role of call centers in effective customer service

8/11/2019 role of call centers in effective customer service

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IMS GHAZIABAD

(SESSION 2014-2016)

Managerial Communication Project

Report On

Role Of all enters In Effective ustomer Service

Submitted to: Submitted By:

Mrs Anita Vivek Kesarwani(BM-014291)

Mrs Timira Shukla Yash Saraswat(BM-014293)

Srikant Dubey(BM-014295)

Anjali Singh(BM-014297)

Himanshu Mishra(BM-014299)


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AcknowledgementEvery project big or small is successful largely due to the effort of a number ofwonderful people who have always given their valuable advice or lent a helping hand.We sincerely appreciate the inspiration; support and guidance of all those people whohave been instrumental in making this project a success.

We, the students of IMS, GHAZIABAD, are extremely grateful to the college for

providing us such a wonderful opportunity of carrying out this project.At this juncture we feel deeply honored in expressing my sincere thanks to Mrs. Anita

and Mrs. Timira Shukla maam for their critical advice and guidance without whichthis project would not have been possible.

Thank You


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Call center industry in India

The call center industry has emerged as one of the fastest growing sectors in India. According to a

NASSCOM (2006) study, the IT enabled services business process outsourcing (BPO) industryearned a revenue of US$5.2 billion in 2005. Call centers are most prominent among BPO firms.Different kinds of back-office work such as handling customer enquiries related to credit cardtransactions, reconciling accounts, and transcribing medical prescriptions are undertaken by BPO firms.Indian call centers provide both inbound and outbound services. Generally, in inbound services, callsoriginate at the customer's end whereas in outbound services call centers initiate contacts withcustomers for specific purposes. Inbound call services involve handling customer calls for receivingorders, making reservations, resolving customer complaints, and providing after sales service.Outbound services involve direct selling activities, conducting marketing research surveys, andmanaging public relations. The Indian call center industry is highly competitive. Shortage of workforcewith required skills and high-employee attrition are common features. Amidst cutthroat competition,offering superior service quality and achieving high levels of customer satisfaction have becomestrategic necessity for survival and growth of call center organizations.

Quality management in call centers

Most call centers in India have a separate quality control department for ensuring superior quality

performance. In the call center industry, quality control and performance evaluation are frequently doneon the basis of several operational measures which are also referred as key performance indicators(KPI). All operational measures are recorded daily but analysis is generally done weekly or monthly.Performance on operational measures is collected and recorded at individual level or sometimes at teamlevel. The required performance level in terms of these measures is governed by the service levelagreement (SLA) between call centers and their clients. It also varies based on the type of service

provided, inbound or outbound.

Frequently used operational measures are:

Average speed of answer (ASA): the average time taken to answer customer calls.

Abandonment rate: the ratio of number of calls abandoned by the customer prior to answer, tonumber of calls made to the call center.

Total calls: the total number of calls made to the call center.

Longest delay: the maximum time taken either before answering a customer call or call abandoned bya customer.


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What constitutes service quality of call centers?

For understanding what constitutes service quality offered by call centers, it is important tounderstand the difference between service encounters occurring in call centers and otherconventional service organizations such as restaurants, banks and hospitals. In call centers, serviceencounters are phone encounters that happen every time a customer interacts with call centers or acompany through call centers over telephone. This is different from face-to-face encounters that occur

between employees and customers in non-call center service firms. During face-to-face encounterstangible factors such as physical appearance and dress of employees and characteristics of place whereencounters take place (e.g. air conditioning, ambience) affect service quality perceptions of customers.In telephonic encounters, tangible factors do not contribute to service quality evaluations. Customers

play a less active role and verbal cues assume high importance. Because of these inherentcharacteristics of telephonic encounters,interpersonal skills of call center agents directly affect servicequality. While tangibility

plays no or a lesser role, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy affect servicequality perceptions. Although call centers use metrics comprising operational measures in their qualityevaluation system, many of these measures can potentially lead to poor service quality

perceptions by customers. For instance, standard measures such as average talk time and calls per agentcan actually restrict the agent's ability to answer customers' calls effectively. Agents feel frustratedsince these measures do not allow them to satisfactorily handle customers' queries. The measures onlyindicate the efficiency level in call centers and could actually lead to unintended consequences such aslost revenue and annoyed customers.

