How to Measure Agent Performance and Capacity

The primary reason why most call center managers and supervisors are the most detested and despised persons in the BPO industry is because they are in- charge of measuring the performance of the agents. It is a constant process that without a strict and stringent procedure, sales could go down, the call center put in jeopardy and the business in danger of losing clients and customers.

The problem with most call centers is that there is a discrepancy about the way they measure individual performance. Most agents feel that when they answer the call quicker, they give better customer service. This is a false notion that needs to be corrected. The truth of the matter is that most call centers include features that are sometimes hard to control especially by the call center agent.

For virtual call center agents, this may also be the case. Employers rate each agent differently. As it should be, because performance differs when type of account (inbound or outbound), call (sales, appointment setting or lead generation) and the channel (landline, chat or email) to which these interactions were made. Each of these should be measured differently and needed to be modeled after the agent’s specific and assigned task.

When trying to measure an agent’s productivity, you must first consider the factors which the agent is able to manage. Like available time, after call work time, adherence to the schedule and talk time. Available time is the allotted time that an agent is available to receive or make a call. For most call centers, this is in the 8 to 9 hour period. After call work time is the time spent by the agent completing task such as making reports after receiving and making calls. Adherence to the scheduled time will also affect the measurement of performance. Talk time refers to the duration of time that the agent is able to talk to a customer regarding their concerns. Why are these included? As a call center, you won’t be able to predict the length of time a customer talks to a specific agent, and the agent won’t have control over it as well.

There are a wide variety of call centers out there and the variation of call types will also affect the agent’s performance. Sales based calls should be measured by the sales percentage made, drop calls and sales closure rates. This is an indication of how effective the agent is in selling a company’s product. Another factor that needs to be considered is the quality of the calls made. While some call centers will be perfectly happy with a large volume of calls coming in, what will make or break a relationship with a client or customer is the quality of the call received and made by the agents. Virtual call centers should be wary of the quality of interactions made by your agents for this is a reflection of the kind of agents a contact center has.