Once someone in your call center has spotted a trend in calls - several callers with the same question or problem - it's important to make sure all agents are trained to deal with that trend. I've gotten pretty good at guessing what callers are going to say.
- If a caller uses the expression "you people" in the first sentence or two, you know he's only temporarily controlling his irritation, and if you don't act fast, he'll unleash his irritation on you.
- An elderly female caller with an East Coast (USA) accent is probably calling from Florida and wants a few cents credit for "dropped calls" on her phone bill.
- A caller who is belligerent about wanting a free long distance call placed for him is probably trying to trick you into giving him a call he doesn't deserve.
- A caller who is overly anxious about troubles with his calling card, but who is evasive about exactly where he's calling from, is probably calling from a correctional facility (jail or prison). Especially if his voice sounds hollow, as if it's echoing off concrete cell walls.
Once I guess what the customer really wants (often because they haven't told me so I have to guess), I often politely interrupt them: "Oh, that's terrible! I'm so sorry that happened to you. Because I can fix it real easily." When they hear that, they rarely mind being interrupted. The key is to make sure they know they are being listened to.
One warning: don't try this on your family members. They don't want to hear how quickly you can listen to them. They want to hear how carefully you can listen to them.
» Addressing Call Center Newbies’ Communication Gaps from CallCenterScript
If you were to outsource your calls to other countries than your own, one reality the business has to face is to deal with accent, pronunciation, grammar and comprehension of the language.On the account of saturation and harsh competition, the... [Read More]
Tracked on: February 21, 2008 2:13 AM | Permalink to Trackback