call center agents Archives - Etech Global Services

Essential Customer Service Skills for Every Call Center Agent

As the primary point of contact in the customer experience, call center agents to play an integral role in the success of a company. A negative encounter with a service representative may drive a potential long term customer to a competitor, while a positive interaction can result in long-term retention and referrals. Quality customer service is so vital to the bottom line of a business that 81 percent of companies implementing a robust call center agent training program with a heavy focus on an outstanding consumer experience will outperform their industry rivals. However, simply directing your service agents to follow a boilerplate procedure on calls won’t result in the high customer satisfaction rate you need to thrive in today’s hypercompetitive, global exchange. Instead, you need to guide your team in developing a specific skill set that will foster consumer trust and confidence and ensure the longevity of your business. 1. Stress the Importance of Empathy. Your call center agents will regularly encounter customers who are confused, angry, and frustrated. While it’s natural to respond to negative emotions by becoming defensive or dismissive, your team needs to know that such reactions are unacceptable. Instead, they should strive to see a situation from the consumer’s perspective to gain insight and understanding while working to resolve the issue. Train your agents to use empathy statements when handling complaints that will help to build a rapport with the caller, such as “I’m sorry to hear that,” and “I can imagine how upsetting this situation must be for you.” Emphasize that they need to take ownership of a negative customer situation, which means transferring calls to a supervisor or another department only when necessary. Quality customer service begins with respect and understanding, so instill these values into your team training program to elevate the front-end experience. 2. Promote Attentive Listening. Recent studies have shown that 72 percent of consumers will rate their service experience negatively when they must explain their complaint or issue to multiple company representatives before reaching a solution. Therefore, it’s vital that your team of live chat agents understands that outstanding customer service skills entail listening as much as speaking. Encourage them to allow callers to vent about a substandard product or service without interrupting or immediately offering feedback. They can then begin to ask to follow up questions to develop a deeper understanding of the problem while relaying the customer’s responses back to them to ensure clear communication. Above all, make sure your agents understand that a customer should never feel rushed to end a call before their issue is resolved. Allowing consumers the opportunity to detail their frustration while actively listening to their complaints and developing a personalized solution is one of the most effective ways to provide quality customer service. 3. Emphasize Product Knowledge. Since over 66 percent of consumers consider the features, design, and quality of a product or service the most important factor in brand loyalty, ensuring your chat agents can comfortably discuss every aspect of what your business offers is a fundamental element of a seamless customer experience. Initiate thorough training for each new hire that includes a detailed overview of company products, services, warranties, return policies, and shipping procedures. You should also consider administering a written test to service agents before they are permitted to take customer calls to confirm they have a working knowledge of your business and can adequately address product or service related questions and complaints. To keep quality customer service at the forefront of your company culture, institute continuing education in the form of product updates and refresher training courses. When it comes to establishing outstanding customer service skills, knowledge is power, so give your chat agents the tools and support to succeed. While marketing and new customer acquisition strategies are important ways to grow your business, the fact remains that you’re about 50 percent more likely to sell to an existing customer than a fresh prospect. And one of the most reliable ways to retain established consumers while converting new ones is to offer an unparalleled customer experience. Your call center agents are the front line of your company, so it’s essential to provide them with the fundamental communication skills they need to resolve problems and handle complaints. By teaching your team to empathize, employ active listening, and demonstrate product and service knowledge on every call, they’ll be providing the quality customer service that is the lifeblood of your company. With over 20 years of experience in providing superior outsourcing solutions across a wide range of industries, Etech is a world leader in helping companies develop a seamless customer service experience that allows you to compete in a diverse and globalized marketplace. Contact us today to learn how we can help you develop a customized consumer satisfaction strategy. This blog was published on LinkedIn.

