We have already shown both a generic initial customer questionnaire and a basic initial setup sequence to get us started with a workable configuration. Next, we’re going to go a little further by presenting planning guides to help us start fine-tuning both Inbound and Outbound operations.
As we know, the purpose of the Inbound Call Center is to receive, distribute, and process incoming calls in a way that matches business needs and conditions in an optimal manner.
The key aspect, therefore, of planning for an Inbound Call Center configuration is to understand the defining components of the ChaseData CCaaS system that correspond to the business rules.
So, we need to know what types of calls we will be processing in order to map them to Agent Skills; and we need to assign these skills to Agents.
We need to know the phone number (DID) where we expect these calls to come in; if there are more than one, we need to know any relationship between them (e.g. one may present options, while another one may go straight to the final call queue). We need to know what Voice Messages to play to the caller, and under what conditions are those messages played. We need to know what to do when there are agents available, when there are agents signed-in but not available, and when there are no agents at all.
We need to know the campaign that provides supporting information, tools and rules for the agent that answers the call; for example, a Script and/or Form to provide and gather information related to the call. We need to know what is the corresponding information that is collected and/or maintained about the Contact related to the call.
We need to know how to disposition a call, in other words, what Wrap-up Codes to be made available to the agents.
(Future feature) We need to know the business operating hours and/or the call queue (agent group or shift) operating hours.
Following is a suggested planning list with example entries.
Incoming Call Points | |||
Label | Main-Number | Support-Direct-Number | |
Description | Main general-purpose numbers | Numbers that go straight to Support | |
Numbers (DID) | 888-555-0001 | 855-555-1110 | |
Greeting Message | Main-Greeting | N/A | |
Type | IVR Tree | Direct Number | |
Decision Tree | IVR-Main | IVR-Support-Direct | |
Routing Queue | Queue-Main | Queue-Support | |
Decision Trees | |||
Label | IVR-Main | IVR-Support-Direct | |
Description | Actions corresponding to main IVR options menu | Actions for special case responses | |
Response | 0 - "for any other requests" | 7 - "no agents... if you want to be called back" | |
Action | 0 - Route to Queue | 7 - Set a callback | |
Action Data | 0 - Queue-Main | 7 - N/A | |
Voice Messages | |||
Label | Description | Type | Media |
Main-Greeting | Welcomes caller, presents all options, and requests a response | Greeting | main_greeting.mp3 |
Support-Wait | Tells caller to wait while the system connects to next available agent | Wait | support-wait.mp3 |
Main-Leave-Message | Requests caller to leave message after the tone | Voicemail request | main-leave-message.mp3 |
Support-Leave-Message | Requests caller to leave message after the tone | Voicemail request | support-leave-message.mp3 |
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Call Queues | |||
Label | Queue-Main | Queue-Support | |
Description | Agents that can take general-purpose questions | Specialized support agents | |
Agent Skill List | Skill-List-Call-Center | Skill-List-Support | |
Next Skill Timeout | 2 secs | 0 secs | |
Busy Agents Action | Wait for an agent indefinitely | Wait for an agent indefinitely | |
No Agents Action | Voicemail redirect | Voicemail redirect | |
Schedule | 24/7 | 24/7 | |
Campaign | Customer-Care-Campaign | Support-Campaign | |
Skill Lists | |||
Label | Skill-List-Call-Center | Skill-List-Support | |
Description | List of the skills of agents that should handle general-purpose calls, in priority order | List of the skills of agents that should handle a support call, in priority order | |
Priority/Agent Skill | 1 / Call-Center-Skill | 1 / T1-Support-Skill | |
Agent Skills | |||||
Label | Description | Incoming Calls | Outgoing Calls | Manual Calls | |
Call-Center-Skill | Allowed to handle general customer care | Yes | No | No | |
T1-Support-Skill | Allowed to handle basic to medium support issues | Yes | Yes | No | |
T2-Support-Skill | Allowed to handle all types of customer care and support | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
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Campaigns | |||
Label | Description | Agent Script and/or Form | Contact Data |
Customer-Care-Campaign | Provides scripts for agents handling a customer care call, identifies the information that is available for a contact, and related rules | Customer_Care_Script.docx | Customer_Fields.docx |
Support-Campaign | Provides scripts and forms for agents handling a support call, identifies the information that for the contact, and related rules | Support_Script_and_Form.html | Customer_Fields.docx |
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Wrap-up Codes | |||
Label | Description | For All Campaigns | For a Specific Campaign |
Requested-Info | Caller has requested product information | Yes | N/A |
Inquiry-Resolved | General inquiry was handled satisfactorily | Yes | N/A |
Minor-Problem-Resolved | A minor reported problem was resolved | No | Support-Campaign |
Major-Problem-Resolved | A major reported problem was resolved | No | Support-Campaign |
General-Resolved | Non-categorized request was resolved | No | Customer-Care-Campaign |
General-Unresolved | Non-categorized request was left unresolved | No | Customer-Care-Campaign |
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As we know, the purpose of the Outbound Call Manager is to perform calls to prospective or existing customers (leads and contacts) according to business goals (e.g. marketing, sales, political campaigns, fund-raising, etc.) in a way that maximizes the use of resources (agents, lines, and time).
