Every contact centre leader wants to deliver a fantastic experience, but this can sadly be contradicted by the things they say and do to their agents – day in, day out.
To help you spot these in your own contact centre operation, we asked our consultants panel for their best examples of things we say and do to our agents that contradict good customer service.
Are you guilty of any of them?
1. Talking About Tickets Instead of Customers
Language matters, yet people are blind to the words that are in their own echo chamber, and it’s difficult to apply an outside-in perspective.
My biggest bugbear is when operational teams talk about ‘tickets’. This is a very quick way to dehumanize customers and their requirements, and it is particularly bad when it seeps into conversations with customers too.
Contributed by: Nerys Corfield, Injection Consulting
2. “Can You Just Quickly Wrap That Call?”
This one is particularly problematic when the agent makes a mistake or their notes aren’t clear because we are rushing them to take the next call.
3. “Just Blind Transfer Them Into the Queue so You Can Take Another Call. There’s Too Many in the Queue to Wait and Hand Off!”
We all want to be customer-centric, and blind transferring a customer is the exact opposite of that, regardless of the service level or the wait times.
Explaining the issue and the wait time may be a much better option.
For top tips and advice to make sure every transfer is handled as efficiently as possible without compromising CX, read our article: How to Stop Call Transfers Ruining Your CX
4. “It’s Not Hard, Just Follow the Script!”
Customers don’t always follow the flow of your script so following the scripts isn’t actually that easy!
We also have to consider the challenges that scripts bring when navigating multiple systems and with agents who have neurodiverse behaviours, as this can be especially challenging.
5. “Can You Just Clear the Queue and Then Go on Your Break?”
What message is this sending to your team?! They have worked flat-out, but it’s still not good enough and they can’t take a break.
How are they going to respond to a difficult or challenging customer if they are burnt out?
Contributed by: Garry Gormley, Founder of FAB Solutions
6. “You Need to Reduce Your AHT”
“You need to reduce your AHT.” This still is one of the most common coaching topics in every call centre, but it often misses the key ingredient for it to be operationally effective – the “How.” How do you decrease your AHT yet still provide a great customer experience?
When agents are given this goal without an effective explanation of how, they immediately assume that means “go faster”, which is typically interpreted as cutting corners during the call.
This is the exact opposite to the experience you want and will cause you even bigger issues in your operations than call efficiency.
The key to effectively coaching AHT is that it needs to be coached as a result, not a goal.
The agent’s goals should focus on the four skills they can control that impact AHT:
- Knowledge of the business and processes
- Knowledge of the systems, including knowledge bases, etc.
- Knowledge of how to effectively champion the customer’s issue and reduce their effort.
- Knowledge of customer interaction techniques, including personality matching.
The better skilled they are in each of these areas, the more call control they’ll have, which will result in reduced AHT.
Contributed by: Adam Boelke, Managing Partner at The Alignment Advantage Group
7. Promoting Company Mottoes That Are Disconnected From Reality
I feel for the frontline agents who are confronted by posters, screensavers and desktop wallpaper that reinforce company mottoes, creeds and visions that are disconnected from the reality of that same company providing substandard customer service.
Contributed by: Michael Clark, Co-Founder and Principal Consultant of CXTT Consulting
If you are looking for advice on how to create truly impactful customer service mantras and vision statements, read our article: Getting Started With Customer Service Mantras and Vision Statements
8. “Let’s Serve to Satisfy Our Customers”
When we analyse the customer journey, we first ask, “What are the customers’ expectations?”
Then we ask, “What are the potential dissatisfiers and how can we remove them?” And when we ask and take action, a negative customer experience has turned into a neutral one.
But that’s not good enough. Satisfied customers feel that their experience is good, not better, just average. Nobody raves about average. And satisfied customers will not return when they find something better or less expensive.
Contributed by: Bill Quiseng, Chief Experience Officer at billquiseng.com
9. Using Terms Such as ‘Shrinkage’ and ‘Talk Time’ Around Agents
There are operational words that give me the ‘ick’ and which detract from a customer-centric focus. Terms like: spans of control, shrinkage, and talk time.
These are words that should be completely shielded from customer engagement representatives as they threaten to create a culture focused on KPIs not customer outcomes.
Contributed by: Nerys Corfield, Injection Consulting
10. “Keep It Short”
Too often, we ask frontline agents to “stick to the script” while simultaneously demanding they show empathy and build rapport.
We overload them with protocols and rigid metrics that contradict the very essence of good customer service.
Agents are told to “keep it short” yet also to ensure customers feel valued and heard. No wonder they’re stuck in a lose–lose situation!
