
If you have ever worked in a call center or have been closely associated with call center executive, then you will agree with us that the job of a call center executive involves dealing with different people on daily basis. Interacting with customers over the telephone is an integral part of his job. No matter what day it may be, call center executive deals with different people, who have different behavior, different disposition, different needs and different sets of expectations. The list of dissimilarity does not end here. These people belong to different ethnicities, regions, religions; have a different perception, way of communication and react differently to different situations. Interacting with such a diverse range of callers on a daily basis makes delivering excellent customer support service a daunting task for these executives.
Businesses subcontract their call center functions to outsourcing companies to improve their customer experience and satisfaction level by ensuring that their customers receive best-in-class after-sales care and support services. The sole motto of a customer care executive’s job is to resolve queries of customers and offer them outstanding services. call center solutions providers conduct regular training sessions to nurture soft skills and interpersonal skills of their executives. Though the key to deliver quality customer care services is answering and handling customers call smartly, sensibly and sensitively; there are some points that can help executives deliver best-in-class customer service effortlessly. Some of these points are:
Careful Listening
Careful and active listening is the first step towards delivering better after-sales customer care and support services and being culturally sensitive. When a caller reaches out to a contact center offering call center solutions, he is either seeking help or answers to his queries or wants to register a complaint. In any of these scenarios, he would like and appreciate if the executive quickly understands his concerns and provide a solution as soon as possible.
While training their customer care executives, outsourcing companies give special focus on ensuring that these executives can identify the instances where customers need empathy and deliver the same in the best possible manner. Consider a scenario where a wheelchair user calls in a call center to complain that the products that he had ordered were delivered at the main gate of his society. Such a complaint call calls for empathy.
Clarify in Case of Doubt
Even after listening to what the caller had to say carefully and actively if a customer care executive has doubts about a thing or other, it is always advisable to clarify. An agent should ask questions to make sure that he clearly understood the scenario, especially in the case where the caller has a particularly heavy accent. It is better to clarify rather than relying on the wrong information. Asking customers such questions make them feel valued and that the executives are there to help them.
Be Patient
Patience is one characteristic that every customer care executive must possess. While working in outsourcing companies, a call center agent may encounter multiple instances on a daily basis where the caller is not able to explain his situation clearly. More often than not, the chance of such instances increases manifold when there is an elderly person on the other side of the phone and does not know all the intricacies and technicalities. The key to handle such scenarios lies in being patient and asking clarifying questions to certify the accuracy of information.
Treat Customers Equally and Show Respect
Every customer contacting a contact center deserves to be treated equally and also with respect. A customer may belong to a different culture, caste or creed; but it is not an executive’s business to form an opinion and judge the customer. Outsourcing companies hire executives to deliver excellent customer care and support services to each and every customer who reaches out to the contact center.
Break the Barriers and Offer Alternative Resolution
Many times call center service providers face such scenarios where there call center executives cannot help the customer, who has called in to seek help. More often than not, such scenarios arise due to either language or cultural barriers. The best way to handle such situations is to transfer the call to a language expert or someone who can tactfully handle the call.
If outsourcing companies ensure that their call center executives take care of the above-mentioned points in their day-to-day job, then they can have a squad of culturally sensitive executives who can improve the customer experience and satisfaction level of any organization.