Like every profession has its unique situations and tricks, Contact Centers also have many individual cases. However, some conditions are specific only to Turkey and our way of doing business. It is not very common in other countries.
 
These are some of the situations listed below, and unfortunately, they are not very heart-warming. Let's start:
 
1) Launching the Client into Space
It is probably one of the oldest rules since contact centers existed: If the Customer Representative does not know about a subject, if he needs support, if he is going to consult a superior or a friend, he puts the customer on hold, which is quite normal and necessary to be able to do a quality job, to be able to solve the call at the first time. On the other hand, I think the choice between giving the correct information in consultation instead of giving wrong / incomplete information to the customer is already apparent for new agents.
 
In various trainings (on the job and after) the topics of "Holding Standards" are mentioned. The rules of keeping the customer on hold are taught: Explain why you're making it wait, come back to the customer now and then (every 30-40 seconds), politely state that you're still trying to get the information, etc. I'm sure most of you are familiar with these. I won't go into further details.
 
Apart from banks, many other large companies outsource contact center services in our country, which is ideal for the outsourcing market. Companies pay a hefty "per-minute" price for the inbound services they outsource. In theory, this cost includes Talk Time and Hold time. Some places pay on an AHT basis; this one has Talk + Aftercall work. (Hold is already in Talk).
 
Which company pays on what basis varies a lot. Talk (with a specific cap - ATT cap) is already delivered, and there is no problem. The real problems arise in Hold and ACW. Some firms do not pay the hold at all, while others pay a portion with a cap. On the other hand, it is not just about whether the money is paid or not. Outsource companies that do not want to pass the ATT price cap also begin to put pressure on hold when they do not want to pass the Talk cap (the talk may be getting longer), even if the institutional firm pays for the hold.
 
On the other hand, pressure on hold is not just an issue that arises in outsource companies. Inhouse can have the same problems. Most contact centers (except for a lucky few) have Talk Time as a criterion on their agent's scorecard. Most scorecards are held (mainly, it is required to be under a particular second on average, such as hold time < 5 seconds. This is an error itself and a subject for another article).
 
In conclusion; Unfortunately, Hold, which is very important for quality work, begins to be destroyed due to unpaid or restricted paid Holds or too aggressive Hold time targets to be made. It is printed.
– Hey, Guuuys, We don't use hold as much as possibleee...
 
–Sedaaa, how many times have I told you, look what happened to your holds, if it goes like this…
-We don't put them on hoold!
I hope this sounds unfamiliar to you; then it's okay. But if you remember this from somewhere, then oops! It means that your contact center also has the "Launching the Customer into the Space Syndrome".
 
What will the agent, who can't get to hold, have to do? Yes, I'm sure you know: He'll mute the call. But what's the real purpose of the mute button? You see, you sneezed, coughed, or asked something very, very short to your neighbor and so on. The mute function exists for only these situations.
 
How about us? My agent friend gives an excellent introduction to the customer, like "Can I keep you waiting in the line for a short time" in a very gentle and polite manner. Then he mutes and sends you to outer space and in a capsule! The customer who has been taken to Mute does not listen to music; they begin to wait for you, bowing to his fate with the feeling of a sterile vacuum whose air has been removed. What a terrible situation. I'm sure many of you have been exposed to this. I'm sure you didn't feel too good. If these waits were 20-30 seconds, maybe you can show understanding again, but alas, most are two, three, five minutes… It takes as long time.
 
So why are we doing this? Again, you know: Hold can be easily reported; it directly shows itself in most ACD reports. The Mute can also actually be reported, but it's often not easy or even not reported on some systems.
Those who are aware that Mute can also be reported have developed an even more creative method unique to Turkey: removing the cable from the junction between the phone bracket and the headset! Thus, let me give you the tragicomic good news that a new generation of agents was born, walking around with the entire headset and half the cable in their head.
 
