Excerpt from 23 Steps to An Effective Call Center by Réal Bergevin
A truly effective call center produces good results in three key areas of performance:
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revenue generation
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efficiency
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customer satisfaction
It's all or nothing with these measures as they are not independent of one another. Good revenue generation cannot happen without satisfied customers and the more efficient the call center, the more time is available for generating revenue. Efficiency cannot be achieved without good revenue generation or customer satisfaction. For example, when a call center fails to sell a customer on the first attempt, revenue isn't maximized because customers who really want our service / product must call back to get what they want. This creates inefficiency by duplication in effort. It also represents poor service as it makes the customer do more work to get what they wanted when they initiated the first call.
Revenue Generation
Revenue is the lifeblood of any organization. Some inbound call centers don't spend a lot of time thinking about revenue generation - some because they classify themselves as a customer service center and others because they think that selling is inappropriate or rude. From my point of view, if you don't generate revenue in your call center, you are missing an opportunity to sustain the company and you will potentially reduce the level of service provided to your customers. More and more companies are beginning to realize the importance of identifying revenue generation opportunities for their call centers.
Efficiency
Recently efficiency has become a "bad" word as well. The suggestion is that the pursuit of efficiency can only occur at the expense of customer satisfaction. Nothing could be further from the truth. Most customers do not consider a call to your call center the highlight of their day. They want speedy, efficient answers to their questions - they want the same thing you do - efficiency. Improve efficiency and improve customer satisfaction.
Customer Satisfaction
Customer satisfaction occurs when we deliver what the customer wants, when and how they want it. Persons highly skilled in customer service understand this and they also understand that the customer doesn't always articulate what they want. Sometimes you have to dig for it, and sometimes the customers may not know it themselves! The "Wow" Response comes from delivering services that the customer didn't dream to expect, but when they get it, you couldn't take it away. Naturally, that customer won't be calling back to complain (efficiency) and if you have just sold them, they will definitely buy from you again (revenue generation). That's a real win-win situation.
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