Call centre improvement ideas to excite your millennial hires
Call centre improvement ideas to excite your millennial hires
Looking to for some new call centre improvement ideas to entice your new millennial hires? Lollypops at front reception? A ‘chill out’ space with yoga mats lining the floor? Unisex toilets with seats that self close? A weekly flash mob in the foyer downstairs? A lunchtime boot camp and then a Krispy Kreme reward? One standing desk for a team of 20 to fight over?
What are the new inventive ideas you’re coming up with to appeal to your millennial agents? If you’re trying any of these, it shows you care and this is a good start. But have you really stopped to see if any of this is actually is working, or whether it reeks of trying too hard?
Sure, making the effort is what counts, and if it can give a bit of piquant, and ‘spoice’ (said in a Kath and Kim kind of way) to office life, that’s a good thing right? But if 80s home cooking expressions come all too easy, then perhaps you’re also missing the mark?
Why the special treatment?
For the grey and grizzled X, Y and Z generations that are now shuffling around in loafers and still trying to figure out how to switch off their iPhones, there’s a tendency to look at millenials like they’re a new breed of mankind, zipping around on their hover-boards, glued to multiple devices, blowing emojis to each other, and speaking a new shorthand language that has the potential to lock the last generation out. It’s a bit scary, and even more so when trying to figure out how to engage these youngish whippersnappers, without having to use trip wire? But it’s important and central to your call centre improvement ideas.
What is it that they want that is any different to other generations? The answer is, nothing, actually, and that’s what countless studies (done in some secret science lab) have shown. What millennials and beyond want is the same as everyone else – a friendly work environment, decent pay, job appreciation, the ability to grow, social connection, fun, and ‘gasp’ the holy grail of job security.
Big surprise? Well, no, not really. It’s the same human needs repeated over and over again. But what is different, however, is the way they want these things delivered to their everyday lives. And in a nutshell it boils down to having good tech. Tech that impresses them, that’s smarter than them, that excites them and helps them achieve their goals by doing more with less.
So when it comes to call centre improvement ideas, rather than the fluffy stuff, like pink headsets, make sure you zone in on the contact centre software and phone systems that they use.
This will be the centre of their world and the following 12 features is what they’ll be looking for:
#1. Quick online access, with one simple login, with no complicated installation process, waiting around for software to load, or complicated steps before logging in.
#2. Full accessibility and easy navigation, so it’s easy to know where to go, what to do, how to set up and interact with the agent interface that they’re using.
#3. Can route calls to multiple devices so they can set up on a computer or laptop, giving them freedom also to move around, flop down on a beanbag or pace around a coveted standing desk.
#4. Easy to view web pages with great UX design, so accessing the agent interface not only looks good, but flows in a logical sequence from one screen to the next, making set-up, viewing customer information, being on a call, wrap up and more, all feel easy to do.
#5. Automated dialling, so they don’t have to manual dial and put down a snack. Also giving them more time to focus on calling scripts.
#6. Fast operation from one call to the next, using Interactive Voice Response systems for inbound and a multi-dialler for outbound, so agents can keep momentum and flow easily from one call to the next
#7. Smart software that responds to their every move, keeping a track of all their activity, recording their calls and automatically updating any changes to customer details.
#8. The flexibility to work in a onesie from home, with full access to log in to a personal account and get to work from any location.
#9. No admin after wrap-up, with all queue activity and data that has been added automatically saving to the cloud and integrating straight out to external business applications, so everything stays up to date.
#10. Automatic software upgrades that are constantly fixing bugs and improving and tweaking the functionality of the software they’re using.
#11. Online chat and communication so agents can communicate with their managers to seek advice, or discuss vital information while on a call.
#12. Call centre tasks shaped as online games to inspire a bit of fun and healthy competition between agents – inspiring many to strive for sales goals.
Hang on, these call centre improvement ideas remind me of something…
When you read through this list, does it also sound familiar? A bit like…what you now expect from any software application? And what you’ll realise, in this, is that the influence of the millenial is more far-reaching and influential than you’d have ever thought. Their desire for speed, accessibility and ease of use is now a norm that we all expect.
So when it comes to call centre improvement ideas, look for these things in the next contact centre software you choose. No only will this appeal to millenials, but to everyone else too.
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