Superior service

Call center managers often overly rely on operational measures for evaluating the qualityof call center service. The criteria used by customers for quality assessment are differentfrom the ones used by managers. This results in a gap between perceptions of managers about servicequality offered and perceptions of customers about service quality received. Hence, it is imperative forcall center managers to develop a suitable system for systematic measurement of customers perceptionsof service quality. Emphasis needs to be given to attributes capturing quality of customer-agentinteractions. Using an instrument with items of reliability, assurance,empathy, and responsiveness can be a first step to measure service quality. Managers should also beaware that telephonic interactions with customers are devoid of the richness of face-to-face interactions.During service delivery in call centers, agents play a critical role: their interpersonal skills andmotivation determine, to a large extent, excellence in service performance.Therefore, recruiting employees with the required skill set and adopting suitable humanresources practices to keep employees happy and motivated are of paramount importance for superiorcall center service.


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Effective Customer Communication in

Call Centers

With more and more business being done over the telephone and the increasing use of 24 hour professional call centers to handle customer enquiries, knowing how to communicate effectively bothface to face and on the telephone is vitally important. To help you get your message across clearly,

politely and efficiently recruitment experts Kelly Services highlight some common problems and provides some techniques to put them right. This fact sheet brings you essential know-how on thedifferent ways you can polish up your communication.

Customer cloutWe live in an era where the customer is king. Gone are the days when customers were thought of as aninterruption or that answering their queries was doing them a favour. Nowadays good customer service

provides an organisation with its competitive edge and customers expect to be dealt with professionallyand competently. Whether you are involved with customers on the telephone or deal with them direct,the following common sense guidelines will help you to make the right impression and give yourcustomers what they are looking for.

Image wreckers

If you answer the telephone or if you greet visitors you need to beware of ruining professional imageswith comments that often give the wrong impression such as:

They are still at lunch (they're taking a long break) They are not in yet (they're late) They have left already (they've slipped off early) She's at the dentist (this is too personal) He's just popped out (and does so all the time) I don't know where he is (internal communication is bad) They are tied up (they are too busy to talk to you)

It is far easier and much more professional to say: She's not available at the moment - may I get her tocall you back etc.

Top six telephone frustrations

Being cut off or put through to the wrong person Being left hanging on with no explanation Not knowing who you are talking to and if they can help Being asked lots of questions Not being given the chance to explain yourself Being called at an inconvenient time


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Service standards

Think about what is meant by good service. It involves many different qualities and will depend on thecircumstances involved but whatever business you are in, there are a number of basic good practiceswhich should be taken on board.

Be courteous

Identify yourself and listen without interrupting Respond as necessary Stop talking if interrupted Give prompt service with the minimum of delay Don't keep the caller hanging on the line without going back to them

Be friendly and helpful

Speak clearly and with a smile (yes, you can "hear" a smile!) Be aware of how important your voice is in conveying a friendly personality Be enthusiastic and show an interest Be sincere in your attempts to help Never lose your cool If you promise to take certain action do it as agreed Deal with any problems diplomatically

Learn to listen

Improving your listening skills can make a huge difference to your communication success - peopleneed to know that you fully understand their case.

Don't interrupt unnecessarily Don't switch off half way through Don't hurry people Try putting yourself in the caller's place

Information

When you are recording or giving information remember that it must be precise and detailed.

Be clear and accurate Make sure that any information you give is correct

Avoid jargon Talk with confidence Get the facts and record the information


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Message taking

It is vital to collect all the relevant information when you are taking messages for other people. Thefollowing checklist will help you to make sure you haven't forgotten anything.

Who the call is for The date and time of the call Name of caller and company Their telephone/fax number Reason for the call / is the call urgent? A convenient time to return the call Your name Details of anything you have agreed with the caller

Handling problems and complaints

When you are handling difficult situations it is important to keep calm and not let your emotions get the better of you. In many ways a complaint is an opportunity - the chance to show you can put things right.A customer whose complaint is successfully resolved will have a strong sense of loyalty.

