Contact Centers-3 Questions for Future Strategies (1,421 words)

Productivity Improvements

In the chart, the call-to-order line for the three companies that we studied ranged from 1.8 to 2. An efficient ratio might be closer to 1.5. There's a considerable expense in servicing non-order calls.

Do an analysis of your catalog's call-to-order ratio to determine causes for things such as back-orders, operational problems (e.g., damaged shipments, billing errors), unclear creative or copy, catalog requests, and queries about returns. What programs can you use to reduce them? Today's technologies can help, but like fulfillment operations, call centers will remain largely a labor-intensive business.