How to Improve Call Center “Occupancy?

 The one thing that drives the efficiency and success rate of a call center is the way the agents function. How productive your agents are happens to be directly proportional to the kind of call center software solutions you provide them with. However, there is a common misconception that is rampant in the field of call center services- that the productivity of an agent is the same as the occupancy rate of a call center. It is important to get the two concepts clear: the productivity of an agent is the amount of work he or she is doing and how well that works in the favor of the company.

The occupancy rate is a carefully calculated rate which takes into account the amount of time an agent is dedicating to his calls against the amount of time he spends in an idle manner. The degree to which your call center software lets you manage and control that, is the true mark of the best telemarketing software. 

Based on your occupancy rate you can track the success or failure of your contact center software solutions. There is actually a formula that exists which can help you calculate this rate. Now given that this rate is so scientific, necessary precautions must be taken to optimize it. If you think that you need to work on improving your call center “occupancy” rate, then there are actually a few methods that you can try out. 

Some of them are-

•    Monitoring the incoming calls is one way of optimizing the rates. As a call center manager, your job is to not only ensure the smooth functioning of your deployed outbound call center software, but also to monitor your agents’ calls. That way, you will be able to have a fair estimate of the volume of calls that each agent is handling. More importantly, since you will be listening in on the calls, you will be able to ensure that your customers are getting the kind of service they deserve and nothing less than that. 

•    Utilize your agents even during the quiet periods. Your agents are supposed to be hooked to the phones when they are working. But there might be certain days or even a specific time during your day when the traffic is pretty light. Does that mean your agents are free to do as they please? No, they are not. Every minute they spend idly is costing you your occupancy rate. Instead, you need to find ways of keeping them engaged. That is the best way to make sure that you’re making the most of your cloud contact center software. 

•    Just like you are managing to keep your agents engaged during idle hours, you need to make provisions for peak hours. During these hours, the traffic is going to be at its peak and you might find it a tad bit overwhelming. That is why it would be wise to outsource your workload to other contact center, too. But make sure that the contact center you contract also uses the same quality of customer contact center software solutions to manage their work process. It would certainly be a great way of balancing your traffic. Because remember, if your agents are overwhelmed that would be affecting the quality of their work as well.

•    Self-service is a big part of cloud contact center software now. It reduces the workload on the agents and would also eliminate the need for directly communicating with the agents. Your customers will be able to handle their problems themselves. For example, if you are handling calls for an ecommerce company, your customers will be able to track orders, manage them and even cancel them all by themselves. 

There you go, if you think that you need to improve the occupancy rate, you can use these four handy tricks. Of course, purchasing and using the best call center software will certainly help in providing the best customer service to your customers.