Try and establish some rapport with the caller Use their name and recognise their importance Let the person explain and listen carefully Get all the facts and take notes Direct the conversation away from emotion Avoid defensive reactions Try and develop a solution giving a time frame and your actions Make a commitment to follow up Get agreement to your solution Thank the person for calling

Be positive

If you are in the front line of communication then it is vital that you have a positive attitude because itis clearly reflected in both your voice and in the way you behave with others. Not only will a positiveapproach make you feel good it will also get a positive response from others.

A well known business guru was recently asked what the three most important factors were for a business to be successful. His reply was Communication, Communication and Communication.


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Effective Communication:

-A Key to Call Center Operations

An element of any call center operation that can completely derail the entire workforce if not usedcorrectly is communication and not keeping all members of the call center on the same page can

prove extremely detrimental to the ongoing success of the organization.

A recent blog post written by Dr. David Butler ( News - Alert ) highlighted some key tips hat Butler hasseen in maintaining effective lines of communication in successful call centers over the past 15 years.

One of the cornerstones of a clear and concise communication plan is an open-door policy. I do notmean the type of open door policy where one says, I have an open -door policy and then the door isalways closed. I mean a literal open-door policy where the door to the supervisor and the manager soffices are always open and available unless there is a private or confidential meeting taking place,Butler stated.

When an employee feels comfortable discussing an issue or question they may have with uppermanagement, it will help the agent to continuously enhance their knowledge while simultaneously

being aware of what steps to take the next time a similar issue arises.

Knowing that the top person s door is open, as well as all of the other doors, is reassuring for theagents in the call center. This lends a level of confidence in the management in the center and also holdseach manager accountab le to their actions, Butler added.

In addition to an open-door policy, an effective communications plan will ensure that across an entireorganization everyone receives the information that is needed without delay, in a way in which doesn toverwhelm them. In essence, this allows agents to receive key information right on their desktops,cutting down significantly on the time it takes to get everyone in-the-know. This also works to driveagents to talk with each other, without requiring management to get i nvolved. This gives the agents achance to talk, like in the break room, with each other and enjoy the camaraderie that comes withworking in a large organization, Butler commented.

Without the correct model of communication in play, call center operations will have an extremelytough time relaying messages and imperative information to those agents who connect the center to itscustomers.
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Effective Communication in Customer Service

Effective communication is a critical component of customer service for small organizations. Customerservice efforts are designed to ensure the prompt and efficient delivery of quality products and servicesto customers, as well as the effective recovery from any service-related issues that may arise. In dealingwith customers, communication is essential, whether it is face-to-face, over the phone, via email or,increasingly, through online channels.

Service Economy

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, customer service representatives held about 2.3 million jobs in 2008, ranking among the largest occupations. These numbers are expected to grow by about 18 percent between 2008 and 2018, faster than any other occupation. Clearly customer service is becominga priority. In fact, just about every type of business has customer service staff. The median wage forthese types of positions, according to the BLS, is $14.36 per hour. The highest-paid 10 percent of thosein this type of role make $23.24 per hour.

Communication is Critical Skill

For those in customer service positions, strong communication and effective problem-solving skills aremust-haves. Call center representatives must be able to listen well and communicate effectivelyverbally. Those who respond to customers via written channels must also have strong typing, spellingand grammar skills and the ability to convey information effectively in an online environment.Communication also comes into play when dealing with customers questions and complaints, a realityof this type of work.

Customer Feedback Can Provide Direction

Effective communication in customer service requires a thorough understanding of the needs and perspectives of customers--what is important to them and their expectations in terms of service, productquality, communication and follow through. Many companies conduct surveys to determine whatcustomers expect and how well they are doing at meeting those expectations. This kind of overallfeedback can be helpful, but customer service employees also benefit from the one-on-one feedbackthey receive from their interactions with customers.


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Challenges

Communicating effectively in customer service situations can involve a number of challenges. Those inthese roles need ready access to up-to-date and reliable information about the company's products,

services and policies. They need to know what level of authority they have to meet customer demandsand resolve problems. Sometimes they are unable to satisfy customer requests due to company policiesand this can be a stressful part of the job. In addition, as customer service continues to be an importantaspect of just about every business, and as businesses become more competitive, consumers are comingto expect ever higher levels of service that companies must be prepared to deliver.

