Is your support nailing it? Take this quiz and find out

Support teams are invaluable to every call center. They need good guidance to work at the best level. Evaluation of the management process can be problematic – we know it, and that’s why you should take this quiz!

2020 is officially over and we’re entering the first quarter of the new year with a carte blanche. We’re all full of new hopes and energy to make the new period a fresh chapter that is better for our businesses. 

To truly maximize your team’s potential, you should look at your actions from a distance to gain a broader perspective.

Sometimes the evaluation process might turn out to be the trickiest part of team management. The darkest place is under the candle, as they say. And in every catchphrase, there’s an element of truth.

That’s why we’ve prepared this quiz. We believe that it can help you with assessment of your past actions. Give it a go and see for yourself what elements you should focus on in the coming months.

Why exactly should you take this quiz?

It’s never easy to sum-up the work of your previous year, as everyone can probably see something that could be improved. However, try to be as honest as you can during this test to find out what truly needs to be changed. If you do so, then we might have a few handy solutions for you.

This quiz is divided into three sections. The first one refers to your employees – their workflow, performance, business flexibility, and collaboration skills. The next step is about your self-development and leadership, while the final part is regarding the technologies your teams use to make the most of their daily tasks.

However, we don’t want to simplify the results too much. This quiz aims to show you the most important aspects of your team’s work that can be enhanced. There’s no “one size fits all” solution, and thus we won’t say exactly what you should do.

Keep in mind to adjust the results to your company’s needs. Now you know the rules, are you ready to pick up the gauntlet?

Think about your team

Let’s start with questions related to the way your employees work. As a manager, you need to keep an eye on your workers and track their progress. Here are things to take into account when evaluating your team’s performance.

#1 What’s the tone of agents’ communication with clients?

Being kind to people isn’t just a form of courtesy in a call center. It’s an essential factor to help you with persuasion. The numbers don’t lie – 68% of clients think that the most important aspect of a conversation is a friendly tone.

Highlight to your team the importance of a personal approach towards their clients. If you want to boost customization even more, you can choose a call center software system that allows you to set personal greetings.

#2 Has anyone in your office experienced burnout? Are you taking action to avoid it?

This question is closely related to the second one in the next section. Working in a call center is based on constant contact with clients, which can be mentally taxing for your employees.

In a perfect world, every member of your team would inform you if they felt burnout. In reality, it’s more complicated than that, but nevertheless, try to talk with your agents and show them how to unwind.

To learn more about this topic, you can read expert articles posted on our blog. Get to know nine simple tips on making cold calling far less stressful in 2021 and use them to your team’s advantage.

#3 How would you rate the service level in your call center?

The professionalism of your call center agents is the result of many elements. Ideally, the answering time should be satisfactory to manage clients’ issues comprehensively but quickly.

Also, your employees should specialize in particular aspects of support to take care of specific problems. Having a history of phone calls all at your agents’ fingertips is a must-have feature in the world of digital.

Up to you – answer these questions

A lot of things depend on you and the character of your leadership. Every manager is different and highlights various parts of their team’s work as the key one. The office atmosphere, employee motivation, and even their effectiveness might all be affected by your work attitude.

#1 Do you find time for self-development?

Your agents might need to feel support from you during daily work. You should be a person whom they can speak to whenever they have a problematic client or situation. That’s why it’s essential for you to continually broaden your knowledge of customer service and related subjects.

Developing your negotiation skills is also crucial, as is deepening your proficiency in using the tools in your call center. 

Sometimes your team members might not know how to use a particular feature. Although a colleague should usually be able to help, you should also know for yourself how the company’s software systems work. This is even more essential in the world of remote work, where automation tools are bread and butter for most companies and are an inevitable solution.

So by self-development, we mean any kind of honing your skills or education.

#2 Do you show your employees how to maintain a work-life balance? Are you able to comply with it yourself?

There are team leaders who say that they develop their skills constantly, but never sleep and never take a day-off. Although it might sound admirable for some people, by most it is perceived negatively.

Such an approach might create a hostile atmosphere within a team, as agents can feel overwhelmed by the manager’s workload. They may feel as if their job is never enough compared to the achievements of the leader.

From your own perspective, it might lead to burnout, exhaustion, and thus deterioration of your health. Because sleep relates with overall body functionality which ultimately relates to your success at the workplace. Your cognitive skills could reduce, resulting in stagnation creativity.

Showing your employees that you’re able to maintain a balance between your work and private life can be a huge plus. They may perceive you as a more valuable leader because of the ability to organize both your home and office.

