We are all familiar with the concept of “You get what you pay for”. Buy a cheap car, and you may end up paying much more in repairs than if you had purchased a more expensive, quality car. However, this common sense notion seems to fly out of the window as soon as we enter the business world, and specifically recruitment.

Every company needs to keep a watchful eye on costs to stay profitable, and human resources is often an area which gets targeted when savings are needed, but the question remains whether it is a false saving which costs businesses more than they realise.

Most companies agree that call centre agents have an essential role to play as brand ambassadors, and that the way they handle calls will greatly influence clients’ perception and loyalty. Yet, although they are crucial intermediaries between brand and customers, contact centre operators are viewed as relatively unskilled and entry-level staff, which is reflected by low pay.

The consequences of such logic are many-fold. One of the most striking is arguably high staff turnover, who feel little commitment to the company that doesn’t remunerate them very well, and who can be tempted away with a pay rise. This means training new staff over and over again. The quality and dedication of such staff is also likely to be variable, and it will be more difficult to retain those who stand out very long.

Although hidden, there are costs associated to this state of affair: recruiting new employees means paying a salary for several weeks while they are training but not productive; relatively inexperienced call agents who may not give the best impression of your brand and cost you customer loyalty, and the immeasurable yet very real loss of professional expertise and skills –possibly to your competitors– when a high-quality long-term employee leaves.

So it is worth taking a step back and considering whether you wouldn’t get more value for your money by spending more on staff. Better quality staff will translate into a higher rate of first-call resolution, which can reduce the workforce, space and equipment you need to handle the same call volume, and absorb the pay rise. A skilled call agent will also be able to deal with more complex issues without the need to refer them to a supervisor or put a customer on hold, which frees up staff time at various levels. And least, but not last, your staff will be more engaged and fulfilled.

Get in touch with Corporate Connect to learn more about working with our high quality call agents.