Call/Chat etiquette is one of the most important aspects that can make or break your contact center. When your agents, who are the face of the company, have great etiquette, high customer satisfaction levels often come along with it. Not to mention great etiquette brings loyal customers. Every positive experience a customer has with your agents will nurture that loyalty and provide strong positive brand advocates.
Remember you represent your organization and are the face of your clients. Customers look for those organizations who represent not only themselves, but the clients brand with best in class service.
Below are tips that leaders and agents can use to enhance call etiquette.
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Regularly Train and Coach Agents
Coaching is key! Leaders should be in coaching and on-going training mode constantly. Training should not end after onboarding; you must continue to develop your agents in order to provide them the necessary feedback and tools to be successful. A well trained agent can be the differentiator between a good and bad customer experience. Refresher training and daily coaching helps agents remember the most important things to do. It equips them with the right, and most recent, information about a product or service and in turn provides them the confidence that often translates to the experience customers want.
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Respect the Customer
All customers deserve your undivided attention and the utmost respect. Yes, even that angry customer! Put yourself in their shoes. Focus on understanding the customer’s needs, accommodating them and offering them a solution. Allow them to vent, voice their concerns and then offer what you can.
They are looking for resolution and being respectful of that can often defuse the situation and allow the experience to become positive for both the agent and the customer.
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Maintain Professionalism
We have all been coached on proper protocol and most organizations have a contact center code of conduct relating to call quality. Maintaining professionalism means you work within that set code of conduct and maintain the quality standards from the moment you pick up the phone or begin a chat to when you end the experience.
The customer can tell whether you are professional or not by the words you use and the tone in which you use them. Follow your flow and most importantly listen to the customer. Be aware of your responses and your ability to offer solutions. Be timely, responsive and understanding. Remember this is the customer’s experience and you are one who will determine what type of experience that will be.
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Monitor Calls/Chats
Call/chat monitoring for quality control is paramount in the contact center. However, it is also your best source of developmental needs and positive recognition! How can you know why an experience is scored low or high if you are not engaged in reviewing them daily? Utilize monitoring, have calibration sessions not only internally, but externally. Review what is working and what is not, and utilize that for on-going training, coaching and development.
While there are many other ways to maintain contact center etiquette these four tips, regularly training your agents, respecting the customer, maintaining professionalism, and monitoring calls/chats can quickly provide a foundation for a better customer experience to build upon.
Remember your customer’s experience today is their story about your brand tomorrow!
This blog was first published on LinkedIN
