Opportunity #3 – Stop trying to solve problems by making your customers do your agent’s work.

Again,  look at the operation from the customer’s perspective — not just the company’s. Much of the technologies available to contact centers are focused on how to become more efficient – not a bad thing, but keep in mind what “efficient” means.  It’s a point-in-time improvement based on history (e.g., reducing handle time, thus reducing the number of agents needed).  A common approach to creating a more efficient contact center is to focus on reducing the amount of “agent engagement” time by moving responsibility to the customer (e.g., hiding the agent prompt in the IVR; forcing all of the up-front information-gathering via speech; and not providing phone numbers on a Web site).  While such approaches seem to make good financial sense, they all make the customer work harder to do business with you.   And companies that adopt this approach quickly find that by passing on time from agents to consumers, loyalty drops, customer attrition increases and once valuable business intelligence is no longer available.

In many cases,  company-level contact center “efficiency” initiatives are born from  misguided agent level measures that that focus on reducing the time interacting with customers to decrease headcount.  Conventional company wisdom goes something like this: If the contact center can save headcount by reducing agent talk time, then every new technology needs to be an enabler. Then everyone outside of the contact center gets involved and handle time becomes the root of all evil, and reducing it is the way to save money and improve the quarterly cost numbers.  Soon you lose site of the customer, they’re doing more of the work, and ultimately they migrate to the competition – but you’ll never know when or why because no one talked to them.

In the customer service world it’s real easy to get caught up in an ongoing “penny pinching” exercise to improve the bottom line.   Customers quickly feel the pinch, followed by the pain — and look for  ways to ease it, which typically entails defecting to the competition.   

Move your center from an efficiency-focused organization to a customer-focused one.   Agent performance can be measured in many ways, but be sure the inputs are within their direct control – quality, adherence to schedule and procedures, first-contact resolution, initiation of cross-selling and upselling opportunities, etc. No matter what performance measures you choose, you want agents to be empowered to focus on helping customers get the information they need, and not just looking to reduce the time spent to meet an efficiency goal. Strongly emphasize this with agents; help them understand the transition, the metrics for which they will be accountable, and what’s in it for the customers they serve.  

Impact:  Removing these pressures from agents and allowing them to focus on service ensures the right thing is done the first time.  With this you’ll see a reduction in volume, improved customer results (revenue, retention, etc.), and, most importantly, you’ll have better information to plan your day.   Without an accurate view of what it takes to serve the customer, you’ll never get the planning part right — and if you don’t get the planning part right, you’re doomed to a life of continuous real-time management.  

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