The lifeblood of every call center is the frontline supervision. They are the straw that stirs the drink, the mechanic that makes sure the squeaky wheel gets the grease, the offensive coordinator, etc.! This is the group responsible for driving performance, developing the skills of sales and customer service representatives, and ensuring a world class experience is delivered with every interaction. It is the frontline supervisor who is tasked with executing whatever strategy has been laid out and is responsible for making tweaks when the plan does not deliver the expected results.
A variation of Benjamin Franklin’s famous quote: ‘‘If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail’’ hits home with respect to call center management and program execution. On any given day, if you take a glimpse inside any call center across the world, you will see a whirlwind of frenetic activity – team huddles, performance management meetings, lead game plan management, adherence monitoring, coaching sessions, client updates, KPI reviews, HR issues, escalated calls, real-time monitoring, etc. These are all necessary activities that can easily derail even the best supervisor leaving them at the end of a shift wondering why program expectations were not met.
Seasoned call center managers understand the need for a daily plan and the importance of following up on their execution. They understand that with proper planning all of the deliverables can be met and Supervisors can focus the majority of their energy on what matters most – developing their team of representatives! Without a plan, Supervisors risk getting caught in the whirlwind and “hoping” the metrics fall into place at the end of the day!
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Here are a few high level components of a solid game plan:
Meet and greet your team – Let them know how they are performing for the week and what the goals are for today. Make sure to include what is in it for them when they meet and/or exceed expectations!
Expose and dispose – Get on the production floor and tap into live calls during the first hour of the shift to ensure the most recent coaching tips are being executed correctly. Get everyone starting off on the right foot!
Passive monitoring and 1 on 1 coaching – Sit down and complete scorecards on your focus representatives. Decide on the most effective coaching technique (role play, listen to the call, perform a demo call, etc.) to relay any area of opportunity.
Return and confirm – Get back on the floor and live monitor your agents. Confirm they are on track and executing the coaching tips correctly. Redirect the undesired behavior and reinforce the positive behavior!
Power hour – Pump everyone up for the final hour of their shift and get them to goal!
Unsure if your program is being managed correctly or if your current plan could use an over haul?! Call us! We would love to brainstorm best practices with you!
