How to increase the bottom line in Call Centres

By Nicole Martin - Our South African Partner


Imagine a Call Centre with ….

·         energised and motivated agents

·         satisfied and loyal customers

Resulting in…

·         reduced call handling time

·         reduced customer churn

·         increased sales and revenues

Call Centres have invested millions in their systems and processes with the hope of optimising performance of Call Centre agents. While this is critical, it is to no avail if they do not focus on the actual users of these systems, the agents. Research suggests that the competitive edge lies in the untapped emotional capability of agents.

Before the emotional capability can be developed, leading to quality customer service, there is an underlying factor that needs to be nurtured, and this is Attitude or Motivation. “Do I or don’t I want to turn it on today and in this very call?” Studies have found that a key predictor of agent success is Team Cohesion and Recognition.

Do the agents feel that they belong to a team?

Do the agents feel important to their organisation?

Are they recognised fairly for their performance and efforts?

If the answer to these questions is YES, then you can turn your attention to the emotional capability of agents.

So what does Emotional Capability mean in this context?  It means the ability to understand themselves, understand their customers, and then be able to build rapport effectively, changing their behaviour to meet their customers personality and need in that moment, on that call.

An organisation such as Lumina Learning develops this emotional capability in a dynamic way by using colour-based models, tools and assessments. Lumina has a simple 3 step process:

1   Understanding self –   The Lumina Spark Portrait identifies the agent’s personal communication style, strengths and weaknesses.

2.      Understanding the customer – Teaches the agent how to speed read and identify customer’s personality and unique communication needs in that moment.

3.      Building rapport – Teaches the agent how to communicate in the most effective way for that customer so that they can get the desired result and create customer satisfaction.

So what’s the ROI? Many! An agent, who successfully applies this skill, leads to decreased call time, increased customer satisfaction and increased revenues. In an inbound Call Centre they make the customer happier by resolving their query in a way that works best for the customer. The customer is loyal and continues to do business with the organisation. In an outbound Call Centre, sales and upselling increase as they respond to the customers’ sensitivity, mood and personality.

There is the additional benefit of increased agent satisfaction. Their job is now more fun, the calls are less ‘charged’ and they are benefiting emotionally and financially from better results! This of course leads to a decrease in Agent churn, which is an important and another cost saving spinoff.

So can Call Centre’s really afford not to motivate and develop their precious Agents?