Contact Center QA Guide:
Building a World-Class Quality Assurance Program
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About DMG Consulting LLC DMG Consulting LLC is the leading analyst firm in the contact center and analytics markets. We are a strategic advisor to companies large and small. Our mission is to help companies build effective contact center and service environments that provide an outstanding customer experience. We achieve this goal by helping our clients leverage technology, process and people to optimize operational efficiency, sales and profits. Our actionable strategies and tactics effect change that enable companies to make strategic and tactical improvements with a rapid return on investment. Our customers include Global 2000 companies, government agencies, non‐profit organizations, and more than 150 contact center and analytics vendors. DMG Consulting LLC’s business strategists have an average of 20 years experience in customer experience management (CEM), customer relationship management (CRM), contact centers, building customer‐focused businesses and financial analysis. We understand the power of customer data and the contributions that quality management, recording, speech analytics, performance management, surveying, eLearning, coaching and workforce management systems make to the contact center and the entire enterprise. Our consulting experience with more than 2000 end‐user organizations and our hands‐
on operational, technology and financial expertise give us deep insight into what customers want and need from enterprises and vendors. All rights reserved. This report is protected by United States copyright law and may not be copied, reproduced, displayed, published, transmitted or distributed in whole or in part in any form or medium without the express written permission of DMG Consulting LLC. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from this report. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of DMG Consulting LLC is prohibited. Substantial effort went into verifying and validating the accuracy of the information contained within this Report, however, DMG Consulting LLC makes no warranties as to the accuracy or completeness of this information. DMG Consulting LLC is not liable for any damages, consequential or otherwise, arising from use of this information. Copyright © 2009 DMG Consulting LLC © 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
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Table of Contents Executive Summary .....................................................................................................1
1.
Introduction .....................................................................................................2
2.
What is Contact Center Quality Assurance? ......................................................3
3.
Quality Assurance Program Benefits ................................................................6
4.
Components of a QA Program.......................................................................... 7
5.
Getting Started ..............................................................................................10
5.1 Creating a Quality Assurance Leadership Team .............................................. 15
5.2 Staffing QA Positions .....................................................................................16
5.3 Implementation Roadmap..............................................................................18
6.
Developing a QA Evaluation Form .................................................................. 21
6.1 Form Categories.............................................................................................24
6.2 QA Evaluation Form Questions.......................................................................25
6.3 Assigning Weights to QA Evaluation Forms ....................................................26
6.4 Validation....................................................................................................... 27
6.5 Example QA Evaluation Forms .......................................................................29
7.
Quality Assurance Monitoring Criteria and Guidelines ....................................48
7.1 Quality Monitoring Criteria and Guidelines .....................................................48
7.2 Why are Quality Monitoring Criteria and Guidelines Necessary? .....................49
8.
Calibration......................................................................................................50
8.1 What is Calibration?........................................................................................50
8.2 Benefits of Calibration.................................................................................... 51
8.3 The Calibration Process ..................................................................................52
9. Quality Assurance Program Mechanics and Processes ....................................54
9.1 Transaction Selection Criteria.........................................................................54
9.2 Determining the Number and Frequency of Evaluations ................................. 55
9.3 Coaching ........................................................................................................56
9.4 Evaluation Feedback and Escalation Process ..................................................58
9.5 Ongoing Training ...........................................................................................59
9.6 Addressing Agent Performance Issues............................................................60
9.7 Rewards and Recognition ...............................................................................63
9.8 Updating Procedures/Training........................................................................64
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9.9 Monitoring Quality Assurance Reviewers.......................................................65
9.10 Reporting ....................................................................................................... 67
9.11 QA Database .................................................................................................. 74
10.
Kicking Off the QA Program ........................................................................... 75
10.1 Agent Training ............................................................................................... 76
10.2 QA Program Pilot ........................................................................................... 78
11.
Advanced Quality Assurance Initiatives .......................................................... 79
11.1 Surveying ....................................................................................................... 79
11.2 Customer Experience Monitoring ................................................................... 79
11.3 First Call Resolution (FCR)...............................................................................80
12.
Quality Management/Liability Recording Suites .............................................81
Appendix A: Procedure Format Sample .....................................................................85
Appendix B: Policy Format Sample ............................................................................88
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Table of Figures Figure 1: Quality Assurance Process .............................................................................5 Figure 2: Quality Assurance Program Development Roadmap....................................10 Figure 3: QA Implementation Roadmap .....................................................................19 Figure 4: Common Quality Evaluation Form Sections/Categories ...............................24 Figure 5: Financial Services Customer Service QA Evaluation Form ............................30 Figure 6: Healthcare Customer Service QA Evaluation Form.......................................34 Figure 7: Technical Support QA Evaluation Form ........................................................38 Figure 8: Sample Customer Service Quality Monitoring Form.....................................42 Figure 9: New Order Precision Quality Monitoring Form.............................................45 Figure 10: The Calibration Process............................................................................... 53 Figure 11: Coaching Methods ......................................................................................56 Figure 12: Average Contact Center QA Score: December 2008.................................... 67 Figure 13:Contact Center Average Scores by Evaluation Section: December 2008.......68 Figure 14: Average Scores by Evaluation Question: December 2008............................ 70 Figure 15: Average QA Scores by Agent: December 2008............................................ 72 Figure 16: QA Scores by Agent by Evaluation: December 2008.................................... 72 Figure 17: Average QA Scores by Agent by Category: December 2008 ........................ 73 Figure 18: QA Agent Training Outline.......................................................................... 76 Figure 19: Workforce Optimization Suites ...................................................................82 © 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
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Executive Summary Contact center quality assurance (QA) is an ongoing business activity that provides ter QA Guide Contac t Cennter valuable insights into agent, customer and contact center service delivery performance and opportunities. The primary goal of any QA program is to verify and ensure that a company’s contact center services are being performed in a manner that meets or exceeds internal requirements and customer expectations. At a fundamental level, QA programs measure how well agents comply with internal policies and procedures and interact with customers in phone, email and chat sessions. The more advanced QA programs go well beyond these basics. They combine the results of customer satisfaction surveys with internal measurements to provide a 360‐degree view of the customer experience. Well‐designed and effective QA programs demonstrate a company’s commitment to its customers and agents, and are essential for building world‐class contact centers. This Guide is a “cookbook” for building a strong, effective and well‐received QA program. It is ideal for managers and supervisors in contact centers of any size who are either building their first quality assurance program or want to enhance an existing program. © 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
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1. Introduction Quality assurance isn’t an option for contact centers; it’s essential for the success of the nter ter QA Guide
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contact center, customer and agent satisfaction, improving agent and supervisor productivity and effectiveness, and keeping management in touch with their staff’s performance. To achieve the best results and foster confidence in the program, managers must ensure that they are evaluating the right components of agent performance during customer interactions and using appropriate measurements and weights. Building an effective QA program is an iterative, multi‐step process that requires senior management support, planning and input, and buy‐in from all levels of contact center staff. Automation is helpful for formalizing, standardizing and institutionalizing the initiative, but QA a program will succeed only if the staff is on board and believes in its value. © 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
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2. What is Contact Center Quality Assurance? Contact center quality assurance, also known as Quality Management (QM), is a process where managers, supervisors and QA specialists monitor and evaluate how well agents handle customer transactions. The monitoring process includes a simultaneous review of a call and the nter ter QA Guide
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system screens used to handle the interaction. (If QA is being done on an email or a chat session, it will review just the servicing screens and the content of the agent’s response.) QA can be done in a real‐time mode where the supervisor or QA specialist “live monitors” calls. For live monitoring QA, reviewers can either access calls through their automatic call distributor (ACD) technology, or can sit next to agents and watch and evaluate them as they handle calls. QA is often performed on recorded transactions. There are pros and cons to both live monitoring and using recorded transactions. When live monitoring, the QA specialist/supervisor can provide immediate feedback to the agent. This can become an effective coaching opportunity, as the feedback is provided in real‐time when the call is still fresh in the agent’s mind. On the other hand, doing QA from recorded transactions allows an organization to schedule calls, making the process more efficient for the reviewer. It allows QA specialists/supervisors to find interactions that require their attention, either because they are really good or really bad, instead of wasting time on satisfactory calls. It allows the reviewer to be able to carefully review the interaction/screens, including the ability to go back and re‐review a portion of the interaction. And, lastly, it is an anonymous process, so agents are not aware that they are being evaluated and will not necessarily be on their best behavior. When doing QA, the reviewer completes an evaluation form that measures how the agent handled each component of the call or online transaction. The form can be on paper or part of a QA system. The fundamental purpose of QA programs is to measure how well agents adhere to contact center departmental policies and procedures. Contact/call center managers have traditionally live monitored or listened to recorded interactions in order to gauge agent performance and internally evaluate the customer experience. To be effective, the program should be a formalized ongoing process designed to: © 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
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1.
Measure agent adherence to internal policies and procedures 2.
Improve consistency and quality of customer interactions across all channels (telephone, email, chat/IM, etc.) 3.
Assess business execution – detect and fix broken or inefficient nter ter QA Guide
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policies, processes or operational issues throughout the company 4.
Improve agent performance 5.
Identify agent training needs 6.
Identify policies or processes that frustrate and alienate customers 7.
Maximize every customer interaction 8.
Identify business trends 9.
Improve the customer experience The underpinnings of a good QA program are consistency, accurate measurement, and a cycle of continuous feedback resulting in improvements. An effective QA program provides the contact center with a vehicle for measuring the quality and consistency of service delivery, capturing customer insights, and identifying trends, service issues and training/coaching opportunities to improve agent performance and productivity. Quality assurance is a dynamic and iterative process that must be adapted as a business changes. See Figure 1. © 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
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Figure 1: Quality Assurance Process Source: DMG Consulting LLC, April 2009 Action Item: Identify the company’s reasons for performing contact center quality assurance. Build a program that delivers continuous feedback to the contact center and other operating departments. © 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
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3. Quality Assurance Program Benefits When quality assurance programs are well designed and used consistently, they yield great nter ter QA Guide
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benefits for customers, enterprises, contact centers and agents. The benefits include: • Improved agent productivity, by reducing the average handle time of transactions • Reduced operating expenses • Better transaction quality • Increased customer satisfaction • Enhanced customer experience • Identification of business opportunities, cross‐sell, up‐sell, new products and services • Enhanced operating policies and procedures • Reduced enterprise risk • Improved agent satisfaction and reduced attrition • Automated reporting for tracking and trending Action Item: Set up a process for capturing, quantifying and reporting the benefits from your QA program. Be sure to share successes with agents, supervisors, managers and senior executives on an ongoing basis, so that everyone appreciates the program’s contributions. © 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
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4. Components of a QA Program While every company should customize their QA program to reflect their corporate culture and values, the fundamental building blocks for contact center QA are standard across all companies. Effective QA programs should include the following components: nter ter QA Guide
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•
Procedures and policies: Document all existing transaction procedures and policies so that the contact center staff knows the appropriate steps for handling all types of inquiries. QA specialists/supervisors can also use the procedures and policies as a standard to make sure that they are evaluating different transactions properly. It’s important to set up a process that keeps the policies and procedures up‐to‐date. •
Quality monitoring criteria and guidelines: Specify the criteria to apply when evaluating transactions and performing evaluations. The criteria should define what QA specialists/supervisors are looking for in each type of contact center transaction. The easiest way to create criteria is to use the contact center’s documented procedures and policies and note on each the most important aspects for each type of transaction. It’s also a good idea to identify agent actions that would cause them to lose points in a quality evaluation. •
Program mechanics: Define the mechanics of the QA program, including who (manager, supervisor, team leader, QA specialist, trainer) is responsible for conducting evaluations, the number and frequency of evaluations, how many coaching sessions per agent per month, and how to select calls, emails and chat sessions for evaluation. (If a QA application is being used, most of the mechanics will be automated, including the transaction selection process.) •
Training: Establish a closed‐loop training process that addresses new content, system issues, updates and agent performance issues. The trainers and QA staff must work closely together to ensure that the staff is fully trained. (In many small/mid‐sized contact centers, the same people do both QA and training.) Prior to kicking off a QA program, all contact center staff – agents, supervisors, QA specialists, trainers, managers – must be fully trained so that they know how to © 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
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handle all types of customer interactions. If new or enhanced procedures and policies are drafted to support the QA program, they should be reviewed with the staff before starting the QA program. In addition to agent procedural training, it’s important to build a training program that introduces the new or enhanced QA program to the staff. The more informed the staff is about the program, the more effective the initiative. nter ter QA Guide
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•
Coaching: Provide frequent feedback to agents about their performance. Feedback should address where agents are performing well and areas where they have opportunities to improve. Coaching is one of the critical success factors in QA programs and plays a very important role in agent satisfaction and retention. However, as it can be very challenging to provide negative feedback to agents, it’s important to train the QA staff to produce effective coaching sessions and to make sure that management delivers coaching sessions consistently. •
Calibration: Build consistency into the QA program through calibration. Calibration is the process of teaching all people involved in performing QA evaluations how to score transactions on a consistent and equitable basis. To make a QA program fair for agents, it’s essential for all QA reviewers to agree on the meaning and value of each question in a monitoring form. To achieve consistency, it’s important to run calibration sessions where all reviewers listen to the same call, score it, identify variance in scoring approaches, reconcile their differences, and set a standard measurement that all will use going forward. The only way to reach consensus is to run calibration sessions. Calibration is an ongoing process and should be run on a monthly basis. It’s also a good idea to involve agents in the calibration process so that they can appreciate the challenges associated with consistently evaluating transactions. •
Evaluation feedback: Provide a process to facilitate two‐way communication between agents and reviewers. Agents need to have a mechanism for responding to their quality evaluations so that they feel empowered and not “put upon.” They also need a formal process for filing complaints when they believe that a QA reviewer is not being fair or is not listening to their input. QA reviewers should welcome discourse, as it will ultimately yield a better and more effective program. © 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
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•
Rewards and recognition: Recognizing and rewarding top performers is essential for the success of a QA program. While agents should deliver outstanding performance because it’s nter ter QA Guide
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their job, recognizing when they do encourages them to keep up the good work and motivates others to strive for recognition, as well. Rewards do not have to be large; they could include a plaque, a parking spot, lunch with the CEO, a gift card, movie tickets, etc. Action Item: Implement an “Executive QA” program, where senior managers from sales, marketing, operations and all other supporting areas sit with contact center agents as they handle calls. This has proven to create customer‐focused awareness and foster collaboration between departments. (Rapid process change is facilitated when senior executives hear first‐
hand the impact of their processes and programs on customers.) When senior managers take this program seriously, it has a very positive impact on agent morale and satisfaction because it underscores the importance of their job. © 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
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5. Getting Started Figure 2 depicts a high‐level project plan for building a QA program. This figure provides the nter ter QA Guide
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high‐level steps that each organization should customize to meet the needs of their company. The first step in the process is identifying and assigning resources to oversee and manage the program on an ongoing basis. This step is critical because every company needs a champion to push the program through, or it is unlikely to happen. (The project champion often becomes the manager or supervisor responsible for the program.) It takes a significant amount of work to build a contact center QA program and there must be an individual responsible for making sure that everyone involved in the program is motivated and the project stays on track and on time. Figure 2: Quality Assurance Program Development Roadmap 11
Implement the formal QA program
.
