Essential Strategies For A High-Performance Call Center

For 99% of companies, telephone support is one of the most important aspects of customer relations. The more your business grows, the more calls you'll have to handle, both incoming and outgoing.

It is from a certain critical size that you will need to equip yourself with a call center. In theory, the function of a call center is simple: it is to redirect incoming calls to the right person as quickly as possible. In practice, the optimal management of a call center is a complex task, learn more here.

A call center manager must be able to ensure that their employees taking customer calls are efficient while training newcomers as they are recruited. Training is the heart of call center performance, hence the importance of having efficient and flexible processes to adapt to team turnover.

In this article, we will look at the features of your call center that will help you maximize performance and improve both customer satisfaction and the working conditions of your agents.

Have Well-Trained Employees

The golden rule for success in managing your call center is to have agents who handle calls efficiently, on time, and with a positive attitude on the phone. For this, it is necessary that selective recruitment has motivated and qualified profiles, but above all, it is necessary to train them well and provide them with the appropriate tools.

At Aircall we have created call center functionalities dedicated to the continuous training of agents to put them in the best learning conditions. The goal: to be operational very quickly and to constantly improve their skills. You can find:

• Call recording: To improve the quality of speech for newcomers, nothing better than making them listen to the calls of the best agents and leading them by example. This way they can identify the important elements of a good telephone exchange.
• Double recording: On the first calls, it is essential to listen to the conversations of a new agent to see how they are doing and guide them.
• The "whisper" function: During a call, the agent can be advised without the person on the other end of the line hearing. Very practical to guide new recruits in real-time.

2. Personalization

By personalizing phone reception and call handling in your call center, you build your customers' trust, reinforce their loyalty and increase the chances that they will recommend you in the future.

Your greeting and music on hold should also reflect your company's identity and reflect a positive image to the caller.

The challenge of customization lies in the ability to structure call center software in such a way that customer queries and problems are handled individually. This means, for example, sending a customer's call to the same agent that they have had on the phone in the past. Talking to a familiar person reassures the customer and gives him the feeling that he is well cared for. Lastly, customer file feedback in the agent interface allows you to access trade history and customer context to give you personalized responses.

3. Allow departments to collaborate with each other

Our collaborative work tools save you time and ensure that all departments share the same customer information.

For example, a customizable call tagging system allows you to categorize the calls made, (solved, to call back, computer problem, to be reimbursed...). By adopting a collaborative organization, you save a lot of time in resolving customer issues. An agent in communication will no longer have to put the client on hold to go to another department to request information.

With Aircall, it's also possible to sync incoming calls to your CRM or any business tool so information pops up nicely on the agent's screen during every call, regardless of service. This prevents the customer from having to re-enter each time they are put in touch with another department, be it sales, technical service, or customer service.

4. Advanced statistics:

It is essential that you can analyze the performance indicators of your call center to support your growth. Track the number of calls per agent per day, average wait time for a call, etc., to pinpoint pain points and areas for improvement. You can also include and analyze the satisfaction questionnaires administered at the end of each call.

5. Have a convenient and flexible solution

Call center software must be flexible in the sense that it can be accessed from anywhere. This is now possible with cloud solutions. As an administrator, you can track your stats, change your tool settings, and collaborate with your teams from your computer or smartphone, whether you're at home, in the office, or on the road.

Similarly, a cloud phone system like Aircall supports remote work initiatives by allowing your agents to access their phone tool from anywhere without interrupting business or call quality. They can receive calls, make calls, put them on hold, and transfer them whenever they want from wherever they want.

If you are looking for a telephony solution for your contact center and want to implement the strategies mentioned in this article, you can try the solution for free for 7 days with no obligation. Request a demo today with a manager.