WORK EFFECTIVELY IN A CONTACT

CENTRE ENVIRONMENT

Presenter: Josset Headley, B.Sc., P.G. Dip. Ed.

 What is a Call/Contact Centre?

 A contact centre or call centre is a facility,

which provides an important link between a
company and its customers. This link is
maintained via telephone calls, e-mail, web-
based contacts and other types of
interactions.
Industries that Use Call Centres
 Telecommunications companies
• Computer software and hardware
• Banking sector
• Retailers and suppliers
• Government organizations
• Travel Industry

 It may be within the organization or contracted to

another Independent Call/Contact Centre.
ACTIVITY
 Identify some companies here that operates their
own call/contact centres.
SERVICES OFFERED IN CALL/CONTACT
CENTRES
 Sales and marketing – catalogue sales, order processing
• Service provision – credit card authorization, query
handling
• Customer support – service support helpdesk for
travel, insurance etc
• Information services – market research, data collection
and analysis
 INBOUND VS OUTBOUND
INBOUND CALLS OUTBOUND CALLS

This refers to calls that This refers to calls that

are made by the are made by the contact
customer to the contact agent to the customer
centre.
 TYPES OF CALL/CONTACT CENTRES

INDEPENDENT ORGANIZATION
Hires contact agents not associated Hires contact agents based on the
with a particular company organization’s guidelines

Creates partnerships/contract Offers ‘in-house’ customer service

agreements with different companies support only for its own products and
to sell, market or offer customer customers
service support for their products

Is physically located away from the Is most times physically located within
company they work for (offshore) the organization’s building, or within
close range
 PROVIDE QUALITY SERVICE
 Handle incoming calls promptly and
courteously
 Use a computer system to enter, store and
retrieve information
 Take steps to handle the callers’ needs

You will also need to:

• Contribute to promoting a positive image of
your company
• Contribute to a safe working environment
Remember: Customers’ impression of the product and/or company
is acquired when they speak to you over the telephone! Always be
courteous and professional when handling customers!
YOU WILL NEED TO...
 Make outgoing calls to potential customers to
generate sales

 Promote the features and benefits of your

company’s products and services

 Gain the customer’s commitment to complete

the sale
 FEATURES VS BENEFITS
FEATURES BENEFITS

These are the These are the ways in

physical description which the product
or characteristics of may be helpful (what
the product (what it it can do for the
is made of). customer)
KEY DEFINITION

 Infrastructure - refers to the basic structure of an

organization or system. It refers to the facilities,
services and equipment in the company
CONTACT CENTRE INFRASTRUCTURE
Contact centre infrastructure may include:

• Staff facilities
• Computer networks and software systems
• Lines in/out
• Local exchanges
• Automatic call distribution system
• Interactive voice recognition system
• Operator facilities
• Internet services
COMPUTER NETWORKS

 The computer networks and software systems are

essential to your task of entering, storing and retrieving
information.

 These systems are critical to most if not all of your

personal operations whether they are related to making
calls and processing information for sales, service
provision or customer support.
TELEPHONE SYSTEMS

 The various features of the telephone system also

allow you to carry out your tasks efficiently.
Making outbound calls is made easier by the use
of systems such as Automatic Diallers and
Automatic Number Identification (ANI).
CALL HANDLING TERMS

 Automatic Call Distributor (ACD)

• Interactive Voice Response (IVR)
• Interactive Web Response (IWR)
• Automatic Number Identification (ANI)
• Automatic Dialler
WHAT IS AN ACD?

 An Automatic Call Distributor (ACD) is a

telephony system that answers incoming calls and
routes them to a specific agent or department
within a company.
WHAT IS IVR?

 Interactive Voice Response (IVR) is an automated

telephony system that interacts with callers, gathers
information and routes calls to the appropriate recipient.
WHAT IS IWR?

 (IWR) systems are technologies that allow a

computer to detect voice and/or keypad inputs
or gather data through a web-based system.
WHAT IS ANI?

 Automatic number identification (ANI) is a

feature of a telecommunications network
for automatically determining the origination
telephone number on toll calls for billing
purposes.
WHAT IS AUTOMATIC DIALLER

 An automatic dialler (auto-dialler, auto-dialler, auto-

dialler) is an electronic device or software
that automatically dials telephone numbers. ... When an
auto-dialler connects an answered call to a live agent, it is
often called a predictive dialler or power dialler.
MANAGE PERSONAL OPERATIONS
 Your workstation should have...

