BLOG – SIKORSKI’S THINK ABOUTS – QA PROGRAM: SPEECH ANALYTICS

For me . . . the most exciting evolution in Call/Contact Center technology is speech analytics and here is why:

• Fine tuned to the point where if a certain word is used the interaction is recorded
• Identifies the emotion in the voice
• Converts voice to text
• Searchable data
• Sends real-time alerts to supervisors
• Monitors the entire customer experience
• Unlocks the information buried in customer conversation

Applying speech analytics enables you to focus on key issues that matter most.

You can drill down to the root causes of customer and agent issues and concentrate on problems that impact company wide performance.

Speech analytics is a powerful tool and should  be used to place customer needs front and center:

• Improve processes
• Empower agents
• Identify
  •   Service issues
  •   Trends
  •   Product needs
  •   Product problems
  •   Strategies

This week’s question for your employees – Explain speech analytics, ask how they feel about this technology and how would it benefit your company?

Thank you for reading and sharing!

Warmest regards,

Laura Sikorski – Independent Call Center Consultant

Website

lsikorski@laurasikorski.com

WebTV Show Video Archives  http://thedailyblu.com/video/video/search?q=sikorski%27s+think+abouts

BLOG – SIKORSKI’S THINK ABOUTS – QUALITY ASSURANCE PROGRAM: MEASUREMENT PROCESS

The measurement process should take into account all customer interactions – Voice, Email, Chat, Social Media, ++.

Side-By-Side Monitoring

• Sitting next to the Agent & “Double Jacking” into the telephone set
• Provides: “On the spot” coaching and guidance

Silent Monitoring

• Access an interaction in process to listen/view both sides of the conversation without agent or caller knowledge
• ALWAYS record interactions that you are silent monitoring to develop an improvement plan or disciplinary action

Real-Time Monitoring including Speech Analytics

• Alert
• Record
• Instant Message
• Speak to agent without callers knowledge to offer advice
• Join Conversation
• Walk Over to the Agent

Voice Recording

• Can be all interactions or random (specific number per agent)
• Allows the agent and analyst/supervisor to listen/view together and score independently

Screen Capture Recording

• Navigation through your host system
• Appropriate notes
• Accessing the right information to help the customer

This week’s question for your employees – Which monitoring measurement process does your staff like the best?

Thank you for reading and sharing!

Warmest regards,

Laura Sikorski – Independent Call Center Consultant

Website

lsikorski@laurasikorski.com

WebTV Show Video Archives  http://thedailyblu.com/video/video/search?q=sikorski%27s+think+abouts

BLOG – SIKORSKI’S THINK ABOUTS – QUALITY ASSURANCE PROGRAM – COACHING

What will coaching do?

• Correct undesirable behaviors
• Improve communications skills
• Increase productivity
• Decrease Employee Turnover
• Staff will become more engaged
• Result in suggestions to improve procedures
• Optimize Contact Center performance

Role of your Supervisors/Team Leaders

• Must meet Objectives and KPIs
• Own the quality of their team
• Identify opportunities to improve each agent
• Modify agent behavior through coaching

Role of your QA Analysts

• Monitor for compliance
• Establish company standards
• Provide the calibration function
• Identify company trends
• Identify areas for improvement

Gone are the days of big brother watching

Employees want to know . . .

• How am I doing?
• How do I sound on the telephone?
• What could I have done better on that interaction?
• What should I have said to make the sale?

This week’s question for your employees – Why do you like being coached?

Thank you for reading and sharing!

Warmest regards,

Laura Sikorski – Independent Call Center Consultant

Website

lsikorski@laurasikorski.com

WebTV Show Video Archives  http://thedailyblu.com/video/video/search?q=sikorski%27s+think+abouts

BLOG – SIKORSKI’S THINK ABOUTS – QUALITY ASSURANCE PROGRAM – BASICS #1

Key operations point for your Customer Care Center:

• Customer experience as your primary goal
• Service as a product
• Employees as your greatest asset
• Quality as everyone’s responsibility

Contact centers are shifting the focus of key performance indicators from quantitative to qualitative measurements.

The number of calls handled in a busy hour, average talk time and wrap-up times are losing their importance.

Service Savvy customers expect:

• Personalized service
• To do business at any time and on their terms
• Customer intimacy
• Raised standards of service
• Operational excellence
• Innovation

Why innovation?

To Innovate . . . is to Improve

Meeting the needs of your customers can only be achieved with a robust . . . QUALITY ASSURANCE PROGRAM.

