32 Tips for Reducing Average Handling Time (AHT)

There are many ways contact centres can improve customer service. One way is to reduce Average Handling Time (AHT) in a strategic way to deliver an excellent customer experience.

That’s why we asked our Call Centre Helper reader panel for their advice on reducing Average Handling Time (AHT) in the contact centre.

Top Tips to Lower Average Handling Time (AHT)

Here are 32 ways to reduce call centre average handling time:

1. Gather All Information at the Start of the Call

We encourage agents to gather as much information as possible at the start of the call.  This should be relevant and about the situation, in order to best resolve the issue instead of getting information filtering in throughout the call.

Thanks to Nicola

2. Look Carefully at the IVR

Problems can be caused by customers choosing the wrong options on the IVR. Carefully examine your IVR options and see if there is a way of avoiding these problems.

Also, try to include regulation information within the IVR rather than agents having to read and confirm information from scripts or training updates.

Thanks to Robert

3. Nip Problems in the Bud by Paying Special Attention to New Staff

Call monitoring can have a big impact, especially with new staff, as they can learn effective time management from the outset.

By monitoring their calls from the outset, you can identify training gaps and provide the agents with valuable feedback about the call.

This process works well for our company in keeping our handling time within targets.

With thanks to Janet

4. Create Cheat Sheets to Help Streamline Call-Handling Processes

I recently analysed on-hold reasons and compared them against different agents handling the same types of calls.

We found that agents were using different methods to get the same information from the systems.

Based on that, we created cheat sheets for popular call types and streamlined our call-handling processes for the more common queries.

With thanks to Mark

To take a look at our downloadable cheat sheet, check out our: Effective Questioning Techniques

5. Let Agents Listen to Examples of Low AHT

Allow agents with a high AHT to listen to calls of their colleagues with a low AHT to identify and plan where they can reduce their own AHT.

6. Recruit Agents Who Speak Concisely

During the recruitment process, identify candidates who naturally speak, ask questions and give answer concisely.

Thanks to Antony

7. Identify Silence on Calls

1. Identify calls with a lot of silence
2. Train agents who generate silence
3. Reduce AHT, while increasing First Contact Resolution (FCR) and Customer Satisfaction (CSAT)

 Thanks to Denis

For more advice on avoiding silence on calls, read our article: Seven Tips to Avoid Dead Air Time in Phone Conversations

8. Buddy-up Agents

One way to reduce average handling time is to buddy-up agents with high AHT with agents that have low AHT to listen in, gain tips and share ideas.

Quality control is obviously important, so ensure that you have calibration between agents with low and high AHTs.

Thanks to Trisha, Charlie & Alexander

9. Use Call and Screen Recording

Call- and screen-recording tools are very effective when coaching towards a lower average handling time.

Thanks to Bart

10. Appoint Staff Champions

Give staff champion roles within a specific service. Make staff aware of who is the champion for each service.

Advisors should attend meetings with back office within their champion role and bring back updated information, for example street scene, bad weather warnings, etc.

11. Simplify Marketing Materials

Simplify complicated marketing material that needs to be explained.

Work with your marketing department if you are getting lots of calls wanting further explanation of marketing materials – get them to simplify this to lower call volumes.

For advice on how to improve your communication with other departments like marketing, read our article: 7 Clever Ways to Improve Internal Communication Between Departments

12. The Habits of Highly Effective Agents

Examine what your top ten agents do in regard to AHT that makes them consistently quick.  Then apply these tips to the slowest ten.  Improving the slowest agents’ AHT will have the biggest gains.

Thanks to Andrew

13. Keep Customer Profiles Up to Date

Update the customer profile at first point of contact. This way there is no confusion when giving feedback to the customer on services requested.

Ensure that the caller history is up to date with all previous conversations with the customer, no matter which agent has spoken to them. The enquiry can then be picked up so that this is seamless to the customer.  Staff can log on at different locations to reduce call handling time when a high volume of calls is being received.

Ensure that the caller history is up to date with all previous conversations with the customer, no matter which agent has spoken to them.

The customer often may repeat the same information to different members of the team. Creating a 360-degree of the customer prevents needless sharing of the same information that can lead to irate customers.

14. Take a Look at the Health of Your Contact Centre Ecosystem

• Does the ecosystem inhabited by your agents help or hinder them?
• Do they have to copy and paste from one system to another?
• Are your agents asking customers for information you already have in your systems?
• Are your knowledge resources rapidly returning helpful results or do your agents have to wait seconds or even minutes?
• Do they have to search more than once during the same call to answer the customer’s question?
• How many separate tools do you expect your agents to juggle?

By taking this kind of approach, I have seen AHT reduce by up to 25% within a matter of weeks.

Thanks to Jason

15. Turn off the Queue Displays on Walls

We found that agents worked more efficiently when they didn’t know how many calls were queuing.

When the queue was visible to them, they extended their call beyond what was necessary in an attempt to have a bit of a breather.

When the queue was visible to them, they extended their call beyond what was necessary in an attempt to have a bit of a breather.

However, this was on a technical support account, so it may differ depending what sector you’re working in.

Thanks to David

Take a look at our article, to find out: What Information Should You Be Displaying on Your Contact Centre Wallboards

16. Start Mentoring

Pick enthusiastic, skilled agents to mentor new recruits, who can share best practice and good habits.

Thanks to Carly

17. Share Information on Repeated Questions

Staff should share information to minimize repeated questions.

Collate frequently asked questions and share good answers within teams.

18. Record All of Your Calls

Record 100% of calls received for training purposes.  This then enables you to listen to long and short calls.  This should allow you to see if there is a training issue.

