Refresher Tips for Your Call Center to Perform at Its Best

When it comes to customer service, the way your contact center handles interactions can make or break your company’s reputation. Why? Because for many people, these interactions are their first experience with your business.

Even with chatbots and social media, individuals of all ages—from Baby Boomers to Gen Z still prefer talking on the phone when they need help from a company.¹ They want to talk to someone who can sort out their issues.

So, what’s the takeaway? To keep your customers happy, ensure your call center staff has the right tools and training to handle calls well. Here are some tips to help your contact center stand out.

Provide Technical Onboarding

Train your agents to understand and use your call center software and technology thoroughly. These tools help organize and manage customer calls. They also help your agents provide a positive customer experience. Be sure to guide in the following areas:

Answering calls: Your agents may be used to using phones instead of software to handle customer calls.
Transferring calls: Show your agents how to use the hold and transfer functions to route customer calls to other agents or departments.
Muting and unmuting the speaker: Muting might be better than holding when an agent asks a teammate for help with a customer’s question. The agent can complete the task while still hearing the customer.
Adding other professionals to the call: For instance, the agent may need to include their manager on a call to help with a ticket, or the customer may ask to speak with a manager.

Offer Knowledge Management Tools

Internal knowledge management tools such as help center software can help your agents quickly find answers to common support questions. This makes it easier for your agents to answer questions without putting the customers on hold. Your agents can increase their knowledge to provide informed and helpful customer service.

Expedite Query Resolution: Internal knowledge management tools facilitate quick resolution of common support queries by maintaining a comprehensive, searchable database containing guides, how-to articles, and FAQs.
Reduce Dependence on Interpersonal Communication: These tools reduce reliance on interrupting colleagues’ workflow for information retrieval. Agents can independently leverage the information repository, fostering autonomy and ensuring knowledge transfer regardless of specific individuals’ availability or expertise.
Facilitate Collaboration and Knowledge Sharing: Knowledge management tools’ collaborative features allow seasoned agents to contribute insights and expertise, enriching the knowledge base. This collective wisdom is valuable for newer agents seeking guidance and mentorship.
Enhance Communication with Corporate Knowledge Management Systems: Corporate knowledge management systems enable easy communication between frontline support employees and product or service managers. This ensures agents possess the up-to-date knowledge necessary to handle consumer inquiries efficiently, improving customer satisfaction and agents’ confidence in handling inquiries about new services.

Clarify Goals

At the start of each day, gather your team for a brief morning huddle. During this time, communicate the specific goals for the day, week, or month. For example, you might set targets for average wait time, resolution time, and calls missed. By outlining these goals, you give your agents a clear understanding of what they’re working towards and the timeframe to achieve it.

Average wait time: Aim to keep the average wait time for customers at 5 minutes or less. This ensures prompt service and enhances customer satisfaction.
Resolution time: Minimize the time it takes for an agent to solve an open ticket. Efficient resolution of customer issues demonstrates competence and professionalism.
Calls missed: Encourage your agents to improve their multitasking and organizational skills to reduce the number of missed calls. This ensures that every customer inquiry is addressed promptly and no opportunity for assistance is overlooked.

Train on Call Center Etiquette

For call center agents, phone etiquette is crucial since it directly impacts the customer’s experience. Agents can create a positive relationship that builds trust and satisfaction by treating consumers with kindness, respect, and openness. Let’s explore how you can effectively train your agents on call center etiquette.

Communicating Wait Times: Begin by emphasizing the importance of communicating wait times to customers. Role-play scenarios where agents practice politely informing customers about the expected wait time before placing them on hold. Stress the significance of managing customer expectations to prevent frustration and maintain a positive experience.
Mentioning Call Recording: Next, discuss the importance of informing customers about call recording. Explain that customers appreciate transparency regarding the recording of their conversations for training purposes. Encourage agents to mention this at the beginning of the call to reassure customers and foster trust.
Discussing the Call Recording Pause: Lastly, address the protocol for pausing call recordings when handling sensitive information like credit card details. Emphasize the importance of prioritizing customer security and privacy. Train agents to clearly inform customers when the call recording will be paused and reassure them that their information is handled securely.

Implement Job Shadowing

One effective training method is pairing newer agents with seasoned agents to see how they handle customer calls. This helps the newer agents acquire the skills required to address customer issues. You might want to implement a job shadowing program using one of the following methods:

Invite newer agents to listen in on live customer calls with seasoned agents. This hands-on approach allows them to witness effective communication strategies and problem-solving techniques in action. For example, a seasoned agent calmly resolves a frustrated customer’s technical issue by actively listening to their concerns and utilizing knowledge base software for a prompt solution. Through this observation, newer agents learn the importance of patience, empathy, and resource utilization in delivering exceptional customer service.
Ask newer agents to listen to past call records that provided a positive customer experience. These recordings cover a variety of circumstances and problems, allowing agents to identify successful resolutions and areas for improvement. By analyzing these recordings, agents can target their training efforts to enhance their skills in specific areas and deliver exceptional customer service.

Provide Constructive Feedback

Let your agents know what they’re doing well and what they can improve on. Include specific examples and steps to do better. This helps your agents improve their performance and attain their goals. It also elevates agent engagement and retention. The following suggestions may help:

Provide real-time feedback. During these observations, point out areas of improvement and commend exemplary behavior. For instance, if an agent effectively diffuses a tense situation with a customer, acknowledge their skill in de-escalation and provide constructive feedback on maintaining a calm demeanor.
Review call recordings together: Assess the agent’s etiquette, strengths, and weaknesses. For example, if an agent demonstrates exceptional active listening skills but struggles with effectively summarizing solutions, offer guidance on improving summarization techniques while acknowledging their strengths in other areas.
Use Q&A scorecards: These scorecards can assess various aspects such as professionalism, accuracy of information provided, and adherence to company policies. For instance, if an agent consistently demonstrates professionalism and accuracy but occasionally overlooks policy guidelines, provide targeted training to reinforce policy adherence.
Share educational resources: If your team is encountering challenges in handling difficult customers, share articles or training modules on effective conflict resolution techniques. Additionally, encourage agents to participate in relevant workshops or webinars to further enhance their skills and knowledge.

SALEM SOLUTIONS CAN HELP YOU CONNECT WITH THE BEST CALL CENTER AGENTS

Giving your contact center team a refresher can help them perform their best and maintain efficiency. Are you looking to fill the gaps within your call center teams? Salem Solutions has the qualified candidates you need to fill those roles. Send us a message to learn more about how we can help your call center thrive!

Reference

1″Where Is Customer Care in 2024?” McKinsey & Company, 12 Mar. 2024, www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/operations/our-insights/where-is-customer-care-in-2024.