Does anyone work in a call Center? If so does anyone know any ways to reduce their call handling time?

Question

I work for a government helpline and every day my call times are through the roof. I never meet the call time targets for the centre and I am worreid about losing my job. Unfortunitly Due to the business I am in I am required to take details from customers, And EVERY TIME I get on the phone these people NEVER have their details, Hardley speak english, expect me to work out their income (especially if they dont know what they are earning) and just wont get off the phone cause they fancy a Fu@king chat.

Sorry to rant, but the quetion I want to ask is does anyone have any tips or techniques for redusing call timesand just generally getting people off the phone. Please dont confuse this with not providing quality service, because I always do my best for people (I really do!!!) but I need a way to make people give me the information required and hang up the phone faster or its likley I'll get the sack! Does anyone have any tips or techniques, pharases, anything please!

Thanks

Answer 1

I worked in a telephone tech support center for years (and still cover on occasion). We went to a Helpdesk Analyst class to learn some techniques and tho I don't remember too many of them any more, it was very helpful. Helpdesk institute has a Call Center class that might benefit you--I think it was around $700-$900 and most places will pay or re-imburse you for it.

One thing I do remember that was great for lowering THT was not to write notes on a separate notepad! It was difficult to re-train myself, but once I did I saved a ton of time by just typing everything directly into the ticket (it's much easier to just delete what you don't need after you know exactly WHAT they want!:-))

If you find yourself doing the same stuff over again-such as figuring income-you could prepare a chart with hourly/weekly/monthly conversions to annual income and such. I also finally put alot of my standard verbiage into a Word document or Outlook notes and then can cut and paste it into the ticket when I need it.

If your call center is like many, you probably have info on hold that can be programmed to direct your callers to have the following information handy "to avoid a delay in service", then detail what info you will need to help them (I know this is more of a mgt thing, but it is worth mentioning).

Sometimes when a caller is taking FOREVER and I have calls backed up, I will transfer them to my inside line whil I am waiting for them and put them on hold to handle the next in queue.

It might also be worth mentioning that long fingernails make typing slower, so if you have fancy dancy ones, consider shortening them to 1/4 inch or less--it really helps!

Finally, If you are feeling the pressure, your co-workers probably are too. Ask them for tips or maybe get them together so you can approach mgt as a group and have them send you to a class or change the on hold msg.

Good Luck!

Answer 2

Though I don't work in a call centre now, I have worked in one before. First things first, how long have you been working there? The reson I'm asking is that generally call times improve as you grow accustomed to the job, so if you're just starting off, you know that working on it is bound to yield results.

Number one: be assertive. When someone tells you what they need ask them if they have the details required. Be very clear upfront on whatever it is you need.
If they say they have not gotten them and could you do it anyway, kindly state its company policy, and stay firm: don't expain, don't convince. Get the details sir, and then we can move on.
If they say: "it'll take me just a minute to find it" wait exactly that: after a minute of absolute silence, do this little cough and in a *very slight* agitated tone ask politely (English people are generally very good at this sort of thing): how is it going, sir?
Wait another 30 seconds in complete silence, and then explain that there are people on the line.

This may solve this particular problem, but not each and every one of them. What I would suggest as a more omprehensive fix is the following: everybody gets their share of people doing the same thing, why not ask the superiors for 30 minutes of listening to someone with great times while they're at it. This way you'll learn their stunts.

Answer 3

work on a script and stick to it.

I would think that using a funnelling technique would be good. this is when you starrt with an open question then progressively close it.

Open Questions: are subjective and can have in-depth answers
Closed Questions: are limited and usually have yes/no answers
It is probably good to start the conversation with, 'i don't want to take up too much of our valuable time'

The more you mention 'their valuable time' the more this will psychologically prompt them about other activities they need to be using their time on.

Talking Faster
this is not so that you can say everything faster but to increase the pace of the conversation so that responses from your respondent are short and snappy.

If the call is taking to long there is no reason why you shouldn't say 'shall we try to get through this a bit quicker so that you can get on with your day?'

