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If we understand call center as a separate organization – no matter whether it is a part of a company as a department or it is an outsourcing company that provides call center services – we can group the call center team into three groups: call center agents, technical specialists, and management. Call center management includes call center team leaders, call center managers and call center director who is the main decision-maker in the organization and its chief. As for any other job, there are straight requirements to a call center director position, which we are going to discuss below.

Who is call center director?

Call center director, often called customer service director, or client services director, is the highest management position in a call center. 

Any senior management job is a responsibility, as it is the job of a man who makes the most important decisions and builds strategies that define the successful development and growth of the contact center. The call center director is responsible for the call center success in general, which means the call center director works with budgets, hiring, business communications, strategic planning, and so on. Even in large call centers call center directors often even listen to call recordings, which means they are involved in agent training and workforce management too.

Call center director duties

There are plenty of tasks call center directors do, and some of them are listed below:

1. overall control over call center operations;
2. analysis and management of call center KPIs (Key Performance Indicators);
3. call center staff hiring, especially call center managers;
4. situational control over call center agents (listening to call recordings);
5. conflict resolution in business communications;
6. budget planning and development;
7. call center scripts design;
8. call center policies development and company culture design;
9. development of a business continuity plan;
10. negotiations with partners and seek for business development opportunities;
11. reporting analysis;
12. decision-making;

Based on those responsibilities and duties we can define the main requirements for a call center director job. First of all, the main requirement is a relevant working experience in senior management positions in related industries or the call center industry itself. Such a specialist should have skills to process huge amounts of data, strategic planning skills, strong communication and negotiation skills, self-confidence, and stress resistance. The call center director has to know how to make difficult decisions and listen to all parties carefully to find the best solution.

So, advanced requirements for contact center director job include:

1. Exceptional communication skills – this is vital to process business negotiations and internal communication with call center employees, including management team, upper management and business owners.

2. Leadership skills – to build a healthy call center environment and reach call center objectives, call center director should know how to rule the team. 

3. Master’s degree in business or related industry, or any advanced degree in related field – candidates with school diploma can’t be even considered qualified candidates. 

4. Call center experience – for this position, relevant experience as a successful call center manager is one of bonus requirements. 

5. Presentation skills – required to negotiate with business owners to agree on call center budget, especially annual budget.

6. Interpersonal skills

7. Analytical skills

8. Coaching skills

Some latest trends and tendencies in the call center industry

Thanks to the fast development of modern high-tech technologies, call center directors now also require powerful hard skills, especially when it comes to use and implementation of specific software and tools. The call center director has to have relevant experience in working with marketing strategies to keep the call center financially stable and help it grow. Executives who use the practices of the early 2000s are outdated specialists who hardly can keep up with the pace of the time. Classic communication technologies, including phone landlines, are no longer effective or even acceptable for modern call centers. Cold calling has also changed significantly. So, the work of a call center director also requires him to learn current trends and implement them in accordance to meet and exceed customer expectations.