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19th June 2017
For many reasons, the contact centre floor is often split into customer service teams. But,what names can these teams be given? Here are some suggestions.
Giving advisors the opportunity to select their own team names is a great tool for empowerment, and a favourite of many is to choose puns like those listed below.
Another popular theme for team names is films and/or TV shows that are popular amongst the demographic of the contact centre.
Film Examples
TV Examples
Mathew Hedges, one of our readers, recently visited a contact centre “that asked staff to choose their favourite films as their teams – so they had ‘The Avengers’ or ‘The Magnificent Seven’”
“It’s a nice touch if you can empower the staff to have the final say on something like this.”
One interesting idea would be to name teams after positive emotions that advisors would like to evoke in the caller. After all, emotion was recently found to be a greater indicator of loyalty than effort and success.
Examples
Follow the link to find out: How to Measure Customer Emotions
Examples of Puns
However, one of our readers, David Gerard, does point out one drawback of doing so, stating: “It may be wise to steer clear of puns. Call Girls may sound funny but could end up in an Employment Tribunal!”
Three of our readers – Alex Sergeant, Martin Coles and Asghar Mukadam – suggested naming teams after Harry Potter or Game of Thrones Houses.
Harry Potter Examples
Game of Thrones Examples
By doing so, the contact centre can associate a popular franchise with the workplace, and, particularly if Harry Potter is the chosen theme, house points can be awarded as part of an incentive.
Working towards a team objective of gaining house points, to perhaps unlock prizes, can boost team cohesion, advisor autonomy and a sense of community.
For more suggestions of contact centre incentives, read our article: Staff Incentive Schemes That Work
With sports teams named after Vikings, Cardinals and Wizards, why not use the same principle in the contact centre (taking warriors as an example)?
Examples
Name teams after those who project strength, determination and willpower, like warriors, and spread thoughts of team spirit, unit strength and (healthy) competition.
With some contact centres naming advisors “customer superheroes”, perhaps to spread a customer-first initiative or to underline the importance of the role, this can be taken one step further.
Examples
Michael Baeten, formerly a customer experience leader at Sky, says that the company named teams “based on a ‘superhero format’. For example, Team Thor, Team Avengers, etc.”
For more on naming advisors, read our piece: What Should We Call Frontline Call Centre Staff?
In her company’s contact centre, Lesley Williamson, another of our readers, said that different teams were assigned names of planets in our solar system.
Examples
However, whilst this was successful, Lesley says that many jokes were had regarding Uranus!”
As an alternative to planets in our solar system, Pete Luck suggests keeping planet names, but instead using the Star World universe, which could be a popular option, given the popularity of the latest trilogy.
Examples
With this option, it may be best to consider the demographic of your contact centre first. Or, as Pete advises, “put forward a few different ideas and let advisors decide. Have fun with it!”
Let each team choose a musical artist that best represents them. This may encourage a healthy community to grow where advisors can bond through a shared musical interest.
Examples
As an alternative, Raja Pitalia suggests splitting a famous group/band into individuals and using those as inspiration for team names. For example, you could use the Spice Girls, as below.
Spice Girls Examples
Nick Lyon recommends selecting team names based on countries, “especially around World Cups/sporting events.”
Nick also suggests landmarks or places of interest close to the contact centre, particularly if incentives can be involved.
Examples (for London)
This is because incentives can be created where “the best performing team gets a trip out to the place they are connected to.”
Whilst animals, weather and mountain ranges could be used, certain tree types are arguably the most common way of incorporating nature into team names.
Examples
Paul Allen, who works in the UCAS contact centre, says that they had used tree types in team names before and that “this has caused the least conflagration over the years.”
Like labelling teams by number, colours can also be used to keep it simple.
Examples
Paul Allen says that UCAS have also labelled teams by assigning them a colour. Yet, in his experience, this has caused trouble as he says: “I would never manage a yellow team!”, due to his allegiance to Ipswich Town F.C.
For more from UCAS, read our article: 9 Things You Can Learn From the UCAS Contact Centre
Are there any other team names that you would recommend?
Please share your ideas in an email to Call Centre Helper.
Robyn Coppell has worked as Digital Content Manager for Call Center Helper since 2021. After University her first job was in a contact centre and has stayed in this space ever since.
She has experience of contact centre operational management, software systems, css and php coding. She edits a lot of the guest content that is published on Call Centre Helper.
Connect with Robyn on LinkedIn
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