Give Your Call Center Some Love! 5 Key Strategies for Building a High Performing Call Center Team.
Consider this, your call center representatives touch more members every day than employees in all other operational units combined. In 2020, carriers with dental business representing about 25% of the dental benefits market received over 16.2 million phone calls*. The opportunity to improve brand perception with members, and grow them into brand advocates, falls almost squarely on your call center representatives. Every call is a chance to leave a member feeling good about your company, services, and the employees representing your brand.
Here are 5 key strategies for building a high performing call center team:
1) A real commitment to knowledge training. Knowledge is power, and the more your call center representatives possess, the better their ability to quickly and efficiently serve members when answering difficult questions. Furthermore, training is an investment in your employee’s education and opens doors for career advancement.
2) Space to work, and the best equipment and tools. Give your call center representatives the best workstations, computers, phone equipment, perks, and reference materials possible. If you struggle with this, then walk a mile in their shoes by answering calls for an 8-hour shift.
3) A phone call represents a problem. It is critical to document, report, and learn the “why” behind each call to your call center. In today’s environment, a member should self-serve using digital tools to answer and solve problems. So, learn the “why”, and fix the underlying cause to prevent the call in the first place.
4) Hire strong employees to work in your call center. Make your call center the hub for advancement of talent into your organization. Hire the best candidates, train them, pay them well, and give them advancement opportunities.
5) Allow for advancement. Organizations sometimes fall into the trap of convincing themselves that high performing call center representatives are too important to promote. Reward hard work, knowledge, commitment, and high performance through promotion and advancement. Others will see how achieving results will create real opportunity for them.
At Strategic Dental we believe an elevated commitment to your call center will positively influence all aspects of your business, improve culture, increase brand equity, and grow member advocates. It’s time to give your call center some love!
*2020 NADP Customer Contact Center Metrics Report