 Desk and chair

 Telephone headset

 Computer terminal, monitor, keyboard, mouse

 Electronic manuals and other reference material

HOW TO ARRANGE YOUR DESK
 Your keyboard and monitor should be directly in front of
you with your mouse within easy reach.

 The height of your chair should be adjusted so that the

keyboard and mouse are at, or below elbow height.

 Place the materials on your desk according to how often

they are used, making sure that the ones used most often
are closer to you
QUANTITATIVE MONITORING
 Quantitative monitoring - This refers to the collection of
quantitative data by the computer system. It includes
statistics on:

• The average duration of a call

• The average time spent wrapping up a call
• The amount of time that agents are logged off
Quantitative - Referring to quantities or numbers.
QUALITATIVE MONITORING
 Qualitative monitoring - This refers to the
supervisor or team leader listening in on the call.
This type of monitoring is done to ensure that
agents are handling calls in accordance with
company standards and procedures.

 Qualitative - Referring to quality or level of excellence.

TERMS
 Performance monitoring - Evaluating an
employee’s current or past performance, relative
to performance standards.

Productivity - Making the best use of
organisation’s resources.
CALL CENTRE KPI’S
 Call rates
 Call turnover
 Sales targets
 Customer survey results

 In order to manage your performance effectively,

you should be clear about what the organisation
expects from you and the standards at which you
are required to work.
KEY QUANTITATIVE TERMS
 Average Handling Time (AHT)
• Average speed of answer (ASA)
• Average Talk Time (ATT)
WHAT IS AHT?
 Average handle time (AHT) is a call center
metric for the average duration of one
transaction, typically measured from the
customer's initiation of the call and including any
hold time, talk time and related tasks that follow
the transaction. Usually 4 minutes
WHAT IS ASA?
 The Average Speed of Answer is
the average amount of time it takes for calls to
be answered in a call center during a specific
time period.
WHAT IS ATT?
 The Average Talk Time is the average length of
time an Agent takes to interact with the
customer.
HOW TO IMPROVE PERFORMANCE
You will need to determine the following:
 The performance targets that your company has set for you
 How the company monitors your performance
 Whether the feedback indicates that you are meeting your
targets
 How to improve your performance
 Whether your company provides any support for self-
improvement
PERSONAL REVIEW
Be honest in doing the following:
 Identify those tasks you perform well
 Identify those tasks you do not perform well and what you
think is responsible for this
 Say whether you think additional practice or training would
help you to improve
PERSONAL ACTION PLAN
 Your self development/personal action plan
covers four major areas:
 Your development needs based on your own self-
assessment
 Comments made by your supervisor/team
leader/trainer
 Agreements reached regarding future development
needs
 Self-assessment and review with your supervisor/team
leader/trainer at a set date
DOCUMENT ROLES & FUNCTIONS

 Job Description: A list of jobs, duties, responsibilities,

working conditions, reporting relationships and supervisory
responsibilities.

 Career Objective: What you hope to achieve or accomplish

in your career.
FUNCTIONS OF CALL CENTRE AGENTS
 Handling incoming calls promptly and courteously
 Taking steps to handle the callers needs
 Using a computer system to enter, store and retrieve
information
 Contributing to promoting a positive image of your
company
 Contributing to a safe working environment
CHARACTERISTICS OF CAREER
OBJECTIVE
 It should be personal – your objective should state your goals in
terms with which you are comfortable

 It is a commitment – stating an objective is a way of identifying who

you are and what you want to achieve
 It should be realistic – you should be able to achieve the goal in the
given time frame
 It is specific – it clearly identifies some facts about a work situation

 It is action-oriented – you are able to identify the next steps to take

or resources to seek in order to take control of your professional life
CAREER OBJECTIVE SHOULD
INCLUDE…
 Career field – the general area of work e.g. health, education or
business

 Organizational category – the setting in which you want to work,

whether it handles goods or services e.g. the telecommunications
industry

 Position title – this is also known as a job title and refers to the
specific position one holds e.g. ‘to obtain a position as a contact centre
agent’

 Skills – This describes your ability to perform various functions or

tasks. These can be developed through academic, work or recreational
activities. Skills that you can use in your work include interpersonal,
communications, technical or administrative.
FORMULATING CAREER OBJECTIVE
 One step in formulating career objectives is
to clearly identify your current skills and
capabilities.