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
Adjust program and repeat pilot as needed
Pilot the program for 2 months and review results
Train all staff members on the Quality Assurance program
Build Quality Assurance training program
Define the coaching and feedback process
Develop quality monitoring criteria and guidelines
Test the form using real calls, conduct calibration and refine the form as needed
Develop the evaluation forms; determine section and question weights
Communicate to all staff that a formal Quality Assurance program is under development
Identify QA manager and reviewer staff
Source: DMG Consulting LLC, April 2009 © 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
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The 11 high‐level steps for building a QA program are explained below. It’s important to note that departmental procedures for handling all types of customer transactions and inquiries should be drafted or enhanced prior to developing the QA process. Step 1: Identify resources from the contact center to serve as the QA manager and quality nter ter QA Guide
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review staff. (The QA manager will also play a major role in building or enhancing the program.) Ideally the manager should have prior experience in setting up and running a QA program and conducting contact center QA evaluations. Minimally, the QA reviewer(s) must demonstrate complete and accurate knowledge of all contact center policies, procedures and systems, as well as having excellent interpersonal and coaching skills. The number of resources dedicated to the process varies based on the size of the contact center. Step 2: The institution of a formal QA program should be communicated to all staff members as early as possible. The success of the program depends upon agent cooperation, which will be enhanced if agents are invited to participate in program development and all changes are clearly communicated. Communication should include information about why the program is being developed, roles and responsibilities, impact on agents (their reviews, raises, and incentives), and program benefits. Step 3: Develop the quality evaluation forms. Typically, managers create one for each channel supported (phone, email, chat), and/or one for different call classifications, i.e. service, sales, collections, fraud, etc. Once the number and types of forms are decided, determine the sections required in each form, i.e., opening, verification, problem resolution, communications, closing, and then write the questions for each section. Once the sections and questions are drafted, assign weights to each question and possibly to each section, reflecting their relative importance. It’s easiest to use a 100‐point scale but this is not a requirement. Step 4: Using real calls, test the evaluation forms to ensure all call components that need to be measured are captured and that the intended goals are achieved fairly and accurately. Conduct calibration sessions involving supervisors and QA specialists to ensure that everyone participating in the QA program is using the form correctly and with the same rigor, consistently
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and fairly across all questions. It generally takes a few calibration sessions to finalize the questions and weights for each evaluation form. Step 5: Document the quality monitoring evaluation criteria and guidelines for how to apply them. nter ter QA Guide
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Step 6: Define the agent coaching and feedback process. Coaching is considered the most effective method for training adults; it should take place in a one‐on‐one personalized session with an agent. During coaching sessions, agents should receive specific and targeted feedback to learn what they are doing well as well as the areas where they can improve. This is a critical part of successfully managing agents and motivating them to improve their performance. Step 7: Build the QA training program. Training should include an in‐depth review of the quality monitoring process and QA form, evaluation criteria and metrics/measurements, frequency and number of evaluations conducted, scoring methodology, how to access, review and respond to evaluations, and how to provide feedback to improve the program. Optionally, the QA training program may also include a review of documented policies, procedures and guidelines that govern agents’ behavior in processing transactions or advising customers. Step 8: Train staff on the QA program. Roll out the training program so all agents and other relevant contact center staff – managers, supervisors, trainers, QA specialists, agents, and possibly participants from other departments – become familiar and comfortable with the new program. If possible, conduct calibration sessions with agents during the training session to demonstrate application of the quality criteria and use of the evaluation form. (Note: Be sure to ask the agents whose calls will be used during calibration for their permission.) Agents who understand how their calls are being evaluated and know what is expected of them are more likely to perform well. Step 9: Pilot the QA program and monitor results. The pilot provides an opportunity to see what works and what needs to be enhanced. It also gives QA reviewers and agents an opportunity to get accustomed to the program. © 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
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DMG recommends a 2‐ to 3‐month pilot to work the kinks out of the process and give everyone time to get used to the new program before going live. Step 10: Adjust the program throughout the pilot and, if changes are significant enough, it may make sense to keep the pilot going longer. This step allows time to refine the program before it nter ter QA Guide
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is formally launched. Based on participant feedback and pilot results, the QA manager should revise processes, evaluation criteria, evaluation forms, metrics, mechanics, etc. The pilot should be run for as long as necessary to test all components of the QA program, including conducting calibration exercises. Step 11: Implement the QA program. Launch the program and begin to execute the QA processes on a daily basis. QA reviewers should work closely with management, supervisors and trainers to review quality assurance results and identify areas for training and development. Periodic reviews to evaluate the QA process should be conducted to ensure compliance with ever‐evolving procedures, policies and protocols. It is also a good idea to establish a reward program or agent appreciation events, so that management can show special recognition for outstanding employee performance based on QA program reviews. After the QA program is implemented, contact centers should consider doing the following activities on a monthly basis. They are not a requirement but will help to enhance agent moral and improve the results of your QA program. •
Conduct monthly calibration sessions with all supervisors/QA reviewers to ensure program consistency. •
Conduct monthly agent team meetings to review QA results and do group training, as necessary. •
Have QA reviewers and trainers meet on a monthly basis to review training needs and other improvement opportunities uncovered in the QA process. (In many contact centers, the QA specialists and trainers speak daily.) © 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
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•
Publish a monthly QA newsletter (or other vehicle) with quality tips to help the department achieve quality goals. The newsletter should also recognize top performers. nter ter QA Guide
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Action Item: Implement a process where top‐performing agents conduct side‐by‐side training sessions with agents who are not meeting their potential and are “under ‐
performing”. Agents learn best from their peers. Using the top performers for this activity will recognize their outstanding performance and help get them on board in support of management objectives. © 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
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5.1 Creating a Quality Assurance Leadership Team Building an effective QA program is an iterative process that requires senior management nter ter QA Guide
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support, in addition to thorough planning, input and buy‐in from all levels of contact center staff. It’s a best practice to form a QA leadership team with representation from all contact center constituents including managers, supervisors, trainers, agents, and possibly other departments, such as marketing and sales. This team could be led by the head of QA or the contact center director. This is a good way to keep the head of the contact center engaged in the QA program on an ongoing basis. Action Item: Use the quality assurance monitoring process to identify areas for business process optimization. Establish a cross‐functional team to address contact center and enterprise business process opportunities identified during the quality monitoring process. This team should work together to change business processes that upset customers. © 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
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5.2 Staffing QA Positions The success of any QA program is largely dependent upon the commitment and skills of the quality assurance specialist who administers the program and coaches agents. Quality assurance specialists must be highly skilled individuals who possess outstanding job knowledge and excellent nter ter QA Guide
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communication, interpersonal and coaching skills. Because a vast amount of job knowledge is required for this role, most contact centers staff these positions by promoting agents who demonstrate exceptional job knowledge and call handling skills. (Other contact centers transfer a supervisor or manager into this position.) However, being an outstanding customer service or sales representative is not the same as knowing how to deliver effective one‐on‐one feedback to coach and motivate a contact center agent. The ability to coach is not innate, and generally has to be taught. QA specialists should have the following skills and knowledge: •
Job knowledge: To accurately, effectively, and objectively evaluate agents, quality assurance specialists must possess strong knowledge of all products, services, systems, processes and procedures. If quality assurance specialists are hired externally, they should be required to complete a comprehensive training course that includes in‐depth coverage of all products, services, policies procedures and guidelines that agents are required to adhere to when processing transactions or advising customers. •
System knowledge: Quality assurance specialists must be fully trained and knowledgeable about all systems that agents use to handle customer inquiries or process orders. Additionally, they must be fully trained to navigate the quality management application so that they can search, retrieve and play back calls, create evaluations, and respond to agents’ evaluation feedback. QA specialists should also be trained to access and use reports from the quality application as well as to create ad hoc reports. QA program mechanics: Quality assurance specialists must possess a strong understanding of the quality monitoring process, including how to select calls/emails/chat sessions, the number/frequency of evaluations that they are required to do, and how to coach agents. © 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
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•
QA criteria/calibration: To maintain measurement integrity, it’s essential for all QA specialists to uniformly apply quality monitoring criteria when evaluating calls. All QA reviewers should be thoroughly trained to complete evaluations in a consistent manner. nter ter QA Guide
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The success and effectiveness of the program and its reception by agents depends upon the ability to consistently, objectively and fairly evaluate contact center interactions. To achieve these essential goals, it’s also recommended that calibration sessions be conducted with all quality reviewers on a monthly basis. •
Coaching/motivation: QA specialists must demonstrate strong interpersonal and coaching skills so that they can work one‐on‐one with agents to recognize areas of strengths as well as provide directed feedback on areas that require improvement. All quality assurance specialists should be required to take courses in effective coaching methods and motivation techniques. Action Item: When staffing QA programs, use highly respected staff members with strong product, service, system knowledge and expertise in coaching when staffing QA programs. Agents are more welcoming of feedback from people they respect. © 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
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5.3 Implementation Roadmap Once the leadership team is established and the quality manager and staff have been nter ter QA Guide
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appointed, a detailed breakdown of all program deliverables should be developed and assigned to the responsible parties. Figure 3 provides a list of the required tasks, recommendations for ownership of each initiative, and estimated time frames for completion. The tasks reflected in Figure 3 have already been discussed in other sections of this Guide. They are repeated here in order to put them into a project plan and to show the responsible party and estimated time frame. DMG recommends using this list of initiatives to build a detailed project plan. Your project plan will likely include other steps and initiatives that are important for your organization. Once the project plan is drafted, review it and get the buy‐in for all involved parties, particularly those assigned tasks, to make sure that they are committed and able to dedicate time to the projects. It’s also a good idea to have a weekly project review meeting to assess progress and to address items that are slipping. It is ideal, but not necessary for senior contact center management to participate in the weekly progress meeting. However, if a contact center manager is not able to participate in the weekly meetings, the project manager should make an effort to keep him/her updated on the team’s progress. © 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
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Figure 3: QA Implementation Roadmap
Task/Initiative
Responsibility
Timeframe
Communicate to all staff that a quality assurance
program is under development and will soon be
implemented; communication should be frequent
Contact Center
Director
2 days
Promote or hire a QA specialist and quality
reviewers
Contact Center
Director
3 weeks
Develop a call monitoring evaluation form (Note:
In multi-channel contact centers, a QA form will
need to be created and tested for each channel)
Quality Assurance
Leadership Team
2 weeks per
form
Test the form using real calls to ensure that all
call elements that need to be evaluated are
captured
QA Manager and
reviewers
2 days
Document quality monitoring evaluation criteria
and guidelines for how to apply them
Quality Assurance
Leadership Team
2 weeks
Determine weights for each section of the
monitoring form
Quality Assurance
Leadership Team
1 week
Test the form(s) using real calls to validate
sections, questions, weights and ranges
Quality Assurance
Leadership Team
1 week
Hold calibration sessions with agents, supervisors
and managers to make sure everyone uses the
evaluation form the same way
Quality Assurance
Leadership Team
2 weeks
Enhance QA evaluation form based on input from
calibration team
QA Manager and
reviewers
3 days
Determine the volume of transactions (calls,
emails, chat sessions, other) to be monitored per
agent/month
Quality Assurance
Leadership Team
1 day
Decide who will be conducting the evaluations
(quality assurance specialists, supervisors, or
both)
Quality Assurance
Leadership Team
1 day
Conduct calibration sessions to ensure rating
reliability and consensus of all reviewers
Quality Assurance
Leadership Team
2 weeks
Define the agent coaching process
QA Manager, contact
center managers,
supervisors and
reviewers
1 day
Develop a process with an escalation/review
procedure for agents to provide feedback or
dispute evaluations
Quality Assurance
Leadership Team
1 day
Develop reports to support the QA process; if
using a QA application, build the reports in the
application
Quality Assurance
Leadership Team
2 weeks
Test reports
QA Manager
1 week
Status
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Development Phase
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Figure 3: QA Implementation Roadmap
Task/Initiative
Responsibility
Timeframe
Train all QA specialists to use the QA application
and reports
QA Manager
2 days
Develop QA training program
QA Manager and
trainers
3 weeks
Train all contact center staff on the quality
assurance program
QA Manager and
trainers
Variable
depending on
size of staff
and program
length
Kick off the program
Contact Center
Director/QA Manager
1 day
Pilot program for 2 to 3 months and review results
Quality Assurance
Leadership Team
2 – 3 months
Revise departmental Agent Performance
Evaluation form to include quality monitoring
metrics
Quality Assurance
Leadership Team/HR
1 week
Implement QA program
Contact Center
Leadership Team
On-going
Establish a process for identifying and
recognizing agents who achieve quality
monitoring excellence
Contact Center
Leadership Team
2 weeks
Perform monthly calibration sessions
QA Manager, all QA
reviewers
Monthly/
on-going
Conduct monthly training sessions
Trainer
Monthly/
on-going
Create and issue monthly QA newsletter
QA Manager
Monthly/
on-going
Have QA staff meet with training to enhance
training programs
QA Manager and
trainers
Monthly/
on-going
Status
nter ter QA Guide
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Development Phase
Action Item: Involve all levels of contact center staff in creating the program to avoid unnecessary skepticism and surprises. This will help agents appreciate the positive aspects of the QA program and speed up adoption. © 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
All rights reserved.
