Agents are often the main contact person for your customers. Extend your call center software with these 10 tips to ensure superior customer service.
Call center agents are often the primary contact point for your customers. As the face of your company for most of the clients, their importance cannot be overstated. If you want your customer to become a loyal long-term consumer, then ensuring that your agents are saying the right things is important. Call center software is great, but you can maximize its impact with these 10 tips to ensure etiquette excellence.
1. Build trust
This step is essential for all members of your team. Building trust is vital not only for the interaction with customers to go smoothly, but also to build positive brand awareness. Being trustworthy demonstrates that your company does what it promises and can help turn your happy customers into strong brand advocates. However, be sure to monitor your staff to ensure they are using your call center software properly and are adhering to the values expected of your employees.
2. Always be honest
Call center agents, like any business professional, should always be honest with their customers. Reinforce an environment that lets your call center agents know that they should never just lie or make up an answer. If a customer has an issue problem that they cannot solve, the agent should directly but politely apologize and explain that they will need to transfer the them to another employee who can better address their concern.
3. Don’t forget to be respectful
All customers deserve to be treated with respect at all times. With each interaction agents at your call center should always act rationally, be calm, and treat the customer as if they were the top client at the company. Take a moment to understanding the needs of the caller and make an effort to accommodate their needs with attentive compassion. Attempt to uncover the root of the customer’s issues and how their problem is impact their behavior.
4. Always be professional
During a conversation, call center agents should be polite and professional at all times. Regardless of what happens during a conversation, maintaining your composure is essential. As noted above, your call center agents are the face of your business. Empower them with the training they need to meet quality standards, and consider monitoring conversations as a learning tool for your employees. Also, all conversations should be in line with corporate goals and values.
5. Treat callers with courtesy
When starting a call, an agent should ask how they prefer to be addressed and if the name is tricky to pronounce ask them how they say their name. Once you have that information, make a conscious attempt to pronounce their name correctly and consistently. If you’ve worked in sales before you have probably already heard this, but talk with a smile. Remain calm and always speak slowly and clearly. Never talk over the customer. Let the caller finish what they are saying before talking.
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6. Prepare to be flexible
The pace of your workday can change on dime. When that happens, it is important to roll with the punches and be prepared to change course when necessary. Occasionally, pertinent information that has been obtained changes the course of the problem solving efforts. Call center agents should always be flexible, welcome the change and work to provide exceptional service by keeping the customer informed of the reasons for the change.
7. Maintain a neutral attitude
When speaking to callers, your agents should never offer an opinions into any conversation. They should never show signs of any kind of bias while also working to empathize with the customer’s needs. Maintaining a neutral attitude will allow your call center agents to more effectively solve problems with your customers.
8. Take a genuine interest in your callers
Call center agents should always try to take a genuine interest in the caller’s question or concerns. Following this practice will likely make the call more enjoyable for both the customer and the employee. This also can help the agent from having another monotonous call. Connecting with the caller keeps the conversation fresh, real, and helps the customer to make a more personal connect with your business.
9. Demonstrate your competency
Ensuring that a certain level of competence is required to address the customer’s needs helps both the caller and the agent. When people call, if their demands are too high, the agent must refer them to someone who can better handle the issue or concern. This can be tedious for both the caller and the agent. Require training to handle certain types of calls or issues.
10. Confidence is key
We saved one of the top things on this list for last. Work to train your staff is well trained and has the call center software, tools, and knowledge to properly handle even the toughest situations. This will instill and build confidence and make interactions between staff and customer to go smoother.
Blitz is committed to helping your business to grow. That’s why increasing your sales is our mission. Contact us today to schedule a free demo and we will share how Blitz’s automated sales and marketing follow up system can help your organization increase sales performance!
What tips can help extend the power of your call center software and provide exceptional customer service? Is there is one that we missed that you think we should have included, let us know! Share your feedback and tips in the comments below!