Strategies to Address Call Center Challenges

Strategies to Address Call Center Challenges By: Sanjay Jain, Practice Manager FIS Virtual Back-Office Services 800.822.6758

Leading Call Center Challenges The number one issue contact (call) center executives rated in a recent survey from FIS was ensuring the quality and consistency of agent responses. An overwhelming 98 percent felt this was a very important or important challenge. Other top challenges include providing call center staff with the appropriate systems access and online tools, along with secure and consistent access to client data. This ranking of the relative importance of the issues and challenges call centers must address, as shown by the percentage of respondents giving a very important/ important ranking, is shown in the graphic below: How can bankers tackle the challenges presented by these leading issues? They must look to leverage the experts in call center agent training and employee motivation. It also helps if their contact center operations are large enough in scale to provide mentoring and employee career paths. A larger contact center operation can also better fund investments required in online tools and security. Scale matters in contact centers. Financial institutions need to actively seek training expertise, scalability and the outsourcing partners to address the top issues in call center operations. The following six strategies provide a framework for helping bankers address the leading call center challenges today. 2014 FIS and/or its subsidiaries. All Rights Reserved. 2

Strategies to Optimize Call Center Performance The success of any call center is directly related to developing the people they employ and providing them with the proper tools. Call center agents are the front line. They require a unique set of skills and technology to perform their job effectively; they need to provide personalized services without having the opportunity to interact with the customer in a face-to-face context. Contact center staff represent a bank s brand, while being managed to stringent productivity standards. To maintain operational efficiency and high customer satisfaction, it is imperative that agents have the right mix of knowledge, tools and professionalism to achieve high levels of performance. In today s competitive environment, many call center functions (and in some cases the call centers themselves) are outsourced to providers that specialize in financial services and customer support. The following strategies should be employed to some degree by these providers or by banks themselves. The strategies are: 1. Invest in the hiring process 2. Train in phases and continuously 3. Recognize and reward 4. Monitor performance thoroughly 5. Invest in call center tools and technology 6. Allow secure and consistent access to perform appropriate tasks Effective staffing practices in a contact center should not be perceived as an overhead expense. Rather, it is an investment that yields benefits over time. - Malcolm McCulloch, Ph.D., Industry Consultant Invest in the hiring process Employee referrals generate the best source of new call center employees. Employees currently on the job can best explain expectations as well as the pros and cons of contact center employment. A best practice for call center hiring is paying referral bonuses to current employees who bring new associates (who stay with the organization for a given time) into the fold. It stands to reason that larger call centers will have an inherent advantage due to the reach of a greater number of employees. Other useful sources of new employees include: Open houses Online job sites and LinkedIn website Temporary agencies The company website Job fairs 2014 FIS and/or its subsidiaries. All Rights Reserved. 3

There are no shortcuts to an effective hiring process. In a survey of financial services call centers, the average elapsed time to hire call center representatives was 38 days for full-time employees and 30 days for part-time personnel. Hire Time for Reps Type of rep Median Minimum Maximum Full-time 38 days 5 days 225 days Part-time 30 days 1 day 225 days Source: Staffing Practices in Financial Services Contact Centers, 2010 Technical aptitude testing, human resources screening and relevant skills tests should be included in the hiring process. The general testing should cover areas such as: Basic computer navigation Business reasoning Data entry and typing Audio typing Potential call center employees should initially be interviewed on the phone by the Human Resources department. Passing that screening, the immediate supervisor should conduct a one-on-one interview. If that process goes well, senior management should interview the candidate next. Attributes to look for in candidates include: Verbal communication skills Active listening abilities Customer orientation Teamwork capabilities Motivation Train in phases and continuously Once hired, call center employees need comprehensive basic training in order to thrive. Call agents require education in phone etiquette and knowledge of a bank s products and services. They need familiarity with your organization s computer system and the technology bank customers can access. After training, test your staff to ensure they've committed product knowledge to memory. Provide them with resources, preferably an online knowledgebase, or a handbook or cheat sheet for reference, in case they forget how to perform new tasks. Let call center associates understand the desired outcome of every phone call, whether it is to make a sale or to answer a question to the customer's satisfaction. 2014 FIS and/or its subsidiaries. All Rights Reserved. 4

