Customer Service Manager - forum

Pivotal CRM

Facts & Figures

In The Spotlight

Resource Directory

Forums Sign Up Reply Search Statistics F.A.Q.

CSM Community / Customer Service Forum / Quality vs Quantity in Customer Service - How do you strike a balance?

Author	Message
johnny458 Member	# Posted: 30 Jan 2010 14:27 Reply A good part of my responsibility requires me to suggest to the management ways to improve productivity and efficiency of the customer service team by providing them with knowledge about process and products. Because of this requirement, I spend a lot of time with the Customer Service Team in order to understand what they need so that, by providing them with the adequate support tools, like an efficient knowledge base, the team can perform better. However, as I began getting more and more involved with the team, I began to realize that there was a total lack of efficiency because they were not following even the basic rules of customer service. One of the reasons for this is due to the heavy workload the agents were facing and also because over half of them were new to the job. And they lack proper training. The other problem is that their Team Lead is not too concerned about the Quality. Instead, he just wants to meet the "Numbers" by any means. His take on this whole thing is that "Numbers are more important than Quality". There was another colleague who compared this situation to that of a group of people running in front of a huge boulder - if they slowed down, the boulder would go over them. The "boulder" in this case, was the number of calls and the group of people was the Customer Service Team! So he too, wasn't too bothered about the quality. He just wanted them to keep running! However they know it as well as I do that, by not focusing on quality and trying to do things by not following clearly laid out procedures, is only getting the team deeper and deeper into trouble. In other words, how long can you keep running in front of the boulder? You are going to run out of breath sooner than later! My point of view was and still is very simple - I strongly believe that if we take care of Quality and follow existing Procedures, the Numbers will take care of themselves. Any thoughts? What's the best way to strike a balance between quality and quantity? Which is more important?
RyanS Member	# Posted: 1 Feb 2010 16:28 Reply When it comes to customer service, quality always ranks #1 over quantity. There is nothing wrong with making a department or process more efficient but when that efficiency comes at the cost of a decline in customer satisfaction or experience you are losing far more in the long run (think life time value of a customer) in order to achieve short term gains. Since the Team Lead is so focused on the "numbers" I would make quality a part of their numbers. There are a lot of metics in customer service that can be analyzed to make a good "quality" scorecard. If your team already feels like a boulder is chasing after them, putting a "quality" cloud over them on top of it will most likely cause the boulder to crush them. I dont have any idea what type of cust srvc reps you have or their experience and education level but you may consider giving them some personal development training as well as customer service and product training. Hold some courses on prioritizing, goal setting, organization. Also maybe some of your other "quantity" goals need to be adjusted to make room for some of your "quality" goals, this will help eliminate some of the initial burden on your staff members. In order to achieve the desired quality level you must have good systems in place. All the smiles in the world dont mean anything if there isn't good systems to back it up and deliver. All of these systems should be customer focused versus company focused. Ask your self about every system, does this provide the best experience for the customer, solving the question or problem in the fastest manner? If not, better change it,---quick! From what it sounds like you have a good start on this already. Also one of the best ways to improve front line operations is to simply ask the people that work there everyday. I can guarantee you each one of your csr's can give you atleast one tip on how to improve something whether that would be in your customer experience or departmental efficiency. A lot of frontline employees never bother to say anything because they dont feel like they will be taken seriously or they will be viewed as "complainers " so it is essential to have open communication. Hope this helps.
richardnugent Member	# Posted: 14 Apr 2010 06:47 Reply Out of the clients I have worked with, Lego's service centre seem to have this most right. One of the keys seems to be the simple calls per hour measure. If a Call Centre is serious about quality this figure should be a reflection of how many calls an hour an agent can do while giving great quality. Too many times CPH is decided by how many calls are 'in the queue'. Remember agents are there to 'love the one they are with' not manage call queues.

Copyright Customer Service Manager (CSM) 2005-2009.