FutureThe future of customer service communication will increasingly take advantage of online and mobiletools to streamline the communication process and provide options for customers to help themselvesthrough the use of online access to information about common questions, issues and concerns.According to an article by Sarah Pierce in Entrepreneur magazine, the use of live chat and instantmessaging as communication tools to interact with customers has grown significantly since 2002, withtools such as ChatStat and LivePerson providing businesses with effective means of interacting quickly,easily and inexpensively with customers. The newest trend, says Pierce, is mobile search.


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CaseStudies


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Solution in Action: Xcel Energy

The following is an excerpt from a presentation planned for the International Avaya User Group(IAUG) Global Education Conference held May 20-24, 2012. Xcel Energy was looking for a way to

reduce the costs and complexities associated with running their call center infrastructure and improvetheir customer service. As a major U.S. electric and natural gas company, with annual revenues of$10.3 billion, they wanted to ensure their 3.4 million electricity customers and 1.9 million natural gascustomers could always reach them for answers on their comprehensive portfolio of energy-related

products and services. While their existing solution made sure all calls were answered, they wanted todo more. Xcel Energy chose an Avaya SIP-based Contact Center solution, leveraging Avaya AuraSession Manager, Avaya Voice Portal, Avaya Intelligent Customer Routing, Avaya Proactive OutreachManager, Avaya Aura Call Center Elite, and Avaya Call Management System for their new call center.The Avaya Contact Center solution is capable of handling up to 1700

simultaneous calls with no agents logged, no calls waiting in queue, and an average handle time of 90seconds for an outage call. If inbound calls exceed the 1700 call threshold, then calls automaticallytransfer to their outsourced solution provider.

Since the solution was deployed in 2011, Xcel Energy has been able to:

Reduce Reliance on Third Party Service Providers : They have been ableto negotiate a reduced expense from their service provider. They haven t needed to divert any calls to their outsource vendor and the solution wasable to handle their largest call volume event ever reported.

Improve Customer Service :Customer satisfaction improved by

providing features such as upfront outage messaging as well as call backs. During high volume periods they have been able to address theneeds of their customers.

Efficiently Use Resources More Efficiently: The solution has helped toreduce inbound traffic and stabilize call volumes. During outages theiragents receive 5% fewer calls and their contact centers have seen a 25%reduction in repeat calls due to high wait times.

The benefits have included:Cost Savings: Reduced their third party outsourcer expenditures.

Enhanced Customer Experience :With their new capabilities, they have

been able to quickly and effectively address customer s questions and concerns and improve customer satisfaction during outages due to

reduced wait times.

Investment Protection:


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Internal Communications in a Call Center

Customer Profile

LaSer UK is a leading provider of innovative credit and customer programs, operatingcredit facilities for nationally recognized UK business partners in the retail, leisure andaffinity markets.

Internal Communications Situation

LaSer UK has a high percentage of call center staff who operate without email. Alternativesto email needed to be found to communicate effectively with call center staff.

Call Center Communications Channels:

Screensaver Messages

Pop up Staff Surveys Desktop News Feeds

Desktop Alert Messages

Featuring:

Message targeting

Message recurrence

Easy to use templates

Message click -through

Content scheduling Content expiry The SnapComms call center communications channelshelp us ensure cut through forimportant messages, aswell as provide compelling ways to communicate other types oinformation.


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LaSer UKs Internal Communications Objectives: Alternatives toemail for call center staff.

A significant percentage of LaSer UK s staff are based in call centers and do not haveaccess to email. Prior to the use of the SnapComms communications channels, internal

communications consisted of supervisors dropping photocopied information ontoemployee s desks and using team meetings for information updates. Internalcommunications were paper based, time consuming and resource heavy. Effectivealternatives to email and paper based internal communications were required.

Fast message cut through for urgent messages.

There were no effective and fast call center communications channels for urgentmessages such as system outage notifications, business announcements and fraudalerts.