#3 Do you ask your team members for feedback regularly?

No one but yourself, as a call center manager, should know better that communication is key. If you want your team to talk with their clients in a persuasive and friendly way, they need to feel a similar atmosphere in the office.

It might sound like an exaggeration, but it’s the truth – an office aura can highly reflect on employees’ performance. To keep your team motivated and know the exact key issues within your company, you might need to talk with your agents regularly. Besides general meetings, you can organize one-to-one appointments.

It’s better to nip a problem in the bud instead of fixing it later.

#4 Are you using relevant metrics to track your team’s performance?

You’ll only be able to improve your call center team’s performance if you have data to compare. Luckily, automation tools help you with gathering relevant information all in one place so you don’t have to do it manually (unless you want to waste your time on it).

Look at the metrics you’ve followed to this day and ask yourself whether or not they are actually relevant. Here you can read about the numbers you should be monitoring in your customer support.

#5 Do you have a transparent reward system or career path?

Most people work better if they are driven by the prospect of a promotion or a reward. Sometimes even kind praise can make the day for an employee.

So if you can create a reward system or career paths in your company, start working on it. But be careful not to promise something you can’t actually give.

Upgrade your teamwork with the new year

Every call center should be there for its clients. To do so, you need to constantly improve your work. By making relevant changes, your team can live up to customer’s expectations. The following questions relate to the hottest trends for Q1 of the new year. Make sure you follow most of them to deliver the best service possible and close more deals in the near future.

#1 Do you know business trends for and predictions for 2021?

This year, customers will pay increasingly more attention to personalized service. They will expect their calls to be answered as quickly as possible and have the option to handle some parts of their problems by themselves, so it’s smart to include self-service elements on your website.

However, when a customer eventually decides to contact your support team, they want to be routed straight to the most suitable person who knows their particular case. To meet their expectations, you can divide your team according to each employee’s specific abilities and use skills-based routing for better management.

#2 Are your agents able to treat each client as an individual?

Personalization is key, so the more customized your calls are the better. With the right software system, your agents can have special offers for your most loyal clients. You can create a unique database of premium customers and add them to the special list. They would have priority to contact the call center quickly with a VIP queues feature.

You can also assign a preferred agent to each client and prepare different scripts and various sales techniques for them. Thanks to that, you can take care of every second of a conversation with an agent.

#3 Are your automation tools integrated?

Omnichannel tools truly save time and let your team focus on customers’ issues. To create one, you need to pick a few that are essential for your call center and check whether you can integrate them with each other

For example, you can connect CloudTalk with CRM systems, Helpdesks, ecommerce platforms, and other software applications. Remember that although tools like this are important, it’s most effective to use only a few that you truly need. It’s so easy to drown in the sea of software systems offered on the market.

How to interpret the results? Three simple ways

After the quiz, you should be aware of your service level and sensitive areas in your team’s workflow. It’s time to write them down and think about real actions that you can take to improve these facets.

#1 You have to take action yourself

Ones that concern your workflow are just for your own awareness, and you can handle them yourself by trying different leading methods. Work on your organizational skills and develop them with workshops and training.

To be able to give something to others, you have to create a solid background for yourself first. To share understanding, you need to have your own knowledge base. Invest in it and spread it within your team.

#2 Be the role model

When it comes to your team, their effectiveness might depend on a few factors. Two of the most important ones are your leadership style and automation tools. 

Why? Because it’s you who needs to set the example of a person who is efficient and well-organized. You’re also the one who needs to create a positive atmosphere in the office. To keep the team motivated, you should offer rewards for excellent work. You have to invest in your team to earn more, and it will pay off if you’re working with the right people.

#3 Invest in your team

As we’ve already stated, the right tools can be a blessing for every team. Investing in your employees’ development during workshops is equally as important as arming them with specific equipment. 

According to Forrester’s predictions, a whopping 35% of companies will double down on Artificial Intelligence and automation solutions in 2021. This indicates that it’s high time to create your own omnichannel that will be tailored to your call center’s needs.

Truth or dare? Choose both to leverage your workflow in 2021

As you can see, there’s a lot you can do this year. Although this quiz aims to encourage you to improve aspects that can be improved within your support team, you should also reward yourself for what you’ve already achieved.

Last year was challenging for many companies, so making it through at all is a success by any means.

With an ongoing automation process, you can seize the opportunity to create an omnichannel platform. Start making data-driven decisions today to improve your team’s performance.