Call Center Management Best Practices, Dos and Don’ts

Successful call center management improves the customer experience, boosts employee engagement, and streamlines everyday call center operations.

However, poor call center management causes increased agent turnover, lengthy customer wait times, and higher operating costs.

To be effective, call center managers must balance customer and agent expectations, identify the root causes of consistent problems, and develop creative strategies to optimize workflows. Call center managers must also choose the right technology to help them juggle all these responsibilities.

Use this guide to call center management best practices as your roadmap to success.

• Overview
• Call Center Roles
• Management Responsibilities
• Best Practices
• Dos and Don’ts
• Tools and Technology
• FAQs

What Is Call Center Management?

Call center management is the process of managing day-to-day call center operations, with responsibilities like agent training, performance management, forecasting and scheduling, workflow optimization, and monitoring call center analytics. Effective call center management improves the customer experience, increases agent engagement, lowers operating costs, and leverages the right technology to achieve business goals.

Developing a successful center management strategy is a collaborative effort between customers, agents, managers, supervisors, executives, and company directors.

Call Center Roles and Responsibilities

A well-operated call center has clearly defined roles with corresponding responsibilities and expectations.

The main roles within a call center are:

Call Center Manager

The call center manager is the lead operator (and often, the owner) of the call center. They are responsible for evaluating, defining, and meeting customer needs and expectations.

Call center managers must set agent and supervisor performance standards, explain how these standards will be met, and identify opportunities to increase customer satisfaction rates and sales revenue.

Common call center manager responsibilities include: 

• Setting long and short-term call center sales and customer service goals and explaining how these goals are measured
• Creating and updating employee training materials
• Selecting call center and other business communication software (CRM platforms, team collaboration tools, workforce management apps, etc.)
• Hiring call center agents and supervisors
• Reviewing historical and real-time call center analytics and reporting
• Creating, monitoring, and updating call paths/call routing strategies
• Developing HR policies

Key call center manager skills include:

• Superior communication skills
• Ability to cater to multiple agent learning styles
• An understanding of business goals, customer base, and branding
• Task management and delegation
• Flexibility to adjust management strategies/business goals on the fly, according to customer and employee feedback
• Ability to interpret analytics and KPIs and make data-driven decisions
• Empathy and understanding to ensure customers and employees feel recognized and valued

More on call center management responsibilities are discussed in the section below.

Call Center Supervisor 

Call center supervisors train, monitor, and assist call center agents with customer interactions.

They are responsible for implementing the strategies developed by the call center manager to ensure expectations are met. Supervisors are in near-constant communication with both agents and managers, and must be able to identify when adjustments to the management strategy need to be made.

Common call center supervisor responsibilities include: 

• Employee training and onboarding
• Real-time call center/agent conversion monitoring and in-call coaching
• Administrative task management, including agent scheduling
• Alerting management to ineffective or outdated training materials or strategies
• Reviewing call recording and transcriptions to identify trends
• Evaluating individual agent performance
• Creating call center activity summaries and briefs to share with management

Key call center supervisor skills include: 

• Technical understanding of call center software
• Workforce management and scheduling
• Ability to discern which information should be sent to upper management
• Soft skills (communication, active listening, problem-solving, etc.)
• Ability to provide detailed feedback to employees and managers

Call Center Agent

A call center agent is a representative that actually speaks to the caller with the goal of resolving each customer issue as soon as possible.

They are on the front lines, representing the business and carrying out the instructions of call center managers and supervisors.

