10 Leadership Habits of the Recession-Ready Contact Center

In a recession, contact center leaders are more important than ever.

It's in these difficult times that businesses need to focus on their most valuable asset – their customers. That's where good contact center leadership comes in. A good leader can help businesses maintain and even improve customer loyalty, which is essential for long-term success.

There are many potential ways contact center leaders can provide value during a recession. Here are ten of the most impactful:

1. Establish contact center metrics that focus on delivering value to the business, employees, and customers.

Contact center metrics exist to help the business define success and measure their progress toward achieving it. These metrics should either predict success (if the contact center does X it can expect Y positive impact on success) or reflect success (if the contact center looks at Z metric it means that they’ve accomplished some measure of success).  

Contact center leaders should guide their teams in identifying key performance indicators (KPIs) that are tangible indications of their ability to improve the customer experience and contribute to the bottom line. By focusing on the customer experience measures that matter most, contact centers can ensure that they are providing clear and meaningful business value.

2. Implement customer feedback loops to get real-time insights into customer sentiment.

Customer feedback loops allow contact centers to get real-time insights into customer sentiment. This information can help contact center leaders make decisions about how to improve the customer experience. Customer feedback loops help contact center leaders by giving them a way to track the effectiveness of their efforts over time. 

Additionally, customer feedback can help contact center leaders make decisions about how to improve the customer experience. By tracking the sentiment of customers, contact centers can ensure that they are providing the best possible experience.

3. Train employees on how to provide exceptional customer service.

One of the best ways to improve the customer experience is to train agents on how to provide exceptional service. This involves teaching them the basics -- such as how to properly greet customers and handle complaints – as well as more advanced techniques, such as upselling and cross-selling. Employees who are properly trained are more likely to provide a positive customer experience, which can lead to increased loyalty and revenue for the business.

4. Implement contact center processes that improve efficiency and reduce wait times.

One of the top complaints customers have is long wait times when contacting a company. That's why contact center leaders should implement processes that improve efficiency and reduce wait times. This can be done by optimizing workflows, automating tasks, and using technology that helps agents handle more calls simultaneously. To reduce contact center wait times, leaders need to understand the root causes of long wait times.

Once the sources of long wait times have been identified, leaders can take steps to remedy them.

Below are four ways to reduce contact center wait times:

• Optimizing workflows
• Automating tasks
• Using technology that helps agents handle contacts more efficiently
• Providing employees with proper training.
  
  

5. Use technology to improve agent productivity and customer service quality.

Another way contact center leaders can provide value is by using technology to improve agent productivity and customer service quality. Technologies like speech recognition and analytics can help agents handle calls more efficiently and accurately. Additionally, technologies like Agent Assist can help agents resolve customer issues faster and more effectively.

6. Collaborate with other departments within the company to create a coordinated customer experience strategy.

A successful contact center leader knows that it takes a team effort to deliver an excellent customer experience. That's why it's important for contact center leaders to collaborate with other departments within the company – such as marketing, sales, and product development – to create a coordinated customer experience strategy. This way, all departments are working together to provide the best possible experience for customers.

7. Implement quality assurance processes to ensure that calls are handled properly.

Quality assurance (QA) processes help contact center leaders ensure that calls are being handled properly. QA processes can involve recording calls and randomly listening to them, as well as conducting regular performance reviews. By implementing QA processes, contact centers can identify issues early and take steps to correct them. This helps improve the overall quality of the customer experience.

8. Use data to make decisions about how to improve the customer experience.

One of the most important things contact center leaders can do is use data to make decisions about how to improve the customer experience. Data can be used to track customer satisfaction levels, first call resolution rates, and other important metrics. 

Additionally, data can be used to identify trends and patterns that can help contact center leaders make decisions about how to improve the customer experience.

9. Encourage a culture of customer service excellence.

A key part of being a successful contact center leader is encouraging a culture of customer service excellence. This means creating an environment where agents are motivated to provide the best possible customer experience. Additionally, it means setting high standards for customer service and holding employees accountable to meeting those standards. By creating a culture of customer service excellence, businesses can improve customer satisfaction and loyalty.

10. Stay up-to-date on industry trends and technologies.

The final habit of the recession-ready contact center leader is staying up-to-date on industry trends and technologies. This helps leaders identify new opportunities to improve the customer experience and stay ahead of the competition. Additionally, it helps leaders be prepared for changes in the industry and ensure that their contact center is using the latest technologies.

By following these 10 habits, contact center leaders can position their businesses for success during economic downturns. By focusing on providing value to customers and using data to make decisions, businesses can weather any storm.

Learn more about how to prepare your contact center (and your business) for economic challenges.

Justin Robbins is a researcher, educator, and advisor who’s spent the past two decades helping businesses define and deliver exceptional customer experiences. Justin is currently the Senior Director of Corporate Communications and Evangelism at UJET, where he leads the Public Relations, Analyst Relations, Customer Marketing, and Thought Leadership programs.