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Agents who avoid calls is a challenge every company faces, whether inbound phone calls, when making outbound calls, or a mix of both, regardless of size, industry, or location. Whether it’s an in-house team or an external vendor, dealing with this issue is universal.
There isn’t a clear benchmark for call avoidance in call center or other deceptive practices in contact centers, making it challenging for call center leaders and the call center industry itself to devise effective solutions.
Yet, from our research analyzing data from inbound communication, we’ve found that agents, on average, dedicate up to 20% of their time to undetected call avoidance.
For outbound sales calls, up to 30% of closed/won calls are not compliant and are disqualified at a later stage.
Due to the lack of relevant benchmarks and short budgets for contact centers, many companies implement an extremely strict call avoidance policy and compliance rules with a zero-tolerance approach.
They keep tabs on many things for each agent, and if someone steps out of line, even just once, they get the boot immediately.
These are the parameters that are usually measured for every employee trying to determine whether there is a call avoidance and other cheating approaches.
Unfortunately, all these overly strict rules and zero tolerance policy on call avoidance do not yield the desired outcome. Such an attitude often results in increased stress and higher agent attrition.
In inbound call communication, there are a number of easy-to-detect cheating behaviors. You can track them through metrics like:
I’m referring to numbers that raise suspicion and signal a need for attention. Yet, certain behaviors can be tricky to spot, especially in contact centers that follow a work-from-home setup.
Let’s dive into this in more detail.
When an agent gets an easy request, they keep a client on the line, pretending they are searching for specific info, all while tracking the call time on his personal device. This ensures they stay within AHT limits for personal calls and avoids any misconduct-related red flags.
Agents often avoid putting the client on hold, so the telephony systems do not register any hold time. However, this results in a long pause in the conversation.
Before we dig into strategies phone agents have for avoiding calls and nailing down tricky cases in inbound communication, let’s uncover some tactics agents pull off during outbound calls.
In the realm of outbound communication, cheating takes on various forms, like
Once, I witnessed an agent singing to a client’s voicemail during a call. Although some auto-dialers try to filter out voicemails and avoid calls before connecting an agent, experience shows that many still get through.
For example, in the case of sales calls, cheating could mean not bothering to address customer objections and swiftly moving on to another call in the hope of finding an easier win.
This happens when agents mark calls as successful sales to boost their personal conversion rates and earn bonuses dishonestly.
Checking just 2-5% of calls manually might not show a clear pattern or offer enough proof of cheating. That’s why a lot of places go for zero-tolerance rules. They help catch isolated problems but might miss spotting more organized fraud.
There are two ways to tackle this problem:
Opting for this kind of tool is the most budget-friendly approach. It involves using an advanced speech analytics tool crafted specifically for contact centers. Apart from your regular manual checks, a QM tool delves deep into the entire content of each conversation using neural networks, providing valuable insights into agent customer interactions. Its goal is to catch agents engaging in any call avoidance behavior and ensure compliance in sales calls.
Another option is to use a manual process for the quality management team. It might be a tad pricier, but it’s still worth considering.
Select Top Performers and Set 85% of Their Metrics as a Goal for the Rest of the Team.
As an example, we have a top performer.
Their Average Handle Time is 3 minutes. So, set the goal for the contact center in 3 minutes and 27 seconds.
Our top performer makes 89% in First Call Resolution. Set the goal for the team to 75.6%.
Hold Time: …
Call Transfer Rate: …
If your team already performs at 85% of a top performer’s level, consider setting the top performers’ metrics as benchmarks for everyone.
Select outliers for detailed analysis and examine 50-100% of their suspicious calls.
Considering the potential cheating scenarios outlined earlier, focus on outliers for a thorough examination, reviewing between 50 to 100% of calls that raise suspicion.
For instance, scrutinize calls with suspiciously close timing, one after another, as it may indicate manual manipulation to determine the optimal call conclusion time. Additionally, manually review 50 to 80% of all calls for agents under investigation.
A critical analysis reveals that call avoidance strategies employed by call center agents can significantly hinder overall performance metrics. While call centre agents’ call avoidance tactics may seem beneficial in the short term, such as reducing call volume or call duration, they often lead to detrimental effects on customer satisfaction, employee morale, and operational efficiency.
By understanding and addressing the root causes of call avoidance behaviors, you can proactively improve call center system performance and enhance the customer experience.
Leverage Confirmed Dishonest Behavior as a Deterrent
Once intentional dishonest behavior is verified, use these instances as examples for all agents. Clearly communicate to other agents that such conduct will be actively identified moving forward and will not be accepted.