The Multi-Channel Contact Center: More than Just Incoming Calls

Customers have a variety of ways in which they can communicate with businesses and organizations today, and it is no longer appropriate to handle all customer service requests via a telephone call center. All businesses and non-corporate customer-facing groups should be working towards creating a multi-channel contact center; but what does that mean in practice? Assessing your call center and implementing change Most legacy call centers will be adapted for dealing with incoming telephone calls in the most efficient manner. They will often be divided into distinct departments with protocols in place to manage the distribution of calls between them. The modern multi-channel call center needs to function as a unit, with all departments following the same basic procedures and working towards the same KPIs. Business owners need to use a mixture of market research and existing data to decide on which communication channels will be provided. Then they need to source the appropriate technology for the routing of enquiries, recruit or retrain staff and define and standardize KPIs. Sourcing call center technology The choice of call center technology is crucial to the success of a business in the same way that the choice of tools and equipment is vital to a tradesperson. In the multi-channel call center, the platform chosen must clearly be able to route enquiries from multiple sources (telephone, email, fax, web chat, social media, SMS, etc.) to the relevant agent. However, there are other questions business owners will need to ask technology providers before making a decision, and these will vary depending on their business need. Some examples of pertinent questions are: Can the system recognize individual telephone numbers and relate them to customer data? Can calls be routed to an agent with the appropriate language or industry skills? Can previous call history be accessed easily? Can agent scripts be pre-populated automatically with the customer’s name? Can the provider assist with deployment and training? Will the provider provide ongoing support and ‘health checks’ to ensure the call center is optimized? The multi-channel call center agent The multi-channel call center requires a high caliber agent who can blend the traditional qualities of efficiency, communication and charisma with the flexibility and resourcefulness to source the information the customer is in need of. Agents should also be empowered to deal with the calls they are likely to face, minimizing the need for call transfers or callbacks. Customer service agents should be assessed using a mixture of live call monitoring and analysis of historical calls to ensure performance is of a consistently high standard. This is why KPIs should be standardized across the whole call center so that agents can be compared with other agents more easily and the need for training or agent replacement identified. With customers able to contact businesses at any time of the day and through multiple channels, the ability to respond promptly and completely to all communications will raise customer experience levels and help ensure long-term customer loyalty.

Five Characteristics of a Successful Team

One of the greatest football coaches of all time, Vince Lombardi, once said, “Teamwork is what the Green Bay Packers were all about. We didn’t always have the greatest talent. We didn’t do it for individual glory. We won because we loved one another.” Great teams are successful because they care. They care about their team’s goals, their team’s purpose and most importantly, they care about each other. Caring about the team is the fuel that allows ordinary people to accomplish extraordinary results. What I have observed is that there are 5 common characteristics that successful teams share. I have summarized those characteristics below: 1. Successful Teams Understand the Big Picture: Every leader must understand the mission and purpose. Furthermore, it is the leaders duty to ensure that every one of their team members understand the big picture, understand how they impact the big picture and fully embrace the fact that the more successful they are in their role, the more successful your company will be, which will in turn enable you to invest back into them, your company and your communities. 2. Successful Teams Have Fun Together: It is a fact that the more a person enjoys what they do, the more successful they will be. Are you creating an environment within your team that is fun? Are you allowing your team members to enjoy you and enjoy each other? Successful teams don’t have to constantly look for creative ways to have fun, they just have it! 3. Successful Teams Are Transparent and Real: The more real you are with your team, the more real they will be with you and each other. When this happens, trust and camaraderie develop which inspires each team member to become committed to the team and to the mission. Successful teams consist of team members who are committed to the team. If your team members are not committed, then they are not … there is no in between. 4. Successful Teams Celebrate Victories: Big or small, successful teams recognize and celebrate victories on a regular basis. You will find out that the more you praise and celebrate, the more reasons there will be to praise and celebrate! 5. Successful Teams Don’t Avoid Conflict: Over the years, I have observed that the more committed team members are to the team, the more comfortable and likely they are to disagree and challenge each other. Committed teams know how to fight! Committed teams say what is on their mind, get issues out in the open, respect each other’s views and work towards an agreeable resolution. The cool thing is that once they agree, the issue is resolved and nobody else will ever know there was a conflict. Teams will excel when true teamwork exists. Teamwork can only exist when individual team members trust and care for each other. If there is no relationship, there is no trust. Events like company picnics allow us to get a chance to know your team members outside of the daily pressures of work. It is a time to develop relationships. I encourage leaders to find ways to engage their teams in activities that will build teamwork and maybe someday, propel their team to accomplish extraordinary results.