Call Center employees need to continuously develop their communication skills. This development can turn quality call center representatives into a true competitive advantage. The following eight suggestions are from the article Banks diligently train their call center employees on scripts and rules, but what about tone, emotion and style? by Edward G. Brown and Johanna Lubahn in BAI Banking Strategies. Focus on emotions The great advantage of the call center over digital channels is the opportunity to create a positive emotional connection with customers. Anticipate objections This involves not just preparation but also exquisite sensitivity because customers often express their objections in emotional ways. Make smiles heard A smile changes your attitude and your voice. Even over the phone, a smile can be detected and affect customers. Specify purpose Call center reps using scripts should leave no room for ambiguity. When training on the scripts, make sure they include how to say a phrase or request. Stress sincerity Coach call center reps to not to just read the words but also to convey the sincere belief behind the words. Honor etiquette Etiquette begets etiquette. It lifts the quality of the interaction between the call center agent and the customer. Practice off duty Don t ask your reps to go straight from the classroom to the big stage. Provide them with time to practice and perfect the newly learned arts and skills by role playing with other colleagues. Insist on personal style Getting call center employees to project themselves into each call is important. Make one aspect of training about finding their own personal style. Training should be provided for new hires and continuing employee development. Based on the experience of FIS Call Center management, new hire training should include: Company/client orientation Systems navigation training Procedural/process training Back-office process training to ensure one-call resolution Compliance training Phone skills training Soft skills training Classroom practice sessions 2014 FIS and/or its subsidiaries. All Rights Reserved. 5

More in-depth training sessions for experienced call center agents should cover the following subjects: Call handling on the call center floor in a controlled environment Focused coaching Introduction to quality and performance metrics Weekly goals for productivity and quality Quality calibration with peer group Identified quality gaps New products or services Response to client feedback Beyond formal training sessions, call center management should leverage other means to convey key messages and improvements. Regular team meetings, scheduled employee one-on-ones and small group huddles are important ways to introduce new concepts and reinforce important messages. Recognize and reward call center staff Today s workplace can be difficult to navigate when trying to get the most from each employee. Call center managers must strive to get each member of their teams working to their full potential and engaged in the results of their efforts. In order to motivate others, a great leader must be vulnerable enough to have an authentic connection to his/her team members, charismatic enough to engage them and humble enough to realize that true leadership often involves helping team members reach individual goals. Consistent recognition creates loyal and motivated call center employees. Sometimes it is the combined effect of small actions that creates a positive work environment. The following simple tactics are examples of these types of actions: Conduct individual coaching sessions, monthly team meetings and quarterly focus groups of random employees Create a Team Lead Certification Program for individuals to aspire to reach a higher level of competency and responsibility Recognize superior efforts by publicizing individual performance in call center and intercompany communication vehicles Always recognize service anniversaries in meetings with peers Offering multiple paths for advancement helps to retain high-performing call center representatives. Just knowing the potential exists for jobs with greater responsibility and better pay keeps motivation up in high performers. Some call centers offer flexible internship programs in which call center agents can try out jobs that require a higher skill set. There is no obligation to remain in the position if the employee wants to return to his/her current role. 2014 FIS and/or its subsidiaries. All Rights Reserved. 6

Well organized call centers provide clear job classifications and assignments that employees can aspire to. Besides lead supervisor and management career alternatives, some call centers offer important support jobs such as the following: Quality analyst Line trainer Business process manager Implementation role (process owner) Beyond career development, schedule flexibility is also important to call center staff. Many quality call center employees attend college classes. Creative scheduling can go a long way to retaining valuable employees looking to advance their careers through education. Innovative call centers create incentive programs that offer monetary rewards for reaching certain quality levels matched with call volumes. The most effective incentive plans pay relatively small amounts, but on a frequent (monthly) basis. The metrics of these plans are clear and obtainable with reasonable effort. Assessing the attitudes of call center employees plays an important role in determining proper recognition and reward. Acting on the findings of employee surveys quickly can help limit call center attrition. FIS has found it most effective to survey twice a year with the following guidelines: Anonymous surveys only Demographic information for data analysis Tenure Shift Department Limit length to 20 questions on: Management Customer service Communication Career development Associate Care Team (ACT) formed to determine responses to survey issues Often employee recognition comes down to the impact the manager has on the individual. Thus supervisor development is critical to employee development efforts. Call center managers should seek formal feedback from employees and peers on a regular basis. Mentoring programs should assist newer supervisors in developing action plans to address specific issues that surfaced in the feedback process. Good management skills must be practiced and refined on a continuous basis. 2014 FIS and/or its subsidiaries. All Rights Reserved. 7

Monitor performance thoroughly Banks rely heavily on call center resources. The need for optimally performing contact centers in our industry is extremely high especially for an organization looking to compete on customer service. Call center performance requires management attention and subsequent adjustment for maximum results. At FIS, we measure service levels down to the targets for a particular skill. All call centers measure call volume, speed of answer and call duration. It s the ability to isolate call type and specific function in appropriate metrics that drives toward better performance. Beyond measuring what has happened in the past along with real-time measures of what is happening on the call center floor, forecasting becomes a key management activity. Matching the appropriate resource levels to call volume drives productivity and customer services. An example of one report that tracks the number of calls on loan accounts against forecast volumes is shown below. The consistent match of the blue and green lines is what management strives for. Forecasting must be done on a daily basis on intervals that make sense for the particular business line. Seasonality and special bank circumstances need to be accounted for. Productivity metrics can also measure call center supervisors on actions such as hiring quality. Reviewing the results of call center staff by hiring supervisor can help improve interviewing techniques and hiring decisions. It is often said you get what you measure, and that statement rings true in the call center environment. 2014 FIS and/or its subsidiaries. All Rights Reserved. 8

