Running a successful contact center requires a delicate balance of efficiency, effectiveness, and productivity. The key to achieving this balance lies in ensuring that your contact center agents are equipped with the right tools, skills, and support to excel in their roles. As a contact center manager or supervisor, it’s essential to regularly assess and enhance agent productivity to ensure optimal performance.
The following is a comprehensive (although arguably not exhaustive) contact center agent productivity checklist.
Download this Contact Center Agent Productivity Checklist if your performance goals include improving/increasing any of the following productivity metrics:
Average Handling Time (AHT): Includes any time an agent spends on a customer interaction PLUS the time it takes to complete After Call Work (ACW)
First Call Resolution: What percentage of customer needs/inquiries are resolved on the first contact (avoiding additional interactions or escalations)
Customer Satisfaction (CSAT): How happy are your customers? How do they feel about the service agents are providing?
Agent Utilization: How much of the agent’s time is actually being spent on PRODUCTIVE work/activities (interacting with customers, training/learning, or critical admin).
Call Quality: This measures for the effectiveness of agent interactions— are they empathetic? Actively listening? adhering (or deviating) from scripts? following compliance requirements?
Use this checklist to evaluate your contact center & agent efficiency. There’s no escaping or making excuses; if your goal is ultimate agent productivity, this list will point out the must-dos/can’t dos and gaping holes/opportunities for improvement.
Contact Center Agent Productivity Checklist
1. Training & Development Process Efficiency:
Efficient training programs are the foundation of a productive contact center. Ensure that your agents receive comprehensive training that equips them with the knowledge and skills needed to handle customer interactions effectively. Regularly assess training needs, update materials, and provide ongoing coaching and development opportunities. Well-trained agents will feel confident and empowered to deliver exceptional customer experiences.
- Have you provided comprehensive training to new agents, covering product knowledge, customer service skills, and relevant tools and systems?
- Do you have ongoing training programs to keep agents updated with new processes, technologies, and industry best practices?
- Are there opportunities for agents to enhance their skills through workshops, webinars, or certifications?
2. Communication:
Evaluate your communication channels and tools to ensure they facilitate seamless information flow among agents, supervisors, and other departments. Implement real-time conversational intelligence, collaborative workspaces, and video conferencing tools to foster teamwork and quick problem-solving. Strong communication channels promote efficiency and reduce response times, leading to improved agent productivity.
- Is there clear and open communication between agents, supervisors, and other departments?
- Do agents have access to real-time communication channels (such as chat or messaging platforms) to collaborate and seek assistance when needed?
- Are there regular team meetings, huddles, or one-on-one sessions to address concerns, provide feedback, and foster a supportive work environment?
3. Technology & Tools:
Investing in the right technology can significantly boost agent productivity. Evaluate your contact center’s technological infrastructure to ensure it supports efficient workflows. Implement tools like advanced customer relationship management (CRM) systems and omnichannel campaign management platforms to streamline interactions and campaigns. By providing agents with intuitive, user-friendly tools, you can empower them to work smarter, not harder.
- Are your agents equipped with modern contact center software that streamlines workflows, automates repetitive tasks like call summarization, and integrates with CRM systems?
- Do agents have access to a knowledge base or a centralized repository of information to quickly find answers and resolve customer queries?
- Are you leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) tools, such as conversational intelligence, predictive analytics, and call summarization to assist agents and improve efficiency?
4. Performance Tracking & Metrics:
Tracking agent performance is vital for continuous improvement and productivity enhancement. Be sure to recognize and reward top performers while identifying areas for improvement through coaching and training interventions. Consider questions like:
- Do you have a robust performance tracking system in place to monitor key metrics, such as average handle time, first call resolution rate, customer satisfaction scores, and agent adherence to schedules?
- Are agents provided with regular performance feedback and coaching sessions to identify strengths, address weaknesses, and set goals for improvement?
- Are performance metrics shared with agents transparently, fostering a sense of accountability and healthy competition?
5. Employee Engagement & Well-being:
Engaged and satisfied agents are more likely to deliver outstanding customer experiences. In fact, 71% of executives consider employee engagement critical to their company’s success. Assess your employee engagement initiatives and ensure they cater to the needs and aspirations of your agents. When agents feel valued and motivated, their productivity soars.
- Are you actively promoting a positive work environment that values agent well-being, job satisfaction, and work-life balance?
- Do agents have access to resources for stress management, such as wellness programs, counseling services, or flexible scheduling options?
- Are you recognizing and rewarding high-performing agents to boost motivation and job satisfaction?
Pump Up Agent Productivity with Acqueon Engagement & Acqueon AiQ
Assessing and enhancing contact center agent productivity is an ongoing process that requires a holistic approach. Use this contact center agent productivity checklist, you can evaluate your contact center’s performance in key areas.
Identify opportunities for improvement and implement targeted strategies to optimize agent productivity. Remember, investing in your agents’ success will lead to improved customer experiences and long-term business growth.
Integrating Acqueon with an organization’s CCaaS solution creates high-value revenue generation, recovery & cost reduction outcomes by:
- Automating voice + digital communication workflows that maximize Right Party Contacts
- Using AI and predictive analytics to personalize customer communications— timing, channel, message & targeted offers. “Spray & pray” mass messages may never be fully retired but consumers now expect intelligent personalization through all phases of the customer journey. Technology that enables Next Best Experiences (NBX) is key to B2C enterprises differentiating through customer experiences (CX).
- Keeping the enterprise fully compliant with privacy and communication regulations— organizations that get compliance right avoid multi-millions in litigation and irreparable brand reputation damage
Advanced campaign and list management with built-in comprehensive compliance and real-time AI-powered conversational intelligence is the revenue-focused customer engagement foundation of successful banks, lenders, insurance companies, healthcare providers, public sector/non-profit entities and B2C retailers. Contacting the right person, at the right time, on the right channels and with personalized messaging leads to revenue generation, recovery, and retention.
Learn how Acqueon’s advanced campaign manager plus real-time Agent Guidance & Agent Coaching with AI-powered Call Summarization supercharges agent productivity for BIG revenue outcomes.