It is up to the call center to take the necessary measures to manage and optimise customer relations.
In its day-to-day operations, the call center must :
- Understand that the quality of customer service is directly linked to the company’s culture
- Know how to select talented, high-performing agents
- Be capable of managing and developing its staff
Understand that the quality of customer service is directly linked to the company’s culture
In most cases, a call center is the only human interaction a customer is likely to have with the company. These interactions have a significant impact on the customer’s views and feelings about the company. While customers may have certain feelings associated with the company after visiting their website or social networking pages, their views can quickly change following a single bad interaction with a call center.
Indeed, during a call, the prospect or customer can see the tone of voice of the person on the other end of the line, the choice of words used and assess the quality of the interaction to determine how interested the company really is in the customer relationship.
The quality of customer service is always linked to the company’s culture. If agents are treated with respect as part of a supportive team and share the company’s values, customer service automatically improves. When agents are completely taken care of, their focus may be solely on the customer, but when the opposite is true and the agent does not feel taken care of, their priority is to meet their own needs and desires.
The key to achieving good results in a call center is to give priority to the agents, so that they in turn can concentrate on the customers.
Selecting talented, high-performing agents
The call center must create a motivating and caring working environment, but on the other hand, employees must also have certain characteristics and skills to succeed in their missions.
Although many professional skills are acquired over time, there are a few skills in which the agent should be naturally good. Call center jobs require people who have a gift for the art of communication.
Indeed, agents need strong communication skills, as they talk to customers and other agents all day long. If they’re not skilled at receiving, relaying and sharing information quickly and effectively, then they’ll struggle to achieve their objectives.
In call center jobs, it is also necessary to recruit people who are comfortable multitasking. The agent must be able to answer questions, take notes and find documents in parallel to share information with the customer during the call. It’s a job that requires agility.
What’s more, with all the information an agent receives in a day, they not only need to have a good memory, they also need to be organised.
Agents need to be able to easily keep information in their heads, because even if they are helped by programmes and databases, it’s important to remember customers’ needs and requests throughout the call. Call center jobs also require a great deal of organisation to ensure that you don’t make a bad impression during the call and that you don’t lose valuable information as you move from one customer to another.
Being able to manage and develop your staff
A call center that aims for success in all its missions must be prepared for it. A good call center knows how to measure its expectations and find the right balance.
If expectations aren’t high enough, the results won’t be either. If expectations are too high, then agents will be discouraged and won’t even try to achieve their objectives. It’s good to be optimistic, but it’s also important to have a realistic business mindset. Market trends and the current economy show us that you have to learn to adapt quickly to change, because the future is constantly evolving.
At the same time, companies need to adopt a continuous learning approach. Training in call center professions doesn’t stop once the orientation phase is over. Training must be continuous. Coaching, follow-up and communication all contribute to greater efficiency at work.
On the other hand, it’s essential to recruit good managers to run your team and optimise performance. They need to be highly qualified and familiar with the right tools: CRM software, sales prospecting software, sales analysis software and marketing automation software, etc.
Line managers also need to know how to react in all circumstances, as they are responsible for hiring, firing and making commercial decisions.
Finally, they need to be able to motivate agents. Each agent can be motivated by various forms of compensation, such as time off, a raise or a gift.
By understanding what motivates agents, the manager contributes to their success. They contribute their expertise and guide their team through negative comments, but also positive comments to boost morale and encourage the troops.
If you’re looking for a call center that meets all these criteria, don’t hesitate to contact us. Advancia Teleservices will be your ultimate ally for good customer relationship management.
If you are an agent and would like to join a high-performance team, we offer a number of management, support or operational positions. ?