Common call center agent responsibilities include:

• Providing live customer assistance or technical support
• Making outbound sales or marketing calls
• Confirming, canceling, or rescheduling appointments
• Taking orders or payments over the phone
• Providing order updates/shipping information
• Making account updates
• Collecting customer survey responses and managing customer complaints
• Discerning when to transfer calls or initiate the call center escalation matrix

Key customer service agent skills include: 

• Communication, empathy, and problem-solving
• Strong knowledge of product/services
• Ability to prioritize calls and stay calm under pressure
• Conflict management and resolution
• Developing personal relationships with clients to increase sales and customer retention rates
• Organization
• Teamwork and team collaboration

Call Center Management Responsibilities

Call center managers oversee a variety of call center operations and departments. The most important components of call center management are:

Customer Experience

A call center manager’s most important job is to create a unified, intuitive, and positive customer experience. This starts with providing excellent customer service and support. Managers are responsible for optimizing agent-led support and automated customer self-service across voice and digital channels.

Managers use features like Interactive Voice Response (IVR), Intelligent Virtual Agents (IVA), knowledge base management, CRM call pops, and AI Agent Assist to simplify and speed up the support process.

Call monitoring, recording, and transcripts offer managers further insight into the customer experience, helping them identify gaps in agent training and the customer journey.

Agent Training and Performance Monitoring

Call center managers are responsible for onboarding and training new agents as well as ongoing performance management.

Managers create training materials, an internal knowledge base, call scripts, and more to improve soft and hard agent skills. Real-time call monitoring and call whisper lets managers guide agents through live customer conversations. Today’s software has more advanced call center coaching capabilities, like custom agent scoresheets with automated post-call scoring and training module assignments. Other platforms include utterance monitoring, agent talk: listen ratios, and AI-powered customer conversation simulators.

Employee engagement is another essential part of the performance monitoring process, given that 31% of call center agents quit because they don’t feel rewarded or recognized for their work.[*]

Features like performance gamification, employee rewards, recognition programs, and live wallboards all increase agent engagement. 78% of employees say gamification makes them more engaged at work[*]

Workforce Management

Managers must build call center workflows for everyday business processes, identify which tasks can be automated, and continually adjust workforce management strategies to optimize operations.

Common workforce management tasks include forecasting, agent scheduling, adherence monitoring, and PTO management.

Automation is also a part of workforce management. Call center managers are responsible for automating routine processes like pre and post-call work, data entry, support ticketing, performance scoring, agent scheduling, call flow paths, reporting, Quality Assurance, and more.

Business Software

Managers must research the technology and features required to meet business objectives, then choose the best call center software and corresponding hardware.

They may need additional tools like CRM systems, UCaaS platforms, omnichannel contact center solutions, and helpdesk apps. Managers must also evaluate each platform’s available third-party integrations, ensuring compatibility to prevent communication silos.

The manager is also responsible for training employees on how to use the software.

Analytics+Reporting

Call center managers must select the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to measure call center performance, set intervals for data collection, and review analytics to identify areas for improvement and trends in agent and customer behavior.

Managers continually monitor historical and live call center analytics, create custom reports, and set real-time KPI alerts for below-standard performance. They also create customer surveys and review feedback, often leveraging AI-powered speech and text analytics for deep insight into customer sentiment and intent.

Call Center Management Best Practices

The most effective call center management best practices are:

• Review and Update Employee Training Materials
• Optimize Workforce Management
• Leverage Automation and AI
• Focus on Agent Engagement
• Anticipate Common Call Center Problems
• Monitor Essential Call Center Metrics
• Collect Customer Feedback
• Integrate Third-Party Tools
• Re-evaluate Your Call Center Software

Review and Update Employee Training Materials 

Consistently review employee training materials to ensure they’re up-to-date, and in line with customer expectations. Materials should be consistent across communication channels, applications, and internal knowledge bases.

Keep expectations and objectives clear and ensure agents understand how success is measured. Make training an ongoing process, not a one-time event.

Effective employee training, onboarding, and performance monitoring strategies include:

• Agent shadowing and peer learning
• Anonymous employee surveys
• Routine training and continuing education webinars
• Call recording, call monitoring, call whisper, and real-time in-call coaching
• Training materials from software providers (custom onboarding, on-demand/scheduled training webinars, user tutorials, etc.)
• Agent performance scoring and evaluations
• Updating internal documentation/training materials like agent call scripts, what-if scenarios, product/service guides, pricing, internal wikis, the agent onboarding process, escalation matrix strategies, etc.

