12 Benefits of Call Recording

Many collection agencies and first party collectors record calls to ensure quality and compliance. Another goal is to improve performance and defend against frivolous lawsuits. Call recording also provides proof of regulatory and contractual compliance.

While not a magical device that spins hard data into gold, it can create a lift in promises to pay, a reduction in operating costs, improved quality scores, and increase management productivity. While at any phase of the collections cycle managers can intervene in real-time, it is the training based on the calls that can increase promise to pay commitments and dollars collected. Quality scores improve with collector interactions by expediting call resolution and decreasing talk and wrapping up the call time. Average handling time (AHT), the average amount of time collectors spend on the phone with a particular debtor, is measured in minutes or seconds. Typically AHT begins the moment the debtor initiates the call and includes talk time, hold time, and time to complete all tasks related to recording the call details. AHT is calculated as the sum of the total talk time, total hold time, total after-call wrap time, divided by total number of calls handled. Efficiency on each call will improve top collector times and in turn average dollars collected.

Once the calls are analyzed, you can find ways to eliminate wasted time due to a number of factors:

1. Call scripts can be evaluated for long openings, showing empathy, paraphrasing, and closing lines.

2. Possibly decrease debtor arguments.

3. Analyze irrelevant probing and questions not pertaining to the issue.

4. Determine if the debtor interrupts before all the required information is given at a single instance.

You can obtain answers to the following questions:

1. What is the benefit of the repetition of collector queries?

2. Does asking the same question repeatedly improve results?

3. How much dead air is there on a call? Does this waiting improve performance?

4. How much time is spent on hold?

5. How much time is spent transferring?

6. Is debtor validation done even when not required?

7. Is multitasking in terms of using the computer and talking to the debtor at the same time helping?

8. Is time spent searching the system for information impacting performance?

Debt collection is heavily regulated and highly dependent on phone-based communications. There is a need to make sure collectors are following all the laws in addition to the regulatory compliance and liability protection. A supervisor can pick out calls that represent the best way of handling debtors. These model recordings can then be used as a training tool for other collectors. Collectors can also review and critique each other’s calls. This can be made easier as any call recording can be pulled up, whether it is to or from a specific debtor, and communicated via email as a WAV file.

The basic idea of call recording spills over into the visual medium as screen capture options enable an agent’s desktop activity to be recorded at the same time the call is being recorded. Watching the screen activity while reviewing the voice conversation allows the supervisor to determine the productivity levels of the agent and training needs.

As volumes of call recordings increase, the ability to search through them becomes more valuable. Recorded calls can be tracked based on client ID or debtor file within the collection software. Recordings can also be searched in order to locate defined sets of words or phrases for compliance efforts. Locating keywords and phrases may sound straightforward, but speech analytics must also account for the colloquialisms of various dialects or specialized industry vernacular. After listening to hundreds of actual calls from start to finish, you can begin to identify the meaningful key words and phrases.

The capabilities of call recording are far reaching and deserve a great deal of research. Work with your collection team and generate a specific list of agency requirements before embarking on the journey to acquiring a call recording solution.