How can you reduce caller queuing times?

We have probably said this a hundred times before and we shall say it again. No one likes to wait. We offer the call queue feature because we know that it serves an important purpose. Call queues are supposed to help you control unexpected spikes in the volume of incoming calls.

They are Band-Aids in an emergency. They should be the exception, not the rule. And if you have to use them, you need to make every effort possible to reduce the amount of time your users will spend waiting.

According to Call Center Helper, the longer a customer has to wait while on hold, the more likely they are to abandon the call, and the higher the chances that they will badmouth your company to other people. Fortunately, we are not telling you to simply hope for the best.

There are ways to reduce the amount of waiting time your callers have to endure, tactics that will make your company a more efficient machine. They include:

Staff Numbers

The easiest way to reduce waiting time in queues is to hire more people. The more employees you have on hand, the more callers you can engage in any given period, the shorter the duration the callers in the queue have to wait.

Base your hiring strategies on the volume of calls you expect to receive. Do not hire more people or fewer people than you need. You also have the option of bringing temporary hires on board during peak periods such as the holidays when the volume of calls spikes. This is where remote call agents enter the picture.

Speed

Sometimes, companies struggle to contend with spikes in the volume of calls because call agents are taking too long to resolve the queries of the individual customers whose calls they have picked. Naturally, call agents should allow interactions with clients to run on for as long as required. You cannot compel them to rush through calls or to cut customers off for the sake of reducing waiting time in the queues.

But you can encourage them to operate more efficiently, to remove any waste in their interactions that is driving them to delay. This is why you, as a manager, should monitor your staff calls. You can show them where they could perform better.

Alternatives

Our services are wide-ranging and you are encouraged to use them all. You can use our systems to offer callers in the queue the option of either leaving a voicemail or hanging up and waiting for someone to call them back.

Do not force callers to wait in the queue when they have other options. Of course, once you tell a customer that you will call them back, make an effort to do so, and in the shortest amount of time possible.

Knowledge Base

If you have too many customers calling your company with queries, consider offering them a database of information on your website, a resource that they can use to solve their own problems. This way, only customers with the most urgent problems will contact you, reducing your call volume and the waiting time of the people in your queues.

Distribution

There are companies which say that they have to keep their customers waiting in queues because they do not have enough call agents. They never consider the possibility that they might have other employees in the company, who are not call agents but are idle and more than capable of taking some of the load off the inbound calls’ team.

You need to make effective use of all the resources in your company. If your call agents are overwhelmed, find other personnel in the office to whom you can divert some of the callers in the queue.

For help with handling spikes in traffic, why not sign up for a professional Telephone Answering service with Planet Telecom today and let us do the rest. For more information, please call 0800 0886 886 to speak with one of our agents.