quality vs. Quantity

There is a battle in Call Centers. The teams are potential vs. Quantity; two execution factors that don't seem to get along.

o Representative Super speedy says, "I've taken more calls than whatever on the team today. My median cope time is the bottom on the floor." Coach Level Head breaks it down for him, "But your potential scores are below everybody else on your team." o Representative Detailed Dan says, "My potential scores are top notch. I give every one of my customers the detailed attention they deserve." Coach Level Head breaks it down again, "Your median cope time is through the roof, and there are customers waiting in queue for attention to their needs. Where is the happy medium? True potential means being efficient and efficient; meeting the customer's needs fully in a inexpensive amount of time. As a call town supervisor in a buyer service group I managed a team of 20 representatives. Like many teams there were "top performers" or super stars, "middle of the road performers" or most of the team and "low performers" or the folks that needed help to the middle of the road. My goal was to work with everybody to bring them up to the next level and ensure potential and efficiency as a group. I remember one team member who fell into the low performer category. She was very detailed, very good with customers and her potential scores were outstanding. So, what put her in the low performer category? The amount of time she spent on each call. In one work day she would unblemished only half the amount of calls completed by her team members. Her median cope time was off the charts. We had to work on this as soon as possible. I coached her on some occasions and we found ways for her to cut time off of her calls. She did more typing while she talked to the customer; she learned the theory more fully so she could offer the answers to the customer's billing questions. Still her efficiency was not there. So, we continued the coaching. Her discussion was that her potential scores were so high that the quantity should not matter. She would receive 95% to 100% on each monitoring score. She was providing the buyer with a potential interaction. They would go away feeling good about the enterprise and the services they purchased. So, why did it matter if she took a long time talking with each customer? This discussion changed my explanation of potential and quantity forever. I explained to her (and everybody else, on every team I ever coached going forward) that Quantity is not a detach goal from Quality. Quantity is beyond doubt efficiency, and efficiency is part of Quality. Instead of focusing on the amount of calls we took in a day, we must talk about this execution goal in terms of how efficiently we took those calls. Did we use the time we had with them appropriately? We can not say that we offered the buyer a potential Interaction if we kept them on the phone for 25 minutes trying to solve their issue. On each call we owe the buyer courtesy, information, honesty, answers and Efficiency. A buyer who received the acknowledge they called finding for in 3 to 4 minutes will be happier than one who reaches their acknowledge after 10 minutes. In increasing to the individual call, the time one representative spends on a call with one buyer can also sway the perspective of the buyer who is waiting in queue. I'm not suggesting that team members rush through calls to acknowledge the next, but it is foremost to be aware of the impact of the time you spend on each call. The more efficient you are on each call, the more efficient the group will be as a whole. We ensure the efficiency part of potential by being ready for each call. establishment includes knowing the tools and systems we use to acknowledge the customer's needs, being up to date on new products, services or issues the customers may be calling about, and having our best buyer service attitude ready to talk to each customer. All this has become my potential message. I have been known to pull up a soap box in the break room and spread this good word. potential is built on quantity or efficiency. Offer clear, helpful, efficient buyer interactions. My team learned it and improved in each one of their execution goals. Let the potential vs. Quantity battle end. Your customers will thank you.