Contributed by: Rob Clarke, Director and Co-Founder of Elev-8 Performance
11. Setting Arbitrary Numbers as Targets – Without the Training to Achieve Them
One of my biggest frustrations is when management assigns agents an Average Handle Time (AHT) target, like “210 seconds per call” without equipping them with the necessary communication skills training to achieve it.
While targets help agents focus, setting an arbitrary number often leads to the wrong behaviours. Undertrained agents may rush calls, and poorly trained team leaders might pressure them to speed up. This results in frustrated customers calling back or escalating, which only increases contact centre workload.
Worse, dissatisfied customers may not return at all, choosing to cancel their service or share their negative experience on social media instead, damaging your company’s reputation.
The key to efficiency is training agents in communication skills. Empathy and active listening skills soothe irate callers, while improved diagnostic skills resolve issues faster.
In addition, negotiation skills help agents find win–win solutions for their customers. Without this soft skills training, AHT goals can negatively impact agent performance.
Contributed by: Mike Aoki, President, Reflective Keynotes Inc.
12. Not Setting a Baseline for Agent Performance
In his book “Customer Satisfaction Is Worthless”, Jeffrey Gitomer defines customer service as “the assistance and advice you give to those who buy or use products or services.”
Customer service is simple to understand and should be simple to implement. Agents in call centres should know this definition as it forms the basics of how (and why) we treat each other.
This coincidently brings up the first leadership-driven opportunity: if an agent doesn’t know how they are doing, that agent will be very disgruntled.
The quick fix to this is to grab that rating instrument from Jeffrey Gitomer (pp. 215-216), pass the surveys around, and set a baseline. Once a baseline is established, look at the specific 11.5 items, and individually, between the agent and their supervisor, discuss how to meet those items to raise a score.
When the internal factors are addressed correctly, external issues are minimized, and your external customers will move from satisfied to loyal.
Contributed by: Dr M. Dave Salisbury, COO at D&C Consulting LLC
13. “Frontlines”
We may logically say that contact centre agents are the frontline because they are front and centre with customers.
However, this should be avoided, as they make customers feel they are “doing battle” with the contact centre frontline.
Contributed by: Bill Quiseng, Chief Experience Officer at billquiseng.com
14. “Can We Move Your 1-to-1?”
When we move an agent’s 1-to-1, which may be the only chance they get to privately share some of their challenges, this adds pressure on them to handle customer calls and stay focused.
Condensing or skipping 1-to-1s should be avoided, so you can give your agents time to share what help they need to deliver better service levels.
15. “We Need to Pull All the Off-the-Phone Activity…”
Often, this is the first thing to go when service levels are at risk, but it isn’t the best course of action.
People need training and coaching to get better, so it’s a short-term strategy that may not have long-term benefits and may do more harm than good.
For practical methods contact centre leaders can use to keep on top of training in a short-staffed contact centre, read our article: How to Keep on Top of Training in a Short-Staffed Contact Centre
16. “Can You Shorten That Training Session?”
A lot of work goes into training design, so when we suddenly decide to squeeze the trainer into shorter sessions, it’s the agent that suffers (and ultimately the customer!) as the agent doesn’t get enough time to embed the learning.
17. “Can We Get Them Onto the Floor Quicker?”
Good agent onboarding is so crucial in reducing first year attrition and preparing agents to handle all types of customer to do a great job.
Penny-pinching days here and there in reality doesn’t make the service levels any better and puts pressure on everyone – including the new agents.
Contributed by: Garry Gormley, Founder of FAB Solutions
18. Adhering to the Traditional Call Centre Hierarchy
It is worth being mindful that the traditional call centre hierarchy is the enemy of innovation and improvement.
The frontline agents in these situations are often seen as expendable cattle, trained to fulfil basic service functions with no opportunity to provide feedback or to drive innovation and improvement.
Contributed by: Michael Clark, Co-Founder and Principal Consultant of CXTT Consulting
Have you seen any examples of things we say and do to agents that contradict good customer service?
Follow us on LinkedIn and share your experience.
If you are looking for more great advice on developing your contact centre leadership, read these articles next:
- How to Conduct a Skills Audit and Coaching Plan
- Team Leadership: What Makes a Great Leader?
- 5 Things Creative Leaders Do Differently
Author: Megan Jones
Reviewed by: Xander Freeman
Published On: 9th Oct 2024 - Last modified: 14th Oct 2024
Read more about - Call Centre Management, Adam Boelke, Bill Quiseng, CX, Dave Salisbury, Editor's Picks, Garry Gormley, Leadership, Michael Clark, Mike Aoki, Nerys Corfield, Rob Clarke, Team Management, Top Story