Empowering Agents with the Right Tools

Empowering your agents is a continuous process of providing them comprehensive training, resources, motivation, encouragement and the right tools. This practice shows your agents you trust them. Giving them the confidence and tools to find customer solutions will allow them to take that power and deliver on providing a remarkable customer experience. The agent is the first impression the customer will have of your business so this agent’s ability to effectively help the customer could have a much larger impact than what it may first appear. Customer’s satisfaction, or dissatisfaction, has a ripple effect so it is imperative to make sure your agent’s are properly prepared with the right tools. Poor customer experience is normally because of an agent who is not well equipped to meet the customers’ needs. To mitigate this, your agents need the right tools to get the job done well. Here are some necessary tools for your contact center agents:- Automated Caller Identity Pop Up Call center software that provides the agent with the caller information such as name, location, address, phone number, company, etc. plays a huge role in helping the agent start of the interaction with a boost of confidence. Knowing this basic information allows the agent to already have some basis on the customer which makes the building rapport phase more natural. Call Conferencing One of the most agitating events is having your call transferred to another department and essentially having to start the whole process over again. This can be eliminated by call conferencing whereby you connect the other agent who can resolve the issue immediately without transferring the caller. The customer will be much more pleased to have his issue addressed with one simple phone call thus leading towards a positive customer experience. Interactive Voice Response Superior customer service begins the moment a customer makes a call, not when the agent responds. Interactive voice response technology engages the customer in pre-recorded messages that help identify the right agent to handle the customer. For example, if the customer speaks Russian, then he will be routed to an agent who can speak Russian. This saves the time spent in resolving customer issues resulting in a higher customer satisfaction level. It also helps the agent to be proficient in his service delivery because he handles the appropriate customer. Call Monitoring and Whisper Coaching Equipping your Managers or Sales leader with the ability to monitor their agents will drastically help increase your metrics. This practice allows your Managers to actively pick up on key areas of opportunities for their agents and allows them to provide the most accurate and timely feedback to their agents. Another tactic is the manager can train the agent on the job by whisper coaching. This is where the manager guides the agent on how to respond to the customer without the customer hearing it. Both of these practices leads to improved quality assurance and top down customer support. Historic and real time recording An agent answers to so many customer on a daily basis, providing them with historic recording that reminds them of previous interaction with the customer and real time recording of what is ahead of them improves their productivity. On the customers end, they are able to see the number of people ahead of them and the average hold up time. They are both no flying blind but this crucial data helps in managing their expectations. Call Recording The fact of the matter is, managers don’t have the time to monitor all of the interactions handled in a particular day by their agents. The solution to this dilemma is making sure you have all of your interactions recorded. Giving your agents and managers the ability to go and pull particular interactions, will allow your agents and coaches to have specific, one on one coaching opportunities that will result in the most effective coaching time. If a agent realizes that he or she could’ve improved on a particular call or chat, having the option to go and pull that interaction and go over it with their respective coach or manager will allow them to review the interaction and learn for the next time that an opportunity such as that arises. In conclusion, empowered agents will be more creative in their solution thinking, enjoy high levels of job satisfaction, make faster decisions for the customer, and create a remarkable customer experience for your customers. Without these tools, the agents will feel ill-equipped and it will become evident in the interaction with the customer, resulting in a lower customer satisfaction score. As Marissa Mayer at Yahoo quoted, “In technology, it’s the people. Getting the best people, retaining them, nurturing a creative environment and helping to find a way to innovate.”

