Many call centers use automatic dialers to boost agent productivity and make outbound calls for lead generation, telemarketing, customer service, fundraising, surveys, debt collection, or scheduling appointments. They can also use blended dialing to handle both inbound and outbound calls.
A successful call center relies on software tools to track metrics and customer data, prevent agent absenteeism, and drive sales. A few key steps to achieving these goals include:
Routing
Callers who call a company’s service center must immediately connect to the right representative or self-service option. Whether it’s to schedule an appointment, report an issue, or change a policy, a friction-free experience means happy customers and increased customer retention.
A typical routing process begins with an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system that asks the caller who they are and why they called. From there, an intelligent process identifies the purpose of the call and routes it to the best enterprise resource – agent or self-service – without wasting any time.
How do call centers work? Skills-based routing assigns calls to agents based on their expertise and availability, ensuring the right caller gets the needed help. This is a key component of providing exceptional customer experience, improving first-call resolution rates, and increasing the overall productivity of agents.
Other routing strategies include performance-based, which assigns calls to representatives based on their past performance on specific types of calls and least occupied, whereby incoming calls are routed to the agents who have taken the fewest calls during a shift. Both strategies can improve productivity and customer satisfaction while reducing the need for additional training.
IVR
The process of guiding callers through a series of menus, sub-menus, and options with touch-tone or voice telephone input is known as interactive voice response (IVR). It’s one of the core functions of most call center software. IVR helps to direct calls to the most appropriate human agent based on the customer’s query. This eliminates manual errors in routing, reduces wait times and agent workload, and boosts customer satisfaction.
IVR also allows customers to share key information about their queries with agents, like the specific nature of the issue and account details. This improves the quality of the conversation and ensures that agents are well-equipped to handle the request.
Even so, some callers prefer to speak with a live agent. In that case, your IVR can let them know how long it will take to get an agent on the line and then provide them with other self-service options to help them resolve their issues, such as a knowledge base or chatbot installed on your website.
Knowledge Management
Whether your teams are in the same room or spread across multiple geographies, a strong knowledge management system ensures each team member can access information when needed. One way to accomplish this goal is to centralize data like product history, sales scripts, and handbooks.
Another way is through internal communications that encourage sharing and documenting best practices within teams and throughout the company. Whether through chatbots, targeted internal emails, or project/task management tools, this communication helps keep staff informed and reduces learning curves when new processes are introduced.
Effective knowledge management also reduces the time teams spend searching for inaccessible or inaccurate information. This translates into improved productivity, less wasted effort, and fewer repeated mistakes. It also allows for better self-service options for customers, who can accomplish simple tasks (like changing a password or printing return labels) without waiting on an agent. This improves customer satisfaction and increases employee efficiency. This is why making knowledge management a core part of your business model is critical.
Analytics
As customer expectations have evolved, customers expect organizations to offer omnichannel support across multiple digital communication channels. This includes email, live chat, social media, and telephone. Call centers need the right software to handle incoming calls and sync with other channels to make this possible.
To improve the customer experience, companies should focus on reducing average handling time and first call resolution (FCR) while increasing customer satisfaction (CSAT). Additionally, they can measure and track the impact of their initiatives through analytics.
Using an agent performance monitoring tool allows you to identify training gaps, discover broken processes, and determine what’s working well and where improvements are needed. It also allows you to evaluate emails, monitor chats and social media, and take a full picture of your call center operations. This will help you improve operational efficiency and ultimately increase your bottom line. Using this technology, you can also create a standardized process workflow that prioritizes customer support inquiries and eliminates confusion among your agents. This will significantly reduce your customer churn.
CRM
Today’s consumers expect fast, personalized support whenever they need it. And with the right CRM, your customer service teams can help them.
A unified customer relationship management system provides a consolidated view of all prospects and customers. Marketing teams procure leads and feed them into the system. Salespeople use it to manage their pipelines and track customer interaction history. And contact centers update the system with data through service calls and tech support conversations.
Keeping track of all this information can be overwhelming for a business. And when salespeople spend too much time on administrative tasks instead of focusing on the customer, it hurts your bottom line.
CRM systems can automate many of these processes, making it easier for your salespeople to focus on the customer experience. An all-in-one CRM solution can serve as a unified system for sales, marketing, account management, customer service and tech support, and billing.