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April 2009
6. Developing a QA Evaluation Form When managers think about developing a QA program, one of the first things they must consider is creating a QA evaluation form. The evaluation form is the most visible component of the program and is necessary for all QA programs, whether an organization is doing QA manually or nter ter QA Guide
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using an automated system. The QA evaluation form needs to capture all interaction components that a contact center wants to measure. Its questions and weights should reflect the culture of the company and what is most important to their service strategy. In general, QA evaluation forms contain the following components: 1. Call/evaluation details Examples: Name of agent, date of transaction, reviewer name, date of evaluation, call type, customer identifier (account number, social security number, etc.) 2. Sections (skill categories) Examples: Call opening/closing, verification, product/plan knowledge, procedure knowledge, system knowledge, hold/mute/transfer, communication skills, resolution skills, etc. 3. Questions (to objectively assess skill proficiencies) Examples: Did the representative identify the caller according to the verification policy prior to releasing information? Did the representative log a summary of the call according to the policy? 4. Scoring Point values for each question and section of the evaluation form; includes point values, points available, and points earned. Point values should be assigned based on the relative importance of each section and question to the business and the customer. © 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
All rights reserved.
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April 2009
5. Coaching comments Free‐form text box to allow reviewers to provide feedback on performance excellence or opportunities. nter ter QA Guide
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6. Recommendations Free‐form text box to allow reviewers to document an action or follow‐up items for agents to complete. Examples: taking a specific eLearning course, reviewing specific procedures, recommendations, etc. 7. Acknowledgement (optional) Signature boxes so that the reviewer and agent can sign off and acknowledge that they had a discussion. After learning how to create a QA evaluation form and deciding what sections are required, it’s relatively easy to modify an existing form or draft a new one. However, creating one for the first time can be daunting. Therefore, we suggest getting started with an existing QA form and then modifying it to meet the organization’s specific needs. The easiest way to obtain sample quality evaluation forms is by asking a QA vendor, another contact center manager, or a consulting firm. (Most vendors have sample forms and are generally happy to share them, particularly if they think you are interested in purchasing their solution.) While it’s relatively easy to obtain a sample QA evaluation form, the catch is that there is no "one size fits all" form. For example, a technical help desk needs a different QA evaluation form from a sales or customer service contact center. The QA evaluation form should be customized to meet the needs of each particular contact center. © 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
All rights reserved.
- 22 -
April 2009
Here are a few best practices to employ when developing QA evaluation forms: nter ter QA Guide
Contact Cen
Involve all levels of your staff – agents, supervisors, trainers and managers. Develop a separate QA form for each channel that you will be monitoring. Test your QA form(s) using real transactions and refine them before putting them into production. Assign weights that correspond to the importance of all categories on your QA form. Importance may be relative to the channel of communication, customer and/or the business. Include a comments box for each section of the evaluation so that coaching comments on performance strengths and opportunities and agent feedback can be captured. Action Item: To modify or create a QA evaluation form, start with an existing or sample form. Then listen to a selection of different call types. While “scoring” these calls, identify form components that need to be changed or added to fit your environment. (This process applies to emails, chats or other types of transactions received by the contact center.) © 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
All rights reserved.
- 23 -
April 2009
6.1 Form Categories Figure 4 provides an example of sections or categories typically found in a QA form for calls. Coont
ntact Center QA Guide
It also includes example criteria that can be used to evaluate if an agent properly performed a particular skill. Depending on how the form is structured, sections can be established based on skills, call flow, competencies, or call segments. In Figure 4 below, the sections are based on skills. Figure 4: Common Quality Evaluation Form Sections/Categories Quality Evaluation Form
Call Opening/Closing
Provided name/company name; thanked the customer for calling or purchasing [brand] products
Verification
Obtained verification prior to releasing information according to established data security procedures
Demonstration of System Knowledge/Usage
Effectively accessed information on system; utilized all appropriate systems to obtain information
Demonstration of Product Knowledge and Information
Demonstrated thorough knowledge of product/part/services/warranty, etc.
Demonstration of Resolution Skills
Accurately diagnosed problem/issue
Hold/Transfer Procedure
Use hold/transfer effectively and only as necessary
Communication Skills
Spoke clearly and confidently
Agent First Contact Resolution (FCR)
Did the agent do everything possible to ensure a callback was not necessary?
Business Process FCR
Is there a policy/procedure/service issue that prevented First Contact Resolution?
Source: DMG Consulting LLC, April 2009 Action Item: Be sure to include a section in the evaluation form to reflect how well the agent performed in regard to compliance or disclosure regulations (if applicable). © 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
All rights reserved.
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April 2009
6.2 QA Evaluation Form Questions After identifying the right sections/skills to include in the QA form, the next step is to create nter ter QA Guide
Contac t Cen
a concise list of questions that captures the elements associated with demonstrating competency in each skill. The goal is to write questions that allow QA reviewers to completely and objectively assess agent performance. Once the initial list of questions is developed for each section of the form, have a team of supervisors and QA reviewers test the form by trying it out on a few calls or emails. It will typically take at least ten rewrites of the questions before an evaluation form is complete. This exercise helps surface gaps and identifies overlaps and redundancies in questions. Revise the form based on test results, and retest it until the form successfully addresses all requirements. (You will know the form works when there is a place to address every aspect of a call or email.) Action Item: Test the QA form with real calls or emails. Make sure there is a place on the form to address everything that can happen in a call or email. This will surface confusing or ambiguous components of the form. © 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
All rights reserved.
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April 2009
6.3 Assigning Weights to QA Evaluation Forms Once the form content is finalized, it’s time to select a scheme for assigning weights to the nter ter QA Guide
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questions and/or sections of the evaluation. The simplest approach is to go with a 100 point scale. While there are many scoring methodologies, the most basic way is to assign a point value to each section on the form and distribute the points among the questions in that section. For example, the communications skill section may be assigned a total of 20 points, which are distributed among the four questions in the section. While points can be distributed equally throughout a section or the entire QA evaluation form, we suggest that they be assigned based on the relative importance of each section and each question. Importance may be relative to the channel of communication, customer and/or the business. After preliminary weights are distributed, the form should be tested again by evaluating and scoring actual transactions. Points are generally reconsidered and redistributed during testing. It’s also important to consider that in some interactions, not all components of the form are applicable (for example, not every call includes a hold or transfer). The scoring on the forms shown in Section 6.5 was designed to include “Not Applicable” (N/A) as a consideration; if a particular question on the form is not applicable to the interaction being evaluated, the question is marked N/A. The points are not available to be achieved, nor do they affect the total score. Overall evaluation scores are calculated as follows: Total points achieved ⁄ Total points available = QM evaluation score For example: 76 points achieved / 84 points available = 90.4% Action Item: When assigning weights to the form, it’s also a good idea to identify and define the serious errors that will result in a full and automatic failure of an evaluation form section or an entire evaluation. © 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
All rights reserved.
- 26 -
April 2009
6.4 Validation Validation of the metrics associated with each category of the quality assurance form is an important step in developing the quality assurance program. Metrics are typically validated by testing the proposed weights against baseline quality measurements that have already been nter QA Guide
Conta ct Ceenter
established. When modifying an existing QA evaluation form, the new form can be validated by using it to re‐
evaluate transactions that had previously been scored using a different QA form. If no quality measurement baseline exists, initial testing sessions should validate QA scores based on agent performance. So, top performers should receive high scores, average performers should be in the mid‐range, and poor performers should have low scores. Once the point values are validated and coming out as expected, the next step is to determine how QA evaluation scores equate to the performance ratings used by the organization in its annual review process. For example: Excellent: 89% and above Good: 80‐88% Average: 71‐79% Needs Improvement: 70% and below The scoring ranges above are typical for many contact center QA programs. The ranges should be high enough so that an excellent transaction is clearly identifiable, but not so high so that few agents can attain an excellent rating. As a result, it’s often a good idea to start with one range and then as agents get accustomed to the QA program and their quality improves, tighten the ranges. So, for example, when a QA program is first kicked off, excellent may be anything above 85%. However, since most customers are not likely to think that 85% is excellent, the range should be narrowed to anything above either 89% or 90% a few months into the program. © 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
All rights reserved.
- 27 -
April 2009
Be sure to communicate to agents exactly what is happening with the ranges – starting easy to give them a chance to become accustomed, and then bringing them to a level that will better meet customer expectations – so that the staff does not think that management is just giving them a hard time. Be sure to set expectations and communicate clearly at all stages of the program to get the nter ter QA Guide
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staff’s support. Once the final program is rolled out, agents should have a two‐ to three‐month grace period to become accustomed to the program, criteria and scoring before they are held accountable for QA scores; this will minimize any claims of “unfairness” within the shop, as the staff will have had an extended period of time to adjust to the program requirements. During this period, QA evaluations and coaching sessions are performed, but are not counted toward agents’ annual evaluations. Action Item: Review and enhance your QA evaluation forms periodically —minimally, every 9 to 12 months to keep them in sync with your business and customers’ expectations. © 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
All rights reserved.
- 28 -
April 2009
6.5 Example QA Evaluation Forms This section includes 5 example QA forms. The first form, Figure 5, is for a financial services nter ter QA Guide
Contac t Cen
customer service contact center. Figure 6 is a form intended for use in an inbound healthcare customer service contact center. Figures 7, 8, 9 depict forms intended for inbound technical support, customer service with up‐sell/cross‐sell activities and new order processing, respectively. Use these forms as examples for getting started, but customize them to reflect the needs and priorities of your organization. © 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
All rights reserved.
