By Steve Brubaker, InfoCision Chief of Staff
To maximize a team’s abilities, managers must spend a significant amount of time helping team members understand company objectives and coaching them to improve performance. Successful contact center managers have figured out how to address key factors impacting contact center operations, engendering smooth transactions and enhancing the customer experience.
Frontline managers who continuously seek quality improvements are the linchpins in a brand’s ability to meet customer expectations, retain customers, and then turn those customers into brand loyalists and advocates.
Here are some of their best practices for meeting contact center key performance metrics:
Be positive, helpful and accountable: Whether by nature or through company training, the most-effective frontline managers know how to motivate and coach Communicators to excel. Business leaders need to ensure that their frontline managers have the tools they need to set up their teams for success. Sure, technology—from data and analysis tools to dashboard reporting—can buoy a manager’s ability to develop a top-performing team, but a people-first mentality is essential. Exuding a positive, can-do attitude and a willingness to help, including taking ownership of every call, will go a long way toward meeting contact center objectives.
Focus on employee engagement, retention and productivity: Acknowledge that most Communicators don’t plan to spend their careers in their current roles. Take the time to showcase how accomplishing their existing duties to the best of their abilities will benefit them down the road. This will motivate purpose-driven engagement in day-to-day tasks. Sensing that they are working toward the greater good, Communicators will experience heightened job fulfillment and put greater effort into their customer interactions. Ultimately, customer service will improve, leading to a heftier bottom line for the business.
Keep employees up to date on information: When customers call in to your contact center, they want their issues resolved quickly and effectively. Your Communicators are the face of your business whether interacting with customers in chat, on a call, through email or any other channel you provide. The value they bring to the customer relationship is dependent upon how well-informed they are about your products and services. Near real-time information can be critical to resolving customer issues and ensuring their satisfaction with your brand.
Mentor staff to handle stress: Communicators who feel attacked or undervalued will leave or simply fail to reach their full potential. Both situations—a high turnover rate/constant rehiring and low-performing workers, respectively—are damaging to any business. Let your Communicators know that not every interaction will go smoothly or every issue be resolved perfectly. Set reasonable expectations so staffers are not demotivated by a few glitches. Your own positive viewpoint, open communication style and lending hand will establish an environment conducive to the retention of both employees and customers.
Frontline managers who willingly provide team mentorship and support, are imbued with a positive spirit and eagerness to help, and who hold themselves personally accountable for the actions of their staff are crucial to contact center performance—and deserve a pat on the back.
Steve Brubaker began his career at InfoCision in 1985. In his current role as Chief of Staff and as a member of the Executive Team, he is responsible for HR, internal and external communications, and manages the company’s legal and compliance departments. Brubaker is a member of a number of professional organizations, including the DMA, SOCAP, and PACE. He also donates his time to serve on several university boards, including the Executive Advisory Board for The Taylor Institute for Direct Marketing at The University of Akron and The University of Akron Foundation Board. He is a frequent speaker for national events and has also been honored with a number of awards and recognitions for his contributions to the call center industry.
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