Optimize Workforce Management

Workforce Management (WFM) and Workforce Optimization (WFO) tools optimize all available agents and streamline the agent scheduling process.

Look for features like:

• Multiple forecasting algorithms
• Predictive analytics and trend forecasting
• Suggested agent schedules based on historical analytics and custom scenarios
• Automated agent scheduling with real-time adherence monitoring
• Live schedule adjustments (manual and automated)

• Agent-facing apps with shift bidding/swapping and automated PTO management

Leverage Automation and AI

Leveraging automation and AI call center software features prevents agent burnout, streamlines the customer journey, provides 24/7 customer self-service, and speeds up sales and customer service resolution processes.

Essential call center business process automation and AI-powered features include:

• Interactive Voice Response (IVR): Uses pre-recorded call menu prompts to automatically guide callers through pre-configured and customizable call flow paths, connects customers to the best available agent based on their responses
• Call Routing: Automatically routes callers to the best agent or ring group according to preset rules. Strategies include business hour routing, round robin routing, most idle routing, relationship-based routing, etc.
• Automated Customer Callbacks: Instead of waiting on hold for an available agent, automated callbacks let customers schedule a time to receive a call back from a live agent
• Agent Assist: Integrates with your internal knowledge base to provide in-conversation next-best-action suggestions to agents
• Post-Call Summary: Automatically creates a summary of each call with suggested tasks, conversation highlights, and notes
• CRM Call Pops: Integrates with your CRM system to automatically display the caller’s CRM data on an agent’s screen
• Auto Dialer: Leverage power preview, progressive, or predictive outbound auto dialers with lead list management to improve the success of marketing campaigns and cold calls

Focus on Agent Engagement

The average call center agent turnover rate is between 30-40%[*].

To combat this, make agent engagement a central part of your call center management strategy. Leverage performance gamification, real-time wallboards, and personalized agent coaching to increase agent retention–and improve performance in the process.

Team collaboration is another effective way to increase agent engagement.

Collaboration tools like video conferencing, team chat messaging, task management tools, and file co-editing ensure everyone is on the same page and foster a sense of community between agents/ Frequent team meetings reduce agent absenteeism, provide opportunities for employee recognition, and help boost team productivity. They also unite remote teams or agents from different time zones.

Anticipate Common Call Center Problems

The best way to avoid common call center problems is to proactively prepare for them.

Routinely check for call quality issues like:

• Jitter/Latency: Run speed tests and check for adequate bandwidth
• Dropped Phone Calls/Choppy Audio: Run SaaS updates, review QoS settings
• Echoing: Ensure hardware is compatible and up-to-date, especially if team members are using personal devices and smartphones

Monitor Essential Call Center Metrics

The most important call center KPIs to monitor are:

First Call Resolution Rate (FCR)

FCR measures the percentage of customer calls completely resolved during the first interaction between a customer and a live agent and/or a customer and an IVR system (no follow-ups required.)

Industry Standard: 70-75%

Formula: FCR=(Total Resolved Cases ÷ Total Number of Cases) x 100

Net Promoter Score (NPS) 

NPS measures the answer to one question: “How likely are you to recommend our services/products/business to someone you know?” Users respond with a ranking from 0 (least likely to recommend) to 10 (most likely to recommend.) Each number response is scored as a Promoter (9-10), Passive”(7-8) or Detractor (1-6).

Industry Standard: 20% and up

Formula: NPS=% of Promoters – % of Detractors 

Customer Satisfaction Rate (CSAT) 

CSAT measures the answer to the question, “On a scale of 1 (lowest) to 5 (highest) how satisfied are you with the service you received today?”

