call centers are now also integrated with advanced computer technology to bring even better customer service.
Customers expect a positive experience that handles their queries or complaints instantly. Remember, if you can’t offer customers what they expect, there will be competitors that can.
To achieve call center success, you need to be there to answer customers whenever and wherever they need support. Today’s consumers expect no less. Far too often, businesses lose revenue because of a poorly managed call center.
Call center management ensures that your customer support team is working efficiently, allowing them to focus on providing quality service to your customers.
A successful call center benefits both businesses and customers alike.
Some of the clearest benefits of good call center management include:
Let’s look at these in more detail:
Increased employee productivity - Call center agents under stress are likely to perform poorly. A good management strategy will delegate tasks efficiently and ensure that all call center agents have the know-how to perform them.
A fully optimized call center strategy that’s data-driven and backed - Easy-to-use tech tools simplify call center management. For example, workforce management software (WMS) lets you automate tasks for complete optimization, while real-time data collection and analysis will help you run your call center with data-backed decisions.
Customers have their issues solved efficiently - Remember, your call center is there to serve your customer base and provide fast solutions to their problems. Proper management ensures you have the right staffing numbers for peak hours, as well as remote options if required, out-of-hours.
| Agents | Supervisors | Managers |
|---|---|---|
| Communicate directly with new leads and existing customers. | Train and oversee call center agents to ensure they’re interacting correctly with customers. | Determine the needs and expectations of customers. |
| Solve problems as efficiently as possible. | Make sure the objectives set out by managers are reached. | Delegate tasks to supervisors and agents. |
| Follow the schedules and instructions set by supervisors and managers. | Bring important issues to the attention of managers. | Decide which KPIs to review to monitor call center performance. |
Let’s now dive deeper into these roles to find out more:
These guys are on the front line and are tasked with communicating directly with customers. Effectively, call and contact center agents are the voice of your business and will perform tasks set out by their supervisors and managers.
Some typical agent duties include:
Typical agent abilities include:
The call center supervisor is one level below management and must lead by example. It’s the supervisor's role to assist, train, and keep an eye on call center agents to ensure satisfactory customer service levels are being delivered.
Some typical supervisor duties include:
Supervisor abilities include:
The manager of a call center is the chief authority who oversees all operations and has the final say on decisions. The main objectives of managers are to ensure customer expectations are being met and that agents and supervisors are performing to get the required results.
Typical call center manager duties include:
Call center manager abilities include:
Operating a call center efficiently requires these roles and responsibilities to be filled by staff who know how to work towards a shared goal of offering the best customer experience. The same criteria applies to contact centers, too.
Now that we’ve explored what a modern call center is and the roles and responsibilities within it, let’s look at some of the best practices for effective call center management.
Your staff is the voice of your business, so getting the hiring process right is crucial.
Your agents are crucial to getting high satisfaction rates as they’re the ones dealing directly with customers. Hiring the best talent is paramount in ensuring your management techniques achieve their desired goal. What good is a detailed management plan if your agents aren’t up to the task?
Getting the right people in is also important long-term. How many of your agents will one day become supervisors? Bear this in mind during the hiring process.
But how exactly do you make sure you hire the right people for your call center team?
Well, you need a hiring and interview process that results in an improved quality of hire. Luckily, the wonders of technology have revolutionized the hiring process to ensure you’re finding the best talent out there.
For example, you can:
Taking these small but crucial steps at the hiring stage will ensure your call center is fully stocked with the best talent and most suitable people for the job.
How are your call center agents going to do a good job if they aren’t confident in their own abilities?
To ensure your agents and supervisors are working to the best of their ability, provide ongoing training and mentoring. Keep up-to-date with the latest training resources and methods.
Remember, what worked well five years ago might not now, so always update your training in line with any developments.
When training your team, remember to place the customer at the center of all your strategies. So, whether it’s teaching agents how to be emotionally intelligent and speak with confidence and empathy over the phone, or learning how to automate appointment reminders, understand why this matters from the perspective of a customer.
For maximum efficiency, include downloadable guides and access to free software during the onboarding process to get new staff up to speed. Monitor their performance metrics to see who might need extra support.
A plethora of tech tools exist these days from a variety of providers to help your call center efficiency in areas including:
The tech tools you choose will depend on your specific needs, but in terms of call centers, the following will be most useful:
This does as it says, integrates your telephone system with computers.
What does this mean? CTI technology allows agents to perform call functions using on-screen phone controls on their computers. For example, if a call comes in, agents can use their computer to answer, transfer, or hang-up the call. This eliminates the need for physical hardware phones, giving your agents a more efficient and seamless call management experience.
As its name suggests, ACD software automatically routes incoming calls to available agents. Managers can program their ACD software according to how they want calls to be distributed. For example, some managers can choose to distribute incoming calls to the first agent available. Others may prefer to send callers to higher-rated agents.
