Most call center agents are encouraged (required) to "brand the call" by including the name of the company in the opening and closing of the call. But others are expected to include the company's latest advertising tag line as well, I'm in favor of the first, and opposed to the second.
I always want to know who I'm talking to, and some reps don't understand how important that is to customers. It's not rare at all, as careful as I am, for a customer to tell me about a problem that another company needs to handle. I have to listen carefully to make sure the customer doesn't think they're talking to someone else, along with everything else I listen to. So I have no trouble with mentioning my company name as clearly as possible.
But there's a limit to how much I can say after I say, "Hello." The customer doesn't want much more. The customer wants the time between "How can I help you?" and "I've fixed your problem" to be as brief as possible. When a call center rep tries to insert (or quickly mumble) a corporate slogan into my conversation, it annoys me a little. They get paid to listen to me. I don't get paid to listen to them. Don't tell me, "My goal today is to give you excellent service." Just do it. If they want to repeat a corporate slogan to me, it had better be about two words long.
As a call center agent, I work for my employer. But that's not quite true. I'm not really motivated by the desire for greater glory for my multinational corporation. If I were in commission sales, I might be motivated by a desire for commissions. But as a customer service rep, what really motivates me is my desire to help my customer. I'm actually fed by the knowledge that I've fed them.
So I become impatient of any corporate requirement that helps the company (theoretically) but doesn't help the customer.
Photo: Fabiana Bello
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