Contact Center QA Olympics – A Great Way to Boost Quality, Motivate Employees and Improve Hiring

The contact center business can be a tricky one when it comes to motivating and praising agents. It’s a sentiment that was widely recognized and shared at the 2010 Quality Assurance and Training Connection (QATC) Annual Conference in Nashville, Tennessee. I had the pleasure of attending and sponsoring this exceptional 3-day, information-packed event where we exchanged ideas and shared best practices with over 150 Call Center Quality Assurance and Training professionals.

One of the liveliest discussions we had was around the concept of a Call Center Quality Assurance Olympics as a creative way to maximize the value of quality monitoring technologies and processes. It got me thinking that there are some really creative, innovative ways to get call center staff involved and interested in what each of them are doing.

So, here are a few ideas for you to use if you want to put together your own Call Center Quality Assurance Olympics.

1. Create a set of categories into which agents, QA analysts and supervisors can enter their best recorded interactions. Categories may include Best Turnaround Call (i.e. customer was retained), Most Successful Sales Call, Most “Over-and-above” Expectations Call, Funniest Call

2. Have them enter their recordings into a category in the competition via email with their name and a brief synopsis of why they should win.

3. Offer unique prizes to really get their juices flowing. Ideas include one extra paid vacation day, dinner for two at a local restaurant, or movie or concert tickets.

4. Share winning recordings and give out prizes at a group Call Center Quality Assurance Olympics lunch catered by the company.

After the Olympics is finished, there is still more you can do with the greatness that has been uncovered. Setting up a “Model Call Library” with example of best-practice interactions can help with hiring, training and retention.

Hiring – By sharing these interactions with potential employees during the interview process, you’re giving them an inside look at the caliber of work your organization delivers and setting an expectation with the individual.

Training – Drawing from the Model Call Library during training is a great way to show employees examples of what you want them to be doing - - the recordings provide great illustration of things they should be  aware of when they review their own interactions. With the Web-based QA tools available today, it is easy to empower agents to access their own recorded calls, see feedback on their handling of the call, review quality ratings and comments, add their own feedback, and apply what they learn to future interactions.

Motivation and Retention - Employees that have an excellent call worthy of the Model Call Library should be recognized among their team peers or the entire contact center. Public praise in this regard goes a long way in motivating and retaining great employees. It also encourages healthy competition among other employees to achieve praiseworthy results.

How do you motivate your agents to share their best practices?