Here’s how one question uncovered $1.8M in unnecessary labor costs.
The first thing I do with every contact center director is ask:
“What stats do you focus on?”
It tells me where leadership’s attention is, and where it isn’t.
This director’s answer:
“We answer 95% of calls in 15 seconds.”
He was proud. But when I asked where that standard came from?
Nobody could explain it.
Speed for its own sake isn’t a strategy. It’s an expense.
And when I went and looked at the data myself, I found:
Agents were sitting idle more than 25% of the time.
Just waiting for calls that weren’t coming.
Once we walked through the numbers together, the director changed the metric immediately.
And that’s when the real problem became visible:
30 people overstaffed.
$60,000 average cost per agent.
$1.8M in unnecessary labor costs.
Found on day one. From a single question.
The metric had been in place for years. Nobody had ever questioned it.
When no one can explain a metric, there’s usually a cost nobody’s calculated yet.
I’m Mark Danielson, and I help healthcare leaders reduce support costs while improving patient satisfaction.
Follow me for practical insights on cutting contact center costs, improving service quality, and modernizing operations without the tradeoffs.
