In my article last month, I wrote about measuring performance of your contact center by looking at the factor that matters most to customers. Do they get an answer to their questions the first time they contact you? I also mentioned several other ways of measuring the results of your efforts to satisfy customers. As I wrote that, sitting here in California, I wondered if customers in Argentina would focus on different factors than customers in the US. I decided to ask a local expert.

Sergio Rodsevich is the Director of the post graduate course in Contact Center Management at the Universidad de Belgrano, a course of study that assists managers to understand the technical and practical aspects of contact center management. (http://www.ub.edu.ar/facultades/DeptoEdCont/call_center.htm). He has worked for several large companies in the banking and telecommunications industries, setting up and running their contact centers. I asked Sergio to assist me with understanding the customer in MercoSur.

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Romson: Sergio, when you are lecturing about call center management at the University, how do you introduce the idea of metrics to your students?

Sr. Rodsevich: I talk to my students about the need to understand what they are measuring in their call center. I use the example of when you are sick. If take your temperature and it is higher than normal, that tells you that you are sick, but that does not give you much information other than that fact. From just taking your temperature you cannot tell if you have a cold or if there is something wrong that is much worse, like a lung infection. You must look at a number of different metrics to really understand what is going on.

Romson: When you look at a lot of data, all the information can be confusing. How should a manager handle that?
Sr. Rodsevich: I use the various metrics like the dashboard (el tablero de mando) on a car. There is not just one metric that I watch. There are factors that are more important than others, like the speed of your car, but you have to make sure that the engine temperature is within limits and that there is enough petrol in the tank to get you where you want to go. These gauges all need to be within a certain range. If one of them goes outside the range, you then have to gather more information about what is really happening.

Romson: In my article last month I mentioned that a Purdue University customer satisfaction study found that customers were most concerned with the ability to receive a correct answer on the first call, proper handling of complaints, adherence to schedule, length of queue time, abandon rate and speed of answer. When you think about your customers does this make sense to you?

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Sr. Rodsevich: Yes, it does. When my students first come to the class they usually say that they look at abandon rate, or the time which it takes for customers to hang up, as the most important metric. But as we talk and concentrate on what the customer needs from the call center they understand that the other metrics are more important. They also understand that abandon rates and service levels are just indications of problems, like a high temperature, and they have to look for the reasons for the problem. That is when they should look at the actual performance of the agents in areas like first call resolution and proper handling of complaints. This is much like a doctor using a blood test to find out if there really is an infection present.

Romson: And so, let me ask you, when you look at the customer satisfaction index for clients in Latin America, which metrics give the best indication of the true satisfaction of the customer?

Sr. Rodsevich: Using the dashboard model, we tell the call center mangers that they have to monitor both internal metrics, like service levels and external metrics, including overall customer satisfaction. You have already mentioned the most important ones, they are the same here as in the US. If the customer can get an answer the first time he calls and if he is talking to an agent that is well educated and can really help him, he will be satisfied. We teach the call center managers that proper training of the agents is critical to customer satisfaction.

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Romson: It is good to hear that my assumptions were correct; that the core customer focused concepts for improving service are the same around the world. I think you will agree that if call center managers, and executives in general, focus on the things that are important to their customers, they will be able to retain those customers and grow the business. Thank you for sharing your insights with us.

As we have seen, identifying and monitoring the critical metrics in your call center is a process of watching several factors to make sure none is out of the acceptable range. When there is an indication that something is wrong, looking at the external and internal measurements will give you a better idea of exactly what needs to be fixed. By focusing on the things that the customer finds most important, you will be able to not only improve the performance of your call center, but you will be able to increase customer satisfaction and ultimately increase revenue.
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