Analytics

Call Monitoring and Analytics to Improve Sales Productivity

Call center managers are the ringmasters of all operations in a call center. Similarly, sales and customer support managers supervise corresponding agents. Ensuring that your agents are doing well on the job is more than just a matter of measuring metrics.

Utilize call monitoring and analytics to gain valuable insights into customer interactions and agent performance and create a more effective and efficient support team. This approach allows call center managers to identify areas of improvement for their agents and provide targeted training to enhance their skills, resulting in improved customer satisfaction and increased sales.

In this blog, managers will learn how to turn their agents into seasoned experts using call monitoring and analytics.

Call Monitoring and Analytics: How to Turn Agents into Seasoned Experts

Call center managers take the onus of keeping the performance graph steady. Tracking performance and grooming agents is an important part of the role played by call center managers. But closing the gap between an amateur agent and a master at handling customers- can become a real challenge.

For call center managers and sales/customer support managers, this journey begins with capturing agents’ performance. The goal is to ensure that all customer queries are not only handled timely but also in a satisfactory manner. Meanwhile, keeping an eye on how agents handle prospects is equally important.

Agents’ training is not a one-time task. It is a consistent and ongoing process. Grooming agents on the job and handling customers can be very complex, especially when your agents operate remotely. Business phone software equipped with call monitoring and tracking features is handy here.

Call Monitoring

A cloud-based phone system with an in-built call monitoring feature is crucial for effectively tracking agents. Call monitoring is listening in on the calls between agents and prospects or customers. Managers can monitor real-time calls between agents and customers from anywhere.

Call monitoring enables managers to listen to and assess agents’ performance. This feature allows you to jump in on calls and escalate further. Cloud-based phone software supports the following three types of call monitoring:

Call Listening

Managers can join in on live calls between agents and customers without either of the parties knowing. This is a great way to assess how agents handle customer queries or work with prospects. Customer support and sales managers can evaluate and provide relevant feedback to agents based on how they handle the calls.

Call Whispering

Call monitoring also allows you to guide your agents while on the call. Managers can speak directly to the agents without the customers knowing. This functionality is especially useful in handling high-ticket and sensitive cases.

Managers and supervisors can easily help provide verbal coaching to the agents without affecting or intervening in the conversation. In this way, agents receive real-time training from managers in an effective manner.

Call Barging

At times, managers and supervisors may need to hop on calls between the agents and customers. This functionality is referred to as barging. Unlike whispering, with call barging, both the agent and the customer can hear the manager when he joins the conversation.

Call barging is handy when the agent cannot solve the customer’s query. The manager may need to step in and take over the conversation in such a situation. Managers may also barge between calls if the agent cannot understand the whispering instructions. So, with a click of a button, agents can hop on to the conversation.

Other Call Center Software Features for Training and Tracking Agents

Call Recording

While call monitoring helps train and groom agents, listening to each call in real time is unrealistic and impossible. Another way to keep an eye on your agents’ performance is through call recording. Look for a call center software that offers this functionality.

Recording agents’ conversations are essential in call center quality monitoring and management. Managers can visit the call recordings at any time on the cloud. These call recordings help them assess whether agents comply with the prescribed call flows, rules, and rapport-building with the prospects.

Besides performance evaluation, call recording is pivotal in training. Coaching agents through real scenarios and use cases is the best way to train them. Audio recordings of actual conversations between customers and agents can be played out to train them in dealing with customers.

Call Analytics Dashboard

A call analytics dashboard helps capture all the KPIs and metrics that matter. Call center analytics play an important role in maintaining good service quality. However, with so many daily interactions, only elevated issues or complaints tend to draw notice from the managers.

In the process, call center service quality ends up suffering. This calls for access to important call center data. With a call center analytics dashboard, managers can view all the important call center metrics and KPIs in one place.

