Taking Time to Rethink Accessibility Metrics
1 Nov, 2007
By: Tim MontgomeryToday, the one exception that falls through the cracks and upsets the customer can become the documented example that thousands of people read and consider prior to choosing to do business (or not) with a company.
So, is it really true that it’s more important now than ever? I think it’s just the opposite – anything that’s just “ok” puts you at risk. Companies now have to be looking for new ways to continually raise the bar and provide experiences that make customers proud of their decision to do business with them – and that compel customers to tell others about it. Negative comments posted on the Internet can bring a company to its knees; positive comments can take your organization to the next level. Your customer service today must be so good that people are happy….and willing to tell everyone – whether they know they’re telling thousands or not.
The data we get is often transformed into metrics we use to help us validate, change, improve and enforce. What often gets lost is that data and metrics are simply indicators of needs or behaviors… and if we spend our time trying to change the metrics, the needs and behaviors are never moved in the way they should be. What follows are some new ideas on how to help your organization refocus its view of accessibility metrics, find new ways to funnel leadership influence and develop plans for continually improving service in the contact center.
Revisiting Accessibility Objectives
Accessibility objectives are often viewed from the company or department perspective with a very inside-out focus. In many cases, those tasked with responsibility for meeting the objectives had little input into the development of the goals and their understanding has been passed from previous leaders. Some of the common internal views of accessibility objectives include:
How few people do I need to staff?
Many times we make decisions with the end result in mind, and in contact centers this typically means how many people do I need to be successful – or how close can I cut it without missing the mark?
What’s it going to cost me?
Although most contact center leaders know the value provided to customers, it’s often a difficult thing to quantify. Without the value buy-in from other departments, the focus becomes cost, and contact center leaders are forced to think of service from a minimum expectation perspective.
Meeting it is managing the contact center.
With so much focus on accessibility metrics in a contact center, leaders often find themselves so consumed with the numbers that meeting them is what running a call center is all about.
Some don’t even give us a chance.
When setting metric expectations, many times centers begin to blame the customer for things like hanging up too quickly, and begin to adjust the excuses out of the metric.
Zero abandons is an unrealistic expectation.
Abandons are such a misunderstood result that we end up creating excuses for and rationalizations when we see them on a report. While the accessibility objectives and their corresponding goals are often predetermined, contact center leaders can refocus their organization to gain a better connection between the accessibility goal and the customer. Doing this requires leaders to rethink everything they know about their accessibility metrics and look at what it really means to the people they are there to serve. Because the accessibility metrics have become so engrained into the day-to-day life in a center, it’s often difficult to make this connection. The points below are from the customer’s perspective and what accessibility objectives mean to them.
Is the door open when promised?
A service level or ASA objective is the price of admission – if you advertise your hours of operation, you’re going to want to have the doors open at those times. Any time there is a delay, it’s the equivalent of making people stand outside waiting for admission.
How much of my time are you willing to take?
Your accessibility objectives really measure the amount of disrespect you’re providing to a customer. When customers say they need service, every second you make them wait is taking time away from their lives.
Should I begin to look for an alternative?
Making people wait on hold in a contact center allows them to reconsider their relationship with the organization. And, with the fingertip alternatives available via the Internet, an extended hold time can result in a new opportunity for a competitor.
I’m too busy right now.
When people hang up, they are sending a message about what they’ve decided to do instead of waiting – and that is do something else. The message can be as simple as “I don’t have tolerance for wasting time” or “I have alternatives.” Either way, by hanging up once placed in queue sends a message — one directly from the customer. While looking at your accessibility objectives through different glasses provides a nice perspective, it can leave some of the reasons open to interpretation. The key to getting everyone involved is to set some foundational standards associated with each objective that make it clear to everyone the importance to the customer and the contact center.
It’s the price of admission.
You cannot succeed in providing centralized contact center support without having the door open when promised. This is something that more customers openly talk about, and it can dramatically reduce the frontline agent’s job enjoyment. It’s important to understand that it’s not a goal – it’s one of the reasons contact centers exist – to provide service when their customers want it. Not getting this they right isn’t an option and can’t be viewed as a daily goal or measure – it’s something that must be there, period.
Impacts everything down the line.
When you don’t get it right, everything else down the line is impacted and the next customer will also suffer. It’s a combination of a vicious cycle and domino effect – the first time you start to lose control, it begins to negatively impact the next one…and those customers who are negatively impacted call back and the entire frustration starts over again.
Must be measured and “managed” by interval.
All customers have the same chance to receive the same level of service, regardless of when they choose to contact you. Remember, customers are in charge. They contact you throughout the day, when they have a need. In every contact center, the workload needs to be managed and measured in every interval of every day – that’s how customers expect service.
Impacts everything about the plan.
If you don’t get the accessibility measures managed as they relate to the customer’s needs, all of the subsequent activities will suffer. Many contact centers get caught in a world focused on real-time management and recovery…and in most cases this is self inflicted. The key is to handle customers’ needs when they arrive — if you don’t, you lose control of all the subsequent events. This creates further challenges with accessibility down the line, and consequently drives up the contact center “chaos” factor.
An early signal of customer frustration.
If your customers are hanging up or have to wait, it’s a bigger deal to them than it is to those running the department. Making the connection between your accessibility objectives and customers means looking at the world through their eyes. If they’re waiting a long time in line or self-selecting out of line, it means they’re not happy. And it’s historical — meaning you could have already pushed them over the edge and they won’t be coming back.
Differentiate based on customers and products.
A one-size-fits-all approach to accessibility objectives is a mistake – not all customers are the same and your products provide different value. With that in mind, you should have as many accessibility targets as you do customer types and products supported.
Customers’ expectations are forever evolving, so you’ll want to continuously revisit them as part of your planning process.
Pulling the Pieces Together
The best contact centers know that metrics are simply an indicator of opportunities, and that real positive change happens when leaders focus on the right behaviors that help the voice of your company get better.
