As per the White House Office of Consumer Affairs in the U.S., it is 6-7 times cheaper to retain an existing customer than attracting a new one. And improving the productivity of contact center executives is the key to retaining the customers and making them loyal for the brand.

Some of the most important strategies to boost the performance and productivity of contact center employees include:

Allowing Employees to Choose Their Schedule

Each employee has its different preferences when it comes to working on a particular time of the day. Allowing the contact center workforce to choose the timings which are suitable to them is certainly beneficial. This works positively as they are most productive at the time which is comfortable to them.

E-Learning for Agents

E-learning is now not limited only to school or college students. A contact center can enhance the skills of their workforce by using e-learning resources in collaboration with regular training methods.

The major benefit of this method is that it can be used at any instant of time without requirement of a trainer. Also, various interactive multimedia formats like audio, video and animation results in better learning which ultimately results in better performance.

Hiring a Psychologist

A contact center can temporarily or permanently hire a psychologist which will help in improving the productivity to a much higher level. The psychologists can teach better skills of communicating with the end customers. Also, a good psychologist has myriad of techniques which helps the executives to reduce the stress and prepare them for the upcoming days.

This may cost some extra to the company but the returns will be around 3-4 folds of the amount spent on hiring the psychologist.

Gamification

Computer programmer Nick Pelling was the man behind the term ‘gamification.’

Gamifiaction follows the principle of turning your workforce management into a model similar to a virtual gaming system. It can indeed do wonders to the efficiency of your work process.

Creating a game-like environment is a long term process which prevents the customer handling process from becoming monotonous. Making a score board with ranks of the executives is one of the important game strategy. It is essential to make sure that the rank and performance is made public so that each employee gets motivated to improve the score. There are also multiple companies offering gamification platforms which can improve the working of contact centers.

Availability of Detailed Customer Information

It is imperative to ensure that all necessary details of the customer are available on the screen of the contact center executive when they are attending the customer. To enable this facility, various tools can be combined with the software of the call center. This significantly decreases the handling time of a call which ultimately gives more yield in terms of customer support.

The overall quality related to communication with the customers will also be improved which will play a crucial role in turning a company to a renowned brand.

Providing Comfortable Headsets

A headset is like a lifeline for a call center executive which are dedicated to provide best customer support through voice calls.

It is essential to make sure that headphones used by the contact center executives have following features:

• Crystal clear sound quality of headphones
• Noise cancellation facility to reduce unwanted sound from multiple sources in the office.
• Easily adjustable and comfortable to wear for the complete shift.
• Adjustable volume control on the wire.
• High quality microphone so that customers hear the sound clearly.

Some major headphone designers which offer special range of devices for contact center employees include Jabra, Plantronics and Sennheiser.

Making Real Time Metrics Visible to Employees

Visibility of the metrics related to efficiency of the work should not remain limited to managers. Even executives must have access to metrics so that they can analyze their performance.

Some major metrics which must be available for contact center executives include

1. Average handling time which measures average time of a single transaction
2. Cost per contact which tells the average related to handling a call.
3. Customer satisfaction which determines the level of positive experience related to customers.

These and several other statistics helps the executives to improve their productivity by understanding how they are performing. It also makes them feel connected to the company.

Choosing One Day Supervisor

Making a new supervisor every day on the basis of performance from the team of executives is another important strategy which increases the overall performance of the team. Also, giving the chance to supervisor to meet management and understand the functioning can bring a lot of difference in positive manner.

Choosing the best strategies and following them in efficient manner will definitely raise the bar of Contact Centers and will ultimately help them to achieve their goals faster.