from Boardroom to Contact Centre

The benefit that contact centre offers to the overall brand image and customer management of the company is obvious for anyone who is involved with its operations.  However without question, it is a misunderstood entity by many executives who only see them as glorified receptionist desk. If ever questioned on the amount of money and resource that travels through the centre on a daily basis the answer would be unclear.  For those in the know, it is imperative that we capsulate our knowledge in a manner that can be understood by those in head office.  Is gaining board level commitment imperative if the contact centre is to gain the respect and the resources that other divisions of the organisation may take for granted?

It is one thing for a call centre manager to produce facts and figures to gain the support of their internal supervisors and staff.  However it must be noted that company directors read these statistics in a very different manner.  An example of this is under the heading of motivation and staff retention – call centre agents see this as a very important part of their everyday life.  Churn of agents can cause a great deal of disruption on the Contact Centre floor and have an adverse affect on staff moral.  As the voice of the communication centre, it is a must to understand the two faces of your role – HR and Finance Director all rolled into one.

To head office and board level, motivation does not mean happy, it stands tall for money.  A happy work force is a productive workforce and hence a more satisfied customer base.  Through the use of CRM systems and up to the minute call rates software, today’s manager has everything that they need to show the success of the contact centre.   It is all in the presentation. You must first appreciate the goals and the output that the reader expects to see from these figures.  Being the first point of contact for customers means that agents have the opportunity to make the real change in the customer’s perception of the organisation.  Sometimes this is difficult to convey in an operational and cost analysis report, as attributing people into percentage spent versus incoming revenue can be next to impossible.  However, the answer has being in front of managers the whole time, it is not always apparent as contact centre are guilty of reverse stereotyping.  Many see board level executives as faceless bean counters that have no real understanding of what really happens in the contact centre.  If this is true, then only one side can put it right. YOU!

The day-to-day success stories that may range in numbers and over hundreds of calls must be noted and recorded.  Board level needs to see the bigger picture through the stats and figures that support a worthwhile entity in the contact centre.  However, as you would least expect they also need the little success stories.  We all know the one, how agent 123 convinced the customer not to change suppliers and in fact got them to upgrade their service.  Board level executives also need and want to see the centre as the living and breathing brand supportive unit that we all know it to be.

Call centre managers need to take a chance and step outside their safety net by inviting walking tours of the centre.  Allow board level to see what the figures really relate to: hard working loyal people.  If given the opportunity, have the executives listen into a few calls, and if real daring, get them to even take a few calls themselves.  During the visit have a check list of the technology and impress them with the productive savings that their budget has enabled the company to take advantage of.  However during the visit it is up to you to determine better ways to convey the contact centre’s successes back to the board.  Show them the importance of skills, motivation, and communication training and the huge impact well developed staff can have on the productivity of the organisation.

As part of your strategy to gain board level commitment it is very useful to gain the support of the internal communications and marketing department.  To gain recognition, the centre has to be seen as an active member of the infrastructure of the organisation.  We have made huge in roads into the core of the organisation, however, too often the contact centre is still seen as an extension, or worse, a completely different mind set of the company.  Through a pro-active internal communication strategy the centre can be seen as an invaluable part of the corporate team and hence better understood by those you are trying to build a relationship with. 

It is up to the contact centre managers to not only present the true figures and cost of the contact centre but also speak on behalf of all the agents.  Allow them the respect that they deserve, be their voice to say: “We are valuable members of the corporate strategy and hence want to feel part of the corporate brand.”