6/13/2016
Question
I run a small collections agency with 10 seats. Do I need to do quality assurance (QA) and if so, how should I do it?
Answer
Yes, whether you have one or thousands of collectors, you should do quality assurance so that your staff knows they are being monitored, and to identify coaching opportunities, increase collection results and improve regulatory compliance. The two primary ways of doing QA are:
- Traditional method – random interactions are selected by a QA analyst or supervisor. Due to resource limitations, most companies evaluate only 2 – 10 calls (or interactions) per collector or 1 – 3% of interactions per month. The interactions, either recorded or live, are assessed on an evaluation form and are scored against established contact handling criteria. QA evaluation results should be shared with collectors during review sessions, which should also include coaching. Although better than not performing QA at all, the traditional method is typically statistically irrelevant. If issues are found, it is more by luck than by science.
- Post-call speech analytics – enhancing the QA process with speech analytics enables users to review up to 100% of recorded calls. Although speech analytics cannot fully automate the QA process, it can be used to measure many aspects of calls, including: collections effectiveness, regulatory compliance, script adherence, customer sentiment, openings and closings, etc. Calls that require further evaluation can be identified and presented to the appropriate personnel, allowing them to focus their attention and analysis on the “right” calls. Although post-call speech analytics cannot understand all aspects of a conversation, it is more likely to identify performance issues than the traditional QA method, because a larger number of calls can be reviewed. (Text analytics can be used in a similar manner to perform QA on written communications, such as emails, texts, chats, etc.)