Fireberry's Guide to Call Center Management

Call center management is all about placing representatives behind (or in front of!) ringing phones and issuing loud commands. Right?

Nope! 

The truth is that running a call center demands that managers go above and beyond, both logistically and personally. It's a trend we’ve seen over and over again with many of our clients. The call center manager is tasked simultaneously with overseeing dozens of duties, ranging from monitoring phone calls and representatives to tracking statistics and reports. 

In the following guide, we will share our experience and advice, which we've gathered from continually assisting sales center managers, and show you how to transform the chaos and disorder of sales center into order and profits, through maximizing your tools.

‍

Using Dashboards to Monitor Call Center Processes

‍
We all know that the primary goal of a sales contact center is sales. We also know that every resource in the center - every representative, every phone, and every call - is used to maximize profits. This is where dashboards fit in. At any given moment, they let you know where you stand and if your targets are being met. 

Knowing how crucial they are to proper business management, with Fireberry, dashboards are a feature that are included at every license level. 

The best part of dashboards are that they are fully customizable to display only what matters to you, and personalized to the pipelines and processes in the call center. From our experience, we found that many customers struggled to maximize the different dashboards that they could build. Here are some of the most effective that we have helped to design.

1. Drill down by rep: You can track each representative's progress throughout the workday, over the entire month, or any other time frame by setting individual sales targets for each representative based on their capabilities. Even better, the reps themselves can view their metrics throughout the workday, understand where they stand relative to expectations and their peers, and consequently boost their awareness and directly increase profits.
2. Drill down by customer: By centralizing and consolidating data from all over your CRM, dashboards can also help you with creating and analyzing your ideal customer profile. By delving deeper into the dashboard details, you’ll discover where most of your customers are finding you, what they’re asking for, and what they eventually purchase. Sharing this data with your team can help your call center agents conduct more focused and effective sales calls.
3. Drill down by calls: Create a dashboard that displays the number of calls by days of the week and by hour, to better manage your staff and streamline operations. This dashboard can show you the busiest times in the center and allows you to plan staffing accordingly and save money by reducing staff on quieter days.

The possibilities for dashboard creation are endless. 

Based on our experience in designing processes and building numerous call center solutions, every Fireberry license includes 7 pre-designed dashboards for you to utilize until you are ready to build your own. 

As you’re building your systems and processes, you’ll quickly learn that it all comes down to organization. And while a CRM is a powerful tool full of important information, it’s an expensive nuisance if the information isn’t organized properly. 

The simplest way to organize your information across departments is through the “views” feature. 

Lead management for contact centers through views

‍
Most businesses that implement a CRM will utilize the pipeline function to organize and progress leads. Lead forms are designed for easy reading and understanding, so your reps can immediately know who they are speaking with, where they came from, and what they are looking for. Leads tend to arrive at a sales center from various sources; some through search engines, some from social media, some from different advertising mediums, and others through word of mouth.

The pipeline process works, and we’re not here to knock it! 

But, filtering your lead lists will give your call center that next level of organization. Instead of grouping everyone together, and having to search through a huge database whenever you need to find information, you can sort specific leads based on relevant data. You can filter your information to create views that are organized by lead status, by date, by account owner,  and so on.

With the ever-present turnover that is common to the call center industry, assigning and tracking account owners can be tricky. Call center managers prefer our system because of how easy it is to assign leads and accounts with Fireberry.

Allocating leads to call center agents

‍
Upon a lead's entry into the system, you can assign it to a specific sales representative through a workflow process. If you prefer a more meticulous approach, leads can initially be entered under your name, and then reallocated. Clicking the "Assign" button completely automates the distribution of leads among the sales representatives. This way, each representative knows exactly what's under their purview, eliminating any confusion or chaos. This can also be done using the "Change Field" button, which edits multiple forms in the system per your selection.

Once each representative receives their leads, work will flow naturally. Each rep will be empowered to truly get to know their clients, to analyze their needs, anticipate questions, and hopefully move closer to closing the sale. 

None of this will be a surprise to you because you’ll have seen it reflected in the dashboards in real-time. Generate reports and share them with your team to keep morale and buy-in high. 

Integrating call center CRM technology

Integrating call center technology into a CRM is crucial for optimizing the efficiency and effectiveness of call center operations. One of the most significant features is the call detail record or CDR. A comprehensive call detail record not only tracks the duration and timing of each call but also links every call to the respective representative and customer. This allows managers to monitor performance, identify patterns, and provide targeted coaching to representatives. 

By consolidating critical information, the CDR enables the generation of insightful reports, which can be used to make data-driven decisions and enhance overall call center performance. Furthermore, having all call details centralized within the CRM ensures that managers can easily access historical data to resolve customer issues swiftly and accurately.

The Click-to-Call feature is another essential component of integrating call center technology into a CRM. This feature transforms phone numbers on the CRM screen into clickable links, enabling representatives to dial directly from their computers. This seamless integration eliminates the need to manually enter phone numbers, reducing the chances of dialing errors and significantly saving time. The time saved can be redirected towards more productive activities, such as engaging with customers and closing deals. Moreover, the convenience of Click-to-Call enhances the user experience for representatives, making their workflow smoother and more efficient. This small yet impactful feature ensures that representatives can maintain a high volume of calls without compromising on quality.

Centralizing data and automating processes within the CRM are vital for achieving organizational goals and streamlining operations. By integrating call center technology, all customer interactions, including call logs and call summaries, are automatically saved and updated in real time. This centralization ensures that every team member has access to the latest customer information, facilitating seamless collaboration and consistent customer service. 

Automated features, such as saving contact details and creating or updating records, reduce the administrative burden on representatives, allowing them to focus more on customer engagement and achieving their sales targets. The ease of updates and automation not only improves data accuracy but also enhances the overall productivity of the call center, driving better outcomes and higher customer satisfaction.

Permissions and business units in call centers

With all of the incredible advice you’ve received, you’ve managed to establish success metrics, organize call detail records, and codify all crucial data in the system. You've successfully expanded, evolved, and hired additional employees. Congratulations! 

Now, you can take advantage of a feature we specifically designed for sales centers called "Business Units."

What is a business unit?

‍

As your call center grows and evolves, so does its hierarchy. For example, the manager that you appointed is now managing 2 team leaders. This new structure should be reflected in your central management system to organize and ensure each employee is aligned with their goals and tasks, and the tools that they need to do so.

Do you have branches in different states? No problem. Abroad? No problem! 

Business Units segment your system to mirror your organizational structure. It works for different tiers of management, and it also allows segmentation within a tier itself. For example, if your reps work in different satellites and on different teams within each satellite, you can create a business unit representing each satellite and then sub-units to represent each team. Now you can personalize goals for specific teams, and provide them with their own mini system - where they are exposed only to the data that’s relevant to them. 

Business units also allow you to grant specific system permissions to each representative, team leader, and manager. Give yourself the ultimate peace of mind knowing that there can be no accidental data deletion, no unauthorized data exportation, and no unnecessary invoicing. 

Check out our call center solution and learn more about dozens more features that assist call center managers in running their centers efficiently and comfortably. 

‍