Although nearly every company could benefit from call recording, most never follow through with setting it up. It’s not that they don’t see the value in it or don’t want to take the time to install, monitor, and tweak the program. It’s actually much simpler than that. The real reason is that many employees don’t feel comfortable having their words recorded and management gives into the pressure not to do so.
In addition to not feeling comfortable with call recording, employees often ask so many questions about the process that employers feel they can’t adequately answer them all. Instead of taking the time to research answers or defend their rationale for wanting call recording, they give in to the protest and miss the many benefits that call recording could bring them.
Some types of industry must contend with strict privacy laws when it comes to call recording, such as doctors and dentists. However, other types of businesses that serve customers directly should want to know what is happening on calls so everyone who deals with customers can improve. This is especially true of businesses like hotels who primarily deal with people over the telephone.
If your business is similar to a hotel in that it receives many inquiries and service requests by phone, you need to be able to grade your employees on every call. This is so you can determine where to focus your training efforts. It’s also an ideal way to hold your employees accountable for meeting the service goals management has established for them.
Naturally, underperforming employees are going to resist having their calls recorded. They’re the only ones who should since it gives all other employees the opportunity to perform even better when it comes to customer service. That’s the entire point of call recording in the first place.
Why Employees Don’t Need to Fear Call Recording
Call scoring and recording are simple ways to improve performance. It doesn’t have to be intimidating when employees think of it as a tool that will help them do an even better job than they’re already doing. It’s important to frame it in this light when introducing call recording to employees for the first time.
Another benefit of call recording is that it helps employers know which employees to reward as a means of showing appreciation and motivating everyone else. Typical examples of incentives include increasing salary, sending the employee on a trip, or throwing a party for all employees who meet a certain sales and performance threshold. Without call recording, employees could never enjoy these benefits.
There’s also no reason for employees to feel embarrassed by recorded calls. This is true no matter how the employer chooses to distribute it as long as the employee and others can learn from any mistakes or an especially good phone call.
Consider the fact that marketers rely on data to improve performance. Sales can do the same thing. In fact, many marketers seem to hyper-focus on data because their managers use it to track everything. When it comes down to it, marketers get promoted, demoted, or fired because of metrics alone.
When a marketer produces leads that cost significantly more than the industry average, that person will eventually lose his or her job. The only way to arrive at such a figure is with call recording. It allows marketers to continually make adjustments until their numbers line up closer with that of their peers.
Nearly everyone else in your company has his or her performance judged on numbers. Employees who answer the phone should not be the exception, whether it’s a receptionist or call center employee.
Salespeople should be evaluated based on the results of call recording and call scoring. Anyone who feels content to do the minimum or less should consider looking for another line of work. It’s not fair to those who consistently pull their own weight and then some.
Rather than something to fear, metrics are extremely valuable. Call recording is an ideal way to obtain those metrics. If you’re ready to find out how and why, contact Call Sumo for a call recording product demonstration.
