Customer Care Comes First
The concept of the call center has revolutionized the way businesses provide customer care. In the past, customer service had to be handled directly by the company, which was costly for the company and often slow for the consumer. By shifting this service to call centers, these services can be centralized and streamlined, offering vastly better results for consumers and businesses alike. However, these benefits can only be enjoyed when the call center is properly equipped for the customer experience.
Call Centers in a Perfect World
In their perfect form, call centers provide fast, personalized service. However, the way many calling centers are operated does not promote this type of experience. In these call centers, consumers are treated without focused attention. In short, these call centers are staffed with agents who are not equipped to address the caller’s specific concerns. Moreover, these agents are poorly trained to serve as a source of support.
With this in mind, it may be relevant to ask why companies still use these types of call centers. The answer is simple. These companies are looking to save money, and they neglect to focus on quality. Outsourcing customer service can and should save the company money. However, the company should never sacrifice the quality of customer care to accomplish this.
Fortunately, this sacrifice is not necessary. While some call centers are poorly equipped to provide quality service, there are others that work hard to promote professionalism. This is essential because customers often call these centers when they are already facing difficulties. Therefore, the calling center must be primed to resolve these issues by the end of the call.
How to Revitalize the Customer Experience
When looking for an appropriate calling center for your customer service, do not be swayed by empty promises of lower costs and streamlined service. These centers make your consumers feel like they are lost phone numbers on a computer screen. Instead, seek call centers that offer a more personalized experience for your consumers. This is how quality in a calling center is defined.
Quality starts with the agents themselves. It is imperative for the agents who answer the consumer’s call to be fully trained and exceptionally skilled. These employees should be versed in the client’s services in order to provide fast and effective feedback. Additionally, agents must be specifically trained in customer care. They should know how to make a consumer feel at ease during the phone call, offering sympathy and humor as necessary. The only way to make consumers feel like they are more than a phone number on a screen is to truly treat them like a person.
Agent Training Is the Key To Your Success
Developing these qualities in calling center employees does not happen by chance. It only happens with active and engaged training processes. This training must be comprehensive, and it must be ongoing. Agents need continual support in order to maintain the appropriate level of professionalism for the customer experience. With ongoing training, employees not only learn the latest technologies and the most recent client services, but they also are able to keep their focus as a customer service agent. Ongoing training reminds agents that they are professionals, which helps them retain that professionalism with each and every call they receive.
With this in mind, picking the right third party provider for your call center is more important than ever. There are obviously many options available, but you need to pick the company that focuses on agent training. This is the difference you find when you hire Endicott Call Centers. Endicott has been a leader in the industry for years with five service centers across the United States. While other centers struggle to retain talent, many of our agents have been with us for more than 20 years.
To learn more about how Endicott’s training programs can impact your customer care, please contact our team today.