I work in a call-centre. Why do our managers focus so much on statistics and less on customer service?

Question

I've been working in a call centre for 6 months. I enjoy giving a good level of customer service, resolving clients' problems and ensuring that they are happy with the outcome of their issue.

However, our managers don't seem to be interested in the customer service side of things. They just want us to increase the number of calls we take and reduce the amount of time the customer is on a call so we can quickly take the next one.

Is it like this in *all* call centres? I didn't take this job to improve their statistics, I took it to offer customers a good level of service, just like I expect to receive when I'm a customer myself!

Answer 1

Yes, they all do that.

They get a contract with a client and promise that XX% of all calls will be answered within XX seconds, and so forth.

They promised to deliver that and they have to. It would be unethical for them not to.

Just deliver the best customer service you can and let the managment worry about the statistics. They won't fire you for giving great services. They will just whine a lot. If too many calls come in, they can always answer calls themselves to get the statistics improved.

Answer 2

I work in a call centre myself and I do find sometimes you get ones that require a lot of time in order to sort a particular problem, something my line manager has acknowledged due to my style.

That said, you have to bear in mind your manager's manager probably grades your manager on the back of the departments statistics, so you can't really blame him/her.

Answer 3

I think it is good you treat your customers with respect and actually want to help them.

I have phoned up many companies, including the 'big ones' - Sky, AOL, etc, and have been spoken to very rudely.

It also made me leave their company and spend my money elsewhere.

Anyway, if you're unhappy, you could always work at a customer service desk in a retail shop.

From my experience (I've never worked in call centres) staff do seem hurried and not really that bothered - so you could link that to managers wanting more calls to come through, as of course, they make a larger profit.

Answer 4

Hello,

well.. I worked for a short time in a call center and I absolutely hated it! Always this beeping board and screaming when a call was waiting.. and as you said. ..Only the statistic counts and not the level of customer service. I now work for another company who only care about the level of service the customer receives. And there are only a few calls i take a day.. about 5-10  but also answer queries by email and do other administrative work. It's much more relaxed and they look at the complaints and queries and how quickly and efficient they got resolved and not how many calls got answered...

Answer 5

Quit

Answer 6

This delight in using statistics is  management measurement tool to show if a situation is working adequately or has improved, or deteriorated. It also allows the setting of targets, and measures individual's ability in a way that modern (quantitatively minded) management likes to judge.  It does not, however, as you appear to have noticed, include a measure of quality, or customer/user satisfaction.

The reason is very simple. It is far easier to make a quantitative judgement on statistics, rather than assess the somewhat amorphous level of user satisfaction. There are "brownie points" in achieving a measurable target, there are none in providing a difficult to quantise level of customer satisfaction.

At virtually all occasions that performance, efficiency, "improvements" or sales are discussed or reviewed it is the statistic of quantitative performance that is virtually the sole subject of discussion.

Today's businesses are so big, and so often managed remotely, that delegation is required, and quantitative analysis is by far the simplest, albeit the least desirable method of achieving it.

Think "Balance Sheet", rather than "Satisfaction". When did you last see a commercial enterprise that measured customer satisfaction over and above performance, profit and target figures?

Answer 7

Good for you.  For a business, it's all about productivity, the bottom line.  I used to work in a call center years ago and it was the same thing.  Stick to your guns, give the best customer service you can; keeping in mind to keep the calls short when the callers tends to ramble and complain.  The key is listening, and cutting to the chase, getting to the root of their issue, asap, and resolving it as quickly as possible w/o sacrificing customer service. Best of luck.

Answer 8

I'll be joining a company to do the same kind of job soon.  I'd a bit disappointed if they focus on statistics only.  I hope not as customer services is my passion.

Anyway, keep yourself motivated!

Answer 9

Not just in call centres in other area too.

The reason is that bonuses are paid according to the statistics.

Also answered and unanswered calls can be counted. Knowing how many satsified customers you have is harder to quantify.

.

Answer 10

Because managers can't really stat customer service unless all of the customers that called into the call center filled out a questionaire regarding the help they received.

Customer service is often talked about at many companies as a number one priority but most of the time the processes placed to give customer service gets in the way of customer service itself.

In your case, more customers you talk to the more customers you help, right?  But is the quality there?  No.

On paper you service more customers and the company doesn't get complains from customers saying they were on hold for a long time.

People just want to be heard first and foremost.  Second is the content of the conversation as long as they feel you listened to them and gave them a decent response.

Answer 11

Yes. It's all about making money .Some companies want repeat business in which case they focus on customer service otherwise they really don't care. I actually had more qualifications than most of my bosses. I had enough and went and did my own thing.