Regardless if you are a dental office, a car dealership, an insurance call center, etc., you know it is very important to keep track of call metrics. In particular, call tracking not only offers you a way to successfully track ads and business leads, but it enables you to keep track of your staff.
Although all the data in your call reports is important, certain details may be more significant than others. When using call tracking, some metrics will be more important to help employees improve and even to motivate employees reach success.
What should I monitor? What data is most important?
Although the call tracking details reports may seem to offer the same information to everyone, this is not exactly true. Given the nature of the call reports, you have the opportunity to find the information you want, such as calls that were a certain length or calls that were reviewed in the past. If you are a call center that handles many calls a day, you know that certain metrics are important, such as the average talk time and the average handle time. Reports can help you find the information you need to know to make your staff successful. Instead of trying to listen to every call and tackle every detail, you should take the time to evaluate what information is most valuable to your staff and to your customers. What will help your company be more successful?
It’s not just about the numbers.
In addition to considering quantities, like average speed of answer, talk time, etc., be sure to include quality as an important metric. Many studies have shown that service goes beyond how long the call lasted or how many calls were made or received in a day. It is possible to be deceived by numbers. Don’t think numbers are the only ones that matter! This mentality has been acquired from typical call center metrics that only measure the time it takes to complete a call or the number of calls that take place. Yet, call tracking goes beyond this. In fact, it even allows you to record all your calls and sets up your staff with an outbound code, if needed. You do not have to worry about a staff member making calls to a ‘fake’ customer or improving their handling time by not answering the customer’s question to the full extent. You have the option of recording calls, seeing what numbers were called, and even having your calls reviewed in Humanatic as “New Business opportunities” or “appointment booked”. Call quality is essential in customer service and most times it will dictate if you make a sale or not.
How to Improve
As you start noticing trends and pay more attention to your staff, you will start to develop a coaching plan to help your staff. Give your employees a goal to meet, but be their coach. Don’t leave them out there to drown. Offer them assistance to help them create an action plan. This is where it is important to make S.M.A.R.T. goals. These are some tips you should offer to your staff.
- Segment your Goal– Decide on your end goal and break it up into smaller segments. Employees need a goal that is challenging, but well within their reach. Make sure it is measurable and find a way to use this measure with the different increments of the goal.
- Coach Independently – Listen to recorded calls and coach employees individually so they know the areas in which they need to make improvements or where they are excelling. Make this a routine. Not everyone will struggle with the same types of calls. It is important to have a balance of what an employee is doing right and what they need to work on.
- Use Yourself as an example– If an employee is having trouble handling a difficult call, step in and have your employee listen to how you manage similar calls. This can also be used for job training, such as how to greet customers and thank them.
Discover What Motivates Your Employees
In any line of work, a manager has to know how to motivate their staff. If an employee is not motivated, then you cannot expect them to work toward reaching their goals or to be excited about their work. As a manager, you have to use motivators. These should not always be financial. In fact, the real challenge is breaking away from monetary rewards and finding out what truly excites them. Remember that the key is to find motivators that are personalized and will help improve. Since goals cannot be the same across the board, then motivators have to be different as well. The beauty of call tracking is that it will provide you with data that you can use as a measure of performance and training purposes. Use call tracking and track your staff. Find out what is most important to your company and see your sales and staff improve!
Tags: call tracking, coaching, employees, goals, metrics, motivators, Staff, success, training