Telemarketing Hang-ups and Staff Turnover Rise

Call abandonment rates and staff turnover are increasing at telemarketing centers worldwide, according to the Merchants Global Contact Benchmarking Report 2005 released by Dimension Data, a telecom technology firm based in London.

More than 13% of inbound callers hang up without having their calls answered at call centers. An average inbound caller is willing to wait 65 seconds for their call to be answered, compared to an average of 73 seconds in 2003.

Call abandonment rates are rising the same time as call volumes are increasing, while companies are reducing staff levels and cutting back on training to reduce operational costs, according to the report. About 58% of call centers are experiencing upwards of 20% annual growth in call volume.

Another problem confronting call center management has been a rise in the annual turnover rate of customer service reps, which now stands at 23%, up from 19% in 2003. One of the main causes of frustration of reps is the inability to access information needed to answer customers’ inquiries. Only about 44% of call centers give reps complete access to data needed to resolve customer inquiries, according to the report.