 Capability - The ability or skill to do

something.
FORMULATING CAREER OBJECTIVE
 Look back at your career and identify the following:
 Educational background – including subjects
studied, examinations passed
 Training activities – including classroom courses,
on the job training
 Experience – including past and current job
positions, special accomplishments
 Personal interests – including work and
recreational interests
HOW TO IDENTIFY YOUR SKILLS
 This can be done by reviewing:

 Position descriptions – these will identify specific

duties and responsibilities as well as the required
knowledge and skills

 Performance standards – these identify specific

outcomes an employee is expected to achieve

 Competencies or required training – these identify

specific competencies to support your particular career.
CALL/CONTACT CENTRE AGENTS...
 Contact centre agents need to have
good interpersonal, communication
and clerical skills in order to carry out
their jobs effectively.
PROJECT PROFESSIONAL IMAGE
 Effective communication has both a verbal
component (what you say) and a vocal
component (how you say it). While your
knowledge of products and services is
important, your interpersonal and
communication skills are far more
important in projecting a professional
image.
HAVE A POSITIVE IMPACT
 Answer the phone promptly
 Speak in clear, enthusiastic voice

 Handle all calls courteously

 Avoid using jargons, slangs and

abbreviations
TERMINOLOGIES

 Jargon: Specialized language relating to

particular subject, profession or group.

 Slang: A word or phrase often used in an

informal setting. For example: ‘yeah’
instead of ‘yes sir’ etc.
MANAGE INTERACTION
 Listen to the customer

 Focus – give customers undivided attention

 Explore – the needs of your customer by using

questions to get the information needed for
solving their problems

 Reflect – repeat and paraphrase information for

mutual understanding
MANAGE INTERACTION

 Showing Empathy – Show that your

company understands, cares and wants to
work with the customer to solve the
problem.
 Empathy is seeing things from the
customer’s perspective or putting yourself
in the position of the customer.
GIVE POSITIVE IMPRESSION

 Before you end the call you should try to come to an

agreement with the customer about what the company
will do.You should try to include a time within which
the appropriate action will be taken.
 GIVE POSITIVE IMPRESSION
1. Establish effective relations with customers
 - Professional behaviour (what you say and how you say
it)
 - Making a good first impression on customer (prompt
response, being well prepared)
2. Respond appropriately to customers
 Be sincere
 - Use active listening skills (listen, acknowledge, and
paraphrase)
 - Know your company’s policies, standards and
procedures
 - Know uses and benefits of products and services
CHARACTERISTICS OF TEAM

 Characteristics of Teams
• There is interdependent interaction among team members
• There is a common goal, mission or objective
• There is some organizational structure
• Each team member has specific tasks or functions

 Interdependent: Relying or dependent on one another.

 Interaction: Acting in close relation with each other.
TEAM STRUCTURE

 Leader/Facilitator – this person is responsible for

motivation and the overall performance of the team.
• Worker/Producer – these persons are responsible for
getting things done efficiently
• Creator/Initiator – this person is responsible for
creating new ideas
• Recorder – this person takes notes and keeps track of
decisions taken
COOPERATE WITH TEAM-MEMBERS
 Keep team members fully informed
 • Participate in team meetings
 • Be willing to take responsibility for
elements of the team’s work
 • Share information that will lead to the
provision of better customer service
 • Listen objectively
 • Focus on building trust with team members
 • Understand and respect the differences
between team members
COMMUNICATION TOOLS

 Words like ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ should be used to show

respect
 • Criticism and correction should be done privately (or one
to one)
 • Disagreements with supervisor should be discussed
privately
 • Work schedules should be discussed with the appropriate
person rather than complaining to others.
TEAM OBJECTIVES

 Establishing effective communication

 Identifying well-defined roles for team members
 Defining rules regarding behaviour of team members
 Developing means for evaluating and improving team
performance
 Establishing methods for resolving conflict promptly
HOW CONFLICTS OCCUR
 From time to time, disagreements occur between team
members resulting in a hostile climate. This results in
members using defensive communication such as criticism
and sarcasm. Conflict may occur:
 • When expectations/objectives are not clearly stated
 • When members are not listening to each other
 • When team members have different views on commitment
levels
 • When there lack of cooperation from team members
 • When there are personality clashes
METHODS OF DEALING WITH CONFLICT

 Bargaining/Negotiation/Compromise – This strategy

involves both parties giving up something they want in order
to reach a middle ground. It is a good method to use when
both parties are willing to listen to the others’ position.

