We asked a range of visitors and exhibitors at Call Centre Expo the question “What single piece of advice would you give to call centre managers to help make them more effective?” 

What did they reply? 

“From our experience make sure that the kit can do what you want.  Sooner or later you will find you want to do something and find out that the technology cannot allow it.  That can be frustrating”  - Peterborough City Council 
“Look at homeworking.  With pretty near full employment, recruiting in your catchment area will be difficult.  Homeworking can enable you to recruit in other areas” - Graham Chick, Gema Tech 
“Have a good look at what is out there in the market.  Educate yourself”  - Mike Coppack, Redstone.
“Coach your team managers every day.  One of the major issues is a lack of strong leadership in call centres” - Rich Ray, Call Centre Evangelist, Witness Systems

(related (keywords: staff management, improve, motivation, effective manager)
“Treat your staff as you would like to be treated yourself” - Jane Watkins, Call Centre Manager, DBS Datamarketing 
“Don’t forget you are working with people.  People are the most important part and it is easy to forget” - Dave Fricker, Telecom Applications 
“Automate more.  There are lots of complexities in call centres which are not needed” - Paul Jackson, Jacada
“Learn from the bottom up - it is very easy to get lost in the detail” - Susan Forrow, Performance Manager, Inkfish Call Centres Ltd
“Match the focus and the impact of the contact centre with the key focus for the business” - Craig McCalley, Redstone
“When you have satisfied customers you have more propensity to cross sell to them.  There will be a definite strive to change contact centres into profit centres - not as a drain on profit.  Contact centres are far more savvy around the use of processes” - Chey Garland, Chief Executive, Garlands Contact Centres
“There is a trend towards more self service.  Self service needs to be more natural and enjoyable for more complex transactions.” - Paul White, Marketing Director, Graham Technology”Customer centricity - differentiation is not in the technology, it is all about the customer: retaining the customer, servicing them but doing it more cheaply.  It’s about enriching the customers experience with the contact centre” - Les Adie, Exony Business Consultants

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