Objectives for Customer Contact Managers

• Customer contact managers help employees get additional training. Stockbyte/Stockbyte/Getty Images

  A customer contact manager is also known as a customer service manager. The customer service manager ensures that his employees provide the appropriate level of service to current and potential customers. In addition to ensuring proper service is provided, the manager handles the customer service representatives' personnel issues and performance measures. The customer contact manager's objectives should align with the company's goals.

Average Hold Time

• The customer contact manager helps his team answer the phone as quickly as possible. If the goal is to answer 85 percent of the phone calls within 30 seconds, the manager must ensure the staffing level is proper and that the employees are at their desks and ready to work. During times in which there are high call volumes, the manager schedules lunch breaks earlier or later to ensure the maximum number of people are on the phones. The manager might also use employees from other departments to accommodate employee absences because of sickness and vacations. The company wants the phones answered in a timely manner because it doesn't want to miss the revenue or risk customer dissatisfaction.

Call Monitoring Scores

• When a customer service representative (CSR) is speaking with a customer, the representative is responsible for greeting the customer, verifying the address and performing the standard duties of customer service interaction. When the CSR is monitored, she receives a score that shows her level of compliance with the policy. The optimum method to check for compliance is through silent monitoring. In silent monitoring, the CSR is not aware that the call is being recorded and rated. A 100 percent on the score is perfect, while a 75 percent score means the representative has room for improvement. The customer contact manager is responsible for the team's call monitoring scores. She must ensure the level of service meets or exceeds the company's standards and, if it does not, the manager arranges additional training.

Budgeting

• An objective of the customer service manager is to keep the departmental spending below the amount of money budgeted by the company. The reward for keeping the spending low should be comparable to the amount of money the customer contact manager saved. Often, the manager's budget is also called a department P&L (profit and loss). The manager can save the company money by using training discounts. For example, if a company allows three employees to attend a training class, the fourth employee can attend free or for a reduced fee. Another way a manager saves money is through inexpensive recognition gifts. Instead of offering everyone a $25 gift card, the manager gives the top performers a $25 gift card. A company's goal is to do more with less and to save money. These strategies help the company save money while still promoting the company's goals of employee development and rewarding performance.