Communications channels to raise awareness without interruption.LaSer UK were looking for channels to communicate less urgent messages to callcenter staff in ways that didn t interrupt them whilst they were on calls.

Targeted internal communications.

LaSer UK employ a range of staff types in different locations (Belfast, Solihull andremote workers). It was important to be able to target internal communications to

particular staff groupings.

Increased leadership communications .

The internal communications team wanted to find new and effective channels forleadership communication.

Increased employee feedback channels.

Other than a 2 year staff survey and a paper based feedback scheme LaSer UK hadlimited channels for employee feedback. LaSer UKwanted to implement a stafffeedback system that provided quick snap shots of the business and gaveemployeesthe means to provide more regular feedback


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Interactive Screensaver MessagesLaSer UK is able to use screensaver messages to raise employee awareness ofimportant initiatives and campaigns in a way that is not intrusive but is noticed whenstaff are in downtime . Screensaver messaging examples include:

Promoting organizational values

Delivering reminders, e.g. wash hands to avoid spreading Swine flu

Promoting campaigns and events, e.g. Fitness Focus and National CustomerService Week

Screensaver messages for call center communication

Pop Up Staff Survey Tool

The Staff Survey tool provides the means for LaSer UK to measure employeeengagement, gather quick snap shots of specific areas of the business and to gather

more regular feedback from staff.

LaSer UK has been able to involve employees by asking for their views and preferences across a range of business areas and the effectiveness of internal eventscan be measured via staff feedback.


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LaSer UK has also been able to implement a Straight to the Top initiative allowingstaff to provide ideas and suggest ions to the CEO. The CEO s responses are thensubsequently delivered directly to employee s computer screens.

Staff feedback scheme via the Staff Survey tool


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Vote for your favorite charity via the Staff Survey tool

Desktop Alert Messages

The Desktop Alert tool allows urgent messages to be pushed to targeted call centerstaff. Customizable recurrence options allow staff to defer reading messages aspecified number of times (or to allow it to fade away and reappear later) if they are ona call.

Desktop alert examples for call center communications include:

Important information updates

Process changes System outage and update notifications

Change communications

Financial results and business performance updates


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Compliance communicatio ns (e.g. policy communication)

Emergency communications

Desktop News Feeds

Scrolling desktop news feeds provide LaSer UK with an alternative channel forlower priority call center communications such as: Tips of the day Special staff promotions Event reminders

ConclusionsThe SnapComms call center communications channels have provided LaSer UKwith an effective alternative to email for call center employees.Message recurrence options ensure that messages are eventually read ifemployees are busy and the SnapComms call center communications system

provides full reporting of message cut through.Internal communications can be targeted to specific groups of staff depending ontheir needs and delegated administration authorities allow multiple administratorsfrom different parts of the business to deliver communications to call center staff

which helps to remove bottle necks from the internal communications process.Supervisors have been freed up from providing basic information updates to theirteams and can now focus their time on their core responsibilities as well as

providing deeper context for their teams around key internal communications.


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ConclusionThe main focus of a quality call center is to provide excellent customer care toretain clients. There are many different aspects of running a quality customerservice call center, none more important than any other... From people toequipment, there are many things to think about.

Call centers spend millions of dollars on technical and soft skills training annually.They also face challenges in recruiting and retaining high-quality call centerrepresentatives in this highly competitive field. Over the past few years, the callcenter industry has grown dramatically. For many consumer-oriented businesses, it hasbecome one of the primary channels for customer service activities. As a result, callcenter managers are always looking for new ways to increase rep effectiveness in orderto meet customer satisfaction performance targets, while keeping reps satisfied in their

job.

Ask managers of inbound call centers what their key success measure is, and most willsay customer satisfaction. In fact, customer satisfaction plays a vital role, not just inkeeping customers but also in attracting new customers through positive word-of-mouthreferrals. For call centers, keeping customers satisfied means not only fielding orders,billing inquiries, and new account applications but also resolving issues and complaintsquickly and efficiently. Nearly three-quarters of customers say they will return ifcomplaints are resolved quickly, according to a study by Stone (1999)


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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Documents

role of call centers in effective customer service