Improve Agent Productivity

Tracking and Improving Call Center Agent Productivity

Managers know the importance of call centers in businesses. This is because they lead to improved customer satisfaction, increased sales, and cost-effective operations.

Call centers have come a long way since they first began. Nowadays, a modern call center has many innovative features for better service. Call center agents use their skills and these features to respond to queries and solve issues.

The Role of A Call Center Agent

The software utilized in call centers has some other features apart from the ones mentioned above, as seen below:

Despite technology enhancing the operations of call centers, call center agents still form the heart of such agencies.

It is the performance of agents that leads to effective and efficient call center functioning. That’s why it is important to calculate agent productivity.

The Importance of High-performing Call Center Agents

Often, a call center agent is the first point of contact between a company and a consumer. Agents play a vital role in keeping consumers informed, solving their issues, and representing the brand.

A high-performing call center agent can:

  • Deliver a satisfying experience across consumer channels
  • Convey a consistent brand voice
  • Provide the solutions and reassurance that consumers need

For a business, high-performing call center agents can save time and costs. They can be relied on to build strong relationships, whether on the phone or online. Over time, this leads to retention, upselling and overall brand satisfaction.

How to Track Agent Productivity

Businesses clearly need to call center agent productivity.

This monitoring helps to ensure that CSAT levels keep rising. It also provides insights into other actions that the organization may need to take, such as replacement, training and structural changes.

Before you start to track agent productivity, there are a few things to consider:

  • The tracking scores and objectives should be aligned with overall business objectives
  • The tracking performance should be linked to agent KPIs
  • The performance targets should not be unrealistically high, but based on call center standards. For example, the average industry agent speed of working and so on
  • The productivity of the sector as a whole should also be taken into account when setting performance targets

Now, let’s turn to specific ways to track agent productivity:

Agent Days Worked

This metric refers to the number of days or hours that the agent has worked during a specific period. It monitors agent capacity and can gauge resources and workload.

When calculating this KPI, care should be taken to cover all channels. That is, the metric should be the total time taken by the agent on phone calls, online chat, e-mail and other channels.

If the Agent Days Worked number is too high for certain employees, it could be that productivity will decline in the near future. This is because of a lack of opportunities to recharge and rejuvenate.

Occupancy Rate

In a call center, occupancy rate shows how much time an agent spends on call-related activities when they are logged in to the network.

If the Occupancy Rate is low, time is being wasted, leading to a dip in the agent and call center productivity. This may not be the agent’s fault: the solution could be to route more calls to the call center or create other worthwhile work-related issues.

Call Abandonment Rate

Call abandonment occurs when the consumer hangs up before the call is initiated, or when the agent is in the process of trying to help them.

The call abandonment rate is a measure of how well the call center is able to address consumer issues. It is an important metric to calculate agent productivity.

A call abandonment rate can be measure both for individual agents or for the call center as a whole. It is crucial for this metric to be addressed. The reasons for high call abandonment could be improper training or long wait times.

First Contact Resolution

First Contact Resolution shows how effectively the agent has addressed the consumer issue with one call. It is a measure of superior call performance with respect to the productivity of the call agent and their center.

It leads to high consumer satisfaction.

If the consumer has to make several calls or insists on speaking to a superior, the reasons need to be looked into.

Agents can be empowered to make more decisions or trained to resolve issues better.

A high First Contact Resolution score also saves time and costs because the consumer does not need to make multiple calls, which also leads to an improvement in team productivity as well.

Call Handle Time

This metric shows the average time taken in the process from when a customer initiates a contact till they disconnect with the agent, including hold time and transfer time.

The Call Handle Time needs to be measured with a degree of context as a way to track agent productivity.

If the Call Handle Time is too high, it can mean that the agent is not properly trained and takes a long time to understand and resolve problems.

On the other hand, if it is too short, it can indicate that the agent is rushing through the call and not providing meaningful assistance.

After-Contact Work

Agents need to record information and other data after a call is finished. The time they take to do this can be measured by the After-contact Work metric.

As with Call Handle Time, this needs to be contextualized. If it takes too long, the agent may require more assistance and resources to speed up. Technology can help, as well as reduced paperwork.

If it is too short, there is a chance that the agent is rushing through the process. As a result, valuable data may be lost that could have been better analysed.

Customer Satisfaction Scores

After every call, customers should be asked to rate their level of satisfaction. This could be in the form of a recorded message with keypad input, a text message after the call, or an e-mail survey.

Customer Satisfaction Scores are an excellent way to keep track of productive reps. The scores could be graded numerically from 1 to 5, so that they can be easily measured over time.

As with other metrics, a CSAT score can be applied to an individual agent, a team, or the call center as a whole. It is important to pay attention to this metric and take care that it does not fall.

Some Tips to Boost Agent Productivity

Once the metrics are measured, call center managers should have a clear idea about performance levels. The call center may need to shape up as a whole, or some teams may be underperforming, or perhaps just a few agents.

Either way, steps need to be taken to boost performance. In many cases, training is important.

Agents can be told of the issues that are coming up and trained in the best ways to resolve them. Mock calls and simulations are forms of training that can get to the heart of the matter.

Incentives go a long way in improving performance. These could be both financial and non-financial. Aspects of gamification can be used to make the agents want to move ahead to higher performance levels.

Technology also plays a role. Performance levels can increase simply by putting advanced systems and methods in place.

Automated triaging, AI-assisted bots, and power dialers are some methods to do this. These can lead to agents responding faster to consumer expectations.

Preparing detailed call scripts as well as recording calls are other ways to track the performance of call center agents. Using these tools, agents can understand clearly what they’re doing right and what needs to improve.

In a nutshell, it is clearly important for call centers to track agent performance. Doing this and then implementing methods to improve standards leads to better productivity, cost-efficiency, customer satisfaction and a motivated workforce.

FAQS

What Is Call Center Agent Productivity?

It can be defined as a simple input versus output ratio. The input is the training, resources and time of the agent and the output is a predefined-metric such as customer satisfation or cost-efficiency.

What Affects Call Center Productivity?

– Improper training and call scripts.

– A large number of calls that are not bona fide.

– Out of date technology.

What Are the Factors to Keep In Mind When Calculating Agent Productivity?

Productivity scores should be linked to business objectives. It could be very important to reassure high-value consumers, or example. Or the need for upselling could be uppermost. Based on these, productivity metrics should be put in place.

How Can Technology Assist Call Center Productivity?

With the right software and tools, agents can simplify and speed up their work. Calls can be properly routed and at the right times.

Customers can be segmented based on past interactions. For outbound call centers, power dialers can enhance efficiency. Analytics software can crunch the data to come up with insights for future plans.

Which Qualities Make a Good Call Center Agent?

Good agents have high listening skills. They can respond appropriately to issues raised. They can apply lessons from past interactions to new calls.

They work well under pressure. They are trained and professional, and do not let circumstances and personal bias come in the way of proper responses.

Sid heads the global Sales Team at JustCall. He has been instrumental in establishing the foundation for the GTM functions at JustCall, driving the organisation into a growth phase. He is passionate about enabling organisations to build great customer experiences using technology. He is always looking to help startups beyond work, advising early stage companies on all things Sales & GTM.

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