Developing Strong Loyal Employees

One of the things that I enjoy most about leading Etech Global Services is the fact that I get to work with a group of people who truly enjoy what they do and have a strong sense of loyalty to our organization. I’m often asked by peers in other organizations how it is that Etech has such a consistent and loyal staff and I truly believe it is because of our strong core values as an organization. People like to stick with those who know what they believe and live out that belief system, this is something we strive to do daily. As I sat down to write this article I asked myself, “What are the factors that develop strong company loyalty?” I came across an article that talked about the importance of having strong company values as the primary tool that builds company loyalty. I agree with that 100%. Here at Etech, we have 12 Character Commitments that are the foundation of everything we do as an organization. In 2007, we made the decision to implement and cultivate a leadership culture that is based on the willingness and dedication to making a remarkable difference in the lives of our customers, our people and our communities by serving first. We believe that every person has value and deserves to be included, respected and valued. We also believe that any person can accomplish far more when inspired by a purpose far beyond meeting deadlines and hitting quotas. In addition to having strong core values, it is important that employees feel they have a future at their place of employment. The opportunity to advance is very important in developing company loyalty. No one wants to work in a dead-end job, and when a person feels they are in a dead-end job, that can lead to dissatisfaction and high employee turnover. At Etech, we believe that hiring from within is a great way to build company loyalty. When we see that an employee possesses certain skills, we make every effort to develop those skills. For example, if we see strong leadership skills in an entry-level employee, we offer them the opportunity to take advantage of leadership classes that we offer that are designed to develop future managers. When a young employee sees that his/her manager has confidence in their abilities and is given the opportunity to develop those abilities, that employee begins to develop a sense of ownership and connectedness to the organization that is priceless. Finally, offering perks and good benefits is another means of developing loyalty. When an employee feels that they would have a lot to lose by leaving an organization, they are far more inclined to stay at that organization. At Etech, we believe it is important that a person be able to pay their bills and provide for their families so we offer a very competitive salary and benefits package, along with a 401K. We have events throughout the year that employees and their families can be part of and we also encourage community involvement. Over the years, as I’ve been at Etech, I’ve seen how this aspect of our company culture has been a major factor in building loyalty and a sense of community within our corporate walls. I truly believe that building a strong and loyal staff is the foundation of success for any corporation, large or small. When employees feel that they are truly “part of the family” they are far less likely to want to leave. Sure, we’re all concerned about profits and being successful financially, but developing a staff that is loyal and committed to the success of your organization lays a foundation for success that is beyond measure. This blog entry was written by Matt Rocco, President and Managing Partner of Etech Global Services. If you would like to learn more about Etech and contact center technology and service solutions, please contact us at info@etechgs.com.

How to Raise the Emotional Intelligence of Your Call Center Staff

Emotional intelligence, or EQ, is the skill of being able to understand how others feel and using that information to influence how you can proactively interact for a positive result. While some employees may inherently have a high EQ, it can be nurtured to grow in all staff, improving interactions between agents and callers across the board. Using EQ, an agent can guide a call from its beginning to a successful resolution while simultaneously adjusting the tone and language of the call based on listening to and engaging with the customer. Management and training staff can create an environment to foster high EQ in all call center agents and improve customer satisfaction. Here is how you can increase EQ in your own call center. Positivity Call center agents’ positive and proactive attitudes help the interaction between the agent and customer get started on the right foot. In order to foster these attitudes in the call center at large, managers need to make agents feel cared for and important to the company’s mission. Creating a fun and cooperative atmosphere between management and staff is a good way to foster positivity and the first step in encouraging EQ to grow. Self-Awareness and Control Training for agents to be aware of their phone persona is the next step in developing a higher EQ. These questions can be asked and the answers discussed during training sessions and call critique sessions: How do I sound to the customer? If a call center agent answers a call in an abrupt manner, this will probably set an unfriendly tone for the entire call, with the customer gaining a negative perception of the company. Am I making the customer feel welcome? If the customer is not extended courtesy, diplomacy, and respect, the customer may feel they are an unwelcome guest and escalate the call in order to get their need for information and service met. How can I stay in control and guide the call to a satisfactory conclusion? Angry callers are a regular occurrence, but a call center agent can control her response to the angry feelings at the other end of the line. Staying in control by remaining objective and calmly responding to the caller’s request can transform the emotional energy of the call and guide it to a satisfactory conclusion. Adaptability The skill of being adaptable to a wide spectrum of customer attitudes and requests is built on the ability to be positive and proactive as well as self-aware and in control of customer interactions. Training agents how to respond proactively to difficult callers will raise their confidence and help them to perform at their highest level. Rewards When agents see that peers in the workplace are being rewarded for their high EQ during customer interactions, this sets the tone for higher agent EQ expectations overall. As a result, a culture of excellence is fostered to improve the customer experience. Ask high performing agents to serve as mentors for new hires to reinforce this expectation of excellence. Training, mentoring, and peer engagement can make a difference in a call center’s EQ. When positivity is fostered, training is implemented, and performance feedback is given, you call center performance will be poised to improve exponentially. This blog was first published on LinkedIn.

What Makes a Great Agent?