After all, you took it to Mute. Has the Talk Time changed? The answer is no!
 
So what has changed? The answer: Customer satisfaction (negatively)
 
The key is not to look at hold as a bogeyman. It is to analyse the reasons of hold well and try to reduce it naturally. Giving hold a goal is to make sure that goal is attainable as well.
 
2.) Long (and infuriating) Silence with the Customer
The job of contact centers consists of two essential parts: Talk (Talk) and Aftercall Work (ACW). Talking about quality in a contact center is just as crucial in ACW. The customer's problem that cannot be resolved in the call or completed during the call must be completed by the agent after the call ends (entering the complaint in the system in detail, etc.). The information is obtained from the customer during the call, the customer's story is listened to carefully, and if a record needs to be created for this call immediately after that, the agent brings itself to ACW position and completes the client's request.
 
…or at least it used to be like this. Unfortunately, contact centers today either set unrealistic deadlines on ACW or even outright ban them. The main reason for this is that ACW is a very open area to abuse. Ultimately, the agent can perform "active rest" by putting itself in ACW mode instead of doing a job for the client. While the agents are in ACW, the next call will not be answered, thus the queue will be longer. A place with an Average Talk Time (ATT) of 180 seconds and an average ACW of 20 seconds has an Average Handle Time (AHT) of 200 seconds. In other words, each job done takes 200 seconds. As noted above, most administrations try to eliminate ACW (i.e., the 20-second portion) or typically have it done in-call.
 
There are two ways to do this: The first is as it should be; that is, trying to shorten ACW without sacrificing quality. Unnecessarily long hours in a contact center are a nuisance. In this respect, trying to reduce the time and producing projects for this should be one of the company's top priorities. The most critical factor here is not to compromise on quality while reducing time. It is essential to establish project teams, analyze the performance of processes or those doing the work, and their root causes, understand the causes of ACW prolongation and take action against them. This is the longer and more complicated method, but it is the correct method.
 
The second method is short, easy, but often wrong; without creating a project, the agent does ACW's work in Talk Time. The easiest thing to do is ban ACW. Yes, but this means the job that requires getting the customer's information and creating the records is undoubtedly going on; such calls are still coming. The directive given to the agent here is that these works should be done "with the customer", that is while meeting with the customer. In other words during the Talk Time.
 
If the first method is not activated, ie, ACW, which is 20 seconds on average, is not reduced by doing projects, then the second method is really a terrible option. The main problems here are: Most of the time, during the silences exceeding 1 minute, the agent enters the customer's information into the system while the customer is on the line. First of all, since the agent does this job (creating records, entering information, etc.) by keeping the customer on the line (while speaking, since he can't get to the hold), a very poor quality, non-value-added, boring process for the customer. Long silences ensue. The customer thinks: "I have conveyed all the information to you, let me go, whatever you are doing, wherever you want to register, open it. Why am I on the line with you?"
 
Second, let's say ATT was 180 seconds and ACW was 20 seconds, so AHT was 200 seconds. You; You banned ACW, but you didn't make moves to reduce 20 seconds, and you had it done in the call. In this case, you could not lower AHT; AHT is again 200 seconds. It will even exceed 200 seconds in many cases; The customer who is waiting idly while his registration is being entered into the system will have a "Bida" syndrome and another issue will come to mind while waiting idly, and he will also make demands such as can you take a look at this or do that. In other words, the AHT will be longer.
 
The third problem is that the contact center's trunkload (line density) with ATT 180 and ACW 20 is 180 seconds. When ACW is included in Talk, this intensity will be 200 seconds. Especially if the company pays some of the money for the line (for example, numbers with 444), then doing ACW in talk also costs the company! (20 seconds x number of calls x cost)
 
On the whole, it doesn't help anyone to take the easy way out of ACW or have it done in Talk, but unfortunately, more and more contact centers are using this method. The correct one; is to try to reduce ACW and Talk by doing projects using technology without sacrificing quality. The remaining ACW time is to give the agent a reasonable time to do a quality job and follow it.
 