Implement a Routine for Agent Benchmark Adjustments and Cheating Detection
Monitoring call interactions KPIs helps identify patterns identifying call avoidance behavior. Create regular data analysis reviews. Finally, use your analytical data to identify a KPI that could be flagged as possible call avoidance.
Monitoring call interactions KPIs helps identify patterns identifying call avoidance behavior. Make sure the reports you create are organized to analyze the information you are collecting. Create regular data analysis reviews. Finally, use your analytical data to identify a KPI that could be flagged as possible call avoidance.
While we can invest effort in analytics, identifying suspicious behavior, analyzing it manually, finding patterns, and showcasing examples to the team, the real deal is establishing a consistent process for tweaking agent benchmarks and uncovering cheating. Doing this solely with our existing team is no walk in the park.
It demands analytical skills and introduces extra workflow for the Quality Management (QM) team.
Call avoidance presents a complex challenge, with negative impact impacting both operational efficiency and employee well-being. With call centre agents often resorting to avoidance strategies to minimize the stress associated with handling high volumes of phone calls, the detrimental effects can manifest in various forms. From longer wait times for customers to decreased First Call Resolution rates, the consequences of interaction avoidance are evident.
However, addressing call avoidance requires a delicate balance; while it’s essential to discourage agents from taking excessive breaks and avoiding calls, it’s equally crucial to prevent burnout among them. Implementing strategies such as regular breaks, training sessions on stress management, and fostering a supportive work culture can help .
When call centre agents employ avoidance strategy, including taking an excessive amount of breaks, deflecting or delaying calls, customers may experience longer wait times, repeated call attempts, or inadequate resolutions to their inquiries. These experiences can lead to frustration, dissatisfaction, and a diminished perception of the company’s customer service quality.
One of the top tools in the market for spotting agents’ cheating is the Ender Turing Quality Management Platform with Speech Analytics Capabilities. Here’s why it stands out:
Opting for advanced speech analytics tools tailored for call centers, like Ender Turing, is the most economical approach. These tools are specifically crafted to identify agents’ call avoidance and ensure compliance in sales calls.
Call avoidance can harm several key metrics within a call center management environment. These include:
First Call Resolution (FCR): Call avoidance tactics may result in agents deflecting or delaying customer calls further, leading to increased instances of customers needing to call back for resolution.
Average Handling Time (AHT): Agents who engage in a call avoidance strategy may artificially inflate AHT by prolonging interactions or avoiding more complex issues, impacting overall efficiency and resource allocation within the call center.
Service Level: Call avoidance can disrupt service level agreements (SLAs) by causing longer wait times for customers due to fewer available agents or increased call queues.
Customer Satisfaction (CSAT): Customers are likely to be dissatisfied if their calls are avoided or handled inadequately, leading to lower CSAT scores and potentially angry customers, damaging the reputation of the call center and the company as a whole.
Employee Satisfaction and Turnover: Call avoidance behaviors can contribute to high stress levels and dissatisfaction among agents, leading to increased turnover rates and reduced overall team morale.
Quality Assurance (QA) Scores: Agents may prioritize call volume over quality interactions to avoid calls, resulting in lower QA scores as interactions are rushed or incomplete.
Self-Service Portals: These web-based platforms allow users to manage their accounts, update information, track orders, and access resources autonomously.
Automated Customer Support Chatbots: Chatbots equipped with natural language processing capabilities can interact with users in real-time, answering questions, providing assistance, and even resolving issues without human intervention.
Mobile Apps with Self-Service Functionality: Mobile applications can offer features such as account management, bill payment, order tracking, and more, allowing users to engage with the service or product conveniently on their smartphones or tablets.
An automated voice system or call response system may categorize calls and answer client inquiries. For example, simple inquiries that answer basic customer questions like your location, business hours, return policy, or special events might be asked.
Setting expectations for agents involves clearly communicating performance metrics, quality standards, and customer service protocols to ensure alignment with organizational goals and deliver exceptional service.
Leveraging omnichannel contact center solutions enables seamless integration across various communication channels, enhancing customer interactions and improving overall efficiency and satisfaction.
Supporting omnichannel communication entails providing consistent and personalized assistance across multiple channels such as phone, email, chat, and social media to meet customers’ diverse preferences and needs effectively.
Be attentive during coaching and training sessions to ensure thorough comprehension and skill development among agents.
In conclusion, adopting a call avoidance strategy not only enhances the overall customer experience by offering alternative, efficient channels for issue resolution but also supports agents by reducing call volume, enabling them to focus on more complex inquiries, thereby fostering higher levels of customer satisfaction.
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