Ideally, a call center analytics dashboard should provide metrics like live call activity and team and agent analytics. Here, you can track the number of outgoing calls, attended calls, abandoned calls, and so on. In a nutshell, this is where managers can get a detailed overview of every call center activity.

Track Call Center Agents’ Availability

Call center agents tend to operate in different shifts. The agents’ availability feature becomes a tool of convenience in such situations. Moreover, if your agents work remotely, this feature alerts them to which agents are available at which time slots.

It also allows you to see the last time an agent logged in. Access to the last active status of your agents further helps managers stay on top of agents’ performance.

This information eventually helps carve out a productive allocation of duties. At the same time, managers can view this information from anywhere and access it anytime.

IVR Analytics

The interactive voice response system is an integral part of call center software. IVR serves as the first line of defense for your support team. A poor experience with the IVR system can take a toll on your reputation and could turn away customers.

IVR analytics can provide the necessary data to optimize the customer experience. For instance, you can use IVR data analytics to improve the IVR flows, build more convenient IVR menus and identify other weaknesses in the IVR analytics.

Voicemail Analytics

Voicemail is another important component of the call center. Your voicemail box is an important point of contact for inbound leads when agents are unavailable.

The voicemail analytics helps you keep track of the voicemails you receive and the responses that are due. In this sense, voicemail analytics ensures that all incoming voicemails are responded to or attended to.

Call Monitoring and Analytics FAQs

1. What is Call Monitoring Software?

Call monitoring software comes as a part of call center software. It allows you to listen to calls between agents and customers in real-time. With the click of a button, you can opt to listen, whisper to the agent, or barge into customer calls using the call monitoring software. In a nutshell, call monitoring software helps you monitor call quality.

2. What is Call Quality, and How to Improve it?

Call quality measures how effectively your agents handle customer calls. The main elements of a high-quality call include a polite and effective tone of voice, emotional intelligence skills, the use of the right language, and so on.

You must monitor agents’ call-handling capabilities on actual calls to improve call quality. Meanwhile, you must tap into call center analytics data to identify strengths and weaknesses and build a plan of action accordingly.

3. Why is Call Monitoring Important?

Call monitoring and analytics are important tools to measure an agent’s performance and access comprehensive data, which can help enhance customer support services.

Call monitoring and analytics can boost call center productivity, improving customer experience. In addition to real-time monitoring, call analytics provides valuable insights into customer interactions, agent performance, and customer satisfaction levels.

Call monitoring and analytics are critical in optimizing call center performance and improving the customer experience. It allows call centers to identify areas of improvement, provide targeted training, and make data-driven decisions to enhance their operations.

4. Who can Perform Call Monitoring?

The call center/sales/customer support managers or contact center supervisors typically monitor call quality. In some cases, a specialized quality assurance (QA) team may be responsible for performing call quality monitoring.

5. How to Implement Call Monitoring and Analytics in The Support Center?

Implementing call monitoring and analytics in a support center is essential for exceptional customer service. Here are four key steps to get started:

  • Develop a quality assurance team: Building a team responsible for monitoring and assessing calls is a crucial first step in implementing call monitoring and analytics. This team will ensure that all agents adhere to company policies and provide quality service to customers.
  • Set KPIs: Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) help monitor the success of your support team and identify areas that need improvement. These include average call duration, customer satisfaction scores, and first-call resolution rates. Setting KPIs will ensure that your team is meeting your organization’s standards.
  • Implement tools to improve analytics: You need the right tools to monitor and analyze calls accurately. Call recording and speech analytics can help you gain valuable insights into customer interactions, agent performance, and customer satisfaction. These tools can help identify specific areas for improvement.
  • Incorporate data into training: The data collected from call monitoring and analytics can be used to identify areas where agents need additional training. This information can then be used to create targeted training programs to ensure that your support team continuously learns and grows.

Common Challenges and How to Overcome Them

Call monitoring and analytics are valuable tools for improving call center performance and training agents. However, implementing these tools can come with challenges. Here are some common challenges and best practices for using call monitoring and call analytics to overcome them.

