We all have seen a “regular” call peak for 1 hour around 2pm. To get rid of the calls from the phone queue, many agents trick their AHT. They do the minimum needed with the customer, put the file on the side and take another call. (And eventually finish the files at a later time) In fact, this tricky method is emptying the phone queue faster, but at what cost?
The solution for this call peak is to properly staff at 2pm. To be able to staff properly we need an accurate forecast on call volume and AHT for the 2pm interval. If historically the AHT has been tricked to empty the phone queue, the forecast will be wrong and the proper staffing will not be in place. To avoid all of this, we need to make sure all the agents are answering the calls the same way they do any other time of day. This will require a change in the Call Centre behavior, which is not easy.
This behavior will have many benefits.
- One big objective for a Call Centre is to avoid call backs (incoming or outgoing) and try to complete the activity with the customer with 1 call. By not rushing the call, there is a greater chance to be able to complete the activity with one call.
- The customer service (quality) should be better when the agent is not rushing the caller. For the customers, they have been waiting in the queue for a while. There might be dozen more waiting but for the customer you have on-line, only this call counts. Having your customer on the phone with you is a business opportunity. Make sure you get the best out of it.