Performance management
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Nov 17, 2008
How do I address too long of talk time?
– Rebecca
Rebecca, The first step is root-cause analysis. Excessive talk time has basically three causes: 1. Lack of call control skill -- the agent simply does not know how to keep the customer (or themselves) focused on the reason for the call. Rambling occurs, and it's easy to get off-course and lose track of information. This goes with poor listening and note-taking skills. 2. The agent simply has a "chatty" personality and loves the social part of the job (and also likes how chatting reduces the stress of handling more calls). These agents encourage chit-chat and don't realize they can enjoy the job just as much and still reduce talk time. 3. The agent lacks skills in system navigation and finding answers, and , thus spends a lot of time in auxiliary mode (resulting in high hold time while they figure things out). Do you know which is most prevalent for your agents? Do you do side-by-side evaluations and coaching so you can diagnose this properly and efficiently? Feel free to respond if you'd like to discuss further. Or call me at 416-944-8842. Cheers, Winston
Rebecca, Is the problem widespread or specific to a certain individual or group? If widespread, I suggest considering: 1. Call Mix - Has there been an increase in longer type of calls in the agents' call mix? If in a sales environment, have conversion rates increased? Sales take longer than attempts so if your conversion has recently spiked, an increase in AHT may be an okay trade-off. You have to do the cost-benefit analysis. 2. System Issues - Are systems slowing down? 3. Increased wait times before answering- If customers are holding longer before reaching an agent talk times can increase because the first 5 - 10 seconds of the call are comprised of the customer complaining and the agent apologizing. 4. New dispositions or processes - any changes in the call flow, system entry, pop-ups, disposition coding can add time. 5. New noting requirements - adding documentation procedures can add after call work that gets blended into AHT. There are many more possibilities for drivers, these are just some common ones. Best of Luck! Liz
Do you know which agents are on those long calls, Rebecca? Try some "mystery customer" calls and see what those agents usually say. You can also establish Standard Queries and Responses for different scenarios and train the agents. Bad habits creep in slowly. So have some refresher training periodically. Best of luck. Cheers!
Rebecca, are your agents using the proper mix of open and closed questioning? And when using open questions, are they offering options for the appropriate answer (e.g., what operating system are you using?... Windows or Apple?). By giving the customer examples of the appropriate answer to an open-ended question, the customer is more likely to identify with the question more clearly and have an answer more readily available.
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