Call centers or BPO outsourcing has come up in a big way in India. A call center job is one of the most challenging jobs. Whether a call center is small or large. It has to start with right call center training. Every representative who answers a call should undergo a training session; it is a process that will never stop. Call center service can be inbound or outbound or blended. A bpo/call centre company needs to follow certain Do’s & don’t.
Here is the list of what call center agents should and shouldn’t do during a customer interaction.
DO’S & DON’Ts OF CUSTOMER SERVICE
1.Having in-depth knowledge of product & services.
Agent should know all features and specification of the product; if the agent knows all the details about the product then it will be easy for the agent to pitch the right product to the customer or to help solve any query that the customer may have about the product or services. Product knowledge is key in attending to a customer.
2.Always listen to the customer
Customers will feel better about the experience if you show you understand the reason for their call and their query. You can provide more efficient assistance by first taking in all the information from the customer especially, so that you can avoid pitching in the wrong product or services and that you offer the right solution, if you have practice active listening you will seldom go wrong.
3.Follow a two way communication process
The agent’s main job is to communicate with customers; agent should allow customers to speak without any interruption. The agent should interact only after the customer finish up with their query. One must avoid the excitement of always wanting to speak over their customer.
4.Always Smile on the call
Smiling is one of the bestthing to go ahead in business. We actually don’t talk face to face on phone. While an agent can have as many interaction a day, but for the customers it’s the unique interaction. If you are happy on the call, the feeling will transcend into the interaction too. So keep smiling as often as possible.
5.Don’t keep call on hold for long time.
Keeping call on hold for long time always irritates the customers. It is suggested to keep talking to customer while searching for the information of their query. Priority of the agents is to get valuable feedback soon.
6.Take tips from a successful call center agent
Always take tips from senior or someone who is doing well. Sit aside with a senior on calls and listen to how they interact with their customers and handle the situation. By following their step you can add extra efficiency in your work. Benchmarking against the better agents will help improve your interaction and experience too.
7.Don’t rely on the script
A script is must for every call center agents. Every information should be jotted and highlighted on their script sheet. Don’t narrate everything from the script; it may sound robotic from user end. Only keeping sheet for reference is always advised. But, if in sales always be closing, even if you have not had the time to go through the entire script.
Later after the sale, you or your supervisor can complete dissemination of information, as may be needed.
8.Keep things transparent
Agent should update the exact status of their query, because customer always appreciates honesty. It is better to tell the customer that I will come back to you, if you are not sure of some features, benefits or details about the services etc. than trying to answer on your gut feel.
9.Never lose patience
While making inbound and outbound calls there are many people with different temperament and also customer take out frustration because of their own moods and complaints. So never upset a client because they might not need anything today but they might require it later in the future. If they have a bad experience with you, they will never make a purchase from you.
So always be courteous and sound friendly.
10.Don’t keep running to your supervisors for help
In some situation, customers want call to be transferred for supervisor’s assistance. Because they are not happy with our reply on their query, in this situation you and your supervisors answer should be exactly the same. Only go to the supervisor when you don’t have enough information and are sure that you are not able to provide complete solution to your caller or customer.
11.Use the customer interaction as your learning experience
Client interaction is important part of your learning experience in a job, the more your interaction, the better you become in how to handle customers, so use this as your learning time. Each experience with client interaction will be unique.
