'Bottom-Line Call Center Management breaks new ground by addressing key skills and techniques in assessing and implementing effective management practices to maximize the human and capital resources at the call center manager's disposal. Drawing on the author's unique data sets and years of research experience in the industry, 'Bottom-Line Call Center Management' helps call center managers evaluate their current status, implement cost-effective changes, and measure results of their changes to ensure a culture of accountability within the call center at all levels increasing the bottom line. The processes include an evaluation of current customer service representatives, defining, delimiting and assessing the labor shed of the center, and exploring the customer service representative's unique skills and leveraging those skills into a unique and dynamic work environment. Likewise, the process also determines the learning skills and competencies necessary to meet and exceed the basic requirements for all call centers. Furthermore, each step has a pre, in-process, and post evaluation to ensure projects are progressing according to plan. Lastly, all evaluations are measured against the bottom line through a return on investment (ROI) model. The framework for this book uses the culture of call centers, defined and lived through the customer service representatives, as the lens to view all processes, measurements, accountability and return on investment. This framework is critical since there has been much emphasis on technology-as-a-solution which treats the employees as a hindrance instead of the enablers of positive change. Likewise, customer service representatives eventually act as strong determinants of success with the call center and thus the bottom line.

David L. Butler

Chapter 1 Culture; Chapter 2 Accountability; Chapter 3 Location, Location, Location; Chapter 4 Hiring; Chapter 5 Your Reps; Chapter 6 Pay, Benefits, and the Dreaded Labor Unions; Chapter 7 The People and the Technology; Chapter 8 Return on Investment (ROI); Chapter 9 Based on a case study by David L. Butler, previously published in In Action: Retaining Your Best Employees. Phillips, J. J. (Series Ed.), and P. P. Phillips (Ed.), Alexandria, VA: American Society for Training and Development, 2002, pp.135-150. With permission.; Chapter 10 From the Present to the Future;