This is the only book available today that provides a very readable, step-by-step guide for managing an incoming call center. The book combines theory with practical advice and is filled with over 100 charts and graphs, several case studies and an extensive glossary and index. Readers will learn how to: achieve service level with quality in an era of more transactions, growing complexity and heightened caller expectations; understand the "how" behind best practices; boost caller satisfaction; win top management's support; and discover what separates a good call center from a great one.

This book gives an accessible overview of the role and potential of mathematical optimization in call centers. It deals extensively with all aspects of workforce management, but also with topics such as call routing and the scheduling of multiple channels. It does so without going into the mathematics, but by focusing on understanding its consequences. This way the reader will get familiar with workload forecasting, the Erlang formulas, simulation, and so forth, and learn how to improve call center performance using it. The book is primarily meant for call center professionals involved in planning and business analytics, but also call center managers and researchers will find it useful. There is an accompanying website which contains several online calculators.

As the cost of doing business increases, call centers and help desks are frequently moving overseas. How can your center remain competitive? Is pooling the best way to slash your wait times? James Abbott concisely answers these questions as he leads you through the world of process-centered customer service. Strategic and tactical terms, how to choose metrics to measure, and the miracle of Queuing Science are covered thoroughly, using easy-to-grasp anecdotes to explain the key technical topics.

ICMIs Pocket Guide to Call Center Management Terms is a convenient, portable reference of terms culled from ICMIs Call Center Management Dictionary: The Essential Reference for Contact Center, Help Desk and Customer Care Professionals , written by Brad Cleveland, President and CEO of ICMI. At 3.5 by 5 inches, the book is small enough to fit in a busy managers pocket, yet its packed with industry acronyms and concise definitions of approximately 500 call center industry terms.

"I once heard it said that running a call center is not rocket science. While you may not need the skills and education of an aerospace engineer, successful call center management does require certain skills and insight."-RANDY RUBINGH Call Center Rocket Science gives practical, hands on advice for today's customer service professionals. Here you will find real world advice on a wide variety of topics essential to effective call center management including: Recruiting and Hiring: How to find great agents, what to look for in a candidate, how to weed out applicants that may not be a good fit, closing the best candidates. Training: How to develop an effective new hire training course that prepares reps to take successfully take calls starting their first day on the floor. Effective Role playing strategies to increase effectiveness of training. Management: Creating a world class culture to motivate and retain your staff. How to look at and understand call center statistics. Call Center Operations: How to handle the day to day activity of a call center, and manage the business without constantly fighting fires. Outsourcing: For outsourcers- tips on how to make your client satisfied and give you more business. For those who outsource there are tips on how to get below the surface to truly understanding the level of service being provided by your service provider. Overall 110 tips that most centers can implement right away and receive immediate benefit of improved operations, and higher levels of employee and customer satisfaction.