Can Agent Appreciation Improve Call Center Customer Service

Typically when call center administrators think of ways to improve their business they focus on customer service-because happy customers mean higher profits. However, with all things considered, the focus should actually start a step earlier. Shouldn't we first consider those that deal with the customers directly? Ways to improve call center customer service should start with agent appreciation because happy agents mean happy customers, which in turn means returning business.

With the ultimate goal of keeping customers happy, a call center should place their agent's work environment high in priority. Sometimes, a happy, patient, call center agent determines a customer's entire perception of your business. And if an agent feels unhappy, unmotivated, or frustrated with their work environment it could be reflected when they interact with a customer.

Currently, the average turnover rate in the call center industry is 40%. There could be several factors playing into this negative rate, but the bottom line is that recruiting, interviewing, and training new employees costs money. The longer an agent retains a position, the more skills they acquire that prove valuable to their job. Beyond that, they are more likely to feel a sense of loyalty to the company if they are there for a substantial amount of time. But when agents are unhappy, turnover rates rise.

How is the morale of your call center? If it's generally positive, there is a good chance that employees are motivated to do their job right. If not, there are many ways to improve in this area. Employees should feel rewarded for excellent work. This doesn't have to be a costly process. Rewards can come in the form of a quick "good job" email, an extra long lunch break, or even a small gift. Little favors such as these not only keep an employee enthusiastic about their job but they also motivate others to attain the same rewards.

However, even if you do have a "love your agent" kind of attitude, the process could still be ineffective if your employees are not provided with tools that enable them to do a good job. When a customer calls, an agent should have access to all of the information they need to effectively serve the customer. If this is not the case, customers become irritated and agents become overwhelmed.

To better arm your employees consider investing in solutions that maximize agent efficiency with tools such as an ACD (Automatic Call Distributor), IVR (Interactive Voice Response), CTI (Computer Telephony Integration) and feedback systems.

The purpose of an ACD is to match a customer with the right agent in the least amount of time, thus helping call centers best utilize their agents. But more importantly, it allows for agent skill set matching, balancing call center activity (by evenly distributing calls amongst agents), and actively recording caller information each time the call is transferred. For your agents, this means they will have more confidence when answering the call, no matter how many times the customer has been transferred, and they won't be as overwhelmed with high call volumes.

Having an hosted IVR system in place will also help lower call volumes by enabling customer self-service. This will allow your agents to spend more time on extensive customer needs, rather than tying them up with unnecessary requests. Better yet, having a CTI system in place will help you manage your inbound calls through self-service and agent managed assistance because it provides advanced call routing, multi-channel blending, activity automation, and robust reporting functionalities.

Finally, a feedback system is a great tool to help your agents stay motivated because they are able to receive feedback directly from the customers they served. It also enables management to properly recognize agents that consistently generate customer satisfaction-helping you give recognition and praise where it is most deserved.

Any call center can be improved with increased agent awareness. Hard working employees deserve an occasional pat on the back for a job well done-and if they are also armed with the necessary tools you'll be sure to see an improvement in call center customer satisfaction.


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In this industry call center customer satisfaction (Csat) is king. If you are not focused on customer satisfaction then you're dropping the ball. Using IVR surveys to gather your customer's opinions will go a long towards helping you understand how to improve your call center Csat. http://callcentercuru.hubpages.com/hub/call-center-awards



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