Finding and Fostering Contact Center Agent Stars

With sales plateauing and margins shrinking, online retailers must optimize the use of their contact center, whether in-house or outsourced. One way to do this is to make sure that your agent staff is the best it can be.  At the Internet Retailer Conference and Exhibition in Boson this past June, Greg Fettes from 24-7 INtouch and client Leslie Agerland from ShopNBC.com discussed how to select, identify, and motivate agent stars to ensure program goals are being met. Here are some of the main tips from their presentation that are somewhat simple in nature, and yet sometimes the first to be overlooked.

Establish a Culture of Excellence - Expect excellence throughout your organization. Lay out clear goals and tie them into your overall contact center culture. Empower your employees to add value at all levels, and accountability will come naturally.

Communicate & Share Information - Communicate what is happening within your company.  Communicate program goals and where each person is doing well or needs improvement. Allow for networking to build a close culture.

Be Flexible - Contact centers have a bad reputation for being rigid in scheduling. Flexibility will result in higher retention and increased productivity in the long run.

Recognize. Recognize. Recognize - Everyone likes a pat on the back for a job well done. This is especially true for the typical younger demographic that works in the contact center. Remember to be creative – it’s not only about money! Have other incentives and perks that tie into your program goals.

Use Mentors to Build Teams - Your own employees are usually the best knowledge experts to help develop lower performing agents. Foster a mentorship atmosphere to develop tomorrow’s leaders and maintain your culture of excellence.

Don’t Forget to Have Fun - Improve morale by providing recreational facilities and break areas where employees at all levels of the company can socialize.  Invite top-performing agents to company functions such as awards dinners and by reward them with perks.

Incorporate these tips into your recognition and reward strategy. The value-added ROI will be a more motivated workforce, enhanced brand, empowered agent group and higher retention of your top subject matter experts.

Comments

[Call center software]

Wow, that's so true about keeping your star employees happy and progressing. Though I think an important part of it would also be getting the right software so there is little frustration added to the employee's/your own frustration.

Also so it is easy enough to track goals and performance is pretty important to me as well. I ended up going with Interactive Intelligence and haven't had need to consider any other programs.

http://www.inin.com

Here is a link for those who don't know what I'm talking about.

[BPO Manila]

Companies should know how to take good care of their employees for they would not function without them. It's not that easy to have an employee who's very much qualified for the job.

[outsourcing providers Philippines]

Agents are pretty much the oil that keep a call center's wheels turning. The manner by which they handle calls is a reflection of their attitude towards their job, which is why their needs and concerns need to be addressed at all times.

[outsourced customer service]

nice post here.
but every company must take care their their employees for them to function well.
one good example to take care their employees is to treat them as a family and to have a good benefits and salary.

[inbound call center]

yeah that the good way to maintain the good performance of your best and good employees!!
show to everyone that she/he is very important, treat them in a good way!!

[Order taking call center]

Agents who have the ability to close orders via phone should be rewarded tremendously!