Counting what counts in contact centres: Perspectives on Business QA - Mar 2014

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ContactCentreSmartDismantling Frustration. Engineering Happiness

Counting what counts in contact centres...

Some perspectives on:

Business QA

Image credit: sxc.hu/profile/onetwo

In the beginning mankind created this…

The humble voice

recorder!

Foundational measures….

This allowed us to assess the quality of our Agents by

assessing…Measures whether something was done or not

Yes/No standards

More objective…Easy to score; Easy to understand

E.g.’s : Did the agent use the correct…• Greeting and ending• Verification procedure• Transfer and ‘hold’ procedure• Call protocol

Finesse measures….

This also allowed us to assess the

quality of our Agents by assessing…

Measures how something was done

Graded standards e.g. ‘Excellent to Poor’

A lot more subjective…Allows for individual styleBut more difficult to score

E.g.’s : To what extent did the agent demonstrate…• Professional courtesy• Empathy• Active listening• Energy and positivity

Foundational measures gives customers this type of experience…

Perfectly functional…but a little bland

Foundational measures gives customers this type of experience…

But with Finesse measures a customer’s experience is transformed…

from this…

to this!

This works…

But…this is MUCH better!

This works…

But what’s really

exciting…

About this…

Is the opportunity to assess the quality of

customer experiences from a

business perspective.We call this…

Business QA!

Ok…So what’s so exciting about

Business QA ?&

What is

Business QA , exactly?

Business QA analyses a sample of customer interactions

and asks questions like…

Business QA asks questions like…

Who’s calling?

&Why are they

calling?

Who’s calling?

Why are they calling?

How could the call have

been prevented?

Was this an unnecessary

repeat call and why?

Who’s calling?

been prevented?

How can we improve the

customer experience?

How can we make it easier for agents to

help customers?

Who’s calling?

been prevented?

How can we improve the

customer experience?

How can we make it easier for agents to

help customers?

Did this call reflect our

core values?Was this call resolved on

first contact?

So what’s the ROI (Return on Investment)

on Business QA …?

Business QA will make you much better at…

Helping your agents help customers

Talking real numbers

Now you can prove, beyond reasonable doubt, that your idea is going to shave x hours of ‘call load’ and that’s going to save your company loads and loads of R’s, $’s, €’s or £’s

Understanding ‘value versus failure’ demand

Now you can drive meaningful change in your organisation that will enhance moments of excellence and eliminate moments of misery

Proactively preventing customer ire

Now you can get to you customers before they get to you!

Do your agents really have to toggle between 5 systems to get an answer to a FAQ?

Here’s something to think about...

Q: How do you define a successful customer interaction? Is it…

a.100% QA Compliance: A successful interaction is one in which we have made no mistakes; a 'zero-defect'- 100%- compliant’ interaction

b.100% Customer Satisfaction: A successful interaction is one in which we have made a 'personal emotional connection' with the customer, whilst fully resolving the customer's query

Our view is this…

Option ‘a’ is important, but focus more on option ‘b’.Why?

Be obsessed with… ‘achieving excellence’

Don’t be obsessed with…‘avoiding failure’

Being obsessed with ‘avoiding failure’ will just get you to ‘ordinary’. Being obsessed with ‘achieving excellence’ will get you to ‘extra-ordinary’! Spend much more time discussing how we can improve each customer conversation. Spend much less time haggling about QA scores and whether an agent met particular standard or not. Sure, we need agents to adhere to company policies and comply with ‘Standard Operating Procedures’ (SOP’s). This is important. But does attaining zero-faults mean you’ve had a quality conversation with your customer? Maybe, but probably not.

…continued

Be obsessed with… ‘achieving excellence’

Don’t be obsessed with…‘avoiding failure’

A zero-fault contact does not always equate to an excellent contact. We need to learn about excellence by analysing and studying excellence, not failure. Excellence is not the opposite of failure; it’s just different. Shifting your customer conversations from ordinary to extra-ordinary requires a different mind-set and a different skill-set. It requires the skill of imagining how we can make each customer conversation even better.

Here’s some ideas on how we can shift from ‘ordinary’ to ‘extra-ordinary’

Don’t score.Do discuss.

