The Call Centre Dictionary: Learn the Lingo

There are many common terms within a Call Centre. Some Call Centres even have their own Call Centre Term Dictionary to go by. This is extremely helpful for new employees who join the company and are completely lost by the lingo being used by other employees in the company. It can be very overwhelming for a new employee as it can often sound like a completely new language entirely. To help those who are interested in the Call Centre industry, this is a quick reference guide for some of the more common terms found in a Call Centre.

80/20 Rule - This often refers to the service levels on the phone and staffing. Different Call Centres have different targets, but the 80/20 Rule most often refers to the goal of answering 80% of the calls within 20 seconds. In a Call Centre you don't want to be overstaffed as you will be over-efficient and will lose money on people sitting around waiting for a call to answer.

Whisper - This refers to the voice recording on the phone system. For example if you are an employee working in a call centre that handles various resorts around the world, the whisper will tell you which Resort the incoming call is for. This saves the employee times as they know which Resort to launch into immediately. It also creates greater efficiency and shows professionalism.

Telephony - This refers to how the phone calls are routed and the system that does this. Different companies do this differently, so you will need to do some research into your respective company.

PK - This refers to product knowledge in the Call Centre. In a Call Centre environment it is important to stay current on the product being offered by the company. This means regular Product Knowledge sessions are offered, which are also referred to as training sessions.

Blue Pumpkin - This is a common and efficient program to use in the scheduling department. In large companies Scheduling is extremely important. It is the scheduling department, which dictates how many people work at one time, how many people are on the phone at any given time, and how to work meetings and trainings into all of these shifts. Blue Pumpkin makes this much simpler for the scheduling team.

Adherence -This monitors an agents on and off the phone time. This ensures there are always enough people on the phone at all times, and helps to teach an agent the importance of following their schedule. Adherence can also be monitored through the Blue Pumpkin scheduling system. Scheduled breaks and meetings do not affect a person's adherence. If it is unscheduled than it will affect a person's adherence.

Remember that different Call Centres have different terms, so make sure you ask questions and be patient. It will take time but eventually you'll talk like a Call Centre pro in no time!