0
What determines a great call center? Some centers will provide reports for quality assurance, abandoned call percentages, average handling times or attrition measurements. I believe dependability and flexibility are measured solely by Customer Experience.
How can you insure the customer experience? It is simple, with what I will refer to as the “Three Rule Principal”
- Trained Personnel
- Telephone Etiquette
- Agent Support
Trained Personnel
First, agents identify themselves by using their name; thus personalization. An agent must have the skill to listen and restate the customer request. Agents educate the customers, explaining the application or results. Then the agents apply the information presented and send a summary for recapping what was communicated on the call. Finally, the agents will express that it was a pleasure being of service to the customer:
Please-verb; to make (someone) happy or satisfied
P – Personalize-use real names
L – Listen- restate, clarify
E – Educate the customer -inform
A – Apply by explanation- use examples, simplify
S – Send follow up message for closure or future action items
E – Expression- enjoy what you do (it rubs off on others)
Telephone Etiquette
Components for telephone etiquette s include; listening well, voice tone, articulation, patience, responsibility and focus. Teaching the skill of how to listen and not interrupt must be practiced. Same is true with their voice; no loud aggressive voice will soothe any irate customer. Articulation certainly means to pronounce your words correctly and to remove slang; to remain professional and that they do not confuse the message. Patience goes hand in hand with listening, as an agent you may need to patiently wait for the customer to rapidly express their frustrations, interrupting may only exacerbate the situation. An agent MUST be willing to take responsibility for whatever the matter was that is being reported. Most importantly is to stay on task, focus on the root cause and effect so as to resolve expeditiously.
Agent Support
Agent support mean insuring an appropriate Supervisor to agent ratio. An effective Supervisor should be responsible for no more than 15 agents. Having immediate agent access to a supervisor and or manager is commonly referred to as an open door policy. This allows for quality coaching, training and adherence to a schedule. So many centers put their emphasis on morale boosters that they overlook the basic needs of their employees.
First insure your employees are paid fairly and equitably for a job well done. Next make sure the environment where they spend their work hours is clean and non-threatening. Provide access to break areas both indoors and outdoors, lockers and resources for refreshments either employer sponsored and or access to commercial supplies.
Communication between management and the employee is the key to success. Provide for anonymous suggestions or comments (suggestion box) which may be used as the source to make suggestions for each employee who may not want to speak out publicly.
These three basic rules will make raving fans of your brand or product through Customer Experience (example: Zappos). Analyze your call center; if you are not using similar basic principles, then the customer experience is much less than satisfactory.
If you are looking for an inbound or outbound contact center; lead generation, customer service center, back office or account management that can save you time, money, and effort please feel free to contact me. To learn more about what we can do for you, visit ILDCorp.com.
Back to top
