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The Worst Advice I’ve Ever Heard About Call Centers

DialogTech

When we’re talking about how we can help a call center implement the different products and services (like IVR’s or Call Distributors) that can make their business run smoother, we often hear things that makes us want to cringe. Most of it comes down to “we’ve always done it this way,” or “this just works for us,” which are two phrases that can be very detrimental to the health of a business. We’ve decided to take some of the worst “advice” we have heard about running a call center and talk about it here. Our goal is to tackle one piece of advice at a time every few weeks, and for our first installment we tackle this one: the best way to judge success in a call center is how quickly an agent can solve a customer’s problem and get them off the phone.

Connection Is More Valuable than Speed

The idea behind solving a customer’s problem as quickly as possible and then moving on to the next customer has always focused on being as efficient as possible, which then allows the call center to hire less people, which in turn results in more revenue for the company. In many call centers, a major part of an agent’s overall performance is based on how quickly they can solve a customer’s problem. But this is just one piece of the puzzle.

What if in the agents attempt to solve the issue as quickly as possible they didn’t get it right the first time, thereby causing that customer to have to call in again, and having to engage another agent to help solve the problem? And in doing so, the customer begins to have a negative view of the company and begins telling friends and family about his poor experience, ultimately dissuading them from utilizing that company’s product or service? It has been shown over and over again that the most trusted form of advertising is a referral from family or friends, and in Nielsen’s 2013 survey “Consumers’ Trust in Advertising,” the top answer showed that 84% of respondents completely or somewhat trust recommendations from people they know.

You need only look to the poster child for great customer service, Zappos, to see how they put this information into practice. According to online CRM research firm Software Advice, rather than judging an agent on how quickly they can solve a problem, they judge whether or not that agent made an emotional connection with that caller, regardless of how long it takes. . Their philosophy comes down to the simple truth that a happy, engaged customer is more likely to buy from you again and, more importantly, recommend you to their friends and family.

This is where another important distinction is made by Zappos: they see their call center as one of their most important marketing tools. Most people look to their website as their most important marketing tool, but Zappos understands that the personal dialog and connection happening between their agent and that customer has as much (if not more) value than any other marketing they do. Looking at your call center as a potential marketing tool can completely change the way you view your call center: it changes it from cost center to revenue generator.

In the end, it is not about how quickly you can solve someone’s problem, but how effectively you can communicate with that customer and build a relationship that will endear them to your brand. As we all know, it is much cheaper to keep a customer than to go out and find a new one.