Call center agent: working in a call center
A call center agent is always on the phone. They advise customers over the phone or try to sell them products and services. Market and opinion researchers also use the services of call center agents. The work is also possible for unskilled workers, and is increasingly carried out in the home office.
The job of a call center agent: Tasks
Call center agents have a direct line to the customer. Your main task is to maintain or establish direct contact with the target group by telephone. A distinction is made between inbound and outbound call center agents. Whereas inbound call center agents take calls as part of customer service, outbound call center agents call the customer themselves or prospect to initiate a conversation and advertise or sell products.
What are the tasks of a call center agent?
Basically, the tasks of a call center agent vary from one company to another. Telephone advice is of primary importance.
For example, shipping companies want you to both sell products and services to their customers and take orders. Companies with a strong sales focus expect their call center agents to acquire customers and strengthen the relationship with existing customers.
In an IT company, on the other hand, you have to resolve faults reported over the phone with the customer. A call center agent faces a variety of complex challenges in his or her day-to-day work.
Inbound call center :
In the inbound area, call center agents work on behalf of external customers such as mail order companies. They accept orders for goods or provide information on travel connections and booking options to transport companies. Or as hotline consultants, they assist customers of technology companies with open questions or technical difficulties. The range of tasks performed by call center agents is quite diverse and complex, particularly when it comes to advice and solutions.
Outbound call center :
The outbound area is considered the free style in the call center industry. After all, anyone calling customers or potential customers to present or sell products runs a high risk of ringing at the wrong time and being cut off altogether.
Market research :
In addition to customer acquisition and retention, some call center agents also focus on customer recovery. This is no easy task. Because customers generally terminate contracts or services out of dissatisfaction, which then has to be appeased with special offers. Still other call center agents carry out surveys in the outbound area as part of market and opinion research.
Differences :
Depending on whether they work in inbound or outbound call centers, the work-life balance of call center agents varies. Whereas you have to develop a very thick skin in the outbound area, in the inbound area you can solve the problems of customers who have called on their own initiative. Here, you can count on positive feedback – sometimes even with gratitude.
Professional environment in a call center :
Working hours are highly regulated and supervisors generally ensure that scheduled breaks are respected. Because you can easily tell that telephone partners are tired. However, shift work is often necessary. More and more employers are allowing their call center employees to work from home. What’s more, job prospects are relatively good. In many areas, the trend is away from direct advice in the service sector towards telephone service via call centers.
Call center skills
A call center agent impresses above all with his or her technical know-how and rhetorical skills. When applying for a job, your CV and covering letter should include the following skills:
- Friendly voice
- Commercial talent
- Product and market knowledge
- resilience
- Ability to handle rejection on the telephone
- Professional work under stress
- Not afraid of the telephone
- Easy management of direct communication
- Quick familiarisation with new areas
- Computer skills
- Good command of foreign languages
Salary of a call center agent in Europe
A call center agent earns an average gross monthly salary of €2,100. In some cases, salaries in the industry are below €1,500 gross per month. Young professionals, in particular, generally earn no more than €2,000 a month. With increasing work experience and expertise, monthly salaries of up to 2,900 can be within reach.
Find a job as a call center agent
Access to the profession is not clearly regulated. In principle, anyone with the necessary talent and commitment can work in a call center. Lateral entrants and applicants without school-leaving certificates or professional qualifications also have a good chance of being taken on. If you want to establish yourself professionally from the outset, you could consider training as a dialogue marketing service specialist. This is a two-year sandwich course.
In many call centers, employees are trained after an assessment center in which their suitability for the job has been carefully tested. This is done by means of on-the-job training, during which a coach gives the potential call center agent specific advice on how to deal with the customer over the telephone, usually even on the “direct object”. In other words, the trainer listens to the phone calls, then practises “manoeuvre criticism” and makes suggestions for improvement in terms of customer service, crisis management, empathy and sales promotion measures.
Applying to become a call center agent
When applying to be a call center agent, your soft skills should be highlighted. Your good communication skills should be combined with good language skills.
Your qualifications are not as important when applying to be a call center agent as, for example, a fast learner – that means: only put them on your CV. You can then re-emphasise your communication skills in your covering letter.
The interview for a call center agent job is more important than the application itself: here you have to prove that you are good at social interaction and that your good language skills will always be maintained.
Further training
Private educational establishments offer a wide range of further training courses in telephone marketing and call center work. It should be noted that these do not constitute a recognised professional qualification; they are aimed solely at improving participants’ telephone skills and chances of employment, and therefore cost money.
The following content is covered in call center courses:
- Responding competently to customer queries
- Handling complaints
- Targeted and successful acquisition and retention of telephone customers
- Service and customer-oriented communication techniques
- Confidentiality and the law
- workplace organisation
- time management
Call center jobs
Call center agents are now employed in almost every sector: from IT, telecommunications and services to the automotive sector and a wide variety of industries. In almost every sector, there are now customer and service centers specialising in inbound or outbound calls.
Call center agents certainly have prospects for further development.
With commitment, they can, for example, manage a team. From there, it’s also possible to work in the upper echelons of a company.