3) Reducing Times Without Shortcuts
When the calls start to enter the queue, a series of measures begin to be taken in the contact center. Breaks are cancelled, meals are shortened, skill definitions are made, etc. The purpose of this article is not to scrutinize them. However, one of the first measures is interfering with the agents' talk time, and it's not a good idea.
 
Team Leader or Managers direct their agents to "be agile." After all, many calls are waiting in the queue. If they can reduce their talk time, they can handle more calls with the same number of people (i.e., Service Level increases). While it may seem like a success for that period (after all, the less you talk to customers, the more calls you can get) is doing their company a disservice.
 
Customers understand that their call is rushed, they will have to call again for the same transaction as they cannot get the information they want. This means that the response performance (service level) will decrease with the same number of people for that period. So if you do this, you will do good; You will reduce both the quality and the response speed. Total disaster!
 
4) Making Noise
Many contact centers I know are taking a lot of measures to reduce the noise level. They make the insulation accordingly, pay attention to keep the environment quiet, etc. On the other hand, some contact centers have their in their blood to be noisy. You know as soon as you enter. Chaos, standing people, loud noise… The basic rule I found is this: Reducing and increasing the noise in the contact center is under the control of the managers (Team Leader, Supervisor, etc.) on the platform. Team Leaders said to their Agent 20 meters away, "Ahmeeetttttt!!…." If the calls are queued, if he shouts "Guuys…" to his friends in the whole team, it is not possible to seek silence in that contact center anyway. This virus-like situation becomes a corporate culture. Agents shout at each other, speak loudly to their customers, etc. I call this the "market" contact center culture. Take a test; Let's take 5 agents in a contact center with a very high noise level and put them in a low-volume place. The moment you do it, they will undoubtedly speak quietly, adapting immediately. After all, the problem is not in the environmental conditions (poor quality headphones, sound insulation, etc.) but the contact center's culture.
 
5) Getting Around
It is a term in contact center literature: It is called "Butt in Seat." I'm sure most of us already know what "seat" is. (who also wants butt can look in the dictionary). To put it a little more politely; We can explain this situation as the Customer Representative at his desk with a headset in his ear.
 
When Agents want to ask the Team Leader to ask a question, go and ask the contact centers how they do it. From 9 out of 10 contact centers (as if this were the natural route), you'll get a very calm "get off your seat" answer. In reality, it is like this; When the Agent is going to ask a question, he takes the customer to the hold (I wish he did, but as we mentioned before, they often mute instead of hold) then gets up, goes to the Team Leader, asks his question, gets his answer and sits down. While on the road, he taunts his friend, maybe even a little chatter (remember we're on the astroturf pitch in the evening, or reserve a seat for me in the shuttle service, huh?). It is not uncommon for Team Leaders to have a queue of agents waiting to ask questions; it does happen often. It is a tragicomic situation.
 
You rarely see such a thing abroad. There is not much of a concept called "Agent" in the middle of the contact centers. When the agent asks questions, he already spends his life at work, using his phone. He calls the Team Leader on the phone, asks his question, and gets his answer. If their Team Leader is not available, they will call someone else. It is even possible to create a mini contact center from Team Leaders, and there are examples. If he can't ask questions on the phone, he won't get up again. He somehow requests the Team Leader to come to him (waving a flag, raising his hand, or otherwise).
 
It should be something that the contact center management should not want at all, for the agents to leave their places to ask questions. Average call times will increase (once the agent leaves and goes to the Team Leader and then comes back). It won't be easy to prevent agents from wandering around and taking advantage of this situation. But perhaps most importantly, the already noisy contact center environment will become even more chaotic. Agents and all employees will be adversely affected by this chaos.
 
Every country and its people have some characteristics, way of doing business according to their own. These were some examples from Turkey.