Industry Standard: 15%=average, 25%=good

Formula: CSAT=(# of Positive Scores ➗ # of Total Scores) x 100

Call Abandonment Rate

Call Abandonment Rate measures the  percentage of incoming customer calls that are ended before a conversation begins (before a caller interacts with IVR or an agent.)

Industry Standard: 5-8% (Anything over 10% is cause for concern)

Formula: CAR=(# of Abandoned Calls➗Total Inbound Calls) x 100

Cost Per Call (CPC)

CPC measures the average cost of each call, indicating overall agent efficiency, productivity, and operational costs.

Industry Standard: Varies based on average revenue and products/services offered

Formula: CPC = Total Calls per Month or Year ÷ (Operating costs + Average Agent Salary)

Collect Customer Feedback

Though call center analytics provide hard data about agent performance and activity, they can’t tell the whole story.

To better understand customer journey roadblocks, customer satisfaction levels, and to identify areas for improvement, automate post-call voice or email customer surveys. You can also embed customer surveys on your website, or share them via email or social media.

Include a combination of yes/no, multiple choice, rankings-based (scale of 1-10), and open-ended survey questions.

AI analytics tools can create word clouds of common survey response topics, evaluate customer sentiment and satisfaction level, provide real-time survey responses, and create filterable survey result reports.

Common causes for low customer satisfaction include:

• Lack of follow-up and/or personalized customer service
• Lengthy IVR menus or automated-only customer support with no option to reach a live agent
• Having to repeat their issue to multiple agents/connecting to an unqualified agent
• Lack of customer self-service options (IVR/IVAs, chatbots, online knowledge base, etc.)
• Long hold times/inability to schedule an automated customer callback

Integrate Third-Party Tools

Switching between multiple business applications throughout the workday–and especially while on a live call–is frustrating to agents and customers. Save time and eliminate app switching by integrating your preferred third-party software into your call center platform.

Integration gives agents access to advanced features like real-time CRM CTI screen pops, automated outbound call center dialers, team chat messaging, on-demand web conferencing, and much more without having to disconnect a caller or put them on hold.

Also use APIs, which allow developers to create custom applications and functionalities to meet your call center’s unique needs.

Integrations and APIs increase first call resolution rates, lower call handle times, and provide a seamless, efficient support experience.

Re-evaluate Your Call Center Software

In addition to putting the above steps into practice, maintain effective call center management by routinely re-evaluating your call center software.

Key features to look for in a call center platform include:

• Scalable pricing with tiered plans and add-ons
• Real-time and historical analytics with pre-made and customizable reports
• CRM software integration
• Interactive Voice Response (IVR) and Automatic Call Distributor (ACD)
• Multiple call routing options (skills-based, time-based, round-robin, list-based, etc.)
• Automation and AI
• Team collaboration tools and web conferencing
• Call queuing and automated callbacks
• Call monitoring and quality monitoring (quality assurance)
• Outbound auto dialer modes (progressive, predictive, power, etc.)
• Workforce Optimization and Management
• Agent scripting and internal wikis

Especially for businesses in a growth phase or teams with difficulty managing a high daily call volume (a sudden increase in the daily number of calls) scalable omnichannel contact center software may be a better solution than a standard VoIP phone system.

How to Effectively Manage A Call Center: Dos and Don’ts 

The below table outlines the top do’s and don’ts of effective call center management.

Tools and Technology For Effective Call Center Management

The right technology streamlines the call center management process and gives agents the tools they need to succeed.

VoIP business phone systems (voice calling only) and cloud contact centers (voice and digital channels) are the most common types of call center software. Additional tools like CRM systems, outbound dialers, helpdesk platforms, and marketing tools further optimize your tech stack.

Top call and contact center software providers include RingCentral, NICE CXone, Nextiva, Genesys, and Five9. Our call center provider page compares each platform and helps you find the best option for your team.

FAQs

Below, we’ve answered popular call center management FAQs.