Managing a call center can be challenging. There are agents to think about, demands from management, and then the customers. It’s a balancing act that requires skill, precision, and sympathy.
No matter what’s happening on any given day, one vital importance is your Call Center QA. Quality assurance is the only way to ensure your agents and performance levels meet the company’s standards.
With more customer demands on businesses than ever before, it’s crucial to understand how to improve quality assurance through practical and proven agent coaching. Here a few tips to try implementing at your call center to enhance customer experiences.
1. Define Guidelines and Coach Agents to be Polite but Assertive
One of the biggest problems with customer service jobs of long ago is the agents were trained to keep customers happy and always say yes - even if it meant causing issues for another department down the line. Now, call center managers are training agents to be polite but assertive when it comes to requests that could cause disruptions in the overall business. Rather than appeasing every request, train your agents to offer a feedback channel to suggest the changes they’d like to see or show them how to diffuse and divert a situation so it does not become escalated.
2. Coach Agents on How to Handle an Angry Customer
Speaking of escalated situations, it’s essential to train your agents on handling customers who are angry or irritated. These types of customers can cause significant revenue losses for the company and a poor brand reputation. Instead of letting an escalated situation end poorly and risk the negative impact, help agents understand how they can listen with intent, change the mood of the conversation and help the customer feel heard and appreciated - whatever the issue may be. You can use recorded calls and in-line coaching to teach agents how to handle complex situations when they arise.
3. Provide Tools to Support Agents in their Roles
Nothing’s worse than being an agent on the front lines, handling customers, and not having the tools needed to get the job done efficiently and effectively. Part of the job of a call center manager is to ensure that your agent team has access to tools that support them in providing quality interactions. Tools such as scripts for getting through certain types of calls and interactions or call recording for scoring and reviewing areas of improvement with agents can all help. CRM Systems can also keep information about the customer relevant and accessible to agents whenever they call in so they’re not having the customer repeat information of become frustrated before they even explain the reason for their call.
Taking these steps to assist agents in getting their job done will go a long way in call center QA improvements. Which changes are you planning to implement next?