 Mediation/Third Party Intervention – This method

usually involves a third party assisting the team members in
reaching an agreement.
HELP CONTROL CONFLICT

 Describe the problem

 • Focus on the problem or task
 • Demonstrate concern for team members
 • Treat others as equals
 Resolving conflicts should be a priority in teams so that team
members can quickly refocus on doing their work efficiently.
PROVIDE FEEDBACK
 You should be able to provide feedback to team members in a
manner that will improve their performance. It is important
that good communication skills are used when providing this
feedback that can be either positive or negative.You need to
choose an appropriate time and place to give feedback that
can be either in spoken or written form.
 The different situations in which feedback may be provided
include:
 • At team meetings
 • During formal evaluations
 • During daily work activities
TIPS FOR PROVIDING FEEDBACK

 Feedback provided is clear

 • Feedback acknowledges member’s achievement
 • Feedback provides team member with constructive
suggestions and encouragement for improvement
 • Respect is shown for the individual’s need for
confidentiality
 • Team members are given opportunities to respond to
feedback
MAJOR SOURCE OF STRESS
 Work overload – This is caused by being given too much work to do
in a given time. The electronic performance monitoring in contact
centres may also contribute to the stress level.
 • Lack of control over the work – Agents have little control over
when they take calls because calls are distributed automatically. The
length of time spent on calls and what is said during calls is controlled by
targets and scripts.
 • The nature of the physical environment – The lack of control
over temperature, humidity and lighting can cause stress for agents.
 • Shift work – Shift work can be stressful especially if they are changed
at short notice.
 • Organizational change – The call-handling sector is a rapidly
changing industry resulting in restructuring, reorganizing, downsizing
and merging that can be stressful to workers.
SYMPTOMS OF STRESS
 Some symptoms of stress include:
 Tense muscles
 Headaches
 Irritability
 Lack of motivation
 Mood swings
 Absenteeism and reduced performance.
HOW TO DEAL WITH WORKLOAD
 Deal with work overload
 • Supervisors and team leaders can be more supportive
 • New agents can be given lower targets than experienced
agents
 • Agents can include breaks and allow time for interruptions
and unexpected activities
 • Agents can decide what is urgent and what can be left for a
later time
COMPANY CULTURE
 A positive company culture reduces the risk of stress
through:
• Open communication between agents and managers
• Allowing agents greater participation in decision making
• Making staff welfare a priority

 If you are experiencing high stress levels as a contact centre

agent, you should speak with your supervisor or manager. If
the stress levels are affecting your health, you should visit a
medical doctor.
STAMINA/STRESS MANAGEMENT
 Stress management strategies are designed to help you to feel
better both physically and mentally. These strategies not only
help on the job, but will result in an overall improvement in
your quality of life.

 Stamina: This refers to the energy and strength sustained

while performing an activity over a long time.
STAMINA/STRESS MANAGEMENT
 Changing your lifestyle
 This can be accomplished by:
• A change in diet (reduced consumption of fat, increased
consumption of fibre)
• Reduced consumption of caffeine and alcohol
• Regular exercise
• Avoiding smoking
• Engaging in relaxation activities (reading, sewing and other
hobbies)
STAMINA/STRESS MANAGEMENT
 Maintaining a positive attitude
 Your attitude affects how you feel and in turn the people
around you. If you have a positive approach to life, you
should be able to give better customer service and promote a
good image of your company.

 Take Action
 You can deal with stress by taking an active role in decision
making, planning and organizing your life.
MANAGEMENT INTERVENTION
 Management can contribute to reducing stress and
stamina management by:
 • Having a fair sickness policy which will allow agents to
recover fully from illnesses before returning to work
 • Providing canteen services which provide healthy meals
 • Providing on-site gymnasiums for staff to exercise before or
after work
 • Allowing agents to take assigned breaks