Communicating
call center services is a task that should never be taken for granted. Call
center reps that are in charge of handling the customers are the most valuable assets
of any organization. Therefore, whether you are running an in-house department
or deploying outsourced
call center services, you should judge the credentials of the reps
thoroughly before handing them over the reins of your call center services.
What Makes Call Center Agents Work/Don’t Work?
To ensure
proper delivery of customer services, a call center agent needs to be analyzed
based on the following attributes:
1.
Calmness and
composure under pressure – Call center work requires an agent to receive call after call
during a routine day-to-day operation. Although there are many who can do this,
not many can perform this task while being calm and composed. It has been seen
that even experienced agents fail to stay calm after receiving a certain number
of calls. This can be attributed to an inadequate hiring process, which was
unable to screen out the wrong candidates for the job. Ensure that you don’t
make this mistake and drill your employees thoroughly by putting them through
pressure cooker situations, in which, they have to react instinctively. Only
once you are absolutely satisfied about their ability to stay calm, should you
recruit them for your process.
2. Multi-tasking – Not only a call center agent needs to be well-versed in taking
calls, he also needs to have good computer skills. And most importantly, he
should be able to take calls and manage computer work, both at the same time.
The ability to multi-task comes with experience but it can also be taught in
the training room. Make sure that your agents have learned multi-tasking before
sending them to the floor.
3. Memory and retention of knowledge – Call
center process requires an agent to be well-versed with the process. A lot of
information like call opening, FAQs, hold procedure text, call ending etc.
needs to be memorized for effective delivery of customer services. When an agent
is unable to retain important information and fumbles while delivering it, it
gives customers an impression that he is inept and inappropriate for the task.
This is not a good thing and may prevent an agent from developing a good
rapport with the customers. In worst case, it may lead to the delivery of wrong
information that may hurt the overall integrity of the process.
4. Drive to excel – Drive to excel in an agent is very important, especially for
long-term welfare of a call center operation. Without this drive in your agents,
you won’t be able to create an experienced core that you can depend on in
crunch situations.
5. Friendly nature – A rude person in real-life, sooner or
later, will show his true colors on calls as well. You simply can’t put your
customers’ goodwill on the line by hiring such agents. Hence, it is always best
to employ friendly-natured human beings that can show empathy and build good
rapports over calls.
Summary
Hiring of
agents for a call center process should be done with due diligence. Rating them
according to the five parameters above can help you distinguish the best from
the rests. However, if you find the selection process too elaborate and
confusing, it is best to use outsourced call center
services provided by Vcare. At Vcare, we offer both inbound and
outbound call center services along with back office
outsourcing services for all
types of businesses.
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