Low Engagement

One of the biggest challenges in call center training is ensuring that agents remain engaged and motivated. Call monitoring and analytics can help address this challenge by providing real-time feedback and training to agents. Regular feedback and training can help agents stay focused and engaged, improving their performance and overall productivity in sales.

Scheduling Conflicts

Another challenge in call center training is scheduling conflicts. Due to their busy schedules, agents may need help finding time to attend training sessions. To address this challenge, call center managers can use call analytics to identify patterns in call volume and schedule training sessions during off-peak hours. This approach ensures that agents receive the necessary training while minimizing disruptions to customer service.

Measuring Training Effectiveness

Measuring the effectiveness of call center training can be challenging. However, call monitoring and analytics can provide valuable insights into training effectiveness. By setting KPIs and using call analytics to track performance metrics, managers can measure the impact of training on agent performance and customer satisfaction. This information can then be used to identify areas where additional training is needed and refine the overall training program.

Measuring Support Agent Performance

Call monitoring and analytics are valuable tools for measuring support agent performance. By analyzing call recordings and customer interactions, managers can identify areas where agents excel and areas that need improvement. This information can be used to create targeted training programs focusing on specific skills or behaviors needing improvement.

Measuring the Quality of Customer Interactions

Call analytics can provide valuable insights into the quality of customer interactions. By analyzing call recordings and customer feedback, managers can identify areas where customer interactions fall short and develop training programs to improve these interactions. This approach can lead to improved customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Call monitoring and analytics can help overcome common challenges in call center training. By addressing low engagement, scheduling conflicts, and measuring training effectiveness and agent performance, managers can use call analytics to improve productivity in sales and customer interaction. With the right tools and practices, call monitoring and analytics can be valuable assets for call center training and performance optimization.

JustCall: Call Monitoring, Analytics, and Call Center Software

Turning agents into experts at handling customers does not happen overnight. It calls for consistently assessing agents’ performance and grooming them. Call quality monitoring, analytics, and other such functionalities aid in building a team of agents adept at handling calls effectively.

JustCall is a cloud-based call center software with call monitoring, analytics, and a range of other features that allow you to monitor call center activities. JustCall users have seen a 75% boost in productivity thanks to the call monitoring feature.

If you want to learn more about call monitoring, you can book a demo call with our experts, and they will give you a deep dive into the call monitoring feature.

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FAQs

What is the significance of call monitoring and analytics for support agents?

Call monitoring and analytics can help improve support agent performance and enhance the overall customer experience by providing valuable insights into agent-customer interactions.

How do call monitoring and analytics help train support agents?

Call monitoring and analytics provide organizations with the information needed to tailor their training programs to better meet support agents’ needs, ultimately improving customer service.

What are the benefits of turning support agents into experts?

Expert support agents are more efficient, can provide personalized solutions to customers, and have higher job satisfaction, increasing customer loyalty and sales.

Can call monitoring and call analytics be used to measure the quality of customer interactions?

Yes, call monitoring and analytics can provide insights into customer behavior and preferences, allowing organizations to improve customer interactions and ultimately enhance the customer experience.

How to effectively implement call monitoring and call analytics in the support center?

To effectively implement call monitoring and analytics, organizations should develop a quality assurance team, set KPIs, implement tools to improve analytics, and incorporate data into training programs for support agents.

With over a decade of experience in the SaaS industry, Rahul currently oversees the Customer Success team for the Americas region. He has been a key figure in establishing, scaling, and also crafting the strategic vision for the department. Specializing in the digitization of customer success processes, Rahul excels at creating and executing operational playbooks aimed at boosting customer retention and renewals. Under his leadership, the team has achieved significant gains in NRR and NPS, elevating overall customer advocacy. Over the past four years, Rahul has held similar high-impact roles in various organizations, consistently contributing to their success.

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