- 29 -
April 2009
Figure 5: Financial Services Customer Service QA Evaluation Form Description: This form is for use by an inbound financial services contact center that addresses customer inquiries, questions or problems on their accounts, and/or services that are provided. nter ter QA Guide
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Evaluation Details
Call Details
Representative name:
Account number or customer ID:
Call date:
Caller:
Evaluator name:
Call category:
Evaluation date:
Call type:
Greeting (3 points)
Point
Value
Used call greeting as defined in
Greeting Policy
Yes
No
Points
Available
Points
Achieved
Points
Available
Points
Achieved
Points
Available
Points
Achieved
3
Point Totals
Coaching Comments:
Verification (10 points)
Point
Value
Verified caller as defined in
Verification Policy prior to
releasing account information
7
Verified additional items
pertaining to specific caller
inquiry
3
Yes
No
N/A
Point Totals
Coaching Comments:
Product Knowledge (20 points)
Point
Value
Accurately identified account,
transaction, product or service
5
Provided complete information or
instructions in accordance with
established procedure
7
Provided accurate information or
instructions in accordance with
established procedure
8
Yes
No
N/A
© 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
All rights reserved.
- 30 -
Point Totals
April 2009
Coaching Comments:
Inquiry Resolution (23 points)
nter ter QA Guide
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Point
Value
Accurately understood the nature
of the caller’s inquiry
5
Effectively/accurately resolved
inquiry/ issue in accordance with
established procedure
5
Yes
No
N/A
Points
Available
Points
Achieved
Points
Available
Points
Achieved
Points
Available
Points
Achieved
Completed fulfillment/referral/
5
follow-up as promised/required
Provided appropriate alternatives
relative to customer’s
need/situation
3
Ensured caller fully understood
explanation, process, time frames
and/or next steps
5
Point Totals
Coaching Comments:
Compliance (8 points)
Point
Value
Read mandatory disclosures as
required and applicable
Yes
No
N/A
8
Point Totals
Coaching Comments:
Cross-sell/Up-sell (6 points)
Point
Value
Recommended appropriate
product/service to meet customer
need or extend the relationship
3
Effectively tied product/service
benefit to customer situation/need
3
Yes
No
N/A
© 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
All rights reserved.
- 31 -
Point Totals
April 2009
Coaching Comments:
System Knowledge/Usage (7 points)
nter ter QA Guide
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Point
Value
Effectively accessed and
utilized all appropriate systems,
screens and fields to obtain
information to resolve inquiry
5
Accurately utilized wrap-up
2
Yes
No
N/A
Points
Available
Points
Achieved
Points
Available
Points
Achieved
Points
Available
Points
Achieved
Point Totals
Coaching Comments:
Hold/Mute/Transfer (4 points)
Point
Value
Utilized hold/mute as defined in
Hold/Mute Policy
2
Performed transfer to the
correct area, only as necessary
and in accordance with the
Transfer Policy
2
Yes
No
N/A
Point Totals
Coaching Comments:
Communication Skills (14 points)
Point
Value
Maintained a courteous,
pleasant, and respectful tone
throughout the call
3
Conveyed information clearly
and confidently and in a
manner that was easily
understood
3
Demonstrated effective
listening skills
2
Expressed empathy and
concern, as appropriate
1
Efficiently managed time and
call flow (call management)
2
© 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
All rights reserved.
Yes
No
N/A
- 32 -
April 2009
Communication Skills
Point
Value
nter ter QA Guide
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Demonstrated professional
language and behavior (call
etiquette)
Yes
No
N/A
Points
Available
Points
Achieved
Points
Available
Points
Achieved
3
Point Totals
Coaching Comments:
Closing (5 points)
Point
Value
Used call closing as defined in Call
Closing Policy
2
Accurately documented information
in accordance with established
procedure
3
Yes
No
N/A
Point Totals
Coaching Comments:
Total Points Available/Total Points Achieved
QM Evaluation Score
Date Reviewed with Representative
Comments:
Recommendations:
Acknowledged by Representative
Acknowledged by Reviewer
Source: DMG Consulting LLC, April 2009 © 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
All rights reserved.
- 33 -
April 2009
Figure 6: Healthcare Customer Service QA Evaluation Form Description: This form is for use by an inbound customer service organization that addresses calls about insurance claims. The calls may address program eligibility, claims status and dipositioning, nter ter QA Guide
Contac t Cen
program benefits and coverage. Evaluation Details
Call Details
Representative name:
HCID or SSN:
Call date:
Caller:
Evaluator name:
Call category:
Evaluation date:
Call type:
Greeting (5 points available)
Point
Value
Used call greeting as defined
in Greeting Policy
2
Documented caller name
and phone number
3
Yes
No
Points
Available
Points
Achieved
Points
Available
Points
Achieved
Point Totals
Coaching Comments:
Verification (10 points available)
Point
Value
Verified caller as defined in
Verification Policy
5
Verified eligibility as defined
in Eligibility Policy
3
Asked caller for member ID
or patient’s date of birth and
name
1
Asked caller for address on
file
1
Yes
No
N/A
Point Totals
Coaching Comments:
© 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
All rights reserved.
- 34 -
April 2009
Plan/Benefit Knowledge (25 points available)
nter ter QA Guide
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Point
Value
Accurately identified plan
type, benefit, or claim
5
Demonstrated thorough
knowledge of plan type,
benefit or claim information
5
Provided complete
information or instructions in
accordance with established
procedure
7
Provided accurate
information or instructions in
accordance with established
procedure
8
Yes
No
N/A
Points
Available
Points
Achieved
Points
Available
Points
Achieved
Point Totals
Coaching Comments:
Inquiry Resolution (25 points available)
Point
Value
Accurately understood the
nature of the caller’s inquiry
5
Effectively/accurately
resolved inquiry/issue in
accordance with established
procedure
5
Completed
fulfillment/referral/follow-up
as promised/required
5
Provided alternatives, as
appropriate
3
Provided time frames, as
appropriate
2
Ensured caller fully
understood explanation,
process, and/or next steps
5
Yes
No
N/A
Point Totals
Coaching Comments:
© 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
All rights reserved.
- 35 -
April 2009
System Knowledge/Usage (10 points available)
Point
Yes
No
N/A
nter ter QA Guide
Contac t Cen
Value
Effectively accessed and
utilized all appropriate
systems, screens and
fields to obtain information
to resolve inquiry
8
Accurately utilized wrap-up
2
Points
Available
Points
Achieved
Points
Available
Points
Achieved
Points
Available
Points
Achieved
Point Totals
Coaching Comments:
Hold/Mute/Transfer (6 points available)
Point
Value
Utilized hold/mute as
defined in Hold/Mute Policy
2
Performed transfer as
defined in Warm Transfer
Policy
2
Transferred call to the
correct area
2
Yes
No
N/A
Point Totals
Coaching Comments:
Communication Skills (14 points available)
Point
Value
Maintained a courteous,
pleasant, and respectful
tone throughout the call
3
Conveyed information
clearly and confidently
and in a manner that was
easily understood
3
Demonstrated effective
listening skills
2
Expressed empathy and
concern, as appropriate
1
Efficiently managed time
and call flow (call
management)
2
Demonstrated
professionalism (call
etiquette)
3
© 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
All rights reserved.
Yes
No
N/A
- 36 -
April 2009
Point Totals
Coaching Comments:
Closing (5 points available)
nter ter QA Guide
Contac t Cen
Point
Value
Used call closing as defined
in Call Closing Policy
2
Accurately documented
information in accordance
with established procedure
3
Yes
No
N/A
Points
Available
Points
Achieved
Point Totals
Coaching Comments:
Total Points Available/Total Points Achieved
QM Evaluation Score
Date Reviewed with Representative
Comments:
Recommendations:
Acknowledged by Representative
Acknowledged by Reviewer
Source: DMG Consulting LLC, April 2009 © 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
All rights reserved.
- 37 -
April 2009
Figure 7: Technical Support QA Evaluation Form Description: This form is for use by an inbound customer service organization that provides technical support for manufactured products. The contact center addresses inquiries from customers and field nter ter QA Guide
Contac t Cen
service technicians. The inquiries encompass a wide range of issues such as parts, service, general product information, authorized service repair shops, warranties, detailed technical support, troubleshooting, etc. Evaluation Details
Call Details
Agent Name:
________________________
Caller Category:
__________________________
Date of Call:
________________________
Call Category:
__________________________
Evaluator Name:
________________________
Call Type:
__________________________
Date of Evaluation:
________________________
Product Type:
__________________________
Serial Number:
__________________________
Greeting/Opening (3 points)
Use of Established Call Opening
Provided name, company name,
inquired: "How may I help you?"
Point
Value
Yes
Points
Available
No
Points Achieved
3
Point Totals
Coaching Comments:
Verification (6 points available)
Verification of Owner/Registration
Information
Point
Value
Owner name/address/phone number:
3
Product serial number:
2
Date of installation:
1
Yes
No
N/A
Points Available
Points Achieved
Point Totals
Coaching Comments:
© 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
All rights reserved.
- 38 -
April 2009
System Knowledge/Usage (15 points available)
nter ter QA Guide
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Demonstration of System Usage and
Navigation Skills
Point
Value
Effectively accessed information on
system
5
Utilized all appropriate systems to
obtain information
5
Documented/updated information
according to established procedure, as
needed or required
3
Accurately utilized wrap-up
1
Yes
No
N/A
Points Available
Points Achieved
Points Available
Points Achieved
Points Available
Points Achieved
Point Totals
Coaching Comments:
Product Knowledge and Information (25 points available)
Demonstration of Product
Knowledge/
Information Skills
Point
Value
Accurately identified
product/part/service/warranty issue
6
Demonstrated thorough knowledge of
product/part/services/warranty, etc.
5
Provided complete
information/instructions
7
Provided accurate
information/instructions
7
Yes
No
N/A
Point Totals
Coaching Comments:
Resolution Skills (25 available points)
Demonstration of Problem
Resolution Skills
Point
Value
Accurately diagnosed problem
5
Effectively resolved issue in
accordance with established procedure
5
Used effective negotiation skills
3
Completed fulfillment/follow-up as
promised/required
5
Provided alternatives and timeframes,
as appropriate
2
Ensured caller fully understood
explanation/process, next steps
5
Yes
No
N/A
Point Totals
Coaching Comments:
© 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
All rights reserved.
- 39 -
April 2009
Hold/Transfer Procedure (4 points available)
nter ter QA Guide
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Use of Established Hold/Transfer
Procedures
Point
Value
Used hold effectively/transferred the
caller to the correct area, and only as
necessary
2
Asked permission to place called on
hold/thanked the caller for
holding/checked back at established
intervals
2
Yes
No
N/A
Points Available
Points Achieved
Points Available
Points Achieved
Points Available
Points Achieved
Point Totals
Coaching Comments:
Communication Skills (18 points)
Demonstration of Communication
Skills
Point
Value
Maintained a courteous, pleasant, and
respectful tone throughout the call
4
Spoke clearly and confidently;
explained information to the caller in a
manner that was easily understood
4
Demonstrated effective listening skills;
restated the caller inquiry to ensure
understanding
3
Expressed empathy and concern, as
appropriate
2
Established confidence and reinforced
brand
2
Efficiently managed time and call flow
(call management)
3
Yes
No
N/A
Point Totals
Coaching Comments:
Closing (4 points)
Use of Established Call Closing
Point
Value
Thanked the customer for calling or
purchasing brand products
2
Asked: "Is there anything else I can
help you with?"
2
Yes
No
Point Totals
Coaching Comments:
Total Points Available/ Total Points Achieved:
QM Evaluation Score:
© 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
All rights reserved.
- 40 -
April 2009
First Contact Resolution
Demonstration of First Contact
Resolution Skills
Yes
No
N/A
Points Available
Points Achieved
nter ter QA Guide
Contac t Cen
Did the agent/technician do everything
possible to ensure that a callback was
not necessary?
Coaching Comments:
FCR Score:
Note: First Contact Resolution (FCR) is intended to be a separate quality monitoring metric for performance measurement.
This category of the evaluation form should be based on the number of calls monitored. For example, if 5 calls per month
are monitored, each call is weighted at 20%. A technician who achieved First Contact Resolution on 3 calls would have an
FCR score of 60% for the month.
Business First Contact Resolution
Yes
No
N/A
Did the caller indicate this was a follow-up call?
Is there a policy/procedure/service issue that
prevented First Contact Resolution?
Comments:
Note: Business First Contact Resolution is not intended to be a quality metric for technicians. It is a data collection category
that should be used for business process optimization analysis.
Source: DMG Consulting LLC, April 2009 © 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
All rights reserved.
