Your call center agents make or handle dozens or even hundreds of calls each per day. They speak to thousands of consumers in total during each shift; their work is the backbone of what your center does.

It only makes sense to invest in quality monitoring - the process of monitoring those numerous calls for the quality of service being provided to consumers. However, many centers are finding that the quality monitoring tactics of yesteryear are simply no longer meeting their needs. If this sounds like your center, it may be time for a call monitoring tuneup!

Here’s more of what you need to know to improve your quality monitoring approach and keep those thousands of consumers happier - and coming back:

The Value of Call Monitoring

There are numerous benefits to call quality monitoring in your contact center. Some of the most important include:

• Ensuring consistent quality. The most obvious benefit of quality monitoring in your center? Ensuring that the quality of your agents’ performance is consistent - and excellent - call after call.
• Assuring compliance with industry and legal standards. If you work in an outbound call center, you understand just how important compliance with government regulations is. Call monitoring helps to ensure that your agents are adhering to these regulations, as well as industry benchmarks.
• Fostering customer loyalty. Happy customers are more likely to return again and again. That loyalty is important to building your business, so be sure to look for strengths in your agents’ conversations to reinforce and issues to correct which will yield more loyal consumers.
• Better customer experience. Everything your agents do should be part of your ultimate goal of pleasing and performing for the consumer or client. A better customer experience is one of the most important reasons to enact quality monitoring in your center.

Call Quality Monitoring Best Practices

So, what should you be doing with your quality monitoring? What are you trying to improve and how should you go about it?

• Evaluate the entire customer experience to get the big picture. When listening to a conversation - whether prerecorded or in real-time - be sure to listen to the entire exchange. This gives you a more complete picture of how your agents are doing and what your consumers or clients are actually experiencing.
• Take a hard look at your resolution rate. What should you be evaluating during your call monitoring? Problem resolution is one of the most important pieces of information. How often are your agents resolving consumer issues on the first call and how long does it generally take them to do so? These questions can help you determine how well your agents are really doing their jobs.
• Empower your agents to evaluate themselves - with your guidance. Offering agents the ability to review their own calls will help you save time in evaluation and also empower agents to make positive changes and create their own path toward growth. Be sure to guide them in this effort, though - newer or less experienced agents may not be able to determine what needs work and how to go about it.
• Don’t overlook agent engagement! When evaluating your agents, be sure to explain that evaluation process to them in detail. They have the right to understand what is being observed and evaluated in terms of their performance and what the expectations are. This will not only help them to better hit these goals, but it will also make mistakes less frequent and working toward improvement easier.

Technology Geared Toward Call Monitoring Success

Monitoring calls for quality assurance purposes is easier than ever with today’s call center technology. There are numerous methods available for listening to and even interjecting during calls your agents are making or taking. Check out these options:

• Call listening - Also called “call snooping”, this technology allows management members to listen to agent calls during their conversation with contacts without interrupting the exchange or otherwise bothering either party.
• Call whispering - This is one of the most popular methods of call center agent coaching in many of today’s centers. This software allows for managers to not only listen to conversations as they take place but also quietly speak to - or “whisper” to - their agents during the call. The consumer or client cannot hear the words of the manager or third party, which are often used to give instructions to the agent to improve the course of the call. This is a great tool for newer, less experienced agents - and doesn’t distract the consumer or detract from the agent’s conversation.
• Call barging - When gently guiding or quietly coaching your agents is not enough, call barging offers a great solution. This technology allows managers to interrupt conversations happening in real-time, so control can be regained if things are going off course. This tool is used less often but may be the only effective approach when an inexperienced agent or particularly difficult consumer or client is creating problems.
• Call recording - This is one of the best solutions for larger contact centers and those who have teams available to review large quantities of information and audio. This software allows for the recording of conversations that can then be examined in detail after the call has concluded - either directly after or whenever it is convenient for managers - to look for strengths and weaknesses to review with agents. This is a great tool for providing feedback and enhancing the quality of future calls.

Remember, many of today’s best software programs offer many or all of these, so you don’t have to choose just one way to interact with and guide your agents to success!

Ready to overhaul your quality monitoring approach? Visit the industry experts at ChaseData! We have the tools and technology your team needs to improve their inbound or outbound call handling and for your managers to enhance their call monitoring and analyzation efforts. Your entire team will be a more efficient machine with our software solutions - and your customers will take notice! Give us a call today to learn more!