How do you effectively manage the high calls?
Here are eight proven inexpensive strategies that you can employ to take control of your call volume and please both your clients and your team members:
Employ more (or temporarily) staff (or temporary). Expanding your customer service staff is a great solution to handle the increased call volumes. This doesn’t tackle the reason(s) for your increase in calls (unless there is a shortage of staff at fault), but it does raise the ratio of customer service reps who respond to calls.
Enhance the amount of staff training. If the staff handling customer service needs the proper training, they might be overwhelmed by a huge number of calls. Provide your customer service representatives with the resources and skills required to perform their job. With a well-supported and well-trained team, your customer service call volume may be easier to manage.
Plan for high-call periods. If the effects of seasonal events or marketing efforts result in a rise in the number of calls your company receives, ensure you are prepared beforehand. Make sure you have more staff on hand and the proper procedures before your forecast becomes a reality.
Create FAQs for your website. A website with FAQs could reduce your call volume. Most customers will visit a company’s website before making a call. If your site does not have an FAQs section, you can ask your customer service staff what questions they address the most frequently and what the company’s official response is to each query. If your customer support team already has an FAQ document that they use, change it slightly and put this information in an obvious and easy-to-find spot on your site.
Include chatbots on your site. Set up a chatbot on your site to answer queries that would be otherwise required for calls. This method is becoming more popular, especially among business owners who say they’ll incorporate chatbots into their businesses.
Plan your team’s incoming call workflow. Your group can save huge amounts of time by instantly knowing who they should send calls to. If you create a process that lets your employees match callers to the best agents to meet their requirements, you will be able to address customers’ concerns faster and spread the work out among your employees more equally.
Set up automated responses. Customers contacting your business may not require an individual to respond to their questions. Consider recording answers to FAQs in the options available on your call menu, which customers can listen to when they call.
Pivot into callbacks. A recent study by Software Advice reports that 3 out of 4 customers would prefer to get a representative from the company to call them back in the future instead of being on hold. If you offer the option of calling your clients back to them, customers can speak with real customer service representatives and do not have to endure the gruelling waiting time. A further advantage for you and your team is that you can avoid the waves of unhappy customers and the negative effects on the morale of your staff.
What is a call with a high volume?
High call volume occurs when incoming calls are greater than your team can handle. If your team cannot control the volume of incoming calls, customers face lengthy wait times and must interact with the customer service reps, who could be overwhelmed in assisting customers. Customers then could turn to your competitors, which leads to a loss in revenue for your company.
A high volume of calls is an increase of 10%, which is higher than its normal volume. This is a good guideline, but it’s not all there is to it. If your team struggles to take calls after the threshold of 10, you’re likely experiencing the highest volume of calls.
What can cause a high phone volume?
A high volume of calls rarely occurs without reason. Even in the most intense calls, you and your team can trace the rise in the book of callers to any of the following reasons:
- Seasonal increases. Your business may experience an increase in calls during (and just after) the Christmas season. Another instance could be when you’re an outdoor adventure business – you’re likely to experience more calls during the late spring as customers start making plans for their summer vacations.
- Service interruptions. After a natural disaster, many customers without basic services could contact your business if the product you offer can be quickly addressed the urgent issues. It is also possible to experience massive calls if your service becomes inaccessible. An example is a DDoS attack on enterprise software for project management that prevents customer login and platform access.
- Marketing strategies. The huge discount you’re offering will likely increase the volume of calls you receive. If virality is a part of your strategy for marketing, it could increase the number of people who call your business.
- Marketing mistakes. Because of an error, you may have many confused (but curious) new customers calling in.
- The structural imperfections. Agents who don’t have the proper training or are not qualified to do the job could cause calls to be delayed. Also, a tiny call centre can result in long wait times that force customers to contact the other departments of your business.
If none of these causes could cause your excessive call volume, find out why you’re experiencing this growth. While attending to every call promptly may seem more urgent, Addressing the root issue could reduce the number of calls you need to listen to.
The positives and negatives of a calling volume that is excessive
A high volume of calls can be an alarming sign. However, there are some silver linings, too, such as:
- Clear demand. It’s true that right now, you’re overwhelmed. However, having a higher demand for your goods and services is more beneficial than having no need. If properly managed, a high volume of calls could translate into more sales and profit. In contrast, low call volume indicates the lack of demand (and demand) that can ultimately impact your business’s bottom line.
- Conversations with customers in person. It’s one thing for a client to purchase goods or products from your business because they require them. It’s different for a client to select your industry over the other companies because you’ve emotionally connected with them. A high volume of calls allows your staff to create a personal relationship, increasing customer loyalty.
An excessive call volume is a major business issue because it could be unpredictably challenging to manage and have severe negative long-term consequences for your company. The negatives of an excessive call volume are:
- Lost sales. If a customer calls your business but cannot reach you after a long wait, they may abandon you and switch to your competition. Everyone doesn’t want to wait, particularly when they require something. If an alternative company can provide faster and at a lower cost, your customers will be.
- Future sales are lost because of poor reviews. Internet reviews can be the difference between success and failure for the success of a company these days. Also, customers who call your business but can’t reach you (or those with bad customer service) can share their experience with thousands of possible customers via Facebook, Yelp, and other review websites.
- Employees lose their jobs. The high volume of calls and the resulting waves of angry customers who dump their frustration upon your staff exhaust your staff. Employees will only quit if you take the necessary steps to control your call volume. With fewer employees taking care of your call volume, it’s back to the beginning with a poorly equipped customer service team handling an even larger call volume.
