Call Calibration

What & Why

Call Calibration sessions allow participants to listen to calls and score them against a monitoring form. The session objective is to ensure that those responsible for scoring calls (ie: Senior CSRS, Supervisors, and Managers) do so in a consistent manner.

When & Who

Anytime you introduce a new call monitoring form or make any amendments, you should hold a call calibration session to ensure everyone is scoring standards and objectives in a uniform manner. You should hold regularly scheduled monthly sessions to ensure everyone consistently interprets and scores calls. Session participants should include: Front Office Manager, Senior CSRs/Supervisors, QA Team, Training Manager, HR Representative, and an agent representative.

How

The fol­low­ing are some best prac­tices for hold­ing call cal­i­bra­tion sessions:

• Sched­ule an hour for each session.
• Review the Call Qual­ity Guide at the begin­ning of each ses­sion to be sure that every­one under­stands what makes up a suc­cess­ful call.
• Select a representative sample of calls to evaluate. These can either be random or if you specifically selected that illustrate a particular issue. 
• If you're training new QA supervisors or scoring new forms, then you should allow for a 10-point variance. After a few calibration sessions and everyone understands how to score calls, then your variance should be about 5-points.  
• You can either play the selected calls during the session or send them ahead of time to the session participants and ask them to evaluate each call and record their scores on the monitoring forms.  (Or in the QA Call Monitoring software if deployed.) 
• If you sent recorded calls, post scores flip-chart or white board so that you can see the vari­ance. If you didn’t send recorded calls, play the selected calls (or lis­ten to live calls) and ask par­tic­i­pants to score them one at a time. Dis­cuss after each call.
• Ask one per­son to sum­ma­rize the call.
• Review each Stan­dard and ask par­tic­i­pants whether the Stan­dard was met, or not met. Dis­cuss until each mem­ber under­stands why the Stan­dard was met, or not met.
• Review each Objec­tive and dis­cuss the scor­ing vari­ances and ask par­tic­i­pants to explain why they scored each call as they did.
• Do the same with the next call until you’re close to the end of the hour.
• At the end of the ses­sion, sum­ma­rize lessons learned.
• Cre­ate notes from the ses­sion and dis­trib­ute to par­tic­i­pants for future reference.

The Five Golden Rules of Exceptional Customer Service

1. Be Polite

• Always say “please” when asking the customer for something; whether it’s an email address, telephone number, or permission to put the customer on hold.
• Always say “thank you” every time the customer gives you something you’ve asked for.
• When you’re polite customers feel respected and valued, and it shows that you appreciate the time they’ve taken to speak with you.

2. Use Empathy & Understanding

• Put yourself in the customer’s shoes. Try and understand where the customer is coming from and thing about how you’d feel if you were experiencing their situation.
• Empathy is showing concern for the customer’s situation and feelings without agreeing or disagreeing with what the customer is saying.

3. Use the Customer's Name

• Calling customer’s by their own name lets them know you value them and helps make them feel more comfortable. When you personalize the interaction, customer’s feel like they’re talking to a real person, perhaps even a friend. 

4. Take Ownership of the Situation & Solution

• Customers call because they want their questions answered or their problem resolved.
• When you answer the call, you own the situation and are responsible for finding a resolution. 

5. Use Positive "Can Do" Language

• Always tell the customer what you  can do for him, rather than what you can’t do.
• Of course there will be time that it’s now in you power to grant a customer’s specific request. But rather than focus on the “negative” – tell the customer that you are committed to helping him by focusing on what you can do.

Customer Service Team Motivation

My team and department’s well-being were one of my top priorities. If my employees weren't happy than they’d most likely not deliver the expected level of customer service we set for the company. I had a very limited budget which forced me to create programs that recognized and rewarded staff but didn’t cost a lot of money. My main objective was to maintain a fun, positive, and motivating work environment.

Here are some recommended techniques to help improve your team's motivation:

WOW Wednesday – At least one Wednesday a month, CSRs are advised at a particular time during the time to look under their chairs for a taped envelope. Each envelope has a certificate listing a particular prize that they have won. Prizes included:

• Permission to take an extra 5-minutes on break
• Permission to come to work 1-hour late
• A doughnut
• A chocolate egg
• A free pizza
• A movie ticket
• A pen
• An umbrella
• A smiley face balloon

A variation on the idea is using certificates marked with a S, M, L, XL. Post a weekly "menu" of prizes that CSRs can select from matching the certificate type. For example:

• S = 1 inflatable frizz bee + 1 dip in the goody bag 
• M = 10 minutes extra on break + a free lunch
• L = 1 paid day off of choosing + 1 lollipop
• XL = choice of a mobile phone, ipod, or camera

Free Food Friday – Usually one Friday per month is designated as ‘Free Food Friday’ in which the department buys lunch for everyone – typically pizza. 

