There are lots of factors that affect the performance of a call center in different ways. Productivity of agents is only one of them, but it is still extremely critical when it comes to assessment of the functioning of this organization in general. However, a lot of call center managers keep wondering how they can evaluate their agents better. This is where KPIs or key performance indicators prove to be really useful. They are considered the most powerful and effective measures of quality and productivity. Unfortunately, lots of businesses fail to set them up properly, which leads to inadequate evaluation of the overall call center performance and extra financial expenditures. Though it takes time to learn the role of these metrics and the procedure of their effective implementation, it still makes sense to consider this issue if you wish to assess the work of your agents properly.
Tasks of a call center
So, what call center metrics are worth to be introduced? Which of them will suit your business needs in the best way? The first KPI we will discuss further is average handle time (duration). The importance of this metric should not be underestimated, because your company will certainly benefit from finding out how to handle inbound calls both quickly and efficiently. In this respect, your agents should be aware of how to come up to customers’ expectations and make them pleased with the quality of services they get.
Importance of having an efficient call center
Another KPI worth focusing on is referred to as personnel shrinkage. It implies the overall amount of time an agent is on the clock not being able to handle incoming calls. The truth is that all employees, irrespective of their age and experience, should be provided with adequate training in case of necessity in order to become more knowledgeable and productive. This will result in the increase of employee engagement and personnel satisfaction. Reduction of turnover rates will be observed as well.
Finally, there is one more metric we should mention when it comes to evaluation of agents. After call work (wrap time) is what we are talking about. The importance of this KPI is explained by the fact that call center managers should teach their employees to switch from one incoming call to another in order to handle them quickly and properly. Unfortunately, some businesses are so focused on the enhancement of the number of handled calls that they are just unable to understand that each employee needs at least one minute of rest between the calls to be able to solve the customers’ problems effectively.
If you intend to enhance your call center performance, then why don’t you start with metrics mentioned above? They may be helpful to you if you know how to implement them correctly.