Manage workforce during the festive season

With Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the festive season just around the corner, many businesses, including call centres, are opting to welcome more seasonal workers onto their teams to help with a burgeoning amount of sales and call volumes.

Despite having extra hands on deck, call tickets can skyrocket. Therefore, it is very important to manage staff to ensure motivation and morale is kept high.

Scheduling and optimizing thereof to meet high call demands is crucial during this time as well.

Forecasting

Before any forecasting can be done, it is best to look at historical forecasts. This will help a forecaster or manager spot trends and make precise forecasts, set up schedules and measure performance.

Different scenarios

The more people who are shopping, the more goods are purchased, the higher the chances for returns and complaints are. To prepare, managers should create various what-if scenarios that encompasses everything from returns to product recalls to website glitches. The aim is not just planning and being prepared, it’s to ensure large call volumes are managed properly and directly to the correct teams.

Things can still go wrong

As crucial as planning is, there are still things that can go awry. Competitors can run specials that affect your business and bottom line, your website can crash, glitches can sneak in when running discount codes. These types of scenarios can happen unexpectedly and customer satisfaction will depend on how quickly the matter is resolved.

Demand and expectations during the festive season are not going to go down. Retailers and call centres will need to effectively and actively provide support and keep an eye out for potential pitfalls.

Do you have any tips you’d like to share with us? Tell us in the comments.