Long calls may be a sign of the agent not listening to the problem, interrupting the caller or being unable to take control of the call.

19. Involve Staff and Supervisors in Creating Training Materials

Staff should be involved in the training along with supervisors to refresh themselves at the same time.

20. Encourage Staff to Do the After-Call Work (ACW) During the Call

We encourage our staff to do the After-Call Work (ACW) during the call.

This stops customers feeling rushed and reduces AHT. It also gives the customer the confidence that their query has been fully dealt with.

If agents are having to add notes to the account after the call then you need to find out why this is the case. Why do they feel as though they are unable to do so during the call? The agents can then plan their calls better, to improve their AHT.

With thanks to Teresa and Stewart

For tips on how to better support advisors in reducing wrap time, read our article: What Is Wrap Time and How Can I Reduce It?

21. Use the Same Advisor for Callbacks

Use the same member of staff to deal with callbacks from the original call.  The customer will be talking to the same advisor and will feel more valued.28. Create Friendlier Forms

Create more user-friendly service request forms for every scenario with a specific service.  This gives a more consistent approach for the customer.

22. Make Your Knowledge Base Searchable

Put a search engine on the knowledge database.  It will make it much easier to find information.

Thanks to Yasmeen

Find out more about managing your knowledge base by reading our article: An Introduction to Call Centre Knowledge Base Software

23. Show Agents That Longer AHT Doesn’t Always Translate to Great Service

We tracked AHT against customer feedback and identified the optimum AHT target to drive customer experience within our main call types.

This showed our agents that longer calls don’t always result in great service.

With thanks to Craig

24. Produce a Set of Troubleshooting Questions

Design a structured question/flow for the agents so they have a set of questions to ask the users and troubleshoot accordingly rather than improvising each time.

Thanks to Maheswaran

For lots of great questioning techniques, read our article: 10 Effective Questioning and Probing Techniques for Customer Service

25. Share Agent Best Practice

Encourage your top agents with the best call control to share their experiences/strategies with colleagues in team briefings. It’s more powerful than coming from a team leader or manager as agents can see it really works.

This extends to letting agents pull some of their calls and listen to them and I guarantee they will hear the customer driving the call and that they had been repeating themselves.

Agents may also notice that the call info and questions were out of sync, meaning that they had to go back and get the info again.

Also, agents can listen for open and closed questions in the wrong part of the call, open at the front, closed at the end.  They may be using them in the opposite places, therefore taking longer to get to the issue and resolution.

Thanks to Craig

26. Keep the Customer Updated So They Don’t Fill Silence With Small Talk

If it is absolutely necessary to go silent when processing things, advisors should keep the customer ‘in the loop’, e.g. “Sorry to keep you waiting, I’m just updating the account.”

That way the customer doesn’t feel the need to fill the silence with conversations that can ultimately prolong the call and distract the advisor.

Thanks to Gina

27. Use Personality Profiles

Give agents personality profiles to allow you to understand if they are extrovert/introvert, analytical, etc. Then place them in the right queue that fits their personality.

Thanks to Sarah

For more advice on this topic, read our article: Using Personality Profiles to Personalize Customer Interactions

28. Use Closed Questions to Help Move the Conversation Along Faster

Structure key questions along the call, use closed question (yes/no answer) when possible; let the client know what you heard by summarizing it. Then spell out the steps to resolve the issue(s).

Thanks to Jose

29. Don’t Scrimp on Induction Training

Invest in your staff’s technical knowledge, rather than rushing them through a short induction.

Invest in educating staff over a period of time, teaching them background information. This should remove the need for referrals to team leaders and help the staff member take ownership of their customers’ needs.

30. Challenge All Aspects of AHT

My top tip to manage AHT is ‘just because it is doesn’t mean it should be’.  This means challenging every aspect of AHT, including clear visibility, at daily, weekly, monthly levels, at both agent and department level. Also let the agent know that they have the power to reduce AHT.

Thanks to David

31. Co-browse With Customers to Show INSTEAD of Tell

If the caller is having trouble with doing something online, have the agent go through the process with them using co-browse technology.

It reduces the time while the caller is trying to explain to the agent what they are doing or seeing, and vice versa with the agent explaining to the customer the next steps.

Thanks to Michelle Brusyo

32. Role-Play Ways of Reducing AHT

When coaching an agent to reduce AHT, it is useful to review an actual call with them and show them exactly when in the call they had opportunity to reduce the length of the interaction, while still providing the required service.

Then, role-play the various situations and map out new, more efficient behaviours.

How to Measure Average Handling Time

Average Handling Time can be measured in a number of different ways.  We have written a good article, How to Measure Average Handling Time, which looks at what you should include and what you should exclude.

Creating an AHT Improvement Plan

We’ve also created the following video, which gives an overview of the metric and some classic methods for lowering it.

Some of the key tips in the video included:

• Signposting to give customers a warning about what they need at the start of a call.
• Teach call abbreviations to speed up wrap time.
• Beware of agent tricks that give them a chance of a longer break.

These are just some of the classic methods for lowering AHT, but let’s take a look at some of those that have worked really well in our readers’ contact centres.

Originally published on 13th February 2013. Recently updated.

For more on the topic of reducing AHT, read our articles:

• How to Safely Knock 20 Seconds Off Your Average Handling Time (AHT)
• 21 Top Tips for Reducing Average Handling Time (AHT)
• 31 More Tips for Reducing Average Handling Time (AHT)
• 16 Ways to Reduce AHT – Without Damaging the Customer Experience