For any call center, accuracy is critical to the successful delivery of services. Regardless of gravity, agent errors can result to damages and setbacks to the overall workflow which, most of the time, translate to unnecessary costs on either the customers' or the outsourcing clients' end.
As a call center manager, you don’t want the business outsourcing to your company suffer from errors which could have been avoided in the first place. It’s therefore important for you to come up with monitoring systems and backup plans that will prevent agent errors either from escalating into bigger disasters or from happening again.
Here are some measures you can include in your agent error reduction plan:
1. Study the errors
The first task in reducing agent errors is analyzing what caused them. Why was a form incorrectly filled out? Why was an order shipped to the wrong customer? By understanding the common causes of errors committed by your agents, you can allocate solutions that will make you more prepared when the identified errors happen again. Knowing the specific causes can also help you improve your processes. By doing so, you do not only get to prevent errors, but you also enhance the overall quality of work done by your team.
2. Evaluate resources involved
Identifying the causes behind the errors can lead you to identifying specific elements that contributed to the mistake. You may be directed to a specific equipment, program, or any call center tool that was never identified as faulty in the past. This allows you to make the necessary changes, such as replacing the properties or upgrading them to a better version.
3. Update your evaluation program
Why were these faulty properties not detected in the past? Maybe the strategies you use in evaluating your workforce and process need some updating. Your evaluation strategies must be sensitive to the areas that consistently show weakness. When enough attention is given to these weak areas during evaluation, faster detection of problems can be done before they escalate and become more serious.
4. Use findings to improve training
It’s useless to collect information regarding the causes of agent errors if you do not use them in your training program. Your training strategies must be dynamic. Meaning, they should be sensitive to the needs of your workforce. By providing refresher training courses that give special attention to common agent errors, you ensure that your agents are less likely going to commit them again.
5. Provide individual coaching
True, training your team can be very beneficial in prevent agent errors. But, allotting time and attention to each member through individual coaching can lead to even more benefits. First, you can ensure that the specific agents involved in the last error receive enough reinforcement that will prevent them from making a mistake again. Second, you can identify unique strengths and weaknesses of each of your agents and utilize them in giving tips and performance improvement measures.
If you want your Philippine call center to be a top provider of quality services, avoiding mistakes through the above measures can help you reach your goals faster. Agent errors are common in call centers. But what matters most is that you use each instance as a learning opportunity where the derived insights can be used in managing your workforce better.