
When any client or customer telephones the call center to unbosom his/her complaints or queries, he/she wants an immediate response from that call center. Immediate clarification and replies need to be provided by the call center agents as they are the honest brokers between the clients and the business organization or company. Call center agents have to maintain a stalwart balance between callers and the organizational needs where callers’ expectations have to be fulfilled along with the organizational targets set aside.
The task of a call center representative or call center agent is very daunting and persnickety, too, as small details also have to be recorded in this line. With a minor slip-up, a client can shift from a strong customer base to another competitor. Hence, call center agents need a balanced skill set to complete the tasks and handle any hellacious situations that may arise at any time. 24/7 customer service is what the customer expects in today’s trend. Along with human resources, the technology is also used side by side to enhance customer experience (CX). Call center agents can be termed as the brand ambassadors of the organization as their responses or conversations make an impact upon callers about the particular product or service that the caller is inquiring about.
We are going to discuss the top 10 customer satisfaction skills that call center agents must have in order to secure customer retention and satisfaction as customers are one of the strong foundations of the business. Let’s delve into the must-have skill set for call center agents.
1. Strong and effective communication skills
2. Product knowledge and use of technology
3. Speed and Efficiency
4. Empathy and Emotional Stability
5. Problem-solving and pressure-handling skills
6. Organizational caliber
7. Adaptability and Flexibility
8. Patience and positivity
9. Attentiveness and Active Listening
10. Team Player
Let’s dive into their core descriptions that have to be embraced by call center agents conducive to organizational success and business productivity.
Communication is the first and foremost customer satisfaction skill that every call center agent must endure. First of all, there should be a two-way communication approach. A customer must understand why the customer has devoted his/her time to dialing the call center. The customer wants the call center agent to understand his/her motive for calling in an instant manner. When customer calls are being squandered or they feel call center agents are not getting their queries, they may feel cheesed off.
Hence to make communication more effective, one should give enough time to the customer to exhibit his/her objective of calling and after thoroughly understanding the motive, one should act immediately. For this, the vocabulary of the call center agents must be precisely tuned. The use of jargon and slang should be strictly avoided. The conversations should be clear and concise so that the callers may get their responses in a proper manner.
Along with the participation of human resources at call centers, there are different AI tools and updated technology processes applicable to ease the call center activities and provide excellent customer service to the customers. Before entering the arena of the call center, new hires or even experienced CSRs must have proper knowledge about the product or service that he/she is going to explain to the caller. The call may be associated with its application, defect, use, and many more. To convey the callers about the responses, call center agents must save the Encyclopaedia of that particular product. When they are unaware of the product, they may get rambled and callers may create a confusing image about the product upon their head about the organization and its employees.
Product knowledge is mandatory of course but the use of technology with its knowledge is also important. When the call center agent, for example, doesn’t know the specifics or technicalities of the service, he/she has to direct the call to the concerned department and he/she must know about its application. So beforehand, call center agents must be provided training and development opportunities about using tools, trends, and new technology related to call centers.
We have discussed customer wait times, holding the customer on call for a long time, and other KPIs related to the call center. If the customer or caller can’t get his/her work done instantly, their experience may worsen and loyalty may shift to another product which may be a huge loss for the business. As call center agents are like a cynosure for more businesses to come, they need to be faster and more efficient. They must be able to handle a large number of callers in a short period with queries or complaints and respond positively.
Fast and efficient service is highly appreciated by the customers as they want immediate solutions in just one call. Slow and steady responses are not highly welcomed by them. The fast pace of delivering service comes with practice and some tactics. Call center agents must have this skill set to deliver gangbusters customer service.
If the call center agents can’t understand and acknowledge the emotions of the customers, they may not feel comfortable sharing their grievances or queries. When they feel they have a quite understandable ambiance to express, they trust the call center agents and initiate the conversation. As a call center agent, one is taking charge of that particular call so one should be respectful towards the caller and provide a secure environment to express themselves in that call. The friendly and respectful approach will help to develop a good rapport with the customer making them feel they are being heard about their concerns.
One should be empathetic but emotionally stable as well. There are various types of customers or callers that call center agents have to face during a call such as angry customers, irritating callers, etc. In this type of situation, negative responses from the call center agents should be highly avoided. Call center agents should be more professional and stick to their call centers' T and C. To provide high-quality customer service, consistency in positive conversation is a must.