- 41 -
April 2009
Figure 8: VPI Sample Customer Service Quality Monitoring Form Description: This form is for use by an inbound customer service department that does up‐sell or nter ter QA Guide
Contac t Cen
cross‐sell. This QA form measures agent skills and processes. Sample Customer Service Quality Monitoring Form
Agent:
Group:
Evaluator:
Agent Name
Group Number
Evaluator Name
Evaluation Start Time:
Evaluation End Time:
Interaction Date:
Date and Time
Finalized Date or “In Progress”
Date and Time
Quality Skill Scores:
Overall Score:
115/115 (100%)
Greeting
5/5 (100%)
Procedural Requirements
10/10 (100%)
Communication
35/35 (100%)
Listening
10/10 (100%)
Empathy
10/10 (100%)
Upsell
10/10 (100%)
Problem Assessment & Resolution
30/30 (100%)
Call Handling
5/5 (100%)
Evaluation Comments:
Enter Evaluation Comments Here
Call Segment: Introduction, Score: 10/30 (33.33%)
Question:
Answer:
Did the call center agent greet the caller and clearly identify themselves and the company?
Yes
No
Skill:
Communication
Score:
5/5 (100%)
Question:
Did the call center agent verify and update customer information?
Answer:
Yes
No
Skill:
Procedural Requirements
Score:
5/5 (100%)
Question:
How effectively did the agent incorporate the script into their style, following the guidelines, but also
sounding natural ?
Answer:
Excellent
Very Good
Good
Fair
Poor
Choose One
Skill:
Communication
Score:
10/10 (100%)
Question:
How attentive was the agent with listening to the customer? (10 = Excellent, Poor = 0)
Answer:
0
1
2
Skill:
Communication
Score:
10/10 (100%)
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Call Segment: Customer Service Criteria, Score: 45/45 (100%)
© 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
All rights reserved.
- 42 -
April 2009
Question:
nter ter QA Guide
Contac t Cen
Answer:
Did the agent refer to the customer as "Mr...", "Miss...", "Sir" or "Mam"?
Yes
No
Skill:
Communication
Score:
5/5 (100%)
Question:
How attentive was the agent in listening to the customer?
Answer:
Choose One
Very Good
Good
Fair
Poor
Skill:
Listening
Score:
10/10 (100%)
Question:
How well did the agent speak at an understandable rate and sound postive and upbeat?
Answer:
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Skill:
Communication
Score:
10/10 (100%)
Question:
How well did the agent seem to empathize with the customer
Answer:
Choose One
Excellent
Very Good
Good
Fair
Skill:
Empathy
Score:
10/10 (100%)
Question:
Was the agent able get an order for the new promotion?
Answer:
Choose One
Skill:
Upsell
Score:
10/10 (100%)
Yes
Poor
No
Call Segment: Problem Identification, Score: 15/25 (60%)
Question:
Answer:
How effectively did the agent use probing questions to identify the customer's problems?
Choose One
Excellent
Good
Fair
Poor
Skill:
Problem Assessment & Resolution
Score:
10/10 (100%)
Question:
If the agent had to put the customer on-hold, did they come back after 45 seconds and thank them for
being patient and could continue to keep holding?
Answer:
Yes
No
Skill:
Call Handling
Score:
5/5 (100%)
Question:
Did the agent offer all possible solutions before scheduling an escalation call back?
Answer:
Yes
No
Skill:
Problem Assessment & Resolution
Score:
10/10 (100%)
Call Segment: Closing, Score: 15/15 (100%)
© 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
All rights reserved.
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April 2009
Question:
Did the agent thank the customer and ask if there was anything else they could help them with?
Answer:
Yes
Problem Assessment & Resolution
Score:
5/5 (100%)
Question:
Did agent review the call and get customers approval of call's resolution?
Answer:
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No
Skill:
No
Yes
Skill:
Problem Assessment & Resolution
Score:
5/5 (100%)
Question:
Did agent thank the customer for their business?
Answer:
Yes
No
Skill:
Procedural Requirements
Score:
5/5 (100%)
Source: VPI, April 2009 © 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
All rights reserved.
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April 2009
Figure 9: VPI New Order Precision Quality Monitoring Form Description: This form is for use by any inbound sales organizations that focuses on improving the quality and outcome of its “new order” calls that are automatically identified via desktop analytics. nter ter QA Guide
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© 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
All rights reserved.
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New Order Precision Quality Monitoring Form
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Agent:
Group:
Evaluator:
Agent Name
Group Number
Evaluator Name
Evaluation Start Time:
Evaluation End Time:
Interaction Date:
Date and Time
Finalized Date or “In Progress”
Date and Time
Quality Skill Scores:
Overall Score:
70/70 (100%)
Greeting
10/10 (100%)
Communication
25/25 (100%)
Sales
10/10 (100%)
Upselling
10/10 (100.00%)
Closing
10/10 (100.00%)
After Call Work
5/5 (100.00%)
Evaluation Comments:
Enter Evaluation Comments Here
Call Segment: Opening, Score: 20/20 (100%)
Question:
Answer:
Did the agent use the appropriate greeting and properly identify themselves to the caller?
Yes
No
Skill:
Greeting
Question:
Did the call center agent verify and update customer information, if needed?
Answer:
Yes
No
Skill:
Communication
Question:
Was the agent's tone and word choice in line with the caller's?
Answer:
Skill:
Yes - the agent was extremely sensitive to the caller's needs
Mostly - the agent listened to the caller, but did not try to actively identify the problems for the caller
No - the agent did not attend to the caller's tone and urgency or anticipate their issues
Communication
Call Segment: Order Entry, Score: 20/20 (100%)
© 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
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April 2009
Question:
Did the agent go through all available order options prior to taking the order information?
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Answer:
Yes
No
Skill:
Sales
Question:
Was the customer offered the monthly promotion?
Answer:
Yes
No
Skill:
Upselling
Question:
Did the agent upsell the customer to the Gold level, if not already ordered?
Answer:
Skill:
Yes
No
Upselling
Call Segment: Closing, Score: 25/25 (100%)
Question:
Did the agent confirm shipping method and location before summarizing the order?
Answer:
Skill:
Question:
Yes
No
Proceedural Requirements
Was an order summary provided, including total estimated cost and delivery date, to customer?
Answer:
Yes
No
Skill:
Proceedural Requirements
Question:
Did the agent offer additional assistance to caller and thank them for the order?
Answer:
Yes
No
Skill:
Communication
Question:
Did the agent use the correct closing for a new order call?
Answer:
Skill:
Yes
No
Closing
Call Segment: After Call Work, Score: 5/5 (100%)
Question:
Did the agent enter the correct notes in to the summary field for a new order?
Answer:
Skill
Yes
No
After Call Work
Source: VPI, April 2009 © 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
All rights reserved.
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April 2009
7. Quality Assurance Monitoring Criteria and Guidelines Quality assurance monitoring guidelines specify the criteria to be used by QA specialists and reviewers in determining if an agent properly demonstrated a skill during a transaction. They also nter ter QA Guide
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indicate which section of the form to use when scoring the various components of the interaction. 7.1 Quality Monitoring Criteria and Guidelines The quality monitoring criteria define sections, questions and skills that are captured in the quality evaluation form. They describe how a skill should be demonstrated so that QA reviewers know how to objectively evaluate and score an interaction. For example, if a question on the evaluation form is intended to determine if an agent established rapport with a customer, the criteria must define what building customer rapport means, i.e., addressing the customer by name throughout the call or acknowledging an event that the customer mentioned in the course of the call (anniversary, birthday, vacation plans, etc.). Please keep in mind that the meaning of building a rapport at one company may be the opposite in another. While some companies may want their customers to call their customers by their first name, others may insist that only a title and the last name be used. The criteria should also reflect which section and questions in the QA evaluation form should be used to score the various call elements. While this may seem obvious, it is often quite difficult. Consider this example: A quality monitoring form has the following three questions in the communication skills section: Demonstrated effective listening skills? (3 points), Expressed empathy and concern as appropriate? (1 point), and Established rapport with the customer? (2 points). If during the course of a call a customer mentions that they were recently hospitalized and the agent does not acknowledge that, where should this issue be captured and scored in the prior three questions? The answer is that as long as it is consistently addressed in the same question, it doesn’t matter. The quality monitoring criteria must specify where the issue needs to be addressed. Action Item: Assign a member of the quality assurance review team to be responsible for overseeing the quality monitoring criteria and maintaining them, as required. © 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
All rights reserved.
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April 2009
7.2 Why are Quality Monitoring Criteria and Guidelines Necessary? Quality monitoring criteria and guidelines take the “guesswork” out of figuring out the right nter ter QA Guide
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way to evaluate and score a transaction. The guidelines standardize the use of QA evaluation forms, allowing QA reviewers to handle each transaction objectively and consistently. They also safeguard against “double‐dipping” – a term used by agents to refer to a situation where they have lost points for more than one question on a QA evaluation for the same issue. These issues are flushed out and resolved during the testing and calibration process. Action Item: Invest time up front to develop clear and concise quality monitoring criteria and guidelines. This yields a standardized approach and helps minimize misunderstandings about how to conduct QA evaluations. © 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
All rights reserved.
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April 2009
8. Calibration Calibration, a method for building consensus and delivering a standardized evaluation tool, nter ter QA Guide
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is key to the success of all QA programs. It is a process intended to ensure that QA results are valid and based on reliable measurement tools. For a QA program to be credible and produce accurate and dependable results, it’s essential that all reviewers evaluate transactions on a consistent basis. Calibration is not a one‐time event. To keep all evaluators synchronized, calibration must be done on an ongoing basis and include all people involved in conducting evaluations. It’s also a great way to build camaraderie and support for a QA initiative. Calibration should be conducted on a monthly basis. If a contact center is a multi‐site environment, all sites should participate in group‐wide calibration sessions to ensure that transactions are being evaluated consistently regardless of the site where the transaction is handled. 8.1 What is Calibration? Calibration is a process where all QA reviewers discuss how to score various types of transactions. The QA reviewers meet and review agent transactions. Every individual scores the same transactions and then scoring differences are identified. The reviewers then discuss the reasons for the differences and reach consensus. DMG recommends that agents be invited to participate in calibration sessions so that they can gain an appreciation of the effort and rigor applied to the QA process. When conducted properly, calibration sessions foster collaboration and establish consensus on how quality monitoring criteria should be applied to each question and scored on the evaluation form. Action Item: Update quality monitoring criteria based on the consensus reached in calibration sessions. © 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
All rights reserved.
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8.2 Benefits of Calibration When performed consistently, generally monthly, calibration is a proven approach for maintaining nter ter QA Guide
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program integrity and equity, and ensuring that agents are treated fairly. Among its many benefits, calibration: •
Helps develop effective QA evaluation forms •
Teaches QA reviewers how to apply evaluation criteria and perform QA evaluations on a consistent basis •
Builds consensus among all QA reviewers •
Helps maintain an open dialogue between the QA team and management •
Keeps staff updated about changes to the program, scoring criteria and the evaluation form, as the program evolves •
Enhances agent perception of the program’s credibility and fairness •
Fosters collaboration and camaraderie among QA reviewers •
Keeps supervisors well versed in how agents are being evaluated and facilitates more effective coaching © 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
All rights reserved.
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April 2009
8.3 The Calibration Process Figure 10 provides a general overview of how calibration works in most contact centers, nter ter QA Guide
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although this process varies among companies. A set of recorded calls (and/or emails and chats in a multi‐channel environment) are tagged for calibration and sent to all QA reviewers. Each reviewer evaluates and scores the transactions. The QA manager generates a report that reflects scoring variances between the reviewers for each transaction; this must be done at the question level to be useful. (In some organizations, the scoring variances are calculated against a “master evaluation” that is designated as the department standard.) A calibration meeting is held to review scoring results and to discuss the variances. If a scoring discrepancy is uncovered, each reviewer presents a justification of their scoring. In most cases, this generates a lively discussion that requires the group to replay the transaction, or verify information in the procedure or training guide. Once all opinions are presented, the group reaches a consensus on the best way to score each question. This is likely to address how the question was rated and/or which form category should be used to capture a particular issue. This is an important part of the calibration process, as point values vary depending on where call elements are scored. The quality monitoring criteria guidelines (as well as procedure or training manuals, if applicable) should be modified or updated based on the consensus outcome. © 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
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Figure 10: The Calibration Process nter ter QA Guide Contact Cen
Source: DMG Consulting LLC, April 2009 Action Item: Include agents in calibration sessions. This helps them appreciate the effort management puts into accurately assessing calls and emails and fairly evaluating agent performance. © 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
All rights reserved.
