First Call Resolution or FCR as it is known is arguably the most significant and important metric in use in contact centers today. Yet this metric is infrequently used and when employed internal approximations or 'stand-ins' often have to be employed. A recent study completed by at Ascent Group ( http://www.ascentgroup.com/) of more than 100 companies in 14 industries found that in companies that are measuring FCR only 44% are competing this measurement based on customer feedback, the balance or 56% employ approximations or 'stand-ins' such Call Monitoring (20%), Agent assessments (8%) and internal calculation (27%).
It is critical to all contact centers to not only know why customers are calling (call types), but also whether and how well the call/contact center performs at resolving the inquiry. Without measuring FCR an organization cannot know how well they are meeting their customers' expectations. In addition at The Taylor Reach Group ( http://www.thetaylorreachgroup.com/) we have encountered numerous organizations that have been able to reduce operational expense while increasing customer satisfaction by implementing FCR in conjunction with Root Cause Analysis (RCA) and process review to increase resolution rates significantly.
If you are not measuring FCR today, you need to start immediately. The most accurate measure is to ask your customers at the end of each call if you have resolved their 'issue' or reason for their call. (Of course if they say no, you must be prepared to revisit the issue.) After all the customer knows why they called and what their expectations were regarding resolution. If you ask your customers you must be prepared to track the results in your CRM or CIS system. In addition you must validate the results periodically through recorded call verification...this will stop/reduce agents improving their own scores by answering the question for the customer. If you don't have a CRM or CIS then most likely you will employ a stand in such as a second call from the same customer within 48 hours as an indication of FCR not being met on the original call. Depending on the nature of the call and the type of center you operate the time metric of 48 hours may not be appropriate and 24 or 72 may be better. This may also take some fine-tuning to improve the comfort with the result.
If you would like additional information on FCR or other critical metrics in contact center operation please drop me a note at ctaylor@thetaylorreachgroup.com.
Showing posts with label CRM. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CRM. Show all posts
Monday, January 19, 2009
Wednesday, January 3, 2007
Resolution- Service that Doesn't Suck
OK, so I am a couple of days late...but this thought keeps rattling around inside my head. What if senior executives, CEO's and everyone associated with delivering service to their customers made the resolution above? What a wonderful world it would be.
No more " please listen to our complete menu as the options have changed", as we spend 25 minutes in IVR hell. No more managing to an Average Handle Time (AHT) in the mistaken belief that this will actually make the call center more efficient. The customers will just spread their service request over two highly dissatisfying calls instead of one. No more"your call is important to us please hold", which as we all know is the textbook definition of bullshit (saying one thing while knowing it is not correct) or neurotic (wanting the world to be as you think it should be rather than as it is).
What if senior managers were accountable to their customers 'en mass' rather than individually. what would this new world order be like? managers would no longer view customer churn and defections as simply a part of the game. They would realize that each and every thread that exists between a customer and a company can either bind them more closely together or pull them apart (this of course is the essence of true Customer Relationship Management (CRM)). Would we see organizations working diligently to ensure that they never interacted with their own customer (self-service)? I doubt it.
If every senior manager made this resolution we would begin to see organizations that realize that good service doesn't have top cost more than poor service, that aligned organizations develop a continuity that rises above 'bullshit' and that despite popular opinion to the contrary a customer should be able to "confuse sell with install" and not suffer dire consequences.
Of course the majority of resolutions are not kept, by anyone, so our senior managers may well also be excused. But what if one company embraced this approach and saw the improvements in customer retention, life time value, customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction, revenues, profits and stock price...do you then think we would see other follow?
Then the challenge to us to help our company deliver 'Service that Doesn't Suck' , now this isn't as compelling a rallying cry as "remember the Alamo" or "ask not what your country can do for you", but imagine if we succeed. Good Luck and have a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year.
No more " please listen to our complete menu as the options have changed", as we spend 25 minutes in IVR hell. No more managing to an Average Handle Time (AHT) in the mistaken belief that this will actually make the call center more efficient. The customers will just spread their service request over two highly dissatisfying calls instead of one. No more"your call is important to us please hold", which as we all know is the textbook definition of bullshit (saying one thing while knowing it is not correct) or neurotic (wanting the world to be as you think it should be rather than as it is).
What if senior managers were accountable to their customers 'en mass' rather than individually. what would this new world order be like? managers would no longer view customer churn and defections as simply a part of the game. They would realize that each and every thread that exists between a customer and a company can either bind them more closely together or pull them apart (this of course is the essence of true Customer Relationship Management (CRM)). Would we see organizations working diligently to ensure that they never interacted with their own customer (self-service)? I doubt it.
If every senior manager made this resolution we would begin to see organizations that realize that good service doesn't have top cost more than poor service, that aligned organizations develop a continuity that rises above 'bullshit' and that despite popular opinion to the contrary a customer should be able to "confuse sell with install" and not suffer dire consequences.
Of course the majority of resolutions are not kept, by anyone, so our senior managers may well also be excused. But what if one company embraced this approach and saw the improvements in customer retention, life time value, customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction, revenues, profits and stock price...do you then think we would see other follow?
Then the challenge to us to help our company deliver 'Service that Doesn't Suck' , now this isn't as compelling a rallying cry as "remember the Alamo" or "ask not what your country can do for you", but imagine if we succeed. Good Luck and have a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year.
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