There may be arousal of any kind of situation at call centers when customers call. There is a facility of call scripting at call centers for common issues and usual queries but customers’ queries may not always be the same. The conversation may go in a different direction than the query mentioned in the call script and callers on hold is not just the right thing. So call center agents must be creative to tackle any kind of problem and query addressed to the caller.
Some unusual queries and frequent calls may create weighty pressure on call center agents. Such situations make the agents suffer from burnout and stress issues. The frustrating calls may weaken the confidence of the agents but they must make sure to remain calm in any kind of situation. Breathing exercises, and taking short coffee breaks may be quite helpful to tackle such extreme situations.
Call center organizations are one of the busiest organizations where non-stop calls ring and callers attend the phone calls with ultimate customer support. The main task of the call center agent is to handle the calls diligently and call center agents need to juggle a multitude of tasks while taking the calls such as taking notes of customers’ queries, checking for errors, updating CRM, searching the customers’ history, and many more. Call center agents have to stay more focused on prioritizing customer issues. Record-keeping also falls under this skill set.
A call center agent must prioritize the tasks according to the effort required and payoffs. A task calendar can be used for this purpose. They should be able to recall the information and set the history so that immediate actions can be taken when the same customer calls next time. The organizational ability of the call center agents makes them well-organized and pre-planned for the next situations to handle precisely.
As mentioned earlier, customer service representatives or call center agents must not always stick to the call script as any kind of difficult situation may pop up while interacting with the customer. And the agent must adopt new techniques and solutions for the existing situations. When the conversations shift towards unlooked-for turns, they should be flexible enough to think of immediate answers and make the tables turn into an approachable conversation.
This skill set comes with practice. At the first attempt, the new hires may not develop this skill. But with time and willingness to tackle any sort of challenges, this skill set will be developed. One should not be afraid to adopt new changes that may be mutually beneficial for both organization and callers.
Patience is a must while dealing with an irate or agitated customer. Being patient, calm, and positive are the most necessary traits for a call center agent. Some customer issues may spring up daily that lead to a short temper, stress, burnout, or loss of interest in work but as a responsible CSR, one should understand these basics of a call center agent that he/she must possess the peculiarities of being patient and positive while entering the profession of client relationship management.
When a call center agent radiates positivity as seen in the conversation others’ opinions. For example, when an angry customer continuously shouts to the call center agent on a call regarding frequent errors in the mobile banking system, the call center agent must respond in such a way that his/her anger turns into a calming one. “We are so sorry for the inconvenience caused. Due to………………reasons, you are facing such problems. We assure you this won’t happen again.” But if he/she responds in a negative tone, the customer will never be interested in using that product. So, patience and positivity are the key factors for customer retention that should be possessed by call center agents.
A caller expects the agent to understand his/her explanation before he/she explains everything. Hence, a call center agent must be able to read the callers on call. That means call center agents must be proactive in understanding the customers’ calls. When a customer or caller has to repetitively explain his/her problem, it’s bad for both the agent and the business. Call center agents must listen actively to the customers paying strong attention to the call.
The call center agents must have the ability to read the customer on call without face-to-face interactions which require a lot of dedication for the call center agents. They need to be more attentive to the phone calls and check out the customers’ mood interactions and vibes to continue the conversation. Active listening is most important for understanding the customers’ motives behind the call.
With remote working and hybrid working modules, employees can work from home and any place in the world with full-featured CRM and call-center software but the team is always associated even in the virtual working environment. With strong coordination and collaboration with the other team members only, team members can support each other and enhance customer experience. When supervisors are unaware of subordinates’ tasks or subordinates don’t convey the task planning or output to line managers, the communication line may break resulting in negative consequences with cold relationships and gaps of work at call centers.
So, a call center agent must also be a team player who should be consistently working to foster relationships with other team members. Team members when supporting each other and being a helping hand, the load of business success extends to everyone thus, working together as a team reaps better outcomes.
With time and trends, call center agents may progress with new emerging skills. Along with developing skills, training and development opportunities should be also provided to CSRs. Call center agents are the front faces on call and the skills that call center agents must possess, are responsible for their own professional growth, productivity, and organizational success too.