Here’s an idea from the organisation that is ‘Powered by Service’, Zappos.com.Quality monitoring at Zappos used to be on a quality monitoring form rated on a scale of 1, 2 or 3 on a wide range of dimensions. However, Zappos found that this promoted fear, not growth, so they changed the formal rating structure. To reduce anxiety Zappos went from performance metrics to pure feedback and did away with QA scores for full-fledged contact centre staff. Supervisors (or coaches) and agents now just talk about the things they liked and the things they could’ve done better. Zappos made a shift from top-down evaluations to open partnered conversations, which makes for happier (and less defensive) employees and an environment of enthusiasm for service growth. Source: The Zappos Experience - Joseph Michelli

Allow agents to nominate their best calls

Another idea for promoting excellence is to ask agents to submit their best calls for quality assessment. What this does, is that it gets agents to think about being excellent on each call as opposed avoiding failure on each call. This will rejuvenate those often stale and monotonous QA coaching sessions. A discussion around excellence is much more liberating than a discussion around avoiding failure.

Subscribe to less scripting;Prescribe more freedom of speech

Don’t script unless you legally have to.Do promote socially responsible ‘freedom of speech’ that’s in line with your corporate identity.We suggest looking at your corporate values and establishing communication principles that reinforce these values rather than insisting on strict compliance to rigid policies. Here’s an example:Instead of having a rigid policy that says, ‘you must mention the customer’s name three times in a conversation!’, rather establish a principle that says ‘build personal connections with each customer conversation’. Mentioning the customer’s name three times is not the only way to build a personal connection.People want to be self-directed; they want to be able to do the right things in their own unique way.

Rewardgiving with purpose

Why not give your agents a ‘Customer Appreciation Budget (CAB)’ of say R500 per quarter, which they can use to fund deliberate acts of kindness for some of their customers? The agent with the best ‘CAB’ story wins a quarterly prize. The amazing thing about this idea is that it encourages agents to listen to customers more deeply and to take a deeper interest in the lives of their customers. It adds a layer of ‘purpose’ to their role, which they might not have had previously.The gains you get from a CAB program like this will almost certainly outstrip any other investment you make in building customer loyalty.

Here’s another thing to think about...

Q: Is your contact centre mostly viewed as:

a. A ‘Complaints Disposal Unit’ OR

b. A ‘Customer Research and Development (R&D) Machine’

Our view is this…

Here you definitely want to move to option ‘b’.You don’t want to get stuck in option ‘a’Why?

Be clear on the contact centre’s value proposition

Contact centres stuck in ‘Complaints Disposal Unit’ mode:• will never get the funding and support they need to be a strategic contributor to their organisation’s success.• will always be viewed only as a cost-centre where costs are cut to the bone, resources are stretched to the limit and where it’s all about achieving 'Service Level’ at month end.• will only interact with other departments, reactively. • will always be the ‘last to know’ and the ‘last in line’ when it comes to budget allocations.

Be clear on the contact centre’s value proposition

Contact centres that evolve to ‘Customer R&D’ mode:• will help pinpoint and prevent quality problems in key areas of the business. • will contribute to developing more focused marketing campaigns and customer communications.• will help improve the usability and acceptance of self-service systems. • will proactively engage with other business units to help them achieve their strategic goals.• will get the budget they need to be a strategic contributor to their organisation’s success.Moving from ‘Complaints Disposal Unit’ to ‘Customer R&D Machine is crucial.

…continued

Here’s an idea on how we can shift from ‘Complaints Disposal Unit ’ to ‘Customer R&D machine’

Do more Business QA…

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About the author...Hilario FiandeiroHilario is the owner of ContactCentreSmart, an independent consulting practice, specialising in ‘dismantling frustration and engineering happiness™’ in customer-facing environments.

He has more than fifteen years experience, as an operations manager, facilitator and management consultant, across various industries, in the customer experience and contact centre space.

As a professional consultant operating from Johannesburg, South Africa, Hilario focuses exclusively on making customer-serving professionals more successful and customer interaction experiences more rewarding.

Hilario’s academic background includes a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of the Witwatersrand (1994) and an MBA from Edinburgh Business School (2010).

Hilario is a ICMI /CIAC Certified Management Consultant (CCMC) having achieved his certification in 2012.

Contact me on:

hilario@ContactCentreSmart.com

www.ContactCentreSmart.com

Counting what counts in contact centres: Perspectives on Business QA - Mar 2014

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