How to Improve Quality in a Call Center

Few things are more important to a call center than the effectiveness with which an employee handles the call. The employee must treat the customer with respect and take all the appropriate steps on his systems in order to ensure that the call is handled correctly. Poor quality can upset customers and reduce profits. Follow these steps to enhance the performance of our call center.

Things You'll Need

• Call Monitoring Equipment
• Computer
• Performance Reports

Instructions

1. Initiate an effective quality program. A call center needs a quality assurance program that provides a large enough sample of each associates' individual work and the performance of the group as a whole.

2. Determine whether you have proper reporting on all facets of your call center. You must know how your center if currently performing before you can improve it.

3. Use these reports to determine areas of weakness for the group. Provide adequate training for your employees. Call center employees must know what to do in order to do it with quality.

4. Look for process improvement opportunities. Ask the employees for their ideas. They often know which steps in their procedures are troublesome. Act on their advice whenever possible and give them credit.

5. Balance the speed with which you want your associates to answer calls with what is necessary in order to complete the job correctly.

6. Reward your employees for good performance. Listen to a call of the week. Provide monthly recognition to employees with the best quality. Money is a nice reward, but simple recognition often helps improve quality in a call center.

7. Ensure you have the call monitoring equipment necessary for a quality assurance program. Someone must monitor your calls in order to improve quality in your call center.

Tips & Warnings

• Continually watch that your incentive plan works to improve the right areas and does not instill bad habits.

• Reward good work and hold employees accountable for failing to produce.

• Do not evaluate quality monitoring associates based on the scores of the group.