What Are the Roles and Responsibilities of a Call Center Head?

The call center manager is an important role within a customer service team. Their actions and behaviors will set the tone for how the other members of their team conduct themselves, so a call center head must be a strong leader.

What are the roles and responsibilities of a call center head?

In a nutshell, a call center head’s job description is to hire, train, and manage the team of representatives who handle the customer service for a company. Some companies also have assistant call center managers, although due to outsourcing and automation, the need for this position is expected to decline over the next few years. An assistant call center manager’s job description would be to help the call center head manage the daily operations of the customer service team. Call center manager responsibilities include evaluating, coaching, and training call center agents; analyzing and interpreting data; developing strategic goals and the related action plans; leading meetings and giving presentations; and preparing schedules and budgets.

What skills do you need to be a call center manager?

As with any customer service position, strong communication and active listening skills are some of the most essential skill sets for a person to possess. However, because they are in a position of leadership, there are some other important call center department head skills. Call center managers must have superior interpersonal, problem-solving, and leadership skills in order to effectively manage their teams and customers. They must also have the ability to multitask and stay organized. Call center managers need to have proficient knowledge of various computer and technological systems as well as a thorough understanding of a company’s products, services, policies, and procedures. They also need to have patience, empathy, and the ability to stay calm under pressure. Call center managers need to be an exemplary model of the customer service expectations for their teams.

What are the strengths of a call center manager?

The leadership skills of the head of a department are one of the most important strengths of a call center manager. Finding managers who can inspire and motivate their employees, while challenging them to grow and work to the best of their ability, will create a positive environment that is reflected in the customer experience. Call center managers need to hire skilled people, properly train their teams, and then be the quintessential example of excellent customer service.

What are the strategic goals for a call center?

In order to operate at maximum efficiency, call center managers need to establish strategic goals. While there are many different types of goals that they can focus on, one of the key areas to consider is customer satisfaction. Improving the customer experience can be done through:

• First Call Resolution (FCR): Also called First Contact Resolution, FCR is a metric that measures the percentage of customer issues that are resolved the first time they call in. This means that there is no need for any follow-up calls or for problems to be escalated to a specialist or manager. This is one of the most important metrics in a call center because it has the biggest impact on the customer experience as well as the company’s efficiency and operating costs. 
• Average Handling Time (AHT): AHT refers to the average duration of a customer interaction. This starts from the moment a customer calls the company and ends when they hang up, so it includes not only the time agents spend on the phone but time the customer spent on hold as well. It also takes into account the number of calls that an agent handles.
• Service level: This measures the percentage of incoming calls that agents answer during a specific amount of time. Minimizing the time a customer spends waiting to talk to an agent, as well as the number of customer abandoned calls, is an important goal for call centers to improve upon.