Virtual University

Metric                                                      

Description and
What It “Really” Means to YOU

Abandon Rate

The abandon rate is the percentage of calls that are abandoned, meaning, somehow, either you or the customer got disconnected from the phone system. Compared this number to the actual calls received.

The reasons for the “disconnect” could be for a variety of different causes, even some technical.  You can usually report his to your supervisor or the online facilitator.  If it’s a system wide problem, you’ll be notified in some way.  If not, the problem is attributed to your phone connection.

Make sure you have the phone specification requested by the center, primarily analog.  Digital systems can create some undesirable conditions and more problems than necessary and will ultimately effect your bottom line.

Abandoned Call/Contact

This call is terminated by the customer before any conversation happens. Centers track this for optimizing procedures.  In an outbound calling situation,, abandoned calls refer to connections that are disconnected by the automated dialer once live contact has been made but no agent available.

The reasons for this “disconnect” could be for a variety of different reasons also.  In some cases, this could help and others it could hurt your metrics.  The overall points to gather, if it’s by any chance as a result of your action, keep it to a minimum.

ACD (Automatic Call Distributor)

Here’s the phone system that allows us to work at home.  It handles all of the calls incoming calls Based on the “routing instructions”, the call gets distributed to a particular agent.  It’s like the phone menus where you select 1, then option 3, and so on

Knowing what different routing instructions your call center uses helps you to focus on specific types of calls and excel in that area.  Take advantage of whatever position you’re in.

Adherence to Schedule

Are you at work today?  Hopefully so, because every log in creates an electronic document of your activities.  A record is kept from the time you log into the system until the time you log out.  And everything in between is logged through the different Auxiliary Work State (AUX) of your phone system.

Any time you are not digitally anywhere online where you are supposed to be, it’s considered to be deviant from your schedule.  The measurement, “Adherence to Schedule” will reveal how often you deviate from your schedule.

This is where your characteristics of discipline come in handy.  If you don’t have it, learn it quick.  Most metrics are averages, so there is room for emergencies.

The questions answered here are, were you back from break on time, did you go to lunch on time, what time were really ready for work.  Sometimes you have to manually enter a ready state after each call.  It’s easy to forget and sit there wondering why your phone hasn’t wrung in the past 3 minutes!  Check your AUX state!

Here’s your bottom line:  If you’re on a job that pays by your availability per minute, your income is affected by your AUX state!  If you aren’t logged in to work, how can you get paid?

Demonstrate this quality up front to even be considered for a work at home position.  Your honest word establishes your credibility and your hire ability.  Did you attend the Q&A session, did you complete your assessment within the time frame required, did you submit for your background check.  Did you, can you and will you stick to a schedule assigned to you!

Auxiliary Work State (AUX)

A work state other than actively handling calls. As an example, agents may go into an auxiliary work state to process paperwork or emails. agents will not receive calls while in auxiliary work state, aka AUX.

There are a variety of AUX states that the center will assign a status.  Each state will define the activity you, the agent are engaged; for example, lunch might be AUX 2, right after AUX 1 for “ready”.  AUX 3 might be break, while AUX 4 might be training, coaching, etc, and yes, there is always one for emergencies, such as the last in the series, AUX 9. 

NOTE OF CAUTION:  AUX 9 or the emergency AUX is used if you started a choking frenzy and had to get the Heimlich maneuver performed to clear that snack bite from your thorax. 

Meaning, don’t use it unless it is an emergency.  There may be other procedures to follow after you use this AUX.  The procedures will be designed to discourage you from using that AUX 9 status!

Again, the more this AUX 9 status is used; it will be brought to your attention for behavior modification.  There are adequate lunch and breaks, as define by Human Resource standards.  All other time is expected to be servicing the customer.

There is a ZERO tolerance for using foul language with a customer.  This AUX states ranks next to that behavior.

Agent Status

The current work mode of the agent, such as Busy on Call, Available, Unavailable, After Call Work, Off-Phone Work, etc. 

Your agent status is determined by what AUX state your phone system is on;

After Call Work (ACW)

This is the time that you are allotted to complete any after call documentation. This measurement is added to the Average Handle Time, so the more efficient you are at completing those after call work steps, the better your average handle time, AHT will be.

All measurements are presented to you as a standard time frame to complete a call, including steps after the call.  You will begin to learn tips, tricks and techniques to increase your overall performance metrics by decreasing measurements like this one.  Quite often, you can perform some of the after call steps, during the call, shortening the seconds

Average Talk Time (ATT)

Total number of seconds the caller was connected to an agent. 

This total is added to the time it took to complete some documentation or follow-up steps after the customer hung up, ACW, which gives you your Average Handle Time, AHT. 

Most metrics provide the time that it is required.  An average is taken because some calls will be longer, others shorter, HOWEVER, the goal is to fall below the metric provided by the call center.

This number will vary for every client, because every customer service call is different. 

Average Handle Time (AHT)

Average Handle Time, AHT = Average Talk Time, ATT + Hold Time, HT + After Call Work, ACW time.

Hold time is how long you physically placed the customer on hold.  There are specific procedures you must follow and will be addressed in the Customer Service Glossary, so that you understand the full consequences of your White Glove Service to the customer.

Average Time in Queue

The average length of time (in seconds) a caller must spend waiting before the ACD can find an available TSR to take the call. This number is not the equivalent of Average Speed of Answer, as it includes only those calls that actually experience a wait for a live agent. Also known as average time of delay.

Some ACD phone systems will provide this information.  This is particularly helpful in exceeding customer’s expectations.  If you know the customer has been waiting an extended time frame, there usually could be some frustration surrounding the length of time they had to wait.

You WILL need to address that concern up front so that you can effectively address the main concern at hand!