The Best Contact Centre Team Names

For many reasons, the contact centre floor is often split into customer service teams. But,what names can these teams be given? Here are some suggestions.

Customer Service Team Names

Giving advisors the opportunity to select their own team names is a great tool for empowerment, and a favourite of many is to choose puns like those listed below.

Favourite Films / TV Shows

Another popular theme for team names is films and/or TV shows that are popular amongst the demographic of the contact centre.

Film Examples

The A Team
The Mighty Ducks
Ocean’s Eleven / Twelve / Thirteen
The Dirty Dozen

TV Examples

The Walking Dead
Mad Men
The Sopranos
The Golden Girls

Mathew Hedges, one of our readers, recently visited a contact centre “that asked staff to choose their favourite films as their teams – so they had ‘The Avengers’ or ‘The Magnificent Seven’”

“It’s a nice touch if you can empower the staff to have the final say on something like this.”

Contact Centre Values / Positive Emotions

One interesting idea would be to name teams after positive emotions that advisors would like to evoke in the caller. After all, emotion was recently found to be a greater indicator of loyalty than effort and success.

Examples

Inspiration
Serenity
Endeavour
Hope
Tenacity

Follow the link to find out: How to Measure Customer Emotions

Examples of Puns

Game of Phones
Call of Duty
Great Call of China
Creepy Callers

However, one of our readers, David Gerard, does point out one drawback of doing so, stating: “It may be wise to steer clear of puns. Call Girls may sound funny but could end up in an Employment Tribunal!”

Harry Potter / Game of Thrones Houses

Three of our readers – Alex Sergeant, Martin Coles and Asghar Mukadam – suggested naming teams after Harry Potter or Game of Thrones Houses.

Harry Potter Examples

Gryffindor
Slytherin
Ravenclaw
Hufflepuff

Game of Thrones Examples

House Lannister
House Stark
House Targaryen
House Baratheon

By doing so, the contact centre can associate a popular franchise with the workplace, and, particularly if Harry Potter is the chosen theme, house points can be awarded as part of an incentive.

Working towards a team objective of gaining house points, to perhaps unlock prizes, can boost team cohesion, advisor autonomy and a sense of community.

For more suggestions of contact centre incentives, read our article: Staff Incentive Schemes That Work

Warriors

With sports teams named after Vikings, Cardinals and Wizards, why not use the same principle in the contact centre (taking warriors as an example)?

Examples

The Vikings
The Saxons
The Romans
The Spartans
The Normans

Name teams after those who project strength, determination and willpower, like warriors, and spread thoughts of team spirit, unit strength and (healthy) competition.

Superheroes

With some contact centres naming advisors “customer superheroes”, perhaps to spread a customer-first initiative or to underline the importance of the role, this can be taken one step further.

Examples

Team Hulk
Team Wolverine
Team Wonder Woman
Team Thor
Team Flash
Team Aquaman (perhaps for the lowest performing team of the week…)

Michael Baeten, formerly a customer experience leader at Sky, says that the company named teams “based on a ‘superhero format’. For example, Team Thor, Team Avengers, etc.”

For more on naming advisors, read our piece: What Should We Call Frontline Call Centre Staff?

Planets

In her company’s contact centre, Lesley Williamson, another of our readers, said that different teams were assigned names of planets in our solar system.

Examples

Earth
Mars
Jupiter
Neptune
Mercury
Venus
Saturn

However, whilst this was successful, Lesley says that many jokes were had regarding Uranus!”

Star Wars Planets

As an alternative to planets in our solar system, Pete Luck suggests keeping planet names, but instead using the Star World universe, which could be a popular option, given the popularity of the latest trilogy.

Examples

Tatooine
Hoth
Coruscant
Alderaan
Naboo

With this option, it may be best to consider the demographic of your contact centre first. Or, as Pete advises, “put forward a few different ideas and let advisors decide. Have fun with it!”

Musical Groups / Artists

Let each team choose a musical artist that best represents them. This may encourage a healthy community to grow where advisors can bond through a shared musical interest.

Examples

KISS
David Bowie
Prince
PJ and Duncan (ok, maybe not that one)

As an alternative, Raja Pitalia suggests splitting a famous group/band into individuals and using those as inspiration for team names. For example, you could use the Spice Girls, as below.

Spice Girls Examples

Scary
Sporty
Posh
Baby
Ginger

Countries and Landmarks

Nick Lyon recommends selecting team names based on countries, “especially around World Cups/sporting events.”

Nick also suggests landmarks or places of interest close to the contact centre, particularly if incentives can be involved.

Examples (for London)

The London Eye
Big Ben
St Paul’s Cathedral
The Shard
Nelson’s Column

This is because incentives can be created where “the best performing team gets a trip out to the place they are connected to.”

Tree Types

Whilst animals, weather and mountain ranges could be used, certain tree types are arguably the most common way of incorporating nature into team names.

Examples

Rosewood
Yew
Olive
Bonsai
Palm
Birch

Paul Allen, who works in the UCAS contact centre, says that they had used tree types in team names before and that “this has caused the least conflagration over the years.”

Colours

Like labelling teams by number, colours can also be used to keep it simple.

Examples

Blue
Green
Red
Yellow

Paul Allen says that UCAS have also labelled teams by assigning them a colour. Yet, in his experience, this has caused trouble as he says: “I would never manage a yellow team!”, due to his allegiance to Ipswich Town F.C.

For more from UCAS, read our article: 9 Things You Can Learn From the UCAS Contact Centre