• Verifies how your contact center is performing
• Identifies your purpose and processes
• Determines your goals
• Improves customer contacts and agent performance
• Data analysis assists you with
  • ŸTraining Evaluation
  • ŸProducts and Services
  • ŸMarketing Campaigns
  • ŸAgent Use of Technology
  • ŸPerformance Trends

This week’s question for your employees – When was the last time you updated your QA Program?

Thank you for reading and sharing!

Warmest regards,

Laura Sikorski – Independent Call Center Consultant

Website

lsikorski@laurasikorski.com

WebTV Show Video Archives  http://thedailyblu.com/video/video/search?q=sikorski%27s+think+abouts

BLOG – SIKORSKI’S THINK ABOUTS – TELEPHONE DO’S and DON’TS

Suggest discussing these at your next staff meetings . . .

• DON’T make a business call unless there is a good reason for it
• If you dial a wrong number, DO make a sincere apology instead of just hanging up
• DO think about your diction and the quality of your voice when you begin to speak over the telephone
• DO get to the point on a business call and be brief – most of us do not have the time to chit-chat
• DON’T remain totally silent when the other person continues to speak.  Make some type of conversational response, even if it is “yes” or “I agree”
• DON’T eat, drink or chew gum while on the telephone – sounds are magnified and it may subliminally tell the caller you are not paying attention
• When you are talking on the telephone, DO give the caller your full attention
• DON’T make side remarks to a co-worker when you are on the telephone with a customer
• When you have a visitor in your cube or office, DON’T take any calls unless they are genuinely urgent
• When you have a visitor in your cube or office, DON’T continue to look at your monitor for emails or your cell for emails or texts
• If you are visiting someone in their cube or office and an urgent call interrupts them, DO offer to leave
• DON’T cough or clear your throat on the telephone
• DO end your conversations on a pleasant note
• When transferring calls, DO give the caller an explanation as to why and the name of the person and extension you are transferring to

This week’s question for your employees – What should we add to this list?

Thank you for reading and sharing!

Warmest regards,

Laura Sikorski – Independent Call Center Consultant

Website

lsikorski@laurasikorski.com

WebTV Show Video Archives  http://thedailyblu.com/video/video/search?q=sikorski%27s+think+abouts

BLOG – SIKORSKI’S THINK ABOUTS – HOW TO TAKE & LEAVE MESSAGES – BACK TO TELEPHONE BASICS #14

Here is the 14th of my series on “Back to Telephone Basics” to share with your staff.

HOW TO TAKE MESSAGES

The person who takes a message for another person efficiently and pleasantly is an asset to any organization.

The second you answer the telephone you are assuming the responsibility of handling that call properly.

The message must contain and keep in mind you may have to leave the contents of this message on voice mail:

• ŸName of the caller (spelled correctly)
• ŸTelephone # with area code
• ŸName of the caller’s company
• ŸDate and time of the call
• ŸYour name
• ŸThe reason for the call

HOW TO  LEAVE MESSAGES

When you place a call, it is the utmost in bad manners not to identify yourself when the person called is not available.  Do NOT just hang up when you get voice mail.

Since you called, it should be important enough to leave a message – even if it is just your name and telephone number and that you will call back.

Voice Mail

“This is Laura Sikorski.  My number is 631-261-3066. Please let me know if April 8 at 9am is good time for us to review the upcoming analysis.  I will be in my office today until 3pm.  Again, this is Laura Sikorski and my number is 631-261-3066.  Thank you.”

Leaving messages that give detailed information will help stop “telephone tag” delays.

This week’s question for your employees – What type of problems do you have when calling back our customers?

Thank you for reading and sharing!

Warmest regards,

Laura Sikorski – Independent Call Center Consultant

Website

lsikorski@laurasikorski.com

WebTV Show Video Archives  http://thedailyblu.com/video/video/search?q=sikorski%27s+think+abouts

BLOG – SIKORSKI’S THINK ABOUTS – SCRIPTS FOR TRANSFERRING CALLS – BACK TO TELEPHONE BASICS #12

Here is the 12th of my series on “Back to Telephone Basics” to share with your staff.