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April 2009
9. Quality Assurance Program Mechanics and Processes An important part of every QA program is determining the number of evaluations that must nter ter QA Guide
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be completed to come up with either operationally or scientifically valid results. Once this number is determined, management must decide if it can afford the resources required to conduct the optimal number of evaluations. If the answer is “no,” as it is in many contact centers, then the challenge is to come up with a lower number of evaluations to perform that will still provide insight into agent performance and transaction trends. Determining the number and frequency of evaluations is called defining the program mechanics. 9.1 Transaction Selection Criteria Identifying transactions for QA is an important part of the process. There are four primary methods for selecting transactions to be reviewed. The first approach is to set up a schedule to capture transactions at pre‐defined intervals. The second approach is to randomly capture transactions. The third approach is to use business rules to identify calls that require attention. The fourth method is to use automation, such as speech or screen analytics, to identify transactions that are either really good or really bad and require management attention. Regardless of the approach used, it’s essential that the method capture transactions fairly and equitably. The capture method should be communicated to agents so that they know how transactions are selected for review. Once transactions are captured, they can be further qualified based on any number of factors, including call direction, call duration, call type (based on wrap‐up, disposition or other interaction classification mechanism), product type, etc. Date of interaction is another key factor as, depending on the total number of evaluations being conducted per agent/per month, it’s a best practice to spread out the evaluations over the course of the month. This helps to ensure that agents receive timely feedback and gives them an opportunity to make adjustments to their performance. Action Item: Set up a process to capture the best transactions for the QA team. © 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
All rights reserved.
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April 2009
9.2 Determining the Number and Frequency of Evaluations The goal of a quality assurance program is to provide a statistically significant analysis of service delivery and the quality of customer interactions. To accurately measure service quality and establish credibility and reliability for the quality assurance process, randomly captured calls should nter ter QA Guide
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be evaluated consistently for all agents, on a regular basis. Unfortunately, most contact centers do not have the resources to conduct QA on a statistically valid sample of transactions. Instead, management generally specifies a number of calls/emails/chat sessions to evaluate on a weekly and/or monthly basis. This number is based on QA resources. (To determine the number of QA sessions that can be performed in a day, calculate the amount of time it takes to do an evaluation and deliver a coaching session. Then divide this number by the working hours available per day, which is generally 6.5.) There are no industry guidelines for determining the ratio or number of calls that should be monitored per contact center on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. This number varies based on total number of agents, type of contact center (multi‐channel or multi‐skill) and transaction volume. Here is a strategy that some contact centers use to determine the number of evaluations to monitor per agent/month. Start by evaluating 10 calls per agent for a month to obtain a baseline figure. Each subsequent month, reduce the number of evaluations for each agent by 1 and compare the results/findings to the prior month. Continue this process until the variance between the results is significant. At that point, the number of calls evaluated is as low as it can go. (The most common number of calls evaluated for agents on a monthly basis is 3 to 5.) Another way contact centers address QA resource limitations is to split the number of agent evaluations that need to be completed among supervisors and quality reviewers. While it's important to have dedicated QA resources, it's also essential for line supervisors or managers to keep informed about their agents' performance. Evaluating agents is a great way to stay apprised of what’s happening with agents and the contact center. Action Item: Determine an appropriate number of transactions to evaluate for each agent on a weekly or monthly basis to give management insights into what’s happening in their contact center and to give agents a good idea of their performance. © 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
All rights reserved.
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April 2009
9.3 Coaching Coaching is another vital component of a successful QA program. Coaching is the process of nter ter QA Guide
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delivering feedback on a frequent, consistent and timely basis to agents. Effective coaching sessions recognize agent strengths and assets in addition to identifying the areas where agents have improvement opportunities. Coaching sessions that are instructive, supportive and collaborative demonstrate management’s commitment to agents’ success. As depicted in Figure 11, a variety of coaching methods can be employed. The methods include personalized coaching, best practice clips, broadcast messages and real‐time feedback. Regardless of the method used, what is important is that the required number of coaching sessions is, in fact, completed. Lack of coaching or poor training is one of the primary reasons QA programs fail or do not achieve their anticipated results. It also leads to agent attrition. Figure 11: Coaching Methods Personalized Coaching
Best Practice Clip
Broadcast Messaging
Real-Time Feedback
Source: DMG Consulting LLC, April 2009 © 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
All rights reserved.
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April 2009
Coaching Best Practices Always deliver coaching in a private setting to maintain confidentiality and avoid outside distractions and interruptions Begin coaching sessions on a positive note, highlighting agent strengths and nter ter QA Guide
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recognizing incremental improvements When discussing performance opportunities focus on specific examples and detail why the agent did not meet the performance standard Provide the agent with specific examples of how the situation could have been handled better, i.e., “Maybe a better way to explain this to the caller is to say,” or “This information can be found on this screen…” Encourage open dialogue by asking the agent to talk about areas where he/she is having difficulties and discuss what kind of support would be most helpful Establish incremental goals for the agent to achieve for the next coaching session Follow up as planned on any deliverables Provide informal support between coaching sessions. Drop by, listen for a few minutes and provide encouragement; a few kind words can have a significant impact End the session on a positive note Action Item: Coach agents frequently using the method that is most effective for each individual. © 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
All rights reserved.
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April 2009
9.4 Evaluation Feedback and Escalation Process The most effective QA programs facilitate two‐way communication between reviewers and agents. Part of program development involves setting up the process for agents to receive their nter ter QA Guide
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completed evaluations, review them along with any recorded transactions, and channel any questions or feedback back to the reviewer. Particularly in the early stages of the roll‐out, agents who are not accustomed to being monitored are likely to challenge low scores. It’s important to have a process that allows agents to voice their objections and escalate their concerns without trepidation of repercussions. The following process is recommended: •
Give agents their completed QA evaluation(s) and underlying transaction(s) prior to them sitting down with the QA reviewer •
If a coaching session is not already scheduled, allow agents to request a meeting with the QA reviewer to discuss their evaluation(s) •
QA reviewers must be able to explain and substantiate how the transaction was evaluated based on the recording and system information, citing written procedure and policy, or, in case of an error, adjusting the score •
If the agent still disagrees with the score and how the form was evaluated, forward the evaluation to a designated “QA arbitrator” for final disposition Challenges to evaluation scores, as a rule, do not happen consistently or frequently. When they do arise, it’s important for agents to feel comfortable raising concerns and voicing dissention. Action Item: Invite agent participation in the QA feedback process, so that they feel empowered by the process. © 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
All rights reserved.
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April 2009
9.5 Ongoing Training Ongoing training is important for agents and QA specialists. Beyond basic introductory nter ter QA Guide
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training, agents require up‐training on a consistent basis to keep abreast of changes in policies, procedures, processes, products, services and systems. Besides being critical for optimizing agent performance, training and coaching contribute significantly to agent job satisfaction, morale and motivation. Effective QA programs have a closed‐loop process with training so that issues identified during evaluations are shared with trainers on a timely basis. An important part of the quality reviewer’s responsibility is to identify trends and training opportunities to address performance gaps. The QA program should include a process for funneling recommendations to the training department and ensuring that all training, reference materials, policies and procedures are accurate and up‐to‐date. It is also recommended that the quality manager and training department hold monthly meetings to review training effectiveness and develop action plans to address any trends/issues/opportunities that are uncovered in the quality monitoring process. Action Item: Use QA to identify agent training needs. QA specialist and trainers should work closely together to ensure that agents receive the training they need to consistently deliver an outstanding customer experience. © 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
All rights reserved.
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April 2009
new 9.6 Addressing Agent Performance Issues For a QA program to be taken seriously by agents and be effective in changing their behavior, its results must be reflected in each agent’s mid‐year and annual employee performance review. Quality assurance evaluation results should be an important component of the process for nter ter QA Guide
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deciding the raises for agents. However, for this to happen, contact center management must work with the human resource group, as they generally set the format for employee reviews. Agents should never be surprised by the results of their performance reviews because they should be receiving monthly, or at least periodic coaching sessions throughout the year as part of the QA program. The following five steps will help quality reviewers and managers assist agents in meeting contact center performance goals. •
Diagnose performance issues Managers must be able to clearly articulate performance issues so that agents know what they need to change and how to fix it. When preparing an agent’s performance appraisal, review their quality assurance evaluation forms to determine where performance opportunities exist and identify any trends. For example, determine if the agent consistently has low or failing scores low in a particular category or for a particular call type. Are there multiple performance issues, i.e., deficiencies in communications skills or problems adhering to procedures, accessing information or processing transactions? Valuable insights can be gained by conducting a side‐by‐side QA session with the agent to view first‐hand where and when challenges arise or if work habits are contributing to their performance issues. Based on the results of the trend analysis and/or observations from the side‐by‐side sessions, document the underlying causes of performance problems. •
Create an action plan Once the area(s) where the agent needs help have been identified, create an action plan to address them. (Most performance reviews include a section for next steps or performance improvements.) The contact center manager should discuss the findings with the agent’s © 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
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April 2009
supervisor, and then work with the supervisor and training department to identify the resources that can be used to support the agent's development. This may include enrolling the agent in additional training or up‐training sessions, eLearning or coaching sessions, providing reference materials or job aids, offering additional system or communication skills nter ter QA Guide
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training, or regularly assigning time for the agent to sit with an outstanding colleague to learn the correct way to handle interactions. •
Communicate with the agent Depending on the structure of the organization, either the QA manager and/or the supervisor should discuss performance issues with the agent. Begin by making sure that the agent understands the quality evaluation criteria and how calls are scored. Be sure that the assessment is constructive and recognizes the agent's strengths as well as performance opportunities. Review the action plan that has been developed with the agent and emphasize that it is intended to help them succeed. (While there are exceptions, most people want to succeed but don’t always know what they need to do. Effective communication may convert weak agents into top performers.) •
Provide consistent feedback and reinforcement The most effective improvement programs provide continuous and encouraging feedback to motivate contact center agents. When an agent is struggling to perform, it's a good idea to offer him/her some extra attention. Conduct routine evaluations of the agent's calls and provide timely feedback. When needed, provide additional targeted coaching that addresses the agent's specific needs and reinforce what he/she is doing right. This feedback can be formal or informal. For example, when a supervisor is walking by, he/she could take a few minutes to stand by and listen to the agent and provide immediate feedback. Or, if the agent is remote, the supervisor could dial in and listen to some calls to provide additional feedback. Agents who know their management cares almost always perform better. © 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
All rights reserved.
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April 2009
•
Monitor, track, and recognize improvements Monitor the agent's performance to track progress and improvement. Motivate the agent by recognizing and praising incremental improvements and continue to provide coaching and nter ter QA Guide
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support for performance opportunities. Reward employees for good performance. Provide monthly recognition to employees with the best quality. Money is a nice reward, but public recognition can keep employees focused on what is important: quality and customer satisfaction. Action Item: Integrate the results of the QA program into the department’s semi‐annual and yearly review process. Address agent performance issues identified during the QA process on a timely basis with directed, constructive and positive feedback. © 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
All rights reserved.
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April 2009
9.7 Rewards and Recognition It’s important for agents to consider QA a departmental initiative that contributes to their nter ter QA Guide
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success, instead of a “gotcha” program. This can be achieved by using QA to readily identify and reward outstanding performers. Establish a process for identifying and recognizing agents who achieve quality monitoring excellence. This motivates the right behaviors and performance throughout the department. QA reviewers, in cooperation with managers and trainers, should identify and distribute best practice clips of outstanding agent interactions to all agents. Agents learn best from their peers, so in addition to providing recognition, best practice clips provide excellent examples of effective techniques for all agents to emulate. There are many ways to acknowledge top performers, but it is essential to do so on a consistent basis, and to make sure that the same people are not the ones always recognized. (Avoiding this common pitfall will help the QA program succeed.) Among the ways to recognize different agents on a monthly basis is to identify the top three monthly performers, the most improved agent from the prior month, the top three performers for the quarter, etc. Incentives are ideal, but if prohibited, then some other vehicle such as a lunch voucher, picture and write‐up in the contact center or company newsletter, inclusion in a “walk of fame,” special parking spot, lunch with the CEO, etc., can be used. Invite top performing agents to take an active role in departmental activities, such as coaching new hires, delivering an up‐training session, becoming a subject matter expert on a new initiative, or cross‐training on a new function. This motivates the right performance behaviors and keeps people engaged. Action Item: Identify and reward outstanding performers, but build a process that rewards different people on a monthly basis to broaden the appeal and acceptance of the QA program. © 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
All rights reserved.
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April 2009
9.8 Updating Procedures/Training Quality assurance is a continuous cycle of improvement and measurement that must be nter ter QA Guide
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adapted as products, processes, policies, customer expectations, systems, or business requirements change. It’s important to develop a process for ensuring that guidelines, reference and training materials are updated on a timely basis so that agents always have the right information. The QA manager or specialists should be involved in keeping procedures up‐to‐date, as should the training team. The appendix includes a sample format that managers can use to create policies and procedures. Action Item: Set up a process that keeps departmental policies, procedures and training materials up‐to‐date, based on feedback received from the QA program. © 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
All rights reserved.
