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Call Center Support
FP is committed to hiring the most qualified, experienced Customer Service Representatives (CSRs) who demonstrate responsibility and job stability. Selected applicants have at least one year of customer service experience and at least one year of uninterrupted employment.
Employee referrals and newspaper and internet ads are the most successful methods for recruiting qualified applicants. College job boards and job fairs, local job fairs, and recruiting agencies have also been used depending on the time of year and need.
Before a prospective CSR is interviewed in person, a phone screening is conducted, assessing voice projection, clarity, verbal communication proficiency, diction, and articulation. On site, candidates are further screened and tested for typing speed and accuracy, cognitive ability, and PC literacy. During the personal interview dependability, ability to deal with uncomfortable situations, and professional goals are explored. Qualified applicants have up-beat, positive communication skills, are focused, quick thinkers with an interest in problem-solving, and can demonstrate solid customer service practices.
All offers (for full- and part-time positions) are made contingent on the ability to successfully pass a drug test and background check.
The training philosophy starts with hiring the right people. Systems and business rules can be trained, but traits such as friendliness and dependability can only be reinforced.
Operating under the belief that expectations and goals are better achieved if written down and effectively communicated, new CSRs are provided with a solid foundation of performance requirements. In addition, information is provided verbally, in writing, and/or visually to enhance the cognitive process. New CSRs, hired with previous customer service experience, are provided with further training on phone etiquette and polite management of irate callers, and the Contact Center Mission Statement, policies, and procedures are reviewed in detail.
General system training is provided in a secluded test environment one-on-one or in a small group of up to 8 people. Using roll-playing and Q & A sessions, operators maneuver through mock calls using client-specific systems and business rules. A general system training manual is also provided for reference.
When ready, the trainees are each assigned a senior operator. The trainee monitors the operator's calls and watches the corresponding system maneuvers. When necessary, after the call, specific questions and more detailed instructions can occur. When appropriate, the trainee begins to answer calls, with the senior operator on the line monitoring. The lead has the ability to coach the trainee without the caller hearing the trainer as well as the ability to join in on the call.
Supervisors (1-5 ratio) perform QA functions including monitoring, test calling, evaluation counseling, and when necessary on-the-spot training to ensure the best quality service possible. Currently, each supervisor is required to monitor and test call each CSR on their shift once-per-day. With FP's tight supervisor ratios it's very common for a CSR to receive several monitor evaluations per day. The monitor evaluations are comprised of a 6-tiered question and answer process determining (on a scale from 1-5) how well the CSR interacted with the caller using client and FP business rules. Once the test is completed the supervisor immediately reviews the evaluation with the CSR. Documentation is reviewed by management and stored in the employee's permanent files.
Poor performance is addressed with additional training and/or more aggressive monitoring and test calling to ensure positive progress is being achieved. This method and the philosophy of giving the employee every opportunity to succeed usually correct any poor performance. When it doesn't, the documentation substantiates the demotion or termination of the employee.
CSR Hiring Methodology
Before a prospective Customer Service Representative (CSR) is brought in for a personal interview, our Human Resources Department conducts a pre-interview screening by telephone. During the telephone conversation, we look for voice projection, clarity, verbal communication proficiency, diction and articulation.
During the formal interview process, all candidates are screened and tested for their typing speed and accuracy, cognitive ability, PC literacy, and speech. The formal interview is conducted by a member of the Contact Center supervisory staff and consists of questions that will give insight to the applicant's ability to meet FP expectations. We inquire about the overall work history of the candidate as well as his/her dependability, ability to deal with uncomfortable situations, and future goals. We keep an eye out for individuals with upbeat personalities, a desire to work in a team-led company, and an understanding that pleasing our customers and clients is top priority. FP hires individuals who are focused, quick thinkers with an interest in problem-solving.
Should FP decide to employ the candidate, an offer is made contingent on the candidate's ability to successfully pass a drug test and background check. The passing of these tests are mandatory for every FP employee, whether full- or part-time.
Training Staff
FP has 3 Contact Center Trainers, one on each shift. The first-shift trainer directs and trains the other shift trainers as well as new and existing staff. And under the direction of the contact center management the first-shift trainer is responsible for maintaining the training systems and tools.
Supervisor Training
During the research and development stages of project implementation key FP personnel will glean account details necessary to be passed along for training purposes. The account support representative will work closely with contact center and account support management teams along with the contact center trainers and supervisors to develop a thorough training plan. Input from clients is encouraged and necessary. Some clients have chosen to come on-site to join the training, while this is not imperative it is welcome.
