Improving the way your agents work not only keeps them motivated and focused on achieving their targets but also directly impacts the quality of service they deliver to your customers.
From data-driven insights to goal setting, feedback mechanisms, and workflow automation, the best performance management tools serve as indispensable allies for customer support teams.
By harnessing the capabilities of these tools, support agents can optimize their workflows, enhance their skills, and elevate their performance levels to meet and exceed customer expectations.
In this article, we explore how the best performance management tools empower customer support teams and which options you need to consider.
What are performance management tools? + Where they fit in your CS team’s tool stack
Performance management tools help you monitor, analyze, and improve the performance of your agents, managers, and teams. For customer support teams, performance management tools are specifically tailored to monitor and enhance the efficiency, effectiveness, and overall performance of support agents while giving managers the tools needed to identify areas of improvement and better guide their teams.
For starters, they allow teams to monitor key performance indicators such as response times, resolution rates, customer satisfaction scores, and agent productivity. By tracking these metrics in real time, teams can identify trends, areas for improvement, and opportunities to optimize their workflows.
On the other side, team managers can also use them to set clear, measurable goals and objectives for individual agents or the team. By defining specific targets, teams can align their efforts with organizational objectives and work towards achieving them.
Performance management tools further facilitate regular manager-agent feedback sessions, making room for constructive feedback, performance evaluations, and coaching sessions. Using these, managers can offer guidance on areas needing improvement, acknowledge achievements, and offer support to help agents develop their skills and capabilities.
Many performance management tools include features for training and development, such as access to knowledge base resources, training modules, and skill assessments. They also often incorporate gamification elements such as leaderboards, badges, and rewards to recognize and incentivize high-performing agents. By fostering a culture of recognition and healthy competition, these tools can boost morale, motivation, and engagement within the team.
Kaizo – Go-to for performance coaching and workforce engagement (+ AI-powered QA)
Kaizo is a comprehensive AI powerhouse for QA, instant insights, impactful coaching, and gamified engagement. Built for customer service teams, this platform allows you to reach performance excellence in both quality assurance and agent performance.
Why Kaizo is effective for performance management:
Kaizo allows you to unlock the full potential of your customer support team by tailoring your coaching approach to focus on specific results and summarize monthly performance effortlessly. Instant notifications on Coaching Cards let you stay informed and foster collaboration by enabling you to track progress and provide guidance for continuous improvement.
With Kaizo’s gamified AI Missions, you can set personalized goals to challenge and empower your team. Ready to look at the results? Impactful performance insights let you monitor agent progress and streamline collaboration with task completion tracking. Provide a clear roadmap to success by tracking personal or team achievements directly inside Zendesk and Salesforce, eliminating the need to switch platforms.
👉 See how other brands cut resolution time by 75%! Foot Locker used Kaizo to run QA and bring more clarity into performance metrics. See Kaizo in action!
Leapsome – Go-to for OKR management
While Leapsome primarily focuses on HR functions, its versatility and customizable features make it applicable and beneficial for various teams within an organization, including customer support teams. Some core use cases you’ll find worthwhile include defining KPIs and OKRs, sharing ongoing feedback, developing training plans, and building competency frameworks.
Why Leapsome is effective for performance management:
Leapsome’s intuitive OKR management capabilities, combined with its emphasis on transparency, collaboration, and continuous feedback, make it a highly effective platform for customer support team managers looking to implement and scale their OKR initiatives successfully. The platform allows you to define clear, measurable objectives and key results, ensuring that all agents understand the strategic priorities and how their efforts contribute to general goals.
BambooHR – Go-to for an all-in-one HR solution
BambooHR serves as a go-to platform for businesses seeking an all-in-one solution to manage their HR needs. Although not specifically built for customer service teams, one of the key strengths of BambooHR is its versatility and scalability, making it suitable for customer support teams of all sizes.
Why BambooHR is effective for performance management:
Its robust set of features is designed to facilitate continuous feedback, goal setting, and employee development. In particular, this performance management tool offers customizable performance review templates and workflows, allowing managers to tailor the evaluation process to their specific needs and objectives.
Zavvy – Go-to for performance management as early as the onboarding stage
Zavvy is a people enablement platform that allows managers to define career paths, get a better understanding of every individual’s skills, and manage learning for their employees. Managers can also use this solution to set goals, run performance reviews, and get a better understanding of how engaged their team is.
Why Zavvy is effective for performance management:
While you can use Zavvy at any stage of the employee lifecycle, this performance management tool stands out thanks to its onboarding module. Paired with a unique preboarding feature, you can pave the way for success even before you hire an agent by making sure they have access to all resources and tools from day one.
Lattice – Go-to for connecting data-based performance results and rewards
While Lattice isn’t yet an all-in-one performance management tool, this platform does come with its fair share of extensive features for running performance reviews, organizing one-on-ones, sharing feedback, and rewarding your agents. However, note Lattice isn’t specifically built for support teams so you’ll need an HR manager to help you monitor performance.
Why Lattice is effective for performance management:
Lattice’s data-driven approach to performance management allows organizations to gain valuable insights into employee performance trends, strengths, and areas for improvement. By leveraging analytics and reporting features, managers can identify high-performing individuals, recognize patterns across teams, and make informed decisions to optimize team performance and drive business results.
Where to start with your next performance management process
Begin by assessing your current performance management practices and identifying areas that need improvement. How are your key metrics performing? Can you ask your team members for feedback? What are the results of your latest performance evaluations?
Once you’ve identified areas for improvement, it’s time to set a clear plan to address them. Define specific goals and objectives that align with your overall business objectives and outline the steps needed to achieve them. Consider factors such as timelines, resource allocation, and performance benchmarks to ensure your plan is realistic and achievable.
Then, use our list above to select the best performance management tools for the success of your process. Look for tools that offer features such as goal setting, feedback capabilities, training resources, workforce engagement, and analytics. Additionally, consider how easy it is to use the tool, what integrations with existing systems are available, and if the solution will scale together with your team.
👉 Get a complete overview of your team’s performance. Kaizo lets you gain valuable insights into performance trends, easily spotting exceptional performers and agents needing guidance. Try for free!
