Agent support manual
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At Bushland Blooms, our agents fill in a customer contact record as each inbound or outbound campaign call is made.
Depending on the type of campaign or survey being conducted, you will use the Inbound or Outbound telemarketing customer contact record or the Data collection customer contact record (found under Forms on the Intranet) to note information such as: , bullet point. bullet point.
customer details , bullet point.
the outcome of the call , bullet point.
fulfilment processes , bullet point.
any difficulties encountered , bullet point.
how the customer heard about the company or a particular campaign.
This data helps Bushland Blooms analyse whether a campaign is running well and likely to be a success. It can also indicate possible problems such as: bullet point.
the advertising campaign not being as effective as expected , bullet point.
the product or service not filling the anticipated market niche or customers' needs
technical difficulties in recording orders.
Collating the data from the customer contact records means that problems can be identified and dealt with quickly and efficiently.
This entry contains the following information:
Correct any errors in databases
A large amount of data is collected during any telemarketing or market research survey campaign. This data has to be collated so that the results have meaning and can be used in future planning.
Depending on whether you have used a paper or electronic data collection system, the collation will either be by hand or carried out automatically by the computer.
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If you are using paper-based forms: bullet point.
You will be allowed extra time (hourly, daily, or at the end of the campaign) to collate the results. |
If
you are entering customer information directly into a computer database:
bullet point.
the responses will be automatically collated , bullet point.
reports will be formatted as required.
Remember, you must respect and maintain the confidentiality of customers' details. It is your responsibility to keep all completed forms private until you hand the forms over to the campaign manager to be stored in a secure location. Do not allow anyone, even your colleagues, to read your customers' responses.
Even though you do not collate the data yourself, make sure that you follow all the prompts on the screen carefully and complete each survey as required.
The table below shows what sort of data might be collected during a campaign at Bushland Blooms and how it would be collated.
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When collating data: bullet point.
Use the customer contact records to record and collate details of individual calls. Summarise this data using the Telemarketing tally form or the data collection Weekly record sheet (found under Forms on the Intranet). , bullet point.
Present your collated customer contact records and your signed tally form or record sheet to your campaign manager.
No matter how much preparation is done before the start of a campaign or survey, problems can still occur.
For example: bullet point.
Customers might object when asked to give their age. The survey organisers may need to rephrase the question to ask customers to choose an age bracket. , bullet point.
One of the fields on the computer database might only accept lower case, and re-typing is time consuming. The IT department may need to re-programme to allow for upper case as well.
You should always report problems to your team leader or campaign/survey manager so that: bullet point.
your colleagues can be kept informed , bullet point.
a consistent method for dealing with recurring problems can be developed , bullet point.
the problem can be avoided in future campaigns.
Ask yourself how urgently the problem needs to be dealt with.
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If the problem is likely to have a significant impact on the campaign or survey, you may need to send an e-mail or fax directly to the campaign manager for their immediate attention. |
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If a problem is not urgent, include the details on the Telemarketing tally form or the data collection Weekly record sheet. |
Some problems may be commonly encountered in a customer contact centre, and should be transferred, or escalated following normal procedures. For more information see Refer, transfer and escalate in this Agent support manual.
Having spotted a problem, you may be the best person to suggest a solution. You may even have suggestions about how to manage the next campaign more efficiently. If you have ideas, write some brief notes and pass them to your team leader or campaign manager.
Your team leader will give you a team report card and an individual report card at regular intervals. These report cards provide you with the data about: bullet point.
your calls per hour , bullet point.
average handling time (AHT) , bullet point.
wrap time , bullet point.
talk time , bullet point.
This information is collected automatically.
You may find that you: bullet point.
did not reach some or all of your agreed call targets , bullet point.
achieved your agreed call targets , bullet point.
exceeded your agreed call targets.
If you did not reach your agreed targets, you need to identify why this happened so that you can improve your performance in the next campaign. Perhaps your targets were unrealistic or beyond your capabilities. Perhaps external factors outside your control (such as problems with the phone system) played a part.
Even if you reached or exceeded your agreed targets, you should still look for any areas where you can improve. This will help you maintain and improve your performance in the next campaign.
You may find that some details have been incorrectly recorded on the database.
Depending on your operational boundaries, you may be able to correct the details immediately. Sometimes you will not have time to do this though, and you will have to refer the changes to another colleague or department for action.
Correcting and updating the database helps to make sure that the correct customers are targeted in the future.
 ASM
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