Top 3 Call Center Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Every organization is bound to make mistakes at one point or another. The key is to understand what isn’t working and put practices into place that mitigate the risk of ongoing errors.

Service organizations that run call centers or large customer service teams need to keep an even closer eye on this. A mistake that is customer facing can spell disaster to these sorts of companies.

Here are the top three call center mistakes and how they can be avoided.

1) Poor Agent Training

Agent mistakes are inevitable. Human error is bound to come into play at one point or another. Luckily with the right training practices in place these mistakes can be avoided as much as possible. There’s no doubt that mistakes will still occur even if agents have been properly trained. In these cases, CSRs need to understand some damage control techniques:

• Show you care
• Apologize
• Admit to mistakes
• Let the customer talk
• Don’t react to negative comments
• Focus on fixing the problem

2) Not Realizing the Right KPI’s

The average customer service call center tracks more than 25 metrics. However, a common mistake that call center managers and executives make is not keeping a keen eye on the metrics that matter most. This is the classic example of quantity over quality, and the end result is the inability to improve performance. According to ICMI, to achieve the highest possible quality at the lowest possible price, call centers should focus on these five metrics:

• Cost per Call
• Customer Satisfaction
• First Contact Resolution Rate
• Agent Utilization
• Aggregate Call Center Performance (Balanced Score Card which includes the above four along with ASA and Abandonment Rate)

3) The Cost of Trying to Save Money

It’s not uncommon for organizations to take shortcuts in technology just to save a few bucks. However, these “saving” measures typically end up costing companies more money. The right technology increases productivity and improves the customer experience. According to Forrester, contact centers must bear in mind the risks of not adopting new technology.