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April 2009
9.9 Monitoring Quality Assurance Reviewers Just as agents need to be evaluated on a consistent basis to monitor and measure their performance, the same holds true for quality assurance reviewers. Managers must oversee the performance of QA reviewers to make sure that they are meeting their productivity goals for the number of QA reviews and coaching sessions each month and that they are doing so at the highest nter ter QA Guide
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level of quality. Exit interviews of agents have found that one of the main reasons they leave is because they do not get timely feedback (and in many cases, any feedback) from management and don’t think the organization cares about them. Calibration, which is discussed in section 8, is important for maintaining the integrity and consistency of the QA program. If managers attend some of the calibration sessions – which is a best practice – they can also identify QA specialists who are struggling with the program. Management can then address the performance issues and get the QA specialist re‐aligned with the goals of the QA program. It is also a good idea for the QA manager or the contact center manager (if they are overseeing the program) to conduct monthly or periodic audits of all reviewers. Here is how the audit process works: •
The QA manager sets an accuracy threshold that QA reviewers must maintain in order to pass the monthly audit. •
The QA manager selects a certain number of interactions per channel to include in the audit (at least the same number of interactions that are evaluated for each agent per month). •
The QA manager evaluates the interactions selected for the audit to create a baseline/master evaluation against which every QA evaluator’s performance is compared. •
The QA manager sends the group of transactions to be used for the audit to all of the QA reviewers to evaluate independently. The completed evaluations are returned to the QA manger; each evaluation is compared against the baseline evaluation for that particular interaction to identify scoring variances. © 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
All rights reserved.
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April 2009
•
The QA manager produces a report that reflects scoring variances at the question, section and overall evaluation level; based on the established accuracy threshold, the QA manager tracks the performance of each reviewer and whether they or passed or failed the audit; the manager is nter ter QA Guide
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looking to make sure that each QA reviewer is evaluating transactions consistently. •
Based on the performance opportunities uncovered in the audit process, the QA manager should reach out to various QA reviewers and provide feedback and coaching. •
Any QA reviewer who fails the monthly audit for more than three months and has been coached should be removed from performing QA evaluations until they are fully retrained. •
After retraining a QA reviewer, audit them again to determine if they are re‐aligned with the rest of the team; if they are, give them positive feedback and, if not, remove them from doing QA reviews. Action Item: Management should evaluate QA evaluators on a periodic basis to keep the QA program aligned with the needs of the business. It will also make it clear to agents that management is invested in this program and taking it very seriously. This will help reduce complaints from agents about being treated unfairly. © 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
All rights reserved.
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9.10 Reporting Accurate, timely and effective reporting is a requirement for any major initiative. An nter ter QA Guide
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important part of setting up a QA program is to define the organization’s reporting needs. If QA is being done manually, it’s necessary to design and create the report templates. If using a QA application, work with the vendor to enhance or create custom reports if the solution does not have all the reports needed. However, regardless of the approach used, it’s a good idea to define the organization’s reporting requirements early on in the process in order to know what information needs to be collected. Below are a few reports that many organizations have found useful. Contact Center Quality Management Report for: December 2008 Average Contact Center QA Score: This report displays the average QA score for the contact center for the current month and as compared to the last 2 months. It is useful for determining the contact center’s overall quality performance. Figure 12: Average Contact Center QA Score: December 2008
Month
December
November 2008
October 2008
Average QA Score
80.5%
74.6%
81.3%
© 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
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100%
81.30%
74.60%
80.50%
Oct-08
Nov-08
Dec-08
80%
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60%
40%
20%
0%
Average Scores by Evaluation Section: This report displays the monthly average scores for the contact center at the evaluation section level, and as compared to section averages over the past two months. Figure 13:Contact Center Average Scores by Evaluation Section:
December 2008
Section
December
November
October
Greeting (5 pts)
3.4
2.3
3.9
Verification (10 pts)
Plan/Benefit Knowledge (25
pts)
Inquiry Resolution (25 pts)
System Knowledge/Usage
(10 pts)
Hold/Mute/Transfer (6 pts)
Communication Skills (14
pts)
Closing (5 pts)
8.6
7.6
6.8
22.7
21.8
22.3
19.6
21.4
18.9
6.1
7.8
5.9
4.3
4.7
3.9
9.7
8.1
7.5
5.1
3.2
© 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
All rights reserved.
4.7
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s)
lo
si
ng
(7
pt
s)
s)
pt
io
n
w
le
dg
e
ry
ui
In
q
em
st
Sy
Pl
an
/
Be
n
ef
it
Kn
o
Ve
rif
ic
at
re
et
in
g
(1
0
(5
pt
s)
0
G
nter ter QA Guide
Contac t Cen
15
Average Scores by Evaluation Question: This report displays the monthly average scores for the contact center at the evaluation question level, and as compared to specific question averages over the past two months. The purpose is to surface new trends or areas where training opportunities exist, and to determine if the prior month’s training was effective. © 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
All rights reserved.
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April 2009
Figure 14: Average Scores by Evaluation Question: December 2008
December
November
October
nter ter QA Guide
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Greeting (5 pts)
Used call greeting as defined in
Greeting Policy (2 pts)
Documented caller name and phone
number (3 pts)
Verification (10 pts)
Verified caller as defined in
Verification Policy (5 pts)
Verified eligibility as defined in
Eligibility Policy (3 pts)
Asked caller for Member and/or
Patient’s Date of Birth (1 pt)
Asked caller for address on file (1
pt)
Plan/Benefit Knowledge (25 pts)
Accurately identified plan type,
benefit, or claim (5 pts)
Demonstrated thorough knowledge
of plan type, benefit or claim
information (5 pts)
Provided complete and accurate
information or instructions in
accordance with established
procedure (15 pts)
Inquiry Resolution (25 pts)
Accurately understood the nature of
the caller’s inquiry (5pts)
Effectively/accurately resolved
inquiry/issue in accordance with
established procedure (5 pts)
Completed fulfillment/
referral/follow-up as
promised/required (5 pts)
Provided alternatives, as
appropriate (3 pts)
Provided time frames, as
appropriate (2 pts)
Ensured caller fully understood
explanation, process, and/or next
steps (5 pts)
© 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
All rights reserved.
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April 2009
December
November
October
nter ter QA Guide
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System Knowledge/Usage (10 pts)
Effectively accessed and utilized all
appropriate systems, screens and
fields to obtain information to
resolve inquiry (8 pts)
Accurately utilized wrap-up (2 pts)
Hold/Mute/Transfer (6 pts)
Utilized hold/mute as defined in
Hold/Mute Policy (2 pts)
Performed transfer as defined in the
Warm Transfer Policy (2 pts)
Transferred the call to the correct
area (2 pts)
Communication Skills (14 pts)
Maintained a courteous, pleasant,
and respectful tone throughout the
call (3 pts)
Conveyed information clearly and
confidently and in a manner that
was easily understood (3 pts)
Demonstrated effective listening
skills (2 pts)
Expressed empathy and concern as
appropriate (1 pt)
Efficiently managed time and call
flow (call management) (2 pts)
Demonstrated professionalism (call
etiquette) (3 pts)
Closing (5 pts)
Used call closing as defined in Call
Closing Policy (2 pts)
Accurately documented information
in accordance with established
procedure (3 pts)
© 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
All rights reserved.
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April 2009
Average QA Scores by Agent: This report displays the average QA scores for each agent in the contact center, for the current month and prior two months. It is useful in identifying agents who are not meeting goal and individual agent performance trends. nter ter QA Guide
Contac t Cen
Figure 15: Average QA Scores by Agent: December 2008
Agent
December
November
October
Agent Name
Agent Name
Agent Name
Agent Name
Agent Name
Agent Name
Agent Name
Agent Name
QA Scores by Agent by Evaluation: This report provides a breakdown of the scores that each agent achieved for their evaluations in the current month. It is helpful in identifying very good or very poor performance or interactions that may require attention or follow‐up by the supervisor. Figure 16: QA Scores by Agent by Evaluation: December 2008
Evaluation Scores for December 2008
Agent
Evaluation 1
Evaluation 2
Evaluation 3
Evaluation 4
Agent Name
Agent Name
Agent Name
Agent Name
Agent Name
Agent Name
Agent Name
Agent Name
© 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
All rights reserved.
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April 2009
Average QA Scores by Agent by Category: This report provides a breakdown of the average scores by category for each agent. It helps identify individual needs and areas of coaching opportunities specific to each agent or team Closing
Hold/Mute/Transfer
System
Knowledge/Usage
Inquiry Resolution
Plan/Benefit
Knowledge
Agent
Verification
Figure 17: Average QA Scores by Agent by Category: December 2008
Greeting
nter ter QA Guide
Contac t Cen
Action Item: Invest the time up front to define the reports needed to support your QA initiative. Ask all relevant constituents – contact center and QA managers, supervisors, QA specialists, trainers and possibly, marketing – what information they would like to see from the QA program, and design reports to meet these needs. © 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
All rights reserved.
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April 2009
9.11 QA Database If an automated application is not being used for QA, it is necessary to build a database for nter ter QA Guide
Contac t Cen
managing QA data. Most organizations build this in either Access or Excel. The goal is to make it easy to input and retrieve data and to make it easy to run reports. Action Item: If you are not using a QA/recording system, build a database for tracking agent QA scores so that this data can be used to identify trends and create reports. © 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
All rights reserved.
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April 2009
10. Kicking Off the QA Program Once the QA program is built, it’s time to kick it off. The entire contact center staff must be Cont
C
ontact Center QA Guide
trained prior to the beginning the pilot. This is very important because it sets the tone for the program. This is also where an organization can introduce their own “personality” into the program. DMG suggests coming up with a name for the QA program so that it isn’t just called “the QA program.” Some organizations run a name contest, which is another way of getting buy‐in and support from contact center staff. The kick‐off presentation should address the following topics: •
Introduce QA leaders •
Explanation of QA •
Description of its benefits •
What QA means to agents, including how it can help their careers •
Discussion of program mechanics •
Review of the QA evaluation form •
Upcoming training •
Rewards and recognition Action Item: Make the QA kick‐off a celebratory and fun affair that explains the benefits of QA for agents, customers and the greater enterprise. Use this kick‐off to get staff buy‐
in. © 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
All rights reserved.
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April 2009
10.1 Agent Training Training is necessary to prepare agents for the QA program and the changes that it will bring to the department. Training is also a great way to alleviate apprehension about the program; the nter ter QA Guide
Contac t Cen
more information people have about the QA program, the more comfortable and welcoming they will be. The outline in Figure 18 below presents the topics that should be covered in an agent QA training program. However, every contact center should customize this basic training program to meet their needs. Additionally, going forward, a QA module should be added to the new agent hire training program. Figure 18: QA Agent Training Outline
Agenda
Item/Activity
QA and its
Benefits
Topics covered
•
•
Procedures
Time
1.5 hrs
•
•
•
•
What is QA?
How will QA benefit you and your
customers?
How was the program developed?
What are the program components?
What are the program goals?
Who are the people that will be involved?
•
•
•
•
•
What are procedures?
Why are they important?
How should you use them?
How does QA use them?
How are they modified and updated?
3.5 hrs
If the procedure guide is new, the trainer will have
to review the document and explain how it is
organized and used.
Policies
•
Role play to get accustomed to using the
procedures.
•
•
•
•
•
What are policies?
How do policies differ from procedures?
How should you use them?
How does QA use them?
How are they modified and updated?
2.5 hrs
If the policy guide is new, the trainer will have to
review the document and explain how it is
organized and used.
•
Role play to get accustomed to using the
policies.
© 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
All rights reserved.
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April 2009
Agenda
Item/Activity
QA Form and
Criteria
Topics covered
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
nter ter QA Guide
Contac t Cen
Program
Mechanics
•
•
•
•
•
•
Agenda
Item/Activity
Calibration
Time
How was the form developed?
What is the form’s purpose?
How is the form used?
How is the form scored?
What are the criteria used to score each
question/section?
How will the scores be used?
How will the program work?
How many calls will be monitored per
week/month?
Who will be doing the evaluations and
coaching sessions?
How will calls/emails/chats be selected for
evaluation?
How will I receive my evaluations?
When can I review my evaluations?
How can I respond to my evaluations?
What if I disagree with my score?
Topics covered
•
•
•
•
2 hrs
2.5 hrs
Time
What is calibration?
Why is calibration necessary?
How often is calibration conducted?
Who participates in calibration?
2.5 hrs
Conduct a calibration session with agents using
mock calls to demonstrate how calls will be
evaluated and scored. (Agents will see that this is a
complicated process that requires a great deal of
skill.)
