Managing Quality With A Predictive Dialer

by Kumberlin Birin

When I ran small contact centers outside of New York City there was no VoIP technology. The reps you managed were right in the same room with you, hardwired to the switch. The idea of working from your home was a remote possibility, pardon the pun.

Since quality management is not a new concept even then, we were working to improve the quality of our team. We determined all the elements of a high quality call and created a call evaluation profile. When we listened to calls we checked for each quality element and gave it a subjective rating of 1 to 100, just like the school grading system. We rated items like; using the appropriate greeting, a pleasant tone-of-voice, fast efficient service, offering the current promotion, asking the wrap-up questions and a pleasant goodbye.

To accomplish this I used a big clunky headset that plugged right into the reps set and allowed me to hear the whole exchange. What I learned was this, if properly trained; almost everyone can render good service when their supervisor is sitting next to them.

Then we got a silent monitoring device. Everybodys phone connected to this device including mine. All I had to do was dial the right combination of numbers and I was listening to the rep I needed to evaluate. Although the reps understood that they could be monitored they never knew when. Immediately I experienced a more realistic view of our quality. It wasnt what I thought it was. But the ratings were made, discussion ensued and the quality improved. The more evaluations I did the better they got.

I thought it was the fear of being caught that motivated my reps to higher quality. But I quickly found out that our improvements came from the discussion and coaching that followed the ratings, not the threat of bad ratings.

The people who worked for me cared about quality and customer satisfaction. I had already sorted through the reps that didnt care and kept the good ones. Then when I ran into this statistic I was not surprised at all.

BenchmarkPortal a leading source of CRM information and practices for call centers, reported that 62% of surveyed respondents indicated that most of their agents appreciate the feedback and value of the center's monitoring and coaching process; 31% said that most agents are neutral; and 7% reported that most agents dislike the process.

And then one day it hit me, who was I to determine what good quality was? I needed to survey the customer to determine if the call had actually gone well. What I found was surprising. First, speed was not nearly as important as getting the services done or the sale made on the first call. Everybody hated the dreaded Well have to call you back on that.

Also when the rep had a personal connection, like a shared experience or common background a brief discussion often occurred. Typically that discussion is evaluated as going off topic and the call rating suffered. However the customer usually found that to be nice and went away with a much better feeling about the company. Go figure, efficiency is not always profitable!

So my lesson was this, monitoring without satisfaction surveys is not the best approach. Make sure that your view of quality and the customers view line-up.

I had a much more experienced colleague that my boss mistakenly sent me down to coach in Atlanta. She was great at her job. She had a telephone sales rep who she told great stories about. He was reputed to have overcome the most feared of all objections - I dont buy anything without seeing it in writing first! One day in a stroke of absolute genius he told the customer that he could live with that. Just pick up your pen and write this down. At that point the customer was so amused that all the tension in the call evaporated. Needless to say the sale was made along with a new legend.

There is a point to this, if my colleague had call recording she could have captured that call. Then the magic of the moment could be used for training and coaching others. But its also true that bad calls are good for training and coaching. However, be aware that pride plays a big part in performance and if you embarrass a rep in front of their team they may feel really down about you as a manager and the company.

The technology to manage quality is no longer an expensive option. SafeSoft Solutions offers these features with its predictive dialer application called the Market Dialer.

SafeSoft is committed to removing the investment barrier to technology adoption. When you implement a SafeSoft predictive dialing solution, you get a complete package - for one affordable monthly fee per seat. That includes domestic long distance and voice services like announcements and call recording. Customers can simply pay as they go, using the service as long as they like, and stopping at anytime, with no cancellation fees or penalties of any kind. We are changing the industry by delivering the promise and power of the Internet in ways that free companies to innovate and adapt.

About the Author:

Now a days Predictive Dialer software solutions are improving the way companies use the power of predictive dialer for their every day tasks.