Average Handle Time – A Good Metric? For Whom?

Two things drive me to a posting on Average Handle Time (AHT).

1. A previous posting on Average Speed of Answer (ASA) remains the most popular posting on the blog, so I thought another Contact Center metric may be welcomed by our visitors.
2. A recent discussion with a group of the Contact Center managers clearly showed AHT to be a point of interest.

Metrics can be a subjective bunch, and as such, definitive answers about their use may be ilusive, so please be ready for some generalizations based mostly on my personal experience – which by no means is definitive.

AHT is an often misunderstood metric because on the surface it looks like a problem to be managed, while if we look deeper, it tends to act more like a symptom.

AHT Definition: The average length of time it take agents to handle a customer, wrap-up and become available for the next customers? (This differs from Average Talk Time (ATT), which excludes wrap-up and other ancillary activities such as research).

The obvious benefit of a short AHT is that agents can take care of more customers in a set time and therefore, less agens are required to handle the incoming load. Expectedly, management, usually upper management, feels very comfortable placing attention on AHT as a way to control the largest cost of a contact center, people. Likewise, many Contact Center managers concentrate on AHT ensuring agent efficiency, at times incenting agents to achieve lower an lower AHT levels.

In my experience, the control-point for AHT is not the agent. In stead, AHT is more directly affected by our ability to provide the appropriate environment, knowledge, tools and expectations.

Here are the areas I believe contribute most to AHT.

Appropriate Staffing Levels
Staffing can become a vicious cycle. “If we had more staff we would not have this problem, but, if we were more efficient we would not need so much staff”. Although this posting is too general to address this important balance, we do know that bad Average Speed of Answer, Service Levels and excessive hold times which are greatly affected by staffing levels, can add 30 to 60 seconds to your AHT. Primarily, in the time it takes to calm down irate customers and the composure time for agent stress. Irate customers have a great effect on agent morale and the efficient flow of the call. It’s amazing how much more efficient we can be when our customers are cooperative and our agents are not stressed out.

Training
It goes without saying that knowledgeable agents have lower AHT than new agents. But technical and product training only take us so far. Our agents must also know how to quickly assess a customer’s needs, troubleshoot and create an interactive flow that is conducive to quick resolution. They must also know when to escalate. An simple analysis of call length within a queue can show us the tipping point of AHT. Passed a certain call length, we can see calls have a higher likelihood of reaching astronomical AHTs. That is the point at which to intervene and ask your agents if they need help. I know of a team that calls this the 12 minute rule – at 12 minutes a lead agent or supervisor would simply ask “need help?”. Less stress for the agent, lower AHT.

Processes
How many screens do your agents need to manage in order to manage an interaction? Do they need to get up from their station and send faxes, pull manuals, etc? Inefficient processes can add considerably to handle time.

Empowerment
An empowered agent is a less stressed agent who knows he/she has some decision-making power to do the right thing for the customer. Less time is spent working towards an unlikely solution while giving the agent more ownership of the outcome and more perceived value as an employee.
Of course, empowerment is not for every agent and requires proper training and clear guidelines, but we would do well to push as much empowerment as possible to the front lines of our customer touch-points. Surprisingly, empowerment can be easier to manage than the policies and processed designed to ensure customer satisfaction through escalations.

Attrition
Attrition is an indicator to most, if not all agent inefficiencies. It is the single most costly event in a contact center, mostly occurring within 90 days of hire and costing up to $8,000 per agent.
When we have high attrition, our average newbie rate on the floor is high, which means knowledge and efficiency is low (just think what happens to your stats -including AHT – when you have a new team nesting? uhgg!).

Also, high attrition floors have more challenges in agent dynamics which make empowerment, quality, and employee participation less likely and more difficult.
Average Handle Time is therefore, greatly affected by our ability to hire and keep the right employees. If you have an attrition rate of more than 50%, don’t worry about AHT. You’ve got bigger problems.

Perhaps most controversial, is the topic of agent relations.
At times, we can enter into contentious cycles with our agent community. Usually driven by frustration in our inability to improve operations, we’ll begin to feel a disconnect and a difficulty sharing the same side of the fence with those who directly manage the customer.

