Top ten tips for implementing a call center quality monitoring solution

Top ten tips to conducting a successful quality monitoring implementation in a customer service call center:

1) Write a clear outline of the reasons behind bringing a call recording system into your call center’s work flow:
o Benefits to agents
o Benefits to customers
o Benefits to company

2) Introduce the concept of quality monitoring well in advance and initiate tasks to empower agents to participate in the process
o The purpose of call quality monitoring is NOT to catch employees slacking off, but to help improve customer service and meet overall performance metrics.
o Employees can help define the quality assurance metrics and play a significant role in continuous performance improvement

3) Reiterate company customer service goals
o Customers are the ones who actually pay salaries and wages
o It is often much easier to retain customers than get new ones
o Treat all co-workers as customers and good habits will form

4) Create a “team” atmosphere for your agents
o Set up a team recognition and rewards program
o Highlight stellar service examples via internal emails and newsletter articles/photos
o Sub-teams should be formed to make task management easier

5) Make sure the Telephony and IT sub-teams know their roles and responsibilities in carrying out their end of the plan
o All part of the same larger team along with the agents, managers and supervisors
o Create detailed project plans for each sub-team

6) Educate your call center agents on their sub-team’s specific quality improvement goals
o Increase upsells
o Increase saves
o Increase new sales
o Call time to resolution
o Caller time on hold
o Ask them for other ideas

7) Include agents in coming up with evaluation criteria and forms
o once the metrics are defined, your agents can help you define evaluation criteria, in essence, creating the forms

8) Appoint a few agents to a “system review sub-team” to represent agent feedback on what could be improved with the quality monitoring program.
o System improvements wish list
o Team goal review
o Evaluation criteria review

9) Throw a great kick off party
o Announce weekly performance goals and prizes
o At the party, allow your agents to evaluate supervisors’ calls

10) Schedule a benchmarking session with another call center that has been quality monitoring for over a year and seen improvements
o Exchange discoveries, stats, tips