A Quality Call Center Begins with Quality People

A Quality Call Center begins with Quality People

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

Call centers may have the same type of structure, but by no means are they run the same way.

Some low quality call centers may focus more on simply getting the calls answered, leaving little focus on good customer service (ugh!), while others spend hundreds of hours training their agents to provide the highest quality customer service available.

Starting with the top, and working our way down I will show you the important roles the different call center people plays.

So who are these folks?

It all begins with the operations manager, sometimes also known as a call center manager. They are responsible for all departments within the call center, as well as relations with all outside contacts such as maintenance, vending, payroll, human resources, or any other company the call center works with.
The shift supervisor is the person that communicates between the operations manager and the team managers, ensuring everyone is on the same page. They will produce reports that are needed and make sure all team managers report directly to them in regards to problems with things such as attendance, call times, and customer satisfaction rates.
Team managers spend their time on the call floor, coaching the customer service agents in a positive manner when it comes to attendance, quality, policy adherence, and following procedure. Customer service agents would report directly to the team manager in all aspects of their work including calling them when they will miss a day, or coming to them when they have an issue they cannot correct or handle on their own. This position is one that you will have to stand out as a positive role model, knowing that what is said and done by a team manager is what sets the tone for everyone else.
Training is an important aspect of running a quality call center, as customer service agents will not appropriately represent a company without it. Within a training department, there is usually a training manager that oversees trainers on a daily basis and reports daily achievements and problems to the operations manager.
Quality assurance is monitored within a call center, to ensure customers are receiving the best possible experience when calling in. Quality teams will consist of a manager within the department who reports to the shift supervisor, and a team of agents who listen to customer calls and score them on a number of things.
Without an IT team, the call center simply cannot run. They are the ones to keep the equipment including phones and computers running smoothly so calls can be answered in a timely fashion. The IT department will usually report to the operations manager, but all departments will report to the IT team with problems that need to be addressed.
Last but certainly not least is the bread and butter of the call center. A customer service agent is what makes a company. Without them, there is nothing to operate, as they are the ones whom are relied on to represent the company and take care of any customer contacting the company. There is a lot of responsibility for an agent to deal with on a daily basis as far as keeping within policy and procedure guidelines while sometimes dealing with irate customers and still keeping a smile on their face.

In all honesty, of all different aspects of a call center, customer service agents are known to have the highest turnover for many different reasons. To lessen the turnover in a company all departments must operate effectively with each other to provide the agent with essential needs such as support and ongoing training.

Without it, the agent simply cannot deliver great service to the customer!

The quality of our work
depends on the quality of our people.
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