KPI  attachment is a common document prepared and reviewed by most businesses to be able to track and see the trend on their employees’ performances. However, despite its acknowledged importance on any business and despite the ability of people handling these records to read them, very little has been done to make use of them. This is a common problem for a lot of industries, and the Call Center Business is no different.

The very core of the Call Center Business is what makes KPI very important to them. In  a very customer oriented environment such as that of a call center, the Key Performance Indicator’s  movements must be consistently closely checked and evaluated for the business’ benefit. Definitely easier said than done because KPI’s are not mere documents that you read as it is but rather a document of great importance which will require one to overlook unnecessary details and  focus on details affecting the center’s performance. Below are the five things you have to be critical about when inspecting a KPI record.

• Cost per Call. A common misconception among call center people is that cost per call is reduced by decreasing their Average Handling Time. This is because of the emphasis placed on AHT due to the mindset that call centers are paid not on the hours they spend on a call but rather the number of calls they are able to get each day. In some way this may be correct but let us remember that all five Key Performance Indicators go hand in hand and therefore if you focus too much on this, you might end up losing on the other aspect of the business. To make this clear, let us now turn this discussion on our next KPI.
• Agent Utilization. Going hand in hand with Cost per Call is Agent Utilization. Agent utilization is the answer to the unending need to cut on costs, not reducing AHT. Let us remember that a big chunk of a company’s budget goes to labor— and this is unavoidable. So, what is it to be done? Avoid turnovers by keeping your agents. You have invested on them during training and so you must be able to make the most of them as one of the company’s resources. This does not mean overworking them though. You need to motivate them to do their jobs well for the company through ‘career pathing’, trainings and time-off-phone activities that enhances their productivity and keeps the workplace enjoyable for them.
• Customer Satisfaction. Now, if the agents are enjoying their jobs, it is most likely that they would be productive on phone, thus increasing customer satisfaction. This is also a very critical part of a center’s KPI. If you are a Call Center Professional, you might have heard this couple of times—Customers are the bread and butter of a Call Center and therefore should be treated well. The catch here is that having very kind agents does not guarantee Customer Satisfaction. The next KPI does.
• First Call Resolution. FCR is probably one of the most emphasized KPI on most Call Centers. This is because most studies show that FCR has a great effect on Customer Satisfaction. Let us deal with a fact— customer calls in because of a problem and she expects you to resolve it in the soonest time possible. Staying on the phone longer than she expected would make her feel bad BUT calling for support over and over again would make her feel mad. Therefore, make sure to resolve the customer’s issue on your first contact with her.
• Aggregate Call Center Performance. The last but probably most important amongst all. This is a measure of a Call Center’s overall performance. It is the only KPI capable of determining whether a center is on the rocks or is operating smoothly. It is the summary of the six critical performance metrics (Cost per Contact, FCR, Customer Satisfaction, Average Speed of Answer, Call Abandonment Rate and Agent Utilization) seen through a Balanced Scorecard.

Now that you know where to look at, you would no longer be distracted by other less important details which in turn would ensure that you get to evaluate and act on the most essential details of the KPI Attachment.

I am proud to say that I am now a certified freelance writer– I worked hard for it and it paid off. My pursuit to build a value provider reputation in this industry has not been easy and so it is no wonder that I am willing to do anything to keep such a reputation and continually satisfy clients. Having these said, let me introduce you to one of the most valuable category on this page; WHAT I’VE LEARNED TODAY.

WHAT I’VE LEARNED TODAY

I believe that it is my responsibility to myself and to my clients to continually grow as a writer. It is not enough that I provide them unique articles of excellent quality. I need to improve on my craft and cope with the dynamic needs of my clients. And one of the areas that I would need to do further reading is SEO.

I am fairly familiar with the SEO concept. I always encounter it as a blog and article writer. The scenario: Clients would give me keywords and specific instructions on how to work on them; and that’s it! I knew exactly the purpose of the given task but I still feel a little uncomfortable of just following ‘keyword placement’ instructions without knowing the reason behind their specified locations. As a writer, part of my job is to ensure the ‘effectivity’ of my writings to its target audience– and of course for them to work for my client’s best interests thus making SEO a part of my business.

So started my efforts to learn more about it.

As my first entry for What I’ve Learned Today category, I am now to share my gradual introduction to the deepest of the SEO world. Writing about it is beneficial to me as it acts as a review for the SEO lessons recently learned. It is also beneficial to you as you can follow me on my ‘slow but sure’ journey towards an ‘SEO-touched’ writing career which in turn would familiarize you with the topic as well. We would take these learn and live each lessons one day at a time in order to avoid confusion. And for our first stop; SEO for Beginners.

SEO for Beginners

Let us define SEO.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is a collection of strategies that website owners, SEO specialists, link builders and now even web content writers apply in order to drive better site traffic from search engines. There are two areas that you need to be aware of if you plan to do a through study on this topic– ON-PAGE SEO and OFF-PAGE SEO. How do they differ?

ON-PAGE SEO are simply the efforts (techniques) you apply within your website in order to rank better on search engine searches. OFF PAGE SEO on the other hand are your efforts which have gone beyond the boundaries of your website. We would cite examples for these on my succeeding posts. For now, let us avoid information overload by staying within the ‘basics’ of SEO.

Another thing that you should know are the kinds of keywords. If you are a writer like me, you might have already noticed that your clients are very particular with these. Most have specific instructions that keywords be used as is and keywords be strictly placed on given locations. You might be wondering why. The kinds of keywords would explain why.

Broad Keywords are like industry terms– they are very short and not specific. It is hard to rank using these keywords (as you would surely have plenty of competitors using the same keyword) but attempts with successful endings pay off well.

Specific Keywords contain many adjectives thus generating a targeted search. It is easy to rank for but can only attract fewer website visitors.

Unique and Branded Keywords. Keywords that you own and that are only specific to your company. They are like freebies so make sure you maximize their use.

Now that you know the basics of SEO, your next goal is to ‘know where and how to start’. I’d keep you clued up on my latest learnings but I guess this is enough for now.

Thank you for dropping by and caring to explore my website. It may not have a lot to offer as of the moment but soon, it’ll definitely have much than what you can take.

Kidding aside, I hope to see you as often as possible. This website might still be ‘under construction’ at this point but in time, it’ll surprise you with its quality and unique contents. You might not even recognize it in the future!

This website is pretty similar to my journey towards a good freelance writing career. Starting from scratch won’t be an exaggeration if you are to refer to this journey. I’ve had my share of failures and rejections but what is important is I’ve learned from all of them. I used them to move up the ladder of web content writing. And now, from an amateur writer, I am now a certified freelance writer. I’ve already done numerous writings for various clients– and they were all satisfied.

I guess it really is a matter of setting up goals and working them out (with plenty of touch of professionalism, of course!)

My career objective is simple;

Build a value provider reputation on my Online Freelance Writing career by consistently meeting and exceeding client expectations

Hope to work with you soon.