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How to Use Call Center Performance Metrics

Productivity, no matter what business you may be in, is certainly a key to your success. Typically, productivity and profit go hand in hand. The greater the productivity, the greater the profit. Businesses, have some sort of system or schematic in place to measure productivity. Call centers are no different. There are several metrics and processes that can be used to measure productivity.

Average Handle Time

Probably one of the most important call center metrics, average handle time, or AHT, begins from the customer’s initiation of the call and includes the time spent talking with the customer, any time the customer is placed on hold, and the tasks that follow completing the call transaction. Average handle time is also one of the prime factors when considering the staffing and scheduling process for the call center.

Over time, a look at average handle time gives you the opportunity to identify your strongest agents. Obviously, from a productivity point of view, the shortest call time is desirable. Just be careful that Quality of Service and thereby Customer Satisfaction are not being placed in jeopardy by agents in a hurry. Can you identify what makes these agents have the shortest average handle time? Are there different tools or tricks these agents are using to allow them to have a shorter average handle time? Are they using better processes that allow them to streamline tasks better? Have these agents had a different level of training or have they been with the company longer than the average agent? Are these agents just skipping certain processes to save time? These are all valid and important questions to ask.

There are so many factors that could be effecting an agent’s average handle time. The sooner you can identify why an agent may be delivering an average handle time slower than the centers average handle time, the sooner you can take the necessary steps to raise your call center’s productivity.

Calls per Hour Calculations

Typically, the calls per hour calculation divides 60 by the agent’s average handle time. However, there are several factors, which are usually beyond the agent’s control that will effect their calls per hour calculation, including the call arrival rate, the types of calls, the knowledge of the callers, the communication ability of the callers, the accuracy of the forecast and schedule, adherence to schedule (especially the others in the group,) and absenteeism.

While the calls per hour calculation may seem like one of the most important metrics in the call center that effects productivity, if it is overemphasized, the quality of the calls can suffer. The agents will be focused on the number of calls they take during a shift, rather than meeting the needs of the customer who calls. Shortcuts may be taken to resolve problems, details may be missed, or processes may be skipped altogether to allow the agent to process the call as quickly as possible, in order to move on to the next.

Smaller call center groups will be less efficient than larger groups, as more agents on staff will allow for a quicker answering time and for more calls to be answered.

Adherence to Schedule

Adherence to schedule is a call center metric that measures the amount of time an agent is logged in, handling calls, or at least being available to handle calls. Like most call center metrics, several factors can affect adherence to schedule, including agents showing up late, absenteeism, taking excessively long breaks, or even clocking out early.

Similar to a domino effect, everything that happens in a call center affects the next in line. If several agents show up late or are absent, it can cause an increased risk for dips in service levels and service times. Hold times per customer will increase, which can cause a decrease in customer satisfaction levels.

The International Customer Management Institute (ICMI) has a few suggestions to optimize adherence to schedule that will not seem intrusive to your agents, including:

  • Training each agent on just how much their actions and behaviors have an impact on the productivity of the call center.
  • Establishing solid customer service levels and response times that all agents understand and accept.
  • Track and managing schedule adherence at the supervisory level and reviewing with the agent, as conditions dictate.

Call Quality

Call quality measures customer satisfaction with the support and interaction with the agents received during their call. Significant time should be invested in defining the components of a successful call. Then, all reviewers should be trained to a set of “standard calls” or “representative calls” and common criteria so that grading across the organization is comparable.

  • According to the ICMI, call quality review criteria should include:
  • Appropriate call greetings or use of the proper call scripts, if provided.
  • Courtesy and professionalism
  • Accurate data entry and call coding
  • Proper grammar and spelling in any text communication, including email and chat
  • Providing customers with accurate information and first call resolution

Typically, a call quality measure involves recording a call as completed by the agent. The agent’s supervisor then plays back the recording for the agent, and both go over what was completed successfully and what could stand for improvement.

But…Remember!!!

Whether you are using the average handle time, calls per hour, adherence to schedule, or call quality, or a combination of all of these to determine the productivity of your call center, it all seems to point to knowing your agents, their behaviors, and their work ethic. A successful, highly productive call center trains their agents to know and understand how their own personal actions and behaviors affect the productivity of the call center as a whole.

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