Last Updated on July 11, 2023

High quality call center service separates good companies from its competitors. Customers, employees and the company all benefit when the call center is running at its best performance. High quality call center service does not occur in a vacuum. Call monitoring analysis and a transparent set of standards provides accountability, minimizes confusion and improves employee morale which leads to a decrease in employee turnover and improves customer retention and sales. Establishing company call scoring sets expectations and communicates standards across all departments to ensure all employees are on the same page.

This article discusses call scoring, how to setup company call scoring standards and how to use call recording to effectively score calls.

What is Call Scoring?

Call scoring is the analysis and evaluation of call data against company defined standards. These standards are predetermined for each department and measures along Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) or other metrics.

The objective of these standards is to establish the foundation of the company’s business objectives and provide guidance for the call center staff in regards to how to interact with customer calls. Call scoring involves multiple aspects of a call such as:

• Ensuring the agent follows the predetermined script.
• Adjusting the script as needed based upon calls.
• Ensuring company brand and compliance standards are met.
• Effectively addressing the client’s needs.
• Pursuing sales and leads.
• Enhancing customer retention.

Call scoring delivers insights to business managers to gauge the performance of their employees and guides their decisions on where to allocate resources and provide more training.

What are the Call Scoring types?

The key component to call scoring is implementing a powerful Call Recording Software system. Call recording allows business managers to monitor calls and analyze them using a type of call scoring. There are two primary types of call scoring:

1. Internal call scoring – requires company resources and involves listening to the recorded calls of an agent and identifying the areas where the agent met and missed their call requirements. Employees can listen to their own calls and perform a self-assessment, or other employees can listen to calls to perform a peer assessment.
2. Third-Party call scoring – involves a business that is external to the company. The external business performs the manual call scoring and provides the assessment.

What are the benefits of Call Scoring?

There are multiple benefits to companies that implement an effective call scoring system. A few of the benefits are:

• Standardizes Call Interactions – Call scoring establishes clear standards for employee behavior which ensures consistency across all teams. Every call center agent understands how to deliver optimal performance and provide excellent service when expectations are defined.
• Improves Customer Retention – Customers are more likely to return when call center agents handle calls effectively, promptly resolve issues and follows up appropriately. Setting performance standards through call scoring enables consistent delivery of quality interactions and reduces the risk of alienating customers.
• Boosts Return on Investment (ROI) – Companies can align their sales and customer service teams with organizational objectives and KPIs by tracking metrics through call scoring. This process empowers call center agents to reach their full potential while delivering the overarching goals of company.

How to design a Call Scoring checklist

Any business can develop a call scoring system. Business managers simply need to clearly define the categories to measure, how the category will be measured and facilitate an environment to share the information. Here is a list of measurements to get started. Bear in mind, this is a preliminary list and may be altered depending upon the company and department needs.

For best results, provide the call center agents with a script and encourage them to follow it to the best of their ability. Not all calls will follow the script verbatim. The script will be a guide to direct the conversation.

• Greeting – is crucial because it is the initial impression of the call center and establishes the initial perception of the company. A friendly greeting sets the tone and helps steer the conversation away from confrontation.
• Account and User Verification – confirming the customer account is typically the first step. This ensures the agent is referencing the correct account and confirms the caller is authorized to discuss details.
• Contact Information Verification – confirms the account contact information is up to date to prevent unauthorized inquiries. Identifies the account’s primary contact person.
• Call Quality – involves the general tone of the entire conversation. The metrics business managers should focus on differ between departments. Call monitoring should focus on the soft skills in a customer service department. Soft skills may involve active listening, attentiveness, clear communication, patience, empathy and a positive attitude. Find more information about Customer Service Soft Skills. A sales department should focus on understanding customer pain points, addressing objections, and assessing budget considerations.
• Wrap Up – involves summarizing the call and ensures both the client and the agent are aligned.
• Post Call Activities – the tasks required to close the call. This may involve updating notes in the account’s CRM, scheduling a follow-up, etc.

How is Call Scoring Measured?

There are several methods to score calls. The most popular methods are:

• Customer Surveys – may be completed via multiple channels such as email or manual telephone follow ups. A company representative contacts the client after the call is completed and surveys the call via the manual telephone method. An email is sent to the client requesting feedback for the call via the email method.
• Internal Call Monitoring – the company implements a powerful call recording software system and records all calls. Managers create a call score checklist, listens and scores the recorded calls. Other employees may be recruited, provided the checklist, trained to listen and score the recorded calls as well in the form of peer scoring to save time and resources. The agent can listen to their own call and perform a self-evaluation.
• Third Party – an external company can be hired to listen to recorded calls. Third party call scoring removes employee bias because the evaluator is not familiar with the agent. Third party call scoring also has the ability to compare data from other businesses and provide insight on how the call center is performing compared to other companies.

Call scoring provides constructive feedback and recommendations for improvement. Careful analysis of the call scores will provide insight and guide managers to focus on training areas for each individual employee. Specifically, managers can focus training where employee skills are the weakest.

How to get the most out of Call Scoring

Applying an effective call scoring system provides insights to business managers and guides their decisions on where to allocate resources and provide more training. This is accomplished by composing a thorough checklist and carefully monitoring agent calls. Score the items in the checklist appropriately. As business managers score more calls from the same agent, they will see a pattern emerge identifying the area where the agent requires more training. This can only be achieved by deploying powerful call recording software such as Versadial Solutions. To find more information about call recording Contact Us for an evaluation.

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Last Updated on July 11, 2023