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Performance Measurements
at Call Centers
Are you
sure you know what you are measuring?
 I just recently spoke at an International
Quality and Productivity Center Conference in Chicago, called, "Performance
Measurements for Call Centers." The conference was well attended, well
organized, and attracted speakers from companies such as Southwest Airlines,
AT&T, MCI International, Purdue University and Visa International.
I spoke on the topic of A Complaint Is a Gift.
As I listened to the other speakers on the
program, I was struck, time and time again, how important measurements
are--and, at the same time, how Call Centers can produce excellent statistics
and still not necessarily be satisfying their customers. In fact, it is
possible that aiming for certain statistical parameters can actually decrease
customer satisfaction. For example:
 The Call Center sets a standard as to how
long a telephone interaction should be. Company representatives be
motivated to cut telephone calls short, thereby meeting the Call Center
standard, but not fully answering customer questions.
The Call Center sets a standard to resolve
customer issues on the first call. Company representatives be motivated
to say any number of things to customers so they don't have to call them
back, thereby meeting the Call Center standard, but not adequately helping
their customers.
Call Centers sit on the sharp edge of a finely
honed sword. Clearly, standards need to be set. Peak demand periods at
Call Centers must be measured against these standards, and individual performance
must be measured against standards. Nonetheless, if the quantitative standards
are not carefully paired with qualitative standards , a Call Center
find itself with excellent statistics and poor customer relationships.
One of the speakers at this conference, Dr.
Debra Perkins, who is affiliated with Purdue University, suggested that
Call Center measurements need to include both internal (time in telephone
queue, for example) metrics and external (customer satisfaction) metrics.
The customer metrics need to measure qualitative customer satisfaction,
not merely how satisfied the customer was with the queue wait time. Obviously,
waiting time is important, but it is not what ultimately drives customer
satisfaction. If my call to a company is answered in 30 seconds, I can
still hang up the telephone dissatisfied depending on what the representative
said to me and how the representative spoke to me. If a Call Center representative
asks me if I was satisfied with how rapidly my call was answered, I
answer "yes." But if no one asks me if I was satisfied when I hung up the
telephone, they have missed my most critical judgment of the organization's
service.
The "emotional" side of satisfaction is all
too often ignored when Call Centers focus on performance measurements.
Make sure your metrics measure the results you want to achieve, or you
can end up with good statistics and dissatisfied customers!
Janelle Barlow, President TMI, USA
Previous
"Dolphin Relationship Lagoon" pages:
#1, #2
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