Evaluator Audits
•
•
•
Who will be audited?
Why are audits important?
How does the audit process work?
Recognition
Program
•
•
What are the recognition criteria?
How does the rewards and incentive
program work?
.5
Program Pilot
•
•
•
•
What is a program pilot?
How does the pilot work?
How long will the pilot be conducted?
Will scores during the pilot count?
1 hr
.5 hr
Action Item: Create a QA training program to teach agents about all aspects of the QA program and its benefits. Use this program to kick off QA. Also incorporate a QA module in your new agent training program. © 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
All rights reserved.
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April 2009
10.2 QA Program Pilot After training all contact center staff and other interested parties, it’s time to conduct the nter ter QA Guide
Contac t Cen
QA program pilot. There are many opinions about pilots and their purposes, and this is certainly true for QA. If this is the organization’s initiation into QA, the pilot is necessary to give management, QA reviewers and agents a hands‐on opportunity to get acquainted with QA in a non‐confrontational environment where the QA scores are not being counted. If the organization is updating its QA program, the pilot gives everyone an opportunity to get used to the new QA criteria and evaluation forms. The timing of the pilot also varies based on the needs of the organization. If QA is new to the organization, we suggest beginning with a 2‐ to 3‐month pilot. Then, once the QA scores begin to be counted, we suggest setting a lenient QA goal so that more people will rate well and feel good about the program. Then, after a 3‐month period, during which there is a great deal of training and coaching, it’s time to begin in earnest and to set up QA goals that reflect customer expectations for great service. While this means that it will take 4 to 6 months before the QA program is in full operation, since the goal of QA is to improve agent performance and the customer experience (and by doing so to improve agent productivity), it will not delay the benefits. It will, however, allow for positive momentum to build and help the program succeed. The pilot is a great opportunity to make sure that the program achieves its goals. Throughout the pilot, QA leaders should be open and welcoming of all observations and feedback. Use the feedback and time to enhance and tweak the QA form and evaluation criteria, and address training issues. Action Item: Communicate and share pilot results on a regular basis to keep contact center staff engaged and alleviate apprehensions about the program. © 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
All rights reserved.
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April 2009
11. Advanced Quality Assurance Initiatives This Guide describes the process for building a contact center quality assurance program. nter ter QA Guide
Contac t Cen
Once the program is in place and working well, some organizations want to go further and extend the benefits and uses of their QA program. QA programs can be enhanced by adding surveying, using QA to determine the first call resolution rate (FCR), or to do customer experience monitoring. Below is an explanation of these three business activities. 11.1 Surveying The best way to know if customers are satisfied with the quality of an organization’s products, services, processes and agents is to ask them. QA measures how well agents adhere to internal policies and procedures; it provides an internal view. Surveying captures the customer perspective; the external view. When survey feedback is combined with QA results the company learns what customers consider good service and specifically, which agents provide it. They also find out what processes and policies need to be changed. When done right, sharing customer survey information about agent performance can help improve quality. Agents find it helpful when they see survey results and read or hear customer feedback first‐hand. It helps them appreciate how their performance impacts customer satisfaction and the customer’s perception of their company. 11.2 Customer Experience Monitoring Customer experience monitoring is intended to provide insights into the total customer experience. Typically, contact center managers use this process to track and review interactions that have multiple segments, are put on hold, transferred, required conferences, or are repeat calls. Customer experience monitoring is done to evaluate the overall customer experience, not just call segments. © 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
All rights reserved.
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April 2009
11.3 First Call Resolution (FCR)
First Call Resolution is a unique key performance indicator that measures the effectiveness, nter ter QA Guide
Contac t Cen
efficiency and customer satisfaction level of a contact center. It is the only single metric that provides a balanced view of the contact center’s overall performance. The challenge in using FCR is that it is difficult to determine which calls are fully resolved during the first contact. There are many ways to identify or calculate FCR, including asking the QA staff to determine if calls are resolved during the first contact based on the interactions that they evaluate. © 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
All rights reserved.
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April 2009
12. Quality Management/Liability Recording Suites Quality Management/Liability Recording suites, also known as workforce optimization (WFO) nter ter QA Guide
Contac t Cen
solutions, deliver actionable insights and findings in addition to incorporating built‐in automated efficiencies to increase the effectiveness of the QA process and reviewer productivity. WFO suites are complex solutions that include 8 modules intended for contact centers. Complete workforce optimization suites include eight functional modules. See Figure 19. The core modules are recording (either time division multiplexing (TDM) or Internet Protocol (IP)‐based), and quality assurance. Recording systems log calls for regulatory compliance, protection against lawsuits, and quality review. Quality assurance applications are used to determine how well agents adhere to internal policies and procedures. The other six modules are: 1. Workforce Management – forecasts and schedules agent staffing needs 2. Agent Coaching – tools to communicate with agents to assist them in improving their performance 3. eLearning – learning management capabilities that allow training courses to be created, issued and tracked to ensure effectiveness 4. Surveying – Web and IVR‐based solutions for creating, issuing, tracking and analyzing customer feedback 5. Performance Management – solutions that help align contact center activities with enterprise goals; also provide scorecards and dashboards to improve the performance of the contact center 6. Speech Analytics – captures, structures and analyzes customer phone calls to identify the reasons for customer calls and to gather insights The value and benefits of these suites increase for the enterprise as additional modules are added. © 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
All rights reserved.
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April 2009
WFO Suites In the last couple of years, use of workforce management, recording and, to a lesser degree, continue because these solutions offer quantifiable benefits for many operating areas in an enterprise. Figure 19: Workforce Optimization Suites Enterprise
Back Office
Speech Analytics
Performance Mgmt.
Contact Center
Surveying
Call Center
Value Proposition
nter ter QA Guide
Contact Cen
quality assurance modules has expanded into enterprise back offices and branches. This trend will eLearning
QM/Recording
SUITE
Agent Coaching
Workforce Mgmt.
Quality Assurance
Recording
Source: DMG Consulting LLC, April 2009 © 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
All rights reserved.
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April 2009
In the last few years, the QA vendors have delivered many innovations to the market to make these applications more helpful and actionable for contact centers. These enhancements include: nter ter QA Guide
Contac t Cen
•
Automated call scoring – every recorded interaction is systemically scored, allowing rapid identification and action on calls that do not meet pre‐defined quality requirements. Instead of evaluating a random sample of calls, this enables organizations to focus limited QA resources on monitoring high‐impact calls. •
Flexible form development environments – the ability to easily create a wide variety of evaluation forms and associate the most appropriate form based on call type, category or disposition. Built‐in efficiencies include wizards for form creation or the ability to clone and modify an existing form, a wide variety of scoring methodologies, the ability to create forms based on skills or call components, the ability to add evaluator hints for scoring criteria, comment boxes to capture coaching tips, spell check, form preview and test capabilities, and the ability to create specialized forms for different types of evaluations such as agent self‐
evaluations, calibration or customer experience monitoring. •
Calibration – the ability to designate calls for calibration, automatically deploy calibration sessions to supervisors and reviewers, track completion, and report on scoring variances at the question, section or form level. •
Call categorization – the ability to systemically or manually categorize calls so that QA efforts can encompass all call types received by the contact center and evaluate how agents perform across all functions. This also allows reviewers to categorize calls and designate them for review by the training department or a cross‐functional team if a business process optimization opportunity exists. Search/retrieval/replay – the ability to search and retrieve transactions based on a wide variety of criteria and metadata. Automatically delivers transactions that a reviewer is responsible for evaluating to the desktop and tracks completion status. © 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
All rights reserved.
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April 2009
During desktop replay, evaluators can bookmark call segments and annotate them with coaching comments that are tied to specific sections, questions or skills in the agent’s Contact Center QA Gu ide
evaluation. •
Coaching/eLearning – allows supervisors to easily create, deploy and track personalized coaching sessions that address agent‐specific performance opportunities. Includes the ability to share best practice clips with agents and the training department. eLearning capabilities allow reviewers to assign learning sessions to agents while they are performing an evaluation, or automatically deploy the courses based on performance thresholds. •
Reports and dashboards – automated summary and detailed reports that can be scheduled to run or designated as a dashboard report for tracking and trending QA results. The Market Place The QM/recording (WFO) technology sector is a global market with more than 45 competitors. There are many strong offerings available to satisfy the needs of companies large and small. The solutions, pricing and vendor specialties vary widely. This market gives prospects a wide variety of opportunities to acquire a solution that meets the specific needs of their company at a price point they can afford. Users also have many options for acquiring these solutions; they can buy, use hosting, or go with a managed care offering. Action Item: Determine if a QA/Recording or WFO suite will add value to your organization. If it will, find the right one for your company. © 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
All rights reserved.
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April 2009
Appendix A: Procedure Format Sample nter ter QA Guide
Contact Cen
Situation: Caller is requesting a change of address.
Important: Address changes can only be requested by the primary/joint
card member.
Greeting (as defined in Greeting Policy)
Complete Verification Procedure:
•
•
•
•
Caller name
Last 4 digits of SSN
Mother’s maiden name
Date of birth
•
IF THE CALLER IS NOT THE PRIMARY/JOINT CARD MEMBER:
Access: Memo screen
Check: [ Special Instructions ] field to determine if the caller has authorization to make
changes on the account (power of attorney)
If caller is not listed as someone with authorization and/or power of attorney (POA) in the
special instruction field:
Advise: Only the primary/joint card member is authorized to request an
address change
Options:
The primary/joint card member will need to call to request the address change.
– or –
The primary/joint card member can:
Write to:
Fax to:
Process online at:
•
IF THE CALLER IS THE PRIMARY/JOINT CARD MEMBER:
Verify:
•
Current address
Check: [ Address ] field on the Customer screen
© 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
All rights reserved.
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April 2009
Advise:
If new address is on the system:
Tell the account holder that we have the
correct address on file.
nter ter QA Guide
Contac t Cen
If not:
Access: Account Maintenance screen.
Obtain new address from the account
holder and enter the new address in the
appropriate fields.
Read back the new address to the
customer including spelling of the street
address and town to confirm accuracy.
Access: Billing screen
Check: [Last bill date] field to determine
of the next statement has already been
mailed.
If next statement has already been
mailed:
Advise: The new statement has already
been sent to the old address. You will
have a copy of the statement sent to the
new address. The cardmember should
expect to receive the copy with in 5 to 7
business days.
Access: Media Request screen
Click on Statement.
Enter in month/year of the statement that
you are requesting in the [month and
year] fields.
Hit enter to complete the transaction.
If next statement has not been
generated/mailed:
© 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
All rights reserved.
Advise: The next statement will be
mailed to the new address on file.
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April 2009
Ask: Is there anything else I can help you with?
nter ter QA Guide
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If yes, assist card member with the additional request(s).
If no, perform call closing as defined in Call Closing Policy.
Source: DMG Consulting LLC, April 2009 © 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
All rights reserved.
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April 2009
Appendix B: Policy Format Sample nter ter QA Guide
Contac t Cen
Warm Transfer Policy
All transfers initiated from the contact center should be warm transferred by performing
the following steps:
•
Representative advises the caller that the call needs to be transferred to another
area that can assist the caller with their request
•
Representative asks the caller for permission to transfer the call
Before initiating the transfer, the representative should ask the caller if there is anything
else that they can assist the caller with
•
If yes, the representative should assist the caller with the request (if
applicable)
•
Representative asks permission from the caller to place them on hold while they
connect to the appropriate department to transfer the call
•
Representative clicks on the phone icon which will launch a separate window
•
Representative clicks “Start conference,” enters the extension number of the
department that is receiving the call, and clicks “OK”
•
When the receiving department answers the call, the representative should
provide:
•
•
Account number
•
Name of caller
•
Nature of the call
Representative clicks “Complete conference” and introduces the caller to the
representative in the department who is accepting the call, thanks the customer for
calling and clicks the “Hang-up” button to complete the transfer
Source: DMG Consulting LLC, April 2009 © 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
All rights reserved.
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April 2009
About VPI VPI (Voice Print International, Inc.) is the premier provider of integrated interaction recording and workforce optimization solutions for enterprises, small‐ to medium‐size nter ter QA Guide
Contac t Cen
businesses, trading floors, government agencies, and first responders. Through its award‐
winning suite of solutions, VPI empowers organizations to proactively improve the customer experience, increase workforce performance, ensure compliance, and align tactical and strategic objectives across the enterprise. With the power to be proactive, organizations are equipped to actively identify and maximize opportunities and minimize risk. For more than a decade, VPI has been providing proven technology and superior service to more than 1,000 customers in over 35 countries. For more information, visit http://www.VPI‐corp.com. © 2009 DMG Consulting LLC
All rights reserved.
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April 2009