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Lesson learned: Reviewing call dispositions on a rep-by-rep basis tells you a lot more about what's really going on than just looking at sales totals for the group. It's another good reason why just monitoring calls and glancing at the day's cumulative stats won't tell you what's really going on out on the call floor. As they say, the devil's in the details.
Best case of curiosity and initiative gone awry: One technical support rep was curious about the connection between various internal databases and created what turned out to be a virus to see how they were related. Or maybe he was just hoping to cripple the system for a while to get a longer break. Who knows. The IT manager caught the problem in time before it did any damage--and rewrote the employee manual's chapter on insubordination.
Lesson learned: Assume this generation's knowledge about and access to your systems is greater than yours and put many safeguards in place to prevent a meltdown.
Scariest tale of "What might have happened": One call center manager made it his business each day to "walk the parking lot." The reason? Once a rep whose babysitter did not show up locked her child in her car for the shift during a hot summer day. Luckily, the manager was out in the lot during a break first thing in the morning and discovered the child before tragedy struck.
Lesson learned: Child-care issues come with the territory, especially since a growing number of telephone reps are parents or single parents. Many companies with internal call centers are learning that on-site day care is one of the most cost-effective investments you can make. But even smaller operations and third-parry outsourcers have options--like the teleservices vendor that located its new call. center within walking distance of an independent day care center and worked out a discounted rate for employees.
What's more fun than the dress code?
A poke in the eye with a sharp stick:
Frustrated by its reps' inability to use good judgment in adhering to the call center dress code, one company put up posters with detailed photographs: one with a female in a modest sleeveless top, the other with a female from the back in a halter top (this photo had a circle with a slash through it). Caption under photo of sleeveless top: "This is appropriate summer attire. Caption under photo of halter top: "This is not."
A rep in a different call center had an interesting interpretation of the very detailed dress code. Since the limitation on short dresses was "not more than 5 inches above the knee," she came to work with an ankle-length dress--which was slit all the way up to her hip.
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