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Dina Vance, Senior Vice President from Ulysses Learning, takes on our reader’s question this month. She offers several observations and best practices that are commonly overlooked in contact centers across the US. According to Dina, these are among the top of those best practices that can transform your contact center into a customer experience-focused operation that gets high marks. 

NOTE: We’re looking for more of your challenges. Email your contact center-related questions to: ChallengeSolved@ulysseslearning.com

 

Q:  I’m dreading the holidays and, in truth, the whole winter season because each year, without fail, our center’s metrics slip. I’ve been in the utilities industry for 10+ years and I’m out of ideas for turning this seasonal trend around. Any thoughts?   

You’re not alone. Many contact centers, across all industries, are entering that time of the year when their team’s struggle to achieve desired contact center metrics. Some seasoned industry execs have even resigned themselves to the fact that there are times in their business cycle where there’s simply nothing they can do to keep performance from dipping. They believe it’s out of their control.

A:  Take heart…and take aim! There are specific strategies you can target and put into place today that will get your contact center back on track and keep it that way. I’ll outline four of them now and if you want to discuss additional tips or dive deeper into the ones shared, please feel free to reach out to me.

Here are a few tips for your consideration:

#1 ASSESS your bottom 10 percent.

It’s crucial to remember the classic adage: the top 10% of performers drive 80-90% of your best results, such as satisfied customers who spread the word about your company. While that’s definitely true, there’s another insight worth considering: the bottom 10% hold the potential to elevate performance during challenging times and throughout the year.

This perspective has been a game-changer for many of our clients this year, propelling them forward and leading to impressive performance gains. For instance, one client boosted their First Call Resolution (FCR) rate from 34% to 71% in just three months by focusing additional training exclusively on their bottom 10%.

When metrics start to decline, the instinct is often to provide widespread training to get things back on track. While this approach has its merits, take a moment to analyze your data on under-performers first. Specifically, examine your FCR and Voice of the Customer (VOC) metrics to pinpoint team members who are consistently struggling. By focusing on your bottom 10%, you can implement Tip #3—Elevate your bottom performers—and remember to keep Tip #2 in mind as well!

#2 DISREGARD one-offs.

To effectively identify the bottom 10% of your team for additional training, focus on those who consistently struggle to meet your contact center’s First Call Resolution (FCR) and Voice of the Customer (VOC) goals. Don’t be overly concerned about team members who make an occasional mistake on a call; everyone has off days. Instead, concentrate on those who have repeatedly underperformed over a three-month period. By identifying these individuals, you can delve deeper into their approach to key call types and uncover insights into the reasons behind their ongoing challenges. This targeted analysis will enable you to provide the necessary support for their improvement.

#3 ELEVATE the bottom 10 percent.

Once you’ve pinpointed your consistently low performers, the training you offer them is crucial. It should be tailored and personal, while maintaining a supportive approach. Here’s a proven model we’ve successfully implemented with our clients.

Start by dividing your bottom 10% into small groups of five or six team members. Over several weekly sessions, lasting 30-45 minutes each, have each group come together to review a call that didn’t meet expectations. It’s perfectly fine—and even beneficial—if the group listens to one of their own calls. This collaborative approach fosters learning and encourages open discussion without feeling confrontational.

When you take the time to deconstruct a failed call, you gain valuable insights.  Often, while the representative may be friendly and pleasant, they may not have effectively resolved the customer’s issue in a way that leaves the customer satisfied. Remember: being nice doesn’t always equate to being helpful! This distinction is key to improving performance and enhancing customer experiences.

#4 FOCUS on filling experience gaps. 

What happens to many reps who don’t achieve their FCR and/or VOC goals is that they simply do not have experience handling certain types of requests. Good news! Filling this experience gap can be effectively (and quickly) remedied.

A practice we’ve helped our clients implement over the years involves working with them to uncover the top 10 call types that require more life experience to appropriately address. We often refer to these as “hot potato” calls—a call that the rep catches, does not  know how to handle due to lack of experience, and because they don’t want the call to adversely impact their call metrics, they quickly pass  it off to someone else. 

To effectively tackle  these all-to-common occurrence, once we identify the top call  types, we work with clients to develop helpful job aids that give reps practical information and easy-to-implement steps to diagnose the customer’s real need. This is an important element, because when you look closely at a failed call, many times you uncover that the rep, while giving the customer what they asked for,  missed asking the question behind the question and therefore left a potential need unresolved.  An experienced rep knows how to give the customer what they really need (even if it’s not what they asked for) and provide an appropriate solution that directly correlates to high customer satisfaction and other targeted metrics. 

It's important to remember that  representatives typically want to do a good job and don’t wake up thinking “Today my intention is to screw something up at work.” When a rep has a failed call, it’s usually because they don’t have experience in handling that type of call and that prevents them from accessing the information needed to resolve the customer’s issue. Once you close the experience gap, performance improves quite noticeably and quickly.   

I hope that helped answer your question, and I’m happy to discuss this further with you. It’s one of our favorite topics at Ulysses Learning!

 

 

 

 

In her current capacity with Ulysses Learning, Dina is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the company and also serves as the chief client relationship executive, working with Fortune 100 clients and other progressive organizations to redefine the way customers are cared for. Under her leadership, Ulysses has been recognized for its work in transforming customer service, sales and coaching cultures through the development of emotional intelligence or “EQ,” enabling reps to confidently, consistently and expertly handle each customer interaction. The company has focused expertise in serving the healthcare, insurance, utilities, and financial services industries. 

Before joining Ulysses in 2001, Dina was responsible for the ground-level startup of two contact centers to serve bankers including Fortune 100 clients First Chicago, Harris Bank, American Express and Citibank.  This led to her role as call center lead consultant and division manager for an international learning organization prior to Ulysses. Outside of work Dina is actively involved in local volunteerism and enjoys cooking, gardening and nature walks.

Dina can be reached on LinkedIn or at dvance@ulysseslearning.com; for more details on Ulysses Learning visit www.ulysseslearning.com

Challenge Solved! Is sponsored by:

Ulysses Learning was founded in 1995 as a joint venture with Northwestern University’s world-renowned Learning Sciences department. Since then, Ulysses’ continued focus on research and development has earned it prestigious awards and recognition and, most importantly, the respect from its clients who rely on Ulysses for innovative performance improvement solutions that change with their rapidly developing and evolving environments.

Contact centers achieve profound business results ahead of schedule with Ulysses Learnings’ artful blend of patented simulation-based e-learning, facilitated exercises, coaching, and technology-driven tools, that redefine the way customers are cared for and transform customer service, sales, and coaching cultures. Ulysses has one of the only training systems proven to build EQ with its proprietary Framework with Freedom© approach, enabling reps to develop skills to empathize with others, build stronger customer bonds, and improve team dynamics with confidence, consistency, and excellence.

Ulysses Learning is a multi-year recipient of the Gold Stevie© Award for the best contact center customer service training.

Begin your contact center transformation now. Phone 800-662-4066 or visit www.ulysseslearning.com to get started.

 

Also, you can return to the October 2024 Newsletter Here!