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A Tale of Two Call Centers
By Peggy Carlaw
Without meaning to, we stumbled onto an interesting case study in the making—a sort of “twins study” for the call center industry. For us, and for the hundreds of agents arbitrarily designated to the two centers involved, the situation drove home the point that all other things being equal, a call center manager is often the make-or-break factor in the success of the center.
Here’s what happened: approximately 150 customer service representatives were hired for a four-month, inbound customer service program. The project took place in two locations. Agents from the two centers were identically trained, as were their supervisors. The two managers (one for each location) and all supervisors were given the same tools, resources, and objectives. Call flow into the two centers was roughly equal, and the same base of customers was calling the two centers. [...]
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Tip of the Month
Making assumptions without confirming can lead to a misunderstanding of what the customer wants. To avoid this potential disaster, always confirm your understanding. Doing this not only shows that you have listened to and understood the customer’s request, but it also helps customers crystallize their own thinking.
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Hurrah for Customer Complaints
By Vasudha Deming
I received a call today from a client who recently completed Impact Learning Systems’ customer service training Getting to the Heart of Technical Support™. program for tech representatives:
This client is in charge of customer relationships at a managed service provider. As with most people in his position, he receives a fair number of customer complaints. He was calling to say that he had a big aha moment when learning in the training that customers who bother to complain are doing so because they value the product that they’re calling about.
He said he had never thought about it this way, and the concept was helping him to view dissatisfied customers in a new light.
The statistics vary, but they’re by now familiar to most of us. [...]
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