Devoted to the call center industry, the agents on the phones, and their managers

There are so many service delivery centers (mostly outsourced) that forget the core business.  Due to the demand of our clients to hire agents for their program, management forgets the internal organization and focuses on being a “cost center".

It is critically important for us to see within, to maintain stability when providing excellent service to our clients and their customers calling into our center.  I’ve seen organizations eventually fail and attrition numbers were through the roof, because they looked at numbers and not the people.  Rabid aka ksolaris spoke about this in his blog, “In a call center, you were just another among thousands. You were employee number ph010238. You were the girl in glasses in so and so team."

Being customer focused means that you take into consideration the needs and wants of your customer.  In a call center, these are the agents.  They are your internal customers.

I call out to Human Resources. Provide constant development for your employees.  The call center is not just answering phone calls or answering emails.  Don’t just teach them how to provide customer service to the people they talk on the phone, but give them the skills they need for future growth.  Work with the training team all the time.

I call out to Support Groups.  Don’t live in your own world but reach out and “support”.  Even if it’s as small as providing paper, ink in a printer or even their payroll being paid monthly, just do it efficiently.

Let’s go back to the basics and remember a center should have the same standards with what you expect your agents to do.