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BENCHMARKING AND DEFINITIONS WITHIN CONTACT CENTRES

SECTION 3: QUALITATIVE BENCHMARKING

3.1 INTRODUCTION

"It is quality rather than quantity that matters." Seneca (5BC - 65AD), Epistles.

Undoubtedly whilst all call centres have a focus on hard, objective measures, these cannot be viewed in isolation and a balanced approach to management including both performance and quality elements is fundamental. Compiling a qualitative view helps to set the quantitative data in a more meaningful context.

In order to be able to benchmark a call centre in these areas it is necessary to understand and 'feel' what is going on, by visits and discussions with the people managing the operation and those speaking to customers directly.

There is no doubting the importance of customer focus for the call centre as it is only through knowing the needs and requirements of customers that the operation can successfully service and sell to the existing client base or to new customers.

The result of this approach is the development of a balanced scorecard for each area of the operation identifying the key performance and qualitative indicators for each person or team in the call centre. The main areas that can be determined are as follows:

• What customers really think of the service being provided
• The impact on the staff within the call centre
• The extent to which legislation and compliance are adhered to
• Possible areas for improvement
• Future expectations in order to stay ahead.

Many of these areas are included in the CCA Standards Framework (Section 5 Service Performance and Organisational Efficiency):

5.1 Customer complaints are logged and reviewed. Action is taken to eliminate recurring complaints.

5.2 A complaints handling process is in place with target response times. Plans are in place to achieve/maintain targets.

5.3 A process is in place to gather customer feedback. Measures are set for satisfaction and plans are in place to achieve/maintain targets.

5.4 Arrangements are in place to manage call and contact centre internal relationships with other business areas and to identify, review and resolve issues as they arise.

5.5 Contingency and resiliency plans are in place, are kept up to date and are practised.

5.6 Forecasting and business planning are in place to manage the impact of activities on the operations.

3.2 THE SERVICE EXPERIENCE

A range of factors governs consumer perception of the service experience. In specifying the service required all these factors must be considered both individually and holistically.

Clear corporate brand guidelines and values need to be well known and supported by employees in the contact centre. However, these brand attributes and values need to be interpreted to create a 'personality' or emotional connection that can be communicated through the service experience. This 'personality' must be consistently applied to all interactions and in the configuration of the supporting systems and processes (everything from IVR to shipping documentation).

• IVR - ease of use and navigation
• Speed of answer - rapidity of pick up by Advisor post IVR
• Welcome - introduction and tonality
• Ask - how was information requested
• Supply - how was information given and received
• Empathy and understanding
• Pace and control
• Call completion
• Clear and confident use of voice
• Brand perception - the human touch

The dynamics of service quality and the impact that this has on the customer are highly complex. There are many factors which need to be taken into account: customer focus, leadership and management style, process approach, continual improvement, involvement of people, decision making approach and culture.

In order to set qualitative benchmarks, it is necessary to 'know what good looks like' and set a profile of best practice with which to compare against.

In terms of benchmarking the quality aspects of an agent's work, there are a number of mechanisms at a manager's disposal:

• Coaching sessions
• 1-2-1 coaching
• Remote listening
• Side-by-side monitoring
• Test calling
• Customer feedback (positive as well as negative)
• Assessments
• Training needs analysis
• Issue escalation monitoring.

3.3 KEY QUALITATIVE BENCHMARKS

SKILLS BENCHMARKS

Competencies

An area to consider is whether the competencies of new recruits match call centre requirements, e.g.

• Product knowledge
• Systems usage
• Call handling skills and standards
• Communicating the brand 'personality'.

This can be monitored through appraisals.

Level and effectiveness of training and coaching

As well as ensuring that all new recruits are given the right level and amount of training, it is important to measure the effectiveness of the training. This can be done on completion of the training through satisfaction questionnaires, but also reviewed on an ongoing basis as part of the coaching process, to ensure that learning is sustained.

Quality of call handling

The quality and speed of agent responses and listening skills has a fundamental impact on the customer experience.

This is monitored though the coaching process, and areas covered may include:

• Positive communication
• Empathy
• Rapport building
• Listening skills
• Portrayal of the brand
• Manage customer expectations
• Take ownership of the customer enquiry
• Demonstrate knowledge of procedures
• Increase customer loyalty by adding value to every contact.

DATA BENCHMARKS

Data collection

Benchmarks in this area cover the regularity of the data collection, for example are agents completing the required screens at all times, and is the data collection complete.

This would be measured by remote listening and then monitoring the system afterwards.

Accuracy

Typing and spelling accuracy is important when keying in caller information for telephone transactions, as it has an impact on systems generated correspondence and also can cause problems for others in the call centre at a later date if there are errors.

It is recommended that a representative sample are quality checked.

PROCESS BENCHMARKS

Process improvement

Process improvement is an important element of ongoing development, particularly in a business environment where there are many changes and new developments or products being introduced.

Benchmarks include whether there is a system in place to update and improve processes on an ongoing basis, based on measurement and evaluation of performance, and how widely used this is.

The effectiveness of this translates into agent knowledge in terms of how up-to-date they are with changes to processes or procedures.

Reporting

Important to successful management of a call centre is the accessibility of relevant, specific reports. Benchmarks in this area are whether reports are produced accurately and on schedule.

Legislation and compliance

For some call centres, compliance to legislation is critical to survival. A process should be in place to ensure that requirements are met. This may require measurement of adherence to individual level for certain important aspects.

EMPLOYEE BENCHMARKS

Employee satisfaction surveys

External service value is driven by employee productivity, loyalty and satisfaction. Some form of measurement is required, and more importantly, acted upon. As with customer satisfaction, it is preferable that some elements of the surveys should be conducted and analysed by an independent party.

Areas to be surveyed could include satisfaction with the following:

• Management support
• Level and effectiveness of training
• Physical working conditions
• Job satisfaction
• Communication with employees
• Involvement in decision making
• Fairness of pay
• Opportunities for career development
• Intention to remain with the company.

Meetings

The timing, regularity and content of team meetings and briefings is important to the successful running of a team, as well as the impact on the employees.

Regular meetings should be held and information shared, as a two way process, where ideas can be discussed.

CUSTOMER BENCHMARKS

Customer satisfaction

Customer satisfaction is a key benchmark, and in order to achieve a truly independent view, at least some of the customer satisfaction surveys should be conducted and analysed by an independent party.

As well as measurement, the fact that the findings are acted upon is vital.

The way in which the questions are written and posed can have an effect on the responses. Asking 'were you satisfied' type questions adds little value. Meaningful, usable questions, e.g. asking outright if the call centre met expectations and why and why not, with request for detailed answers, are much more useful.

Over 80% of call centres in the UK use customer satisfaction as a key measure. Customer satisfaction measurement within organisations tends to be very specific to the interests of the organisation in question, and is therefore a difficult are to make comparisons between sectors or very different organisations.

MANAGEMENT BENCHMARKS

Benchmarking can also involve the culture of the call centre and how it is managed and run.

Firstly, it is necessary to define the preferred culture, and then use specific evidence to demonstrate examples.

Examples could include:

3.4 BENCHMARKING - AN ONGOING PROCESS

The call centre industry is not standing still; performance and best practices are constantly evolving. Therefore it is important for operations to continually update their benchmarking, taking into account changes internally, externally and within competitors where relevant.

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