9 Effective Call Center Strategies to Implement This Year

Call Center | 4 minute read

It’s easy to get complacent in the call center, taking customer queries one after the other.

If this sounds familiar, it’s probably time to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. By revisiting your business’ goals and values, you can make a much-needed pivot to improve the impact your call center has on your company — and more importantly, your customers!

The good news is, we’ve done the heavy lifting and rounded up the best strategies to implement in your call center.

1. Make data-driven decisions with KPIs

Let’s start with the basics. Most call centers track industry-standard metrics, such as Average Hold Time (AHT), Abandonment Rate, and First Call Resolution (FCR).

But are you leveraging this data to make necessary changes to your operations? If not, this is a great place to start.

2. Prioritize agent satisfaction

If your agents have high job satisfaction, they’re more likely to pass those feel-good vibes on to your customers. So, it’s in your business’ best interest to ensure your team is well-trained, equipped, and motivated to make the most of each workday.
It's not rocket science: If your agents have high job satisfaction, they’re more likely to pass on those feel-good vibes to your customers. It’s in your best interest to ensure your team is well-trained, equipped, and motivated. #cx #cctr… Click To Tweet
Put the focus on agent engagement and find out what would make them happier in their daily work. By maintaining their job satisfaction, you’ll also lower agent attrition, saving you loads on additional hiring.

3. Eliminate hold-time for your customers

Eliminate hold time? Can it be done? While it’s impossible to stop customers from swamping your call center all at once, it is possible to give them a better experience by offering them a call-back.

During periods of high call volume, they won’t have to wait in the queue, and they’ll receive updates on their queue status in real-time. Not to mention your agents will rest easy knowing there aren’t a dozen fuming callers waiting on the line.

4. Provide self-service options

Today’s customers are more tech-savvy than ever. Why not use that to your advantage? Complement your call center technology with self-serve databases, AI chatbots, and blogs. This helps connect them with the information they need without tying up your phone lines so your agents can spend their time handling more complex customer interactions.

5. Establish a comprehensive training & coaching program

Learning shouldn’t be a one-time gig, especially when it comes to a service role. To help them do their roles with confidence, train and coach agents regularly. That can be in the form of assigning coaches, a mentorship program, and even regular refreshers. The industry is ever-changing, so make sure your team can keep up!

6. Empower your agents to make decisions

Suppose your agents are repeatedly asking for the same customer information, transferring calls over and over, or worse yet, needing several calls to resolve a single issue. In that case, there’s a good chance your agents aren’t adequately equipped to deal with their customers properly.

That can stem from several sources — they may require more training or more clarity about when it’s appropriate to escalate a case. But the verdict is clear: agents who have the power to help your customers will do so.

7. Create a supportive (not competitive) culture

In the call center’s earlier days, competitive culture was quite common. Despite their intentions to motivate agents to outperform each other and increase productivity, it often left their team members burnt out and exhausted.
Today, the best call center managers know that providing support and a nurturing environment is the best way to boosting agent performance #cx #cctr Click To Tweet
Today, the best call centers know that providing support and a nurturing environment is much more useful for boosting agent performance. And if your agents feel valued for what they bring to the role as a person, they’re sure to create a better customer experience!

8. Have a crisis plan ready

If there’s one thing the past year has taught us, it’s that disaster can strike anytime, anywhere.

Call centers are still feeling the lingering effects of the pandemic, so it’s wise to have measures in place the next time your agents are faced with an onslaught of customer queries.

9. Audit your systems regularly

Regularly reviewing your procedures can help you avoid unnecessary headaches down the road. Something as simple as conflicting messaging can create huge challenges for your call center. Take the time to review your IVR messaging, ensure that your channels are set up correctly, and evaluate your tools and technologies to ensure they’re in working order.

Fonolo Resource cover image

Discover the Contact Center Trends That Matter in 2024

Dig into industry trends and discover the changes that matter to your business in the year ahead.

Read it Now

Discover the Contact Center Trends That Matter in 2024

Contact Center Trends 2024
Read it Now
Fonolo Resource cover image

Discover the Contact Center Trends That Matter in 2024

Read it Now

See Fonolo in Action

Select the type of demo you'd like.

By continuing to browse our website, you agree to the use of cookies for providing our services, marketing purposes, and analytics. To understand more about how we use cookies and ensure the safety of your data, please refer to our Privacy Policy.

Accept and Close