Can you believe it is already the end of November? I feel like it was just yesterday that budget season was starting, and now (hopefully) it’s beginning to wrap up.
One consistent theme that both Don and I hear from our clients around this time every year is, “we need to do something about our service contact center”. If you are like most credit unions out there, 2020 and 2021 placed additional strain on this channel and perhaps brought many of your inefficiencies to light. Add this to the ongoing challenges of both attracting and maintaining talented employees… well you can see where I am going with this.
While you may have spent the better part of the 2010’s ignoring most of your contact center pain points, many of our clients are recognizing that at least part of the 2020’s is going to need to be focused on fixing and streamlining this channel.
It’s almost 2023! If you haven’t figured this out yet, your contact center is the face of your credit union. On the service side, it should also be the greatest source of referrals for your sales team.
So often, in our experience, the service side of a contact center becomes a credit union’s very own “island of misfit toys”. The place where low performers get dropped off because we do not want to keep them in the public eye. When in fact, these individuals have the greatest impact on your membership as they interact with more members than any other department in your organization.
Let’s face it, as much as you wish your members were comparing your contact center to the credit union down the street, they aren’t. Your members are comparing their experience with your service contact center to the likes of Amazon, Nordstrom, American Express, Apple, etc. The bar is set high, and the complexities are only increasing.
Are you using expensive roll-over services because your contact center can’t answer the phones? Are you looking to upgrade to a more expensive VOIP, and you aren’t even fully using the one you are currently paying for? Can anyone sort through the reports or interpret what the metrics mean or how to manage to them? Are you constantly getting requests for more bodies, but have no real baseline as to what your staffing levels should be? Do you have any idea how many channels of communication your contact center is currently managing and the response times for each?
If you are in management, can you answer these 5 questions about your Service Contact Center?
· Is your Abandon Rate < 5%
· Is your ASA within acceptable limits?
· What is your First call Resolution %?
· How bad is your Shrinkage?
· Do you know your Occupancy Rate?
If you don’t know all of these numbers, you are not alone, but the future is going to demand you figure it out.
We are here to help you navigate through your contact center challenges. If streamlining member experience in your contact center is on your radar for 2023 consider scheduling some time with us to discuss your needs and challenges. We would be happy to look at ways CULA can assist in bringing your contact center operation out of 1995 and into the 21st century.
Jessica Vartanian
Senior Consultant
CU Lending Advice
Jessica@culendingadvice.com