Underperforming CSRs
Through monitoring, test calls, and general floor supervision, CSR performance is monitored. Employees receive immediate and documented evaluations on that performance — both good and bad. Poor performance is addressed with additional training and/or more aggressive monitoring and test calling to ensure positive progress is being achieved. This method and the philosophy of giving the employee every opportunity to succeed usually corrects any poor performance. When it doesn't, the documentation substantiates the demotion or termination of the employee.
Management and Supervisor Experience
In 1998 NCP Marketing, Inc. contracted FP Services as its customer service contact center for its new infomercial product: The Billy Blank's Tae-Bo Exercise Program. While West Teleservices took the initial order calls, FP handled customer service calls and captured subsequent orders, as well. From August of 1998 through December of 2000, FP captured 613,211 calls, 322,200 of which occurred in 1999, capturing 58,494 calls in January of 1999 alone. Although FP did work with an outside call center between May and December of 2000, in 1999 the calls were handled exclusively by FP's in-house live operators. Most of the existing FP contact center leadership staff was working for FP during this time, gaining invaluable experience in high-volume, rapid-growth call activity.
E-mail Customer Support
FP provides both automated and personalized e-mail customer service and the personalized e-mail can be pre-formatted or original. The agents who are trained to handle e-mail customer service are our senior phone representatives who have demonstrated exceptional customer service abilities and a solid understanding of the client account(s). We train our representatives to handle e-mail customer service by one-on-one training and follow-up with our shift trainers. Training consists of hands-on application and understanding how the system works and then specific client training. Our account support representative will work with the client to develop predetermined responses whenever possible that allow for streamlining and efficiencies. All e-mails are copied to a supervisor for quality assurance. E-mails with more complex or escalated importance are composed and sent by supervisors and ASRs.
TeleVantage 7.0 IP Telephony System Standard Reports Package
The following is a listing of the standard reports preconfigured with the TeleVantage 7.0 IP System that are available to clients. The system has the capability to develop customized reports based on client and business needs.
Performance Report
Average Wait Time and Call Volume by Time of Day — average wait time and inbound call volume displayed by hour.
Call Trends — total outbound calls by a user, example: measures the performance of an outbound sales campaign.
Call Volume by Identified Caller — shows total calls by a user, queue, or workgroup received and average talk duration.
Cumulative Calls and Average Talk Time by Agent — shows total calls made and received and average talk time.
Inbound Call Outcome Trends — total calls handled by one agent, multiple agents, abandoned, sent to voice mail, and the total number of calls for any queue.
Inbound Call Volume Trends — total calls a queue received, average wait time and longest wait time.
Queue Call History Detail — shows the activity from an individual queue. Data can be used to develop detailed reports.
Queue Comparison — compares all queues on total number of calls, average wait time and total calls handled, abandoned, and sent to voice mail.
Service Level — by wait time, shows the percentage of calls answered, abandoned, or sent to voice mail during a time range for a queue.
User Activity — pie charts showing the percentage of an agent's time spent in active versus other statuses. Shows the kinds of calls that make up the active calls.
Wait by Outcome — shows how long callers waited before their calls were handled, abandoned, or sent to voice mail.
Management Reports
Agent by Queue and Skill Configuration.
Agent Performance by Skill.
Call Distribution by Skill and Agent.
Call Distribution by Skill and Queue.
Call Log — By date range, shows a user's call log entries.
Call Result by Skill.
Call Volume by Account Code — total calls and talk time for calls using each account code. Track any type of call where agents enter account codes.
Service Level by Skill.
Skill Assignment by Agent.
Trunk Performance by Agent.
- Custom Data — total calls and average talk-time associated with calls from a user, queue, or all system calls that are identified by a specific custom data variable.
- Example: an auto attendant could be configured to set the "Product" custom variable to "Apples" or "Oranges" based on the menu choice selected. This report would show how many callers selected "Apples" versus "Oranges," and the average length of those calls.
CSR Training and Monitoring
Phone system routes calls based on skill-level.
Floor supervisors constantly monitor call activity and resources to answer calls in queue.
CSR follows client-approved scripts and uses system functions so that accurate information is provided to the caller.
Programs populate fields and verify data integrity as much as possible using check-digit routines, client-specified business rules, and established files.
Each CSR is monitored and the resulting evaluation is reviewed with the CSR. The monitoring results become part of the employee's personnel file and are used during formal performance reviews.
CSR staff receives initial training in a controlled training environment. Training includes product samples and a written test.
Refresher training is provided on existing clients (called Client Focus) and includes written tests.
Performance reports are reviewed by management indicating average operator call time, as well as amount of talk and idle time.
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