Common Call Centre Challenges

EvaluAgent’s Jodie Rhodes explores common call centre challenges.

Call centres are extremely busy working environments, dealing with a constant flow of customers in high-pressure situations.

So, it’s no surprise that they often come with their fair share of challenges. From disengaged employees to high staff turnover, it’s important to know the issues that can arise in the call centre workplace – and how best to tackle them.

Why Problems Arise in Call Centres

The vast number of calls received per day is an indication of how problems can begin to arise. The high volume of interactions can put a strain on both staff and infrastructure – and this can lead to long wait times, dropped calls, and frustrated customers.

With many call centres operating across multiple locations and time zones, the industry has so many moving parts.

This, combined with continuously evolving technology and new systems, means that obstacles are presented almost constantly. The trick is learning how to overcome them.

Call Centre Challenges

Let’s take a closer look at some of the key challenges, and what we can do to address them.

Attrition

Attrition in call centres is a long-standing issue, often compounded by poor working conditions, low pay, and minimal benefits.

Call centre employees might not see their current position as a long-term, career goal, meaning they often move on quickly.

A key factor in improving attrition statistics is demonstrating engagement and recognition of your workforce.

This might be through acknowledging effort and performance or even by providing better pay or workplace benefits. This will encourage your staff to stay motivated and they may even consider long-term career prospects at your company.

High Stress

Whichever way you look at it, working in a call centre is a high-stress job. From the sheer number of calls to customer interactions that are specifically angry or abusive, the nature of the job means that it is not always a pleasant experience for employees.

Of course, it’s impossible for a customer-focused business to avoid unhappy customers – but it is possible to equip staff with the best strategies to deal with them.

This might include a ‘hang-up’ policy. No employee deserves to be on the receiving end of abuse. Empowering your staff to end a phone call that they feel uncomfortable with allows them to manage the situation – and their stress levels.

Regular breaks can also help to reduce the impact of a high workload. Brief moments away from the front line can give your staff time to collect themselves, particularly after a lengthy or difficult conversation.

Additionally, an effective system for escalating problems should be in place. This means that more experienced staff or supervisors can take on more challenging issues, freeing up staff to continue with calls.

Overcomplicated or Too Many Software Systems

With the evolving technological landscape, new software and systems can arrive almost constantly. While these tools are designed to help and improve the employee experience, often they can be confusing or complicated. This can increase the amount of time spent on unnecessary administrative tasks.

When new software systems are introduced, companies should consider how they will integrate with existing platforms.

Associating information across a single platform can provide insights and information that will enable agents to give excellent customer service.

Poor Training

Effective training is essential in any job, but it’s particularly important in call centres. Poorly trained call centre agents can cause a host of problems, from extended call times to dissatisfied customers.

Without proper training, agents may struggle to handle complex queries, provide accurate information, or communicate effectively with customers.

Consider implementing a call centre learning management system. This will help you deliver comprehensive training programmes that equip your agents with the skills and knowledge they need to succeed.

With the right training, agents can confidently handle any query, ensuring a positive experience for both the customer and the agent.

Lack of Engagement

When employee engagement increases, so does productivity, job satisfaction and customer service. However, a lack of employee engagement can lead to a host of problems in call centres: increased call times, frustrated customers and poor customer feedback to name a few.

When employees have some indication of how they are performing – and how to improve – engagement increases. One way to achieve this is through the implementation of call centre quality management software.

This can be used to collect customer interaction data, give real-time feedback to the agent and identify training needs – which can then be implemented through a learning management system.

Call centre quality assurance software and call centre learning management systems enable you to identify problems in your business and supply the training to address those problems. This connected approach will allow you to take control of quality assurance and improvement at your company.

This blog post has been re-published by kind permission of EvaluAgent – View the Original Article

For more information about EvaluAgent - visit the EvaluAgent Website

Call Centre Helper is not responsible for the content of these guest blog posts. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect those of Call Centre Helper.