9 Ways to Optimize Call Centre Customer Service

John Yarbrough, on behalf of Serenova, highlights a number of ways to optimize call centre customer service for better customer experiences.

For years, Serenova/Lifesize highlighted the rising importance of customer experience, having recognized that quality service begins and ends with the contact centre.

While it’s true call centres remained an afterthought for too long, today leading organizations recognize their importance to the bottom line and are redoubling efforts towards improving call centre agent training, client retention, and providing supplemental resources that meet (and even exceed) customer experience promises.

In business, there’s an understanding that it’s ten times more expensive to gain a new customer than to retain an existing one. But, regardless of whether your company is focused on acquiring new clients or holding on to current ones, the same principle rings true – superior customer service is the key to keeping your customers satisfied.

Below, they’ve outlined the nine best practices for call centre customer service to help your company provide exceptional engagement with every interaction.

1. Equip Teams to Succeed

Excellent contact centre customer service hinges on your team’s ’s communication skills and technical support abilities as well as feeling confident in what they’re doing. Without investing in the call centre agents themselves, it’s doubtful anyone will be able to perform at their peak.

But by taking the time to thoroughly train each agent, they’ll be equipped with the tools necessary for meaningful customer care.

2. Move Call Centres to the Cloud

Not only has customer support continued to grow in importance, but the need to scale contact centres has never been higher. A primary reason cloud contact centres are becoming the industry norm is due to the clear advantage they offer in delivering a comprehensive customer experience.

Moving to the cloud lets teams scale up or down to meet customer demand, which is critical for businesses like retailers who need flexibility during peak times.

Additionally, cloud solutions like CxEngage allow companies to more easily respond to market conditions – such as a shift to remote agents or new contact centres in different geographies.

This not only makes IT’s job easier, but it allows the organization to deliver consistently positive experiences no matter where the call centre agent or the caller is located.

3. Implement Intelligent Routing

It’s unlikely many (if any) of your customers enjoy being on hold, yet inbound call centres handle incredible call volumes on a daily basis, which poses a challenge to addressing issues in a timely manner.

Fortunately, by implementing intelligent routing like an automatic call distribution system, your company can easily reduce wait times and limit customer frustration.

ACDs direct callers to the correct department or agent who can assist with their issue in real time. These systems instantly transform an overwhelming number of calls into a well-organized queue, helping fulfil customer needs in a quicker, more streamlined fashion.

4. Store Account Data From Each Call

Another advantage of using an ACD is its ability to integrate with other business software, like customer relationship management platforms.

By syncing these two services, you’ll save ample time on data entry, since call notes and recordings are automatically linked between the ACD and CRM.

Thanks to this stored information for each call, customer service representatives have access to tons of relevant details, meaning customers won’t need to explain their issues multiple times to different agents.

Accumulated account data enhances both the sales and support process, and results in more effective and consistent call centre customer service.

5. Make Communication More Personal

Customers want to feel as though they matter to the organizations with whom they do business, and one of the most effective strategies companies can employ to reinforce this perception is through personalization.

In fact, a recent Accenture study found that 33% of customers who abandoned a business relationship did so because personalization was lacking.

Even if your company already provides personalized service, you should always be looking for ways to improve every customer’s experience with a positive attitude.

The goal is to make callers feel seen and valued, which can be tricky when you’re interacting over the phone, text or chat rather than in person (a video-enabled contact centre can help with this).

A good place to start is by shifting perspectives to view calls as real-time relationships, rather than just another number in the queue. If your agents use their name when they pick up the phone (and then address the customer by name, as well), you’ll stand out as a company who truly cares.

It’s these thoughtful touches that’ll take customer satisfaction to the next level and improve retention year after year.

6. Listen to Customers’ Concerns

Once a call centre agent is connected to a customer, it’s important for the agent to actively listen as the customer articulates the reason for their incoming call.

Whether they’re upset about something, or they have wonderful things to say about your company, or they land somewhere in between, what all customers want is simply to be heard.

Call centre customer service sets itself apart when agents take a moment to really listen and understand the obstacle or opportunity that’s been presented, and this will ultimately allow them to serve the caller much better.

7. Effectively Address Issues

If your company makes team training a priority, then your customer service agents will feel empowered to tackle any number of questions or concerns.

Endlessly transferred calls to other departments or to escalating levels of authority will only irritate the customer further, which is why it’s necessary to address issues the first time.

Agents who have the tools and autonomy to quickly solve problems will make customers feel good about choosing to do business with you. And once customers know they can trust your team to take care of them, their loyalty will soar.

8. Review Customer Calls

Taking the time to review calls is a valuable component of call centre customer service, but unfortunately, few companies regularly leverage this asset. Reviews can happen one of two ways, either by recording conversations to replay later on, or by having the customer service manager listen in while an agent is on a live call.

Whichever method you choose, make sure to listen for areas that can improve, as well as areas that deserve recognition. Reviewing calls is a chance to learn from previous customer interactions and encourage positive behaviours to build an even stronger team moving forward.

9. Keep Your Team Happy

Keeping your agents happy and motivated in their work is essential to providing the highest quality service, since these are the individuals who directly interact with your customers.

It’s difficult to provide outstanding customer service if your team doesn’t feel supported or prepared to do its best, which is why agent training is so intertwined with overall success.

Treating people well and acknowledging their hard work is also paramount to team morale and mood. Call centre agents have a challenging job, but those who feel encouraged and appreciated by their supervisors are more inclined to treat customers with that same respect.

3 Contact Centre Customer Service FAQs

1. What are important qualities in a customer service representative?

Among the most important qualities for customer service representatives are patience, empathy, strong time management and the ability to multitask.

Agents who embody these characteristics will thrive in their role and make a lot of customers happy in the meantime.

2. How can I be a good call centre agent?

A good call centre agent stays organized, pays attention to details, remains calm under pressure and communicates effectively.

Agents represent their company to every customer they interact with, which is why it’s crucial to treat each caller with kindness and respect.

3. How do you handle difficult customers?

When dealing with difficult customers, call centre agents should try to actively listen and empathize with the situation.

Putting yourself in the customer’s shoes and echoing their frustration will defuse things and reassure them you’re going to do all you can to help.

Conclusion

In order to stay ahead of your competitors, you have to delight customers with exceptional experiences across the board.

Fortunately, call centres can employ simple but focused strategies to put customers first, use technology wisely, and take care of their team members.

In doing so, you’ll deliver the superior service today’s consumer craves, and enjoy the company-wide ripple effects of positive customer engagement.

To learn more about how Serenova’s cloud contact centre and workforce automation solutions, follow the link to request a demo here.

This news story has been re-published by kind permission of Serenova – View the original post

For more information, visit: www.lifesize.com

Author: Guest Author