As long as it’s acceptable for us not to share the same side of the fence with our agents, AHT will remain difficult to manage and, unfortunately, we will continue to press the wrong button, expecting different results.  AHT is not a measure of agents approach or willingness to follow direction, but a measure of management’s ability to Train, Hire and Empower.

I believe AHT is not the best indicator of agent efficiency but a greater indicator of management effectiveness.

Rudy Vidal
Committed to XCS!

Have we what it takes to be like Johnny?

Friends,

Today a colleague sent me this video which I think is not only inspiring but revolutionary in its simplicity and effectiveness to present the essence of XCS.

Please view it, it will make a difference.

Johnny’s video

Thank you.

Rudy Vidal
Committed to XCS !

Regularly Scheduled Reminder: Back to Basics

Yesterday I had the pleasure of speaking at a regional gathering of the Contact Center Networking Group (www.ccng.com) in Phoenix, AZ..

I love CCNG meetings because I am always inspired by the common force and unity that Contact Center Professional feel for their craft. They are inherently united and willing to help each other.

I ran out of time at the presentation (not unusual), and could not touch on these basics, so I thought I would cover a couple of them here.

1. Contact Centers Are About People
Although technology, statistics, quality sheets and accuracy are important, contact centers are about people.
- People buy your products
- People call you for assistance
- People deliver the service.

The proper management of contact center is the creation of a conduit that facilitates the efficient servicing of people (customers and employees). Our goal is to exceed both of their expectations in a manner that the human-touch can be noticed. Ultimately, we are transforming transactions into positively emotional events that create the possibility for loyalty.

2. Listen to Customers – Understand Their Expectations.
It is very difficult to exceed expectations we don’t understand.
I often find contact center managers making assumptions about what customers want. Many times we are wrong. The result can be an unnecessary over-extension of resources, or the blatant mis-aiming of our efforts. “If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll end up somewhere else”

Ask your customer what they expect? Build policies and procedures to exceed those expectations.

3. The Customer Wants Only Two Things:
a. Answer the phone Now!
b. Solve my problem Today!

This may sound too basic, but it isn’t.
As we concentrate in areas we know to be deficient, we risk loosing focus. Although ASA, training, calibration, AHT, processes, attrition or any of the hundreds of variables that call our attention play a key role in achieving success, we must make sure we consider and prioritize our activities in the context of how they help us achieve the customer’s expectations.
When deciding on any aspect of our business, we would do well to ask ourselves: “How does this help me answer the phone more efficiently and/or increase First Call Resolution for my customers?”

Which brings me to,

4. Choose the Right Key Performance Indicators

There are two types of KPIs – Leading and Lagging.
A Lagging KPIs point to the past. For example, Customer Satisfaction Results is a lagging KPI. It tells you the level of Customer Satisfaction you’ve achieved. But it doesn’t provide insight on how to improve it.

A leading KPI measures activity that impacts the achievement of the desired result. For example, abandon rate is a leading indicator of Customer Satisfaction. In this case, I would say, make sure you put more weight on Abandon Rate in your balanced KPI set.

Although, abandon rate is leading, and that’s good, it is also passive and that’s not so good. It does not measure actual actions that create the desired goal, and therefore, is a weak leading indicator.

The best leading indicators are active in that they measure actions that lead to the desired results. Here is the perfect example:

McDonald’s needed to increase their average purchase per visit. Naturally, they chose average ticket sales as their KPI. After a year, they saw only marginal improvement. The reason was that their attention was placed on the lagging KPI. So they changed their focus from the lagging indicator to a new and active leading indicator – The percentage of times the host or hostess asked the question: “would you like that super-sized?”. By measuring the percentage of times the host or hostess offers super-sized meals, they are managing action that creates results.

Although Leading vs. Lagging is simple to understand, finding great active leading KPIs is not so easy. One can spend weeks looking for the right leading KPIs, but, they will be weeks well spent.

Keep it simple, keep it basic.

RudyV
Committed to XCS!