Department Award Ceremony – CS held its first annual Awards Ceremony in October. CSRs were asked to nominate colleagues for the following  categories:

• Most Improved CSR
• Mr. Congeniality
• Mrs. Congeniality
• A Difficult Customer’s / Dealer’s Best Friend
• Upbeat CSR No Matter What
• Worst Hair Day
• Most Likely To Be CEO (Or Not!)
• Worked Like A Dog
• Most Supportive CSR
• M r. or Mrs. Best Bright Idea 

Halloween Costume Day – CSRs were encouraged to be fun and creative this year by dressing up in their most imaginative Halloween costume. A special prize and certificate was awarded to the CSR with the ‘Best Costume’.

Secret Santa – CSRs drew names out of a hat for the individual they had to buy a present for. There was a BGN 10 maximum budget per gift. Presents were wrapped and placed under the department Christmas Tree until 23 December when everyone was allowed to open their presents. This is one of the more lively and anticipated event throughout the year.

• In addition to the ‘Secret Santa’, CSRs were asked to bring in an ornament of their choice and dress the tree.
• On Christmas Day, Santa made a special appearance at the Customer Service Department to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and distribute special gifts. 

Special certificates and days – Given the large number of department employees, it’s inevitable that nearly every week someone would either have a name day or birthday. Marketing developed a special Customer Service ‘mascot’ and created birthday cards, thank you certificates, and one year certificates. If a CSR has a name day or birthday, the management team signs a card and gives it to the employee along with a bouquet of balloons. The CSRs name and occasion is also published on the department reader board for everyone to see. 

Token Tips – Token Tips is a fun, on-the-spot recognition program that reinforces supervisor "praising and correcting". Senior CSRs, Supervisors, and Managers are empowered to award an agent a token tip for any ‘good’ deed, behavior, or action. The rewards are in addition to a regular monthly performance assessment scheme. Earned tokens are on a monthly basis and do not rollover. Some suggested token tips:

• 4+ Token Tips: Certificate & name added to monthly draw for a new mobile handset.
• 3 Token Tips: First choice for days off the next work schedule (includes night shifts &weekends).
  
• 2 Token Tips: Two movie tickets
  
• 1 Token Tip: 5 extra points on performance monitoring
  

How to Utilize Coaching in a Call Center

If you're managing a call center than you better have an effective coaching program implemented. 

What is coaching?

• Coaching refers to the practice of giving feedback to employees in order to help them achieve improved performance.
• Giving feedback goes hand-in-hand with the practice of measuring performance. First you monitor, then you coach, then you monitor again.
• If you’re doing it right, you should be seeing an employee’s performance continually improve.

Why is coaching so important?

• Coaching increases productivity when paired with training. Training alone will on average increase productivity by 22% but with coaching that figure soars to 88%!
• It shows your employees that you’re on top of things, that you’re keeping informed, and you’re dedicated to a course of continuous improvement.
• It shows your employees that you care about them, about their performance, about the customer, about service levels, and about running a top-notch contact center. 

What are the seven fundamentals of coaching?

Let's take a closer look at each of the seven fundamentals.

1. Be specific

2. Focus on performance, not personality

• Your feedback should always focus on issues of performance, not on the CSR’s personality.
• If you feel a character flaw is to blame, then translate it into a performance issue before giving feedback.

3. Focus on behaviour that can be changed

• There’s really no point in giving feedback to someone if there is nothing he can do to change the behavior.
• You can focus on the details, which can be changed: ie: usage of clichés, jargon, etc.

4. Keep it simple and sincere

• CSRs are overwhelmed if asked to improve more than one or two areas at a time. 
  • If you identify 10 areas that a CSR needs to improve, point out 2 of them. Once he has made improvement in those areas, introduce something else for him to work on.
• Keep it concise. This will help you from wasting time and deemphasizing what’s really important.
  • Using a lot of extra words during your feedback devalues the feedback and makes you look unskilled.

5. Give feedback as soon as possible

• As a general rule, it’s best to give feedback as soon as possible after monitoring a call or action. This way the CSR will be able to recall the specific details about the communication
• If immediate feedback is not possible, collect as many details as possible, tape the call, or collect an email thread to use during the feedback. This helps refresh the CSR’s memory and serves as “evidence” in the event of a discrepancy.

6. Pay attention to your body language

• Keep it private. Approach the CSR with a smile as you approach is workstation and then get down to his level either by kneeling or sitting. Speak just loudly enough for the CSR to hear you.
• Maintain eye contact. Look the CSR directly in the eye. This conveys an attitude of sincerity and professionalism and shows the CSR that she has your individual attention.
• Watch your tone. When giving feedback, be careful to use a calm, supportive, and upbeat tone. When addressing undesirable behavior, it’s often necessary to be form, but that doesn’t mean you have to be aggressive. If you let impatience or frustration creep into your voice, you’ll cause the CSR to be far less receptive to what you have to say.
• Smile! If you’re praising, smiling conveys your appreciation and support. If correcting, a smile might negate the verbal message, but after correcting, you might smile and thank the CSR for her willingness to make a commitment to improve.

7. Avoid the ambush approach

• Don’t race over to a CSR’s desk after hearing a call or seeing a problem and immediately jump into your feedback.
• Ease into the session so the CSR has time to mentally prepare for your feedback. It shows your concern and respect for the CSR.