Ever phoned to check on an order and been taken to an automated service asking you to say your booking number out loud? Then you’ve benefited from IVR.
IVR uses pre-recorded voice messages that guide customers through whatever service they require. IVR is the perfect tool for handling high call volumes as many queries can be sorted without the need of a real agent.
Most of the time, IVRs are used to determine the queries and details of the customer. This will give your ACD information to route them to the appropriate department or agent.
A predictive dialer will automatically dial numbers from a list and move on to the next number if there’s no answer. Once someone does answer, the predictive dialer software will automatically connect them to the best available agent.
Predictive dialers are a common tool for outbound call centers because your agents won’t have to waste time dialing numbers and waiting for someone to answer. This will result in higher productivity levels overall.
This software helps manage agents’ schedules by suggesting required staff changes and conducting real-time predictions of workload requirements. In other words, WFM ensures the right staff is in the right place at the right time.
For example, let’s say there’s a bug in one of your cloud services and a high volume of customers are phoning in with the same complaint. WFM software will recommend that agents who can offer technical support are drafted in to help rather than agents who are better suited elsewhere.
The result is a more organized workforce, and in turn, better customer service.
A CRM system enables you to compile data about your customers in a single hub or application. It allows your agents to easily pull pertinent information about your customers during interactions. This gives your agents important insights about the customer that they can use to provide better support. Some of the benefits and features a good CRM system offers include:
Tracking your key performance indicators is vital for making sure you’re on track to reaching your set goals.
Monitoring KPIs will allow you to make critical adjustments to systems and processes that are underperforming before it’s too late.
With automation, it’s even easier to measure KPIs and monitor your call center metrics. For example, you could set your software to warn you if the customer satisfaction of one of your customer support teams falls below a certain value. With this information, you can devise strategies that can elevate that team’s performance and customer satisfaction ratings.
Four of the most common KPIs to measure for call centers are:
An unmotivated workplace with low employee engagement and happiness levels is a recipe for disaster.
A happy workforce can increase productivity, which is why it’s vital to ensure you adopt a positive culture and work environment where staff feel motivated to perform to a higher standard.
Engage and motivate staff by setting clear goals for them to reach and offering rewards or incentives for employees performing beyond expectations. For example, if your agents managed to reduce average handle times and you’ve seen an increase in customer satisfaction, organize a free lunch for everyone or individual awards for the highest performers.
You could also offer staff bonuses like free healthcare and gym memberships to improve the employee experience further.
Having unhappy agents is more likely to result in unhappy customers. A little bit of friendly competition will also encourage your staff to motivate and support each other into success.
Just like a call center, a contact center handles inbound and outbound communication with customers and prospects. The difference is, contact centers use multiple channels of contact beyond just the phone calls.
Most contact center software can support the following communications channels:
Omnichannel availability allows customers to choose their preferred method of contact, thus improving customer experience and increasing satisfaction. Contact center managers will need to decide which digital channels will work best. Communicating with customers through multiple channels also gives you a better chance to build lasting relationships that go beyond the limits of a phone call.
Unfortunately, the following mistakes are all too common. The problem is, they are a sure-fire way to tarnish your call center reputation and make managing it more difficult:
Luckily, we’ve got you covered:
No one wants to work long hours, especially in a customer-facing role.
Even the happiest and most patient of agents will begin to struggle after hours spent making and answering calls, often with the same complaints and queries. Keep shifts below eight hours to prevent morale problems.
Remember, automation is your friend, so see what tasks you can automate to save time and potentially reduce shift lengths.
Good reward schemes can motivate your call center employees by making them feel valued and appreciated.
Businesses that have poor reward schemes will end up with demotivated and unproductive employees. It might even result in lower employee retention.
Software tools are more affordable than ever these days and come with greater functionality. Often cloud-based and also available as mobile apps, the technology of today is super accessible and is a must for your call center team.
Remember, if your tech stack lacks, agents are going to have a more difficult time and customers will ultimately suffer, so don’t hesitate to upgrade and update your tech.
A long waiting time is the most frustrating part of a bad customer experience. This is especially true in a modern world where demanding customers expect fast solutions.
Make sure your call center tech and staff are optimized to reduce waiting times and improve overall customer satisfaction.
Successfully managing a call center is no walk in the park. It requires a good strategy, hard work, and patience. It also requires the best people for the job and the right tools to get it done.
At the heart of successful call centers lies the needs of the customer, an efficient call center team, and a robust call center software solution. With that in mind, 8x8 offers a cloud contact center solution that businesses can use to monitor performance, communicate with customers, and optimize their workforce.
Ready to elevate your call center and become a successful call center manager?