WARM Transfer

• You discuss the caller’s issue with the person you are transferring to and then introduce the caller
  • Mr. Smith, it was a pleasure speaking with you.  John in our accounting department will be able to help you
•  John takes over the call and you quietly disconnect

COLD Transfer

• You transfer the caller to another department that will satisfy their needs and give the caller the extension
  • Mr. Smith, I am really sorry that I could not help you; however, I am confident that anyone in our accounting department will know exactly how to help you.  For your information, that department’s direct extension is

This week’s question for your employees – What other transfer scripts should we have?

Thank you for reading and sharing!

Warmest regards,

Laura Sikorski – Independent Call Center Consultant

Website

lsikorski@laurasikorski.com

WebTV Show Video Archives  http://thedailyblu.com/video/video/search?q=sikorski%27s+think+abouts

BLOG – SIKORSKI’S THINK ABOUTS – BACK TO TELEPHONE BASICS #10: SINS OF CS, SURVIVAL SKILLS, ATTITUDE

Here is the 10th of my series on “Back to Telephone Basics” to share with your staff.

Deadly Sins of Customer Service

• Ignoring the customer
• Hiding behind your job description
• “Passing the buck” to another department
• Blaming the customer
• Trying to prove you are right and the customer is wrong
• Talking to customers as if they are all the same
• Assuming all problems that sound the same have the same solution

Customer Service Survival Skills

• Know policies and procedures
• Listen with empathy
• Involve people in finding solutions
• Make decisions by consensus
• Identify perceptions
• Be alert to intimidating strategies

Keep a Positive Mental Attitude

• Do I know my company’s goals
• Do I understand my responsibilities
• Do I create a professional image for myself and my company
• Do I balance the customer’s and my company’s needs
• Do I work effectively with my co-workers
• Do I welcome feedback
• Do I continually identify ways to make customer service better

This week’s question for your employees – What are our company’s CS goals?

Thank you for reading and sharing!

Warmest regards,

Laura Sikorski – Independent Call Center Consultant

Website

lsikorski@laurasikorski.com

WebTV Show Video Archives  http://thedailyblu.com/video/video/search?q=sikorski%27s+think+abouts

BLOG – SIKORSKI’S THINK ABOUTS – VOICE CHANNEL: TELEPHONE CALL HANDLING – BACK TO TELEPHONE BASICS #9 – DEALING WITH ANGRY/IRATE CUSTOMERS

Here is the 9th of my series on “Back to Telephone Basics” to share with your staff.

First, be sure your Supervisors “floor walk” as much as possible to really get a sense of what is happening in your center.

Yes, sometimes your customers get angry and perhaps use foul language; however, management must research WHY and correct the process or issue(s) as soon as possible.

Tips for Your Staff

• ŸListen and do not jump to conclusions
• ŸBe encouraging
• ŸShow the caller you are paying attention
• ŸPay attention to everything that is said NOT just the information you are looking for
• ŸNotice what is not said
• ŸFocus on what the caller is saying NOT on what you are going to say next
• ŸTake notes on key words
• ŸLet the caller talk

Steps to Prevent Customer Dissatisfaction

• Anticipate their needs
• Take the initiative to solve problems
• Do your job carefully the first time
• Keep your promises

This week’s question for your employees – What made our customers angry this week and what can we do to fix it?

Thank you for reading and sharing!

Warmest regards,

Laura Sikorski – Independent Call Center Consultant

Website

lsikorski@laurasikorski.com

BLOG SIKORSKI’S THINK ABOUTS – VOICE CHANNEL: TELEPHONE CALL HANDLING – BACK TO TELEPHONE BASICS #7

Here is the 7th of my series on “Back to Telephone Basics” to share with your staff.

The manner in which a call is answered projects strong signals to the caller about you and your company.

However, the caller has responsibilities too!

• If they are calling with a complaint, they should remember they are talking to another human being
• No mater how justifiably angry they may be, the call will be effective only if the caller makes themselves clear and keeps their composure

If you must put the caller on hold

(caller’s name), I need to put you on hold for a moment while I obtain that information

While checking, service the call every 30 seconds

(caller’s name) I am still checking on that information, please continue to hold

Wait for the caller’s acknowledgement, then say

Thank You

If you must still keep the caller on hold

(caller’s name) I am so sorry to keep you on hold for so long, thank you for your patience

When you finally obtain the information

Thank you for waiting, (caller’s name)

The most important words you can use when dealing with your customers

Please and Thank You

This week’s question for your employees – Have we experienced any new issues from our customer this week?

Thank you for reading and sharing!

Warmest regards,

Laura Sikorski – Independent Call Center Consultant

Website

lsikorski@laurasikorski.com