Call Center Monitoring and Social Media

BPA Quality Takes Third Party Remote Call Monitoring to Social Media

By Susan J. Campbell, TMCnet Contributing Editor

Companies throughout the world have used third party remote call monitoring software for years to measure the success of their current processes and identify opportunities for improvement. While the demand for such software still exists, monitoring has gone beyond the mere confines of the phone interaction to include a full range of channels.

One of the most recent additions to the monitoring space where BPA Quality is concerned includes the far reaching spaces of the social networking phenomenon. Not only are companies establishing a presence on sites such as Twitter andFacebook (News - Alert), customers are also posting comments about companies and the news can either be good or bad.

No matter how a company may classify the information, it is truly rich and real-time customer feedback that can be used to strategize more effective ways to drive revenue and profit. This could seem like a daunting task to even the most innovative of companies as the information can be widespread and cover a full range of topics. The good news is that BPA Quality has already developed solutions that can capture this information for maximum use.

A team of experts at BPA Quality takes this form of third party remote call monitoring to a whole new level by capturing feedback from a full range of social media sites and turn it into objective and quantifiable data. This data can then be used to change the business into the picture of perfect in the eyes of the customer. Well, even if that is stretching it, the idea is to make those changes that keep the business focused on the needs of the customer to drive loyalty and long-term success.

This is accomplished through the use of the BPABuilder Online suite of tools offered by BPA Quality that allow companies to truly measure and use third party remote call monitoring applications that allow companies to extract rich, meaningful information from interactions involving their company and their customers.

The best way to control this information is to capture it, learn from it and improve interactions for customers and BPA Quality helps make that a reality with third party remote call monitoring solutions that maximize the social media platform. With the amount of data available to capture, attempting to do it in-house will take the focus away from core business initiatives.

Allow the experts to gather and quantify the information so you can then use it in your strategy planning. Third party remote call monitoring is important for any business and when it involves the social media environment, experience can make the difference.

Susan J. Campbell is a contributing editor for TMCnet and has also written for eastbiz.com. To read more of Susan’s articles, please visit her columnist page.

Edited by Stefania Viscusi

Fresh Eyes

At BPA Quality, we have been speaking this week with an International Airline Client about how to evolve our project to the next level. Our client shared with us that every month they gain great feedback and knowledge to make their call centers betters.  Although they may encounter the same situations during their internal analysis, they had found that using "fresh eyes" to piece together new ideas has been very beneficial to their overall growth.

When a company is so entrenched into their daily tasks, some very significant breakthroughs can be overlooked.  When they use an outside source, the mundane becomes extraordinary in the elevation of their call centers to the next level of excellence.

"When you hit a wrong note, it's the next note that makes it good or bad."  ~ Miles Davis

Ten tips to improve listening skills on the telephone

Ten tips to improve listening skills on the telephone

Stay focused
Prevent yourself from being distracted by colleagues or external noises and concentrate on what your caller is saying.
Detect emotions
Listen to the emotion in your caller’s voice. Does it match or endorse the words they are using?
Ask questions
Ask questions to gain more information on points you need to clarify.Publish Post
Don’t interrupt
you listen more effectively when you’re not talking, so refrain from interrupting your caller. Let them finish what they are saying; interruptions may break their train of thought.
Don’t pre-empt
Avoid pre-empting what your caller is going to say, chances are you will be wrong and miss some of the content of their conversation.
Recap key facts
Summarize and reflect back to check you have heard the key facts and content of the caller’s conversation correctly. It also lets the caller know you have understood them. Statements such as “What I’m hearing is…” and “Sounds like you are saying…” are great ways to reflect back and summarize.
Pen and paper at the ready
Have a pen and paper to hand and get into the habit of making short quick references to any questions you want to ask or points you wish to raise or comment on. When your caller has finished speaking refers back to your notes and take action. If you are thinking of answers and responses while the caller is speaking, you are not listening.
Say it again
if you are having difficulty listening, makes the necessary adjustments. You might say, “I’m sorry I missed that last point. Please repeat that for me.”
Watch the stereotypes
Avoid stereotyping individuals by making assumptions about how you expect them to act and what you expect them to say. This will bias your listening.
Be aware of the barriers to listening
• we think we’re right and the other person is wrong
• we feel we have to provide help right away
• we prefer to talk rather than listen
• we are waiting for gaps or pauses to jump in with our response

Satisfied Vs. Loyal Customers

You may have a satisfied customer, but are they truly loyal to you.  If they see a better deal at a competitor, will they grab it?  Why?

For the most part, your customers are looking to be WOW'd.  When they call in or online chat with your agents, are they finding themselves excited about that experience?  They should be because that is how you get them coming back.

I am addicted to shoes.  I will look at shoes wherever I might go, online or in a store.  When Azppos.com came around, i thought I had died and gone to heaven until I saw their prices.  Luckily for me,  I was give a coupon code and decided to purchase some awesome looking shoes.  After I put in my code and gave my credit card number online, I found that the discount was not applied.  I contacted the online agent and they were so helpful in ensuring that I received my discount.  He even with the extra mile and called me the next afternoon to ensure I received my order and it went through properly.  Then, about a week later, I received a handwritten note from this agent thanking me for my business.

Why am I telling you this?  I'm telling you this because I was WOW'd and I've not kept quiet about it.  I am now a loyal customer/advocate of Zappos.com.  They know how to take care of their customers.

Their agents are trained to make their customers not want to go to their competition.  What are you doing to create loyal advocates out of your customers?

Factors for Effective Quality Monitoring

Listening is nice, however your agents will figure it out quickly if they know that you are merely listening and not doing anything with the information; they will use the Hawthorne Effect to their advantage! As a remedy, the agents must be provided with a strongly supported feedback mechanism that they can easily understand. There are four factors that you must understand in making any program successful: 

~  Your program should be clear and to the point. The agents have limited time and bandwidth to absorb any feedback…they are busy! 

~  Your program should integrate the supervisors or managers of the agents. They usually take all their direction from their direct     supervisor…they know who their boss is! 

~  Your program should have a clear definition of what you want the agents to do. They want to know what they did right and wrong…they truly want to perform well! 

~  Your program must be consistent, fair, objective and accurate in your feedback…if it isn’t the supervisors and agents will discount the findings!