Invest in call center tools and technology A well-organized call center not only has great staff and management, it leverages the appropriate tools to train and technology to train and coach the staff, align headcount to workload, track what is going on, and measure the quality of the delivery. These tools can be broken out into the following categories: Telephony infrastructure Call recording Knowledgebase systems Reporting Workforce management. Telephony Infrastructure The telephone systems must allow agents to be organized by function such that calls of a specific nature can go to a specific set of individuals for handling. This is also known as skilling. This also allows spikes in a certain call type to be isolated and not impact the performance of the broader call center. The phone platform should also allow for visual and audio prompts to alert what type of call is coming in so he/she can be mentally prepared to take the next call. Call Recording Call recording is a very important piece of the overall solution. It is the only component that tracks what actually happened on a certain call. Call recordings can be used to validate or refute claims made by a caller. They should also be used to coach agents. Agents can learn quickly listening to their own recordings as they hear their own performance. If they fail to recognize the improvement opportunities, their supervisors can help them identify those performance improvement opportunities. Call recordings are also a very important tool to validate the quality of the call. Quality scoring sheets can be used to determine whether the agent opened and closed the call properly, referred to the caller appropriately, provided accurate answers, and avoided dead air. Agents obtaining low quality scores can be identified for further training and coaching or other disciplinary action as appropriate. Knowledgebase systems Call center agents deal with a variety of questions from callers. In the banking domain, the most common ones are related to account balances and transactions. Every once in a while they do get questions that are not routine. Having an online knowledgebase with this information is a very solid strategy. These types of systems prevent guessing, call transfers, or just incorrect information being provided to the caller. Call agents are, after all human, and it is just not possible to remember every single business rule or the location/hours of operation of all branches. Such a database should allow for easy searches and should be kept up to date on a regular basis as the information changes. It should also house details of any marketing campaigns, promotions, messages on statements, since every customer touch point can trigger a call into the call center. 2014 FIS and/or its subsidiaries. All Rights Reserved. 9

Reporting A call center cannot be managed effectively if you can t track what is going on a daily basis. Management needs to know how many calls are coming in, how many are being answered, how long it is taking us to answer a call, how long are we on the phone with each caller, how long are people willing to wait before they hang up, and why are they calling. The metrics on call volume are important from a staffing perspective. This information tells executives how many people to have on the phones and at what time. The when is very important because having too many people on the floor when the call volume is low is not cost effective. Conversely, having too few people on the floor during periods of high call volumes can negatively impact customer service. The call type information allows call center management to identify issues related to verbiage on a bank s website or a message added to a statement that may be confusing. This information can be quickly relayed to the appropriate department to reduce call volume and/or enhance brand image. It also helps allocate adequate bandwidth to the right skills to improve customer service. Finally, historical data can be used to forecast future call volume and plan ahead. Workforce Management Call centers are labor-intensive operations. All of the data gleaned from management reporting needs to be used to correctly allocate the human resources. Modern workforce management systems are very sophisticated and can help call center management allocate staff based on incoming volume, average handle time and service level requirements. They also allow for the scheduling of breaks, vacations, and can identify gaps in coverage or service level misses. Allow secure and consistent access for to perform appropriate tasks In a typical call center environment, calls are handled by the first available resource equipped to handle the call. Equipping agents to handle a particular call type requires training and access to the data required to service the call. It is also important that the same call be handled in an identical manner should it get routed to another agent in the same facility or another facility across the country or around the globe. Providing secure access to customer data can be accomplished via a role-based entitlement mechanism in which the agents have access to just the data they need to handle the call types they are authorized for. In this secure approach, the agents are explicitly given access to each screen/function they need to do their job. This granular approach eliminates the inherent risks associated with giving an agent update and/or inquiry access. Moreover, by creating separate roles one for agent, one for supervisor and associating specific activities to each role also ensures that all agents in a specific role have the same access. As needs evolve, activities can be added or removed from a role, rather than individually modifying each agent s access. This makes security administration easier as well. 2014 FIS and/or its subsidiaries. All Rights Reserved. 10

Summary The people and their use of technology is critical to success in call center operations. Investing in both the development and cultivation of call center staff and the tools they utilize helps address the leading issues identified by the FIS survey. By following the strategies detailed in this paper, executives can improve customer service and raise call center productivity. Contact Us For further information on how to address call center challenges, please call 800.822.6758, contact your Strategic Account Manager or visit www.fisglobal.com. 2014 FIS and/or its subsidiaries. All Rights Reserved. 11