From previous post: “The idea is to use a model. A model based on historical data.”
We have created a model or pattern for our call flow. What else should we consider? Here are some examples for our two Road Side Assistance call flow types:
Sales call flow:
- TV promotions – What would be the impact in call volume if your Road Side Assistance company decides to advertise on TV during the Super Bowl?
- I would suggest you meet with your Marketing department once a month, covering the next three months of promotions
- Invoices – Is the Road Side Assistance billing always on the same day for all the customers? Twice a month? What would happen if instead of billing half the customers the first week of the month and half the customers the third week of the month, a decision is made to charge every customers the first week of the month?
- What if, by mistake, customers are billed twice? How can we plan that? Is there a plan to change the billing application or system in three months from now?
- Is there a new competitor with a breath taking pricing out there?
- Did you install a new IVR (Interactive Voice response) that will allow the caller do get resolution without talking to a live agent?
Assistance support call flow:
- At what time of the day is there more cars on the road? Morning before work? After work? Nights? Week-ends? You are right all of those would be part of the pattern based on historical data. What about Holiday week-end?
- Is there a major weather storm planned in the next few days? Is it more likely to have more assistance requests?
How can we forecast the number of calls we will receive if the marketing planned a promotion in the newspaper or on TV? You need to use different sources of information.
First, currently in your Call Centre, what is the ratio of calls received / sales completed?
Then, how many sales is the marketing department planning to do based on the promotion? At what time will the TV commercial be on the air?
Can we say we might roughly receive calls two times the number of sales planned? (Hopefully a bit less, if the marketing was done properly, we would have a better hit rate than 2 to 1…)
