See if you agree with this statement: “The overwhelming majority of ongoing call center expense is related to staffing.”
Of course you do. As officials of Monet Software noted recently, “optimizing the personnel resource is critical. Overstaffing results in needless spending for unnecessary staff, while understaffing will lower service levels, increase staff turnover and impact your revenues.”
Monet WFM Live is desgined to help users automate tasks that have an immediate impact on the bottom line through what company officials describe as “more accurate call volume forecasting, staffing calculations and scheduling and daily performance tracking."
Breaking down the ROI to their Monet Workforce Management offering, company officials say it can result in measurable improvements in the following areas:
More efficient scheduling and agent usage. The savings associated with more efficient scheduling includes reducing overall staff hours and need for overtime and identification of overstaffing. Call centers using WFM systems generally experience a minimum reduction of two percent for staff hours with an average potential savings in the 5 – 10 percent range.
Read more here.
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Property Solutions was recently highlighted on Staho.com, an online industry journal reporting on telemarketing and other industries, as an example of a company which “improved the old version of telemarketing software for property management companies by adding a new marketing tool.”
Lead Alert, as Stahlo.com explains, is “a marketing tool which has been designed to notify property managers when a new customer submits a lease or an online guest application. The telemarketing software has also been designed to notify the property managers when a resident submits a review for their property online.”
The telemarketing software can be downloaded by property management companies for free from the company’s website, and property managers can customize it to display only the alerts they want to see, Stahlo.com explains:
“The marketing tool is easy to install and to work with. When an application is submitted, a small pop-up appears from the manager’s task-bar. The pop-up shows the subject and the origin of the application and a link. For more details, property managers must click the link.”
Read more here.
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A Caller Bill of Rights sure sounds good, doesn’t it? Thanks to Angel.com for proposing one.
A quick look at a few of its proposals and excerpts from their reasoning:
Number one: The right to clear expectations about what the IRV can and can’t do. Make it clear to callers what your IVR system can help them with. If the system has a single purpose, introduce that purpose to callers clearly, upfront. If the system can do several different things, create a clear and concise menu structure that quickly educates callers about their automated choices. Whether intentional or not, many IVR systems seem to trap callers within layers upon layers of nested menus, without making it clear to callers whether or not the issue they called about is addressable by the system. While this design practice might temporarily increase containment rates, callers will eventually become frustrated and learn to distrust the IVR.
The right to know whether or not live help is available. We believe that an IVR system should not keep secrets. So, if a representative is available to help, let callers know that they have a choice to either use automation or speak with a representative for tasks that can’t be automated. We believe that over time, callers will learn to choose to use automation when it servestheir needs, rather than spending their time trying to trick the IVR into getting them to a live person, as they are often forced to do today.
Read more here.
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From Raleigh, North Carolina comes news that RLCB (formerly Raleigh Lions Clinic for the Blind) has announced the opening of a new call center facility which is, according to RLCB officials, “providing employment for people who are blind.”
National Industries for the Blind recently selected the RLCB call center to handle national calls for its Skilcraft products sold through the AbilityOne Program to federal agencies and the U.S. Department of Defense. The call center also handles customer fulfillment including catalog requests and distribution of brochures and sales collateral.
The call center is a state-of-the-art facility, RLCB say, “staffed by well-qualified and trained employees.”
"RLCB offers a turn-key call center operation for small or large businesses throughout the United States," says RLCB CEO Janet Griffey. "The employees at this location handle short-term and long-term projects with great results. One client seeking to increase its membership base experienced a 400 percent return on investment using our call center."
This call center is “a great asset that is helping nearly 500 distributors, most of which are small businesses selling Skilcraft products throughout the federal government," says Kevin A. Lynch, president and CEO, National Industries for the Blind. "We expect to see the call center create more new jobs locally, and as SKILCRAFT sales increase through the call center's telemarketing services, these sales will help sustain and create jobs for nearly 6,000 blind employees nationwide who produce SKILCRAFT products and services."
Read more here.