“What makes a great agent?” This is a key question that every leader in the contact center asks. They understand that with great agents serving customers, all stakeholders will be happy and satisfied. Many aspects make an agent great, and I believe being a great communicator tops the list. In essence, we can talk about what makes a great communicator, and we will have our answer to what makes a great agent. A great communicator has a pleasing disposition and is a terrific conversationalist, which are great traits. However, when you possess critical thinking you will set yourself apart leading to greatness. Dictionary.com defines critical thinking as disciplined thinking that is clear, rational, open-minded and informed by evidence. Another equally interesting definition is, critical thinking is the mental process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating information to reach an answer or conclusion. Let me take you back a little, an agent’s main responsibility is to assist customers. If the customer wants to purchase something online, they will close the sale, if the customer has a problem, they will offer them a solution, and much more. Overall, they will provide a solution to the customer. With the above in mind, look again at the definition of critical thinking. An agent, who is a good communicator and can think critically, will be an invaluable asset to the contact center. That agent will be able to listen to the customer’s issue/inquiry, understand it, analyze it with what he knows about the product, and give the customer the appropriate resolution or information. An agent, with critical thinking, understands that each customer is different, and they treat him or her as such. The agent seeks to give him or her best assistance; therefore, each customer is satisfied. The agent knows that as much as there is the set procedure for resolving customer issues, they can work around it as long as the customer will be satisfied and they will act according to the company code of conduct. How then can you encourage your agents to be critical thinkers? Here are two tips that can fast track this process for any leader in the contact center industry. Encourage out of the box thinking The first thing to do is to encourage the agents you see practicing thinking outside the box. It is common for an agent to stick to the script and not think of other solutions that may help the customer. For example, an angry customer tests the thinking of an agent. Will the agent simply follow the script? What is the customer doesn’t calm down even after following it word for word? In such a situation, if an agent thinks of a creative way of calming him/her down and therefore resolves the problem, they should be motivated to keep doing it. Acknowledge their effort and they will do more of that. Create Coaching Opportunities Coaching helps the agent to relook at their interactions with customers and think through it. If the agent does not see anything wrong with their conversations, you can assist by pointing them out and then asking him or her how they could have handled that situation better. Coaching is not only for pinpointing areas of improvement; but you can also use them to encourage critical thinking. An agent may not even know they did well to change the script. Remember to give the agents a chance to ask questions. In conclusion, the more agents you have who can think critically, the more empowered you customer care team will be. With an empowered team interacting with your customers, the quality of customer service will be great. Use the above tips to move your agents from good to great communicators.

What are the best incentives Call Center Managers can offer Agents?

Many people know that turnover among agents in the call centers are high, but most leaders don’t know how to prevent it nor do they know what type of incentives have the most influence over agent’s performance. There are many books written on ideas how to change this in the call center I have read over my career. In this article I am going to talk about what types of incentives enable our agents to perform better and get our agents rallied around one common goal. Contest incentives are typically best executed around a theme of some sort and are either shorter term one day to 30 days, or long term over 30 days with a much bigger prize and more chances for everyone to win. Some contests can be activity based rewards (time off with Pay, time off with a friend to watch a movie in the breakroom with free popcorn, manger washes your car, manger dunk tanks, manager take my calls for an hour and many more). Other contests can include more luck like (spin the wheel, putting contest, go fish, lotto tickets to win other prizes.). The other types of incentives are larger level contests which have a higher level of success and service output like winning a new car, motorcycle, or a trip somewhere. Etech has a proven track record of these bigger type contests, and our agent surveys tell us they prefer these well thought out an planned contests where everyone has a chance to win something life changing. Cash and prize incentives tied to sales or service results when properly executed can sustain really long term results. Both of these incentive programs have their place. One does not substitute for the other. At Etech we have tried points-based incentive programs, metric driven programs for sales and service and even setting up our own Unique Boutique store in our contact centers. If you are not careful these programs can become overly administrative and burdensome. The best advice I can give is keep it simple. If the agents spouse or significant other cannot understand how the agent wins or gets paid, then it’s too complicated. Agents need to clearly understand how they can win, both short term and long term. Points systems are too complicated and de-focus reps off the real goal. Also in terms of sales or service – Sales should be net revenue per phone hour, net profit, or sales per hour. For service customer satiation as surveyed by the individual agent’s customers on a random basis. To receive incentives agents should also meet some minimum standards of quality, no person should ever receive incentives if compliance or quality becomes an issue. Evaluating a program’s effectiveness is easy for a company to measure as long as it related to company revenue not some internal process metric.

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