Good luck

Answer 4

I used to work in BT call centre management as a data analyst and one of the reasons that I quit was that I simply couldn't remain part of a system that treated people (customers and staff) that badly any longer. The targets were quite deliberately designed to be contradictory (ie. quality vs. quantity) in order to be able to turn over staff rapidly. My unofficial research showed that the call handling times were impossible to achieve and the only way to meet them was to cut callers off, but to do so in the middle of one of your sentences!

Answer 5

1. If you have to log your calls, have the standard entries for standard calls in notepad files stored on your computer desktop. Then you can copy and paste that into your details field. This cut my times a ton. It also gave me a format to follow in those answers so I did a better job.

2. Learn to use phrases that move the call along.

- (after a rant where they are p*ssed) "I will make sure that your situation is fixed before you hang up the phone. How might I help you?"

- "Let me see if we can move this situation along here..."

- simply ignore the chat stuff, sticking to the subject.

Answer 6

Stay focused on the question they ask. Don't allow them to get off the topic, don't engage in small talk. Keep it strictly business. Answer their question and quickly follow it with is there anything else I can help you with. 9 times out of 10 they say no, you are off the call. Good Luck.

Answer 7

I worked in a call centre for a number of years both as a consultant and as a manager and have watched a lot of people struggled with their call handling time.

I don't know quite how your centre measures their CHTs so I'll explain how we did it then you can understand any suggestions and alter them to match your specific circumstances.

We broke calls into two parts - In call handling time and work time.

In call handling time is when you are talking to the customer with an incoming call connection. Work time was when you were unavailable for a call while finalising any paperwork, computer notes, orders, etc or making follow up calls as a result of the previous call. Both of these values got added together to get the full Call Handling Time which where then averaged out over the day.

There are always going to be those unexpected long calls, where someone wants to tell you their life stories and then their kids, pets, uncles, sister's best friend's second cousin once removed's life stories. Don't stress over them as they will be balanced out by short calls, hang ups, calls to incorrect areas, etc. If you are on a long call where people are talking, while you are trying to keep the conversation moving (which I'll talk about in a second), try to multitask and do any work you can that would normally prolong the call later.

Your call and customer management is key to getting your Average Call Handling Time down to a managable level. You didn't say how long you'd been working at the call centre. Understand that as you get more experienced, know policies and procedures better, and learn little tips and tricks, your ACHT will drop bit by bit but you can still improve it yourself.

Learn to recognise when people are going to chat, and find a way you feel comfortable with to divert them. I'd generally quickly and as politely as possible ask them a relevant question about something I needed to know for their case - This quite often pulls them up short and prompts an answer. Better yet if it's a closed question - Do you have your Drivers Licence with you? Can you give me your date of birth? Something short, that forces them into a similarly short answer. Don't let them give the answer then launch back into the rambling if you can - as soon as they've answered, take control of the conversation back -

'Thank you for that information Mrs blah, now what we need to do from here is....'

If people are unprepared, I quite often took control of the call by getting them to get a pen and piece of paper and letting them know what I needed from them and getting them to write it down. I asked them to spend a bit of time collating it all and working it out (even if it's as best they could) and giving us a call back. Even if they don't get everything together, they are generally more organised the second time. Customer education can really help speed up those call times.

The biggest piece of advice I can give though is to be confident and not to hesitate to take control of the call - You know what you need them to provide, and you know what advice you can give them. Politely but firmly interrupt them and keep them on track. At the end of the call always go quickly over what you have done, what you will do and what you need them to do, then ask if theres anything more you can help with - Don't let them use this as an example to get back into that life story.

Practice is what it takes - spend some time just listening to others around you in the centre, and try to listen to yourself when you're on the calls to see if you can find elements of the call that are too long, could be cut, or that you could take better control of.

Good luck!

P.S. I also found with the angry customers, that sometimes not even talking while they rant can be more effective - if they have to pause and say 'Are you even listening?' or something like that, it gives you a chance to say, 'Yes, now for me to help you, we need to discuss some things...'

Answer 8

get right tot the point with respect and don't try to give a chance for customer to complain just give him what he needs, and the important thing is you have to know your job really well to serve him fast .....

Answer 9

if u get fired live of a 30% credit card for the next couple of yrs then win win win ur way out of debt with an online casino!!!

Answer 10

Quit.