How To Skyrocket Call Center Productivity (+ Real Scenarios)

When you work in a call center, it’s easy to get bogged down.



Calls are coming in left, right, and center. Your leadership asks you for reports on call types, headcount, and quarterly forecasts. It’s constant firefighting.



The call center grind plummets productivity, drives agent burnout, and ultimately leads to employee turnover.



Fortunately, there is a better way. It takes a little change in process, mindset, and vision. But when you get it right, it’s worth it.



Let’s find out how to take your call center productivity to new heights by adhering to  call center best practices  and making some small tweaks along the way.



But first, you should diagnose the true causes of low call center productivity. Here are six key areas to examine. 



Six Reasons Why Your Call Center Productivity Is Low



1 – Your processes are inefficient



The processes you created years ago aren’t going to work forever. The purpose they were designed to serve has changed over time and will continue to evolve.



Technology has moved on. Customer expectations have grown.



You might even offer different products. Failure to update old processes leads to slower response times and unhappy customers.



Part of both the technological changes and the increase in customer expectations is likely the number and ease of communication channels available at their fingertips. 



If you don’t meet customers’ expectations, you’re constantly fighting to live up to demand and pressure. If you have to update the notes on call logs to state a customer called but also waited on the live chat after sending an email, it’s eating up time you could spend helping customers.



The most important process — the  inbound call  — is often a major blocker here. When call routing is ineffective, it leads to increased wait times and high customer frustration.



2 – Your call routing & distribution is ineffective



When calls get sent to the wrong agent, it leads to an increased workload for the agents who can’t help the caller. Instead, they must spend time doing the call routing manually.



Rather than dealing with customers whom they can help, they do this instead:




Answer a call



Listen to the customer explain their query



Explain they’re not the right person to help



Ring around departments and agents to find someone available



Update their call notes with how they handled the call




Not only does this impact  first-call resolution , but it also eats up that agent’s time. Rather than providing value to their own customers, they’re doing activities your phone system should be.