In every business establishment information from the consumers about a product is vital to its future survivability. Customers who call the company's call banks with various questions regarding a particular product should be handled with the at most care to ensure their loyalty to the company. Enhancing etiquette at the call banks of a company is the most important factor that encourages customers and draws them towards the company's products.
Abbing says that, call blockage in the call bank can be termed as an accessibility measure. This is measured by establishing the number of abandoned calls.If the consumers cannot get through the line and talk to the agent in the call bank, a sense of inferior is experienced and many opt to change their consumption pattern and turn to where their voice will be heard when need be. This is a continuous variable since it keeps on discouraging consumers more and more. To solve this problem, telephone lines can be adjusted to attain a certain level of access or blockage which is always consistent. Blockage can also be caused by the employment of few staffs in the call centers. To solve this, the company should ensure that there are adequate staffs in the call banks to serve the customers on the phone instead of blocking them which will in return go a long way in making the company lose more customers due to their dissatisfaction. To ensure customers satisfaction, many companies have set a goal of making sure that fewer calls are abandoned at any given time and if otherwise happens due to the lines being busy then a redial is enhanced to ensure the customers' questions are answered. This variable is discrete since the no of abandoned calls can be quantified through members (Abbing 2010).
Connolly continues to say that, knowledge and competence in the handling of calls in the call banks is another factor that will see to it that, the company gets to know the customer's preferences and tastes. The caller fills satisfied if there is the presence of a person in the call bank who have adequate information about the product offered and who can comfortably handle customers request and questions. This is a continuous variable since there is no quantitive measure of knowledge. To solve this problem many companies have employed staffs who are competent with the company's product and who can handle and question-related to the product or the company with the at most caution. Knowledge and competence of an individual are measured by the number of calls can handle to completion and the number of problems is able to solve on request by the consumer (Connolly 2007).
Another factor which needs more attention in the company's call bank is first-call resolution rate. Connolly continues saying that, this is where an individual staff in the call bank has the capability of answering all the callers' questions without having to consult another agent for the same. This enhances the company's capability to save callers time and also ensures the consumer is always satisfied at all times. This is tracked from an individual level to ensure their capability in the call centers. To enhance resolution rate, it requires the company to set a goal of quitline. This is measured by the capability of the agent to handle a big percentage of calls in good enough time with no return rates experienced rather than the achievement of satisfaction (Connolly 2007).
Grant says that, error and reworking rate falls under call handling process. This is the rate at which errors have to be addressed and corrected or have the job being done again. Though call processing measure cannot be quantified, call centers have to track all error made during the calls and the rework associated with such calls. This is done because errors always bring additional expense to the company. Many call centers track errors made on calls from an individual level, this is to identify individual contribution and performance in their working capacity. He continues to put across that, the measurement of errors mostly involves quality monitoring process with a review on both call and hard copy, this also ensures errors are eradicated and hence callers are kept satisfied at all times (Grant 2011).
Rosenberg puts across that, quality in the call centers is also met when adherence to protocols is addressed in the company. This ensures that callers always meet qualified personnel during the calling process. This makes sure that callers' problems and question about a particular product are tackled by an individual who is competent with the product's information. This is encouraged in main companies to reduce the issue of calls going to the wrong person hence making the caller unsatisfied by the response (Rosenberg 1982).
In conclusion, service providers should come up with standards that will monitor call handling process and have their staff equipped with the knowledge to meet them at all times to enhance smooth learning of the company and also keep the customers satisfied at all times. In addition, they should also formulate and adopt means of evaluating information given by a caller. This can be achieved through obtaining quantitive information from callers through constant customer survey.
