How to make every call count
If calls are handled courteously and efficiently, the company and customers benefit.
But customers are becoming increasingly angry at experiencing understaffed call centres, with agents who have no or little authority to handle customer-problem resolution.
This week’s management challenge focuses on call-centre efficiency and pits teams from Wits Business School and the University of Cape Town Graduate School Of Business against each other.
The challenge set by mobile operator Cell C is: How can Cell C improve service quality in its call- centre environment?
Wits started by examining soft issues, like why customers phone call centres. They reckoned that identifying and addressing such problems up front was vital in reducing incoming calls, and increasing outgoing, marketing-related calls to improve Cell C’s image.
UCT focused on staff motivation, retention and company values.
They studied a Cell C call centre and its leadership style to observe the environment in which agents operated, and to check how accessible the management was.
A Cell C executive informed both teams that the call centres’ automated interactive voice response (IVR) machines couldn’t cope with the volume of calls. About 50% of
the calls were about balance inquiries.
Wits proposed increasing the use of technology to relieve pressure on call centre agents. They said Cell C should invest in more technology because IVR could save the 10-20 seconds it took to identify, verify and authenticate a caller.
They said use of IVR simplified easier customer queries, while complex ones could be routed to a real person. This could reduce incoming calls by 20%.
Wits wanted Cell C to equip agents with the skills and tools to sort out customers’ issues, and sell them what they wanted. They said empowering agents to issue refunds on dropped calls on the spot would save on administration costs. This could transform Cell C call centres into revenue-generating arms instead of problem centres.
UCT said agents were not empowered to help customers and blamed it on the human resources division. They discovered that the IT system was too slow and staff satisfaction was plummeting, resulting in bad customer service.
They recommended that Cell C brand its call centres to make them more colourful. They also wanted to see entertainment places in the centres.
UCT said empowering, recognising and rewarding agents would help motivate them to satisfy customers’ needs. They said agents should be allowed to follow up on customers’ queries to their resolutions. This would motivate them to seek the right information at the right time to provide excellent service on every call.
It would also make them feel part of the Cell C community — as would an increased management presence at call centres.
It’s a case of “people versus machines” and the onerous task is now on Cell C management to choose which method they feel would best address shortcomings in their call centres.
Is it UCT’s method of introducing entertainment areas and colour in the centres or Wits’ technology approach that could prove vital in improving Cell C’s customer delight and satisfaction?
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