Running a call centre is never easy at the best of times. You need to juggle multiple strands of work all while keeping your employees and customers happy. There are many different kinds of call centres, and all suffer from separate and overlapping problems. One of the main ones at the moment is Coronavirus, making it extremely hard for people to work together in closed spaces, which has a knock on effect for team morale, sharing of best practice, etc. It also means customers are a little bit more
short of temper, owing to what’s going on in a lot of people’s lives at the moment. Promoting your business is a lot harder too, it all adds up and makes for a harsher environment to try and get good work done in. You’re also battling against a stigma. This is especially true if you are running a call centre which dials out, such as one trying to garner sales. Even so, there are things you can do to make your call centre a success. Ideas to implement which could give more push so you can draw neck and neck with your competitors.
Use The Right Equipment
To get the best out of your workforce and keep them as productive as possible, you need the best kinds of equipment for them to use. This may vary from one call centre to the next, but you should consider all options available. This might involve looking at a sip phone service, or reconsidering the internet speed used. Boosting this might make it a lot easier. You might also want to upgrade the computers being used. This might be costly, but it can have a massive impact upon performance. As an alternative, you could hire someone to make your current set up faster, instead of buying a new one. This might be defragging the computers, updating software and general upkeep.
Be Flexible With Your Employees
A lot of people dislike working in a call center. If they dislike it, they aren’t going to be as productive. To get around this, you should offer some more flexibility. Maybe they can be more choosy around their hours. The best thing you can do though is to allow them to work from home. It gives a certain level of flexibility which more and more businesses are allowing. It means people are more at ease, can get things like the laundry done, be closer to loved ones and save money on commuting. They’ll have more time in the day because they will no longer be committing either. It also saves you money. Less electricity, smaller office space, etc. All you need to do is provide laptops instead of desktops. The main plus is that in any kind of crisis, you can rely on people to continue from home. Such as the Covid 19 disaster at the moment. Think about all the places which had to shut without any contingency? This can be avoided if you allow people to work from home.
Spruce Up The Work Space
If you have no choice but to work completely out of an office then you can at least make it an office which is comfortable. It needs to be clean (especially at the moment). You should also insure the chairs you provide are of a good quality. If they aren’t, employees will get back problems and end up going off work with issues. You need to have a quality breakroom too. The colours should be different to those in the main working space. This is so you can provide a disconnect between work and relaxation. You should provide cooking facilities, as well as some chairs and tables. A TV is always a good shout too.
Attainable Targets
If you’re using targets to track individual progress and output, ensure that they are completely achievable. If they aren’t, or if they’re unfair, then people aren’t going to be happy at all and the motivation will disappear. If you offer easier to achieve targets, with bonuses based on them, then you’ll ensure people really get on with their work because there will be an incentive behind it. However, the opposite is true. You also need to be careful because if you make it too attainable and easy, you may end up having to pay you too many bonuses. When this happens you have to be consistent. Consistency is hugely important. What you give to one, you must give to the other, otherwise they’ll accuse you of favouritism which can be a hard shackle to shake loose. Be consistent and it’ll be a far better place to work.