Planning for Outbound Call Management configurations involves many business and regulatory considerations which often influence each other. The complexity therefore requires careful analysis and a good understanding of how to map the needs and requirements to related components in the ChaseData CCaaS system.
We know that Outbound Call Management relies heavily on leads (contacts) and the rules on how, how often, and when to call them. The best way to define these rules is to group them together, which is what a Campaign is for.
The how considers things like Agent Skills, available dialing lines, dialing mode, scripts, forms; the how often considers things like dial sequence, drop rate, redialing; the when considers things like dialing hours.
Following is a suggested planning list with example entries.
Campaigns | |||
Label | New-Sales-Campaign | VIP-Campaign | Lost-Customer-Campaign |
Description | To generate new sales from contacts that have not been previously approached | To contact key important potential customers | To try to win back previous customers |
Caller ID | Default | 555-333-7777 | Default |
Agent Call Script and/or Form | New_Sales_Script_and_Form.docx | VIP_Script_and_Form.html | Bring_Back_Script_and_Form.docx |
Agent Waiting Screen | https://app.powerbi.com/view?r=abc | N/A | N/A |
Agent Paused Screen | https://www.timeanddate.com | https://www.brainyquote.com | https://weather.com |
Contact Data | Customer_Fields.docx | Customer_Fields.docx | Customer_Fields.docx |
Dialing Strategy | |||
Campaign | New-Sales-Campaign | VIP-Campaign | Lost-Customer-Campaign |
Dialing Hours | 9 AM - 8 PM | 3 PM - 7 PM | 10 AM - 7 PM |
Lines per Agent | 2 | 1 | 3 |
Maximum Drop Rate Allowed | 0.02 | 0 | 3% - count only connected calls - include calls in last 30 days |
Dialing Order or Priority | Dial newer leads first | Dial in the order of the contact list | No specific order, but give priority to contacts with fewer call attempts |
Dialing Optimization (Mode) | Predictive - optimize based on number of lines, agents, drop ratio, etc. | Preview - allow agent to review contact information before dialing | Predictive |
No Answer Actions | |||
Campaign | New-Sales-Campaign | VIP-Campaign | Lost-Customer-Campaign |
Rings to Determine No Answer | 6 | 4 | 4 |
Wait Time Before Redial | 4 hours | N/A | Immediate |
Redial Attempts Per Day | 2 | 1 | 1 |
Lifetime Redial Attempts | 10 | 5 | 10 |
Answering Machine Detection (AMD) | Yes - Accurate (accuracy more important than delay) | Yes - Optimized / Balanced | No |
Leave Message | Yes - once per day only | Yes - once only | No |
Wrap-up Codes | ||||||
Label | Description | For All Campaigns | For a Specific Campaign | Can be Called Again | It's a Final State | Generate a POST action |
Possible-Sale-Follow-Up | Somehow interested and should try again | Yes | N/A | Yes | No | sale_call_post_message.html |
Sale-Initiated | Started transaction; need to follow up | Yes | N/A | Yes | No | sale_call_post_message.html |
Sale-Completed | Completed transaction | Yes | N/A | Yes | No | sale_call_post_message.html |
Call-Back | Can talk some other time | Yes | N/A | Yes | No | sale_call_post_message.html |
Left-Message | Machine answered; left message | Yes | N/A | Yes | No | sale_call_post_message.html |
Not-Interested-For-Now | Not interested but check back in the future | Yes | N/A | Yes | No | sale_call_post_message.html |
Not-Interested-Final | Not interested | Yes | N/A | No | Yes | sale_call_post_message.html |
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