Hiring a Customer Service Agent Vs Training a Customer Service Agent

If you aim to retain customers, minimize employee turnover, and establish a customer-centric company, customer service training is indispensable. But how do you initiate the training process to ensure your representatives deliver exceptional support?

Our comprehensive guide is here to address this query. Considering that 90% of call centers in India consider customer service pivotal in selecting a company, delivering outstanding outsourced call center service is imperative for your company's enduring success and prosperity.

What is Customer Service Training?

Customer service training comes in various forms, but it generally follows an iterative approach aimed at imparting the necessary skills, competencies, and tools for effective customer support. Regardless of seniority or experience, any employee involved in customer interactions can benefit from such training. Simply put, by interacting with customers, you can directly get to know about the business insights objectively.

Definition:

Customer service training involves providing employees with coaching to enhance customer support and satisfaction. An effective customer service training program incorporates exercises designed to improve interpersonal communication, deepen product knowledge, develop conflict resolution skills, enhance crisis management abilities, and more.

Given that customers hold immense growth potential, all employees, be they marketers, executive assistants, management personnel, or customer service representatives, should strive to ensure customer satisfaction. While customer-facing teams may have different titles like customer support, customer success, or customer service, this article will use "customer service" as the term encompassing service and support training.

The Importance of Customer Service Training

Which aspect had a greater impact on your shopping experience: marketing tactics or customer service? Most likely, it was the latter. Customer service presents a valuable opportunity for companies to connect with customers, address their concerns, and demonstrate genuine care. When customer service is executed effectively, its positive effects can resonate with customers for an extended period.

Research indicates that people are 93% more likely to return after a satisfying customer service encounter. A large number of call centers in India overlook this fact somehow.

This is precisely why providing training to your customer support team is equally, if not more, crucial compared to training your marketing or sales teams. Service experiences are what leave a lasting impression on your customers and can generate positive reviews and word-of-mouth advertising. Investing in a customer service training program is thus essential, and here are a few reasons why.

Satisfied Customers Become Brand Advocates

It is not uncommon for businesses to perceive their outsourced call center teams as an afterthought. Once a consumer transitions into a paying customer, it might be tempting to assume that the hard work is complete. However, this perspective is flawed. Happy and satisfied customers are the result of excellent service and can become your most effective advocates, surpassing even your most talented marketers.

“Meeting and surpassing customer expectations should not be seen as an option but rather as a top priority.”

Here's why it holds significance: 94% of people recommend a company that delivers "very good" service, and buyers are 92% more likely to make a purchase after reading reviews. Considering these statistics, it becomes evident that your existing and past customers are your best assets for attracting new business. Customer service possesses the potential to become one of your most powerful marketing strategies.

Better Customer Satisfaction Provides Competitive Edge

Surprisingly, one of the simplest ways to differentiate yourself from competitors is by delivering excellent customer service, making your company the clear choice in your market. The evidence supports this claim: 3 out of 5 customers will abandon a business after just one negative experience, and that number increases to 3 out of 4 customers after two bad experiences. Every call center in India should underline this fact.

Furthermore, if you consistently provide exceptional service, 75% of individuals are more likely to forgive a single unfavorable encounter. Conversely, if customers perceive your service as poor, only 15% of them are inclined to remain loyal. This highlights the crucial importance of delivering top-notch customer service and ensuring that your representatives are trained accordingly.

Such training becomes indispensable in gaining a competitive advantage. A comprehensive customer service training program can help you establish a solid reputation, positioning your company as the obvious choice when customers seek options within your niche.

Better Customer Satisfaction Means Better Retention

Customer service is crucial for retaining customers. Personalized interactions and understanding of their needs can lead to satisfaction, recommendations, and business success. Training your employees in customer service is essential for building strong relationships with your customers. Businesses that are good harmony with their customers always flourish and those who don’t always struggle to keep up the pace.

Hiring and Training Customer Service Agents

You may wonder, "Why can't I simply hire the right people initially and be done with it?" While it is crucial to hire the best-suited individuals for each role, including customer service, solely relying on their skills would be a disservice to your team and customers. Irrespective of their talent, providing customer service training is essential for your representatives to effectively embody your company's values.

It is equally important to familiarize them with your methodology, enabling them to understand the rationale behind your specific approach and serve customers with confidence. Even experienced team members can benefit from periodic refreshers, as expectations and the world itself evolve rapidly.

For instance, Some content teams, although hired for their writing skills, received training on the company's style guide, representing the brand online, and upholding quality standards. Similarly, your customer support team should receive onboarding and training to work towards a larger goal: serving and delighting your customers.

Hiring highly skilled individuals does not diminish the significance of equipping them to be part of a cohesive team dedicated to customer satisfaction. Having that said, you can also check out some high-profile outsourced call center services if you wish.

Aspects of Hiring for Customer Service

While the primary focus is on customer service training, let's briefly touch upon the importance of hiring for customer service as well. Making the right hires forms the cornerstone of a robust customer service team. Your hiring process plays a crucial role in ensuring that your team is receptive to training.

While certain skills and strengths can be developed or refined through various types of customer service training, there are inherent attributes that your team members should possess from the moment of hiring. These qualities cannot be compensated for by software, training exercises, or tools.

Mandatory Skill Requirement in Customer Support Agents

Emotional Intelligence: Your customer service team encounters a range of customer issues, including both predictable ones and unforeseeable ones. The essence of customer service lies in the capacity to attentively listen, comprehend another person's problem, and empathize with them.

Regrettably, not everyone possesses this ability innately, and it is not a skill that can be easily acquired through training. Emotional intelligence revolves around how you connect with others, and as it plays a vital role in delivering outstanding customer service, it is crucial to ensure that prospective team members possess this skill before being recruited.

Good Communications: If applicants are unable to respond to an interview question, how would they effectively interact with your customers, who likely have higher expectations? While customer service training can provide new and enhanced communication techniques, new hires need to demonstrate their capability to simplify intricate subjects.

Also, a good agent must be equally capacitated enough to educate others on new skills. The agent must be articulative in his approach. To assess strong communication skills, you can pose inquiries such as, "How would you clarify a complex technical issue to a coworker who possesses limited technical knowledge?"

Resourcefulness: Resourcefulness sets apart those who respond to a problem with "I don't know" from those who say "I will find out." It encompasses problem-solving abilities, initiative, and creativity, among other competencies. While customer service training can nurture these skills, it is important for your candidates to demonstrate a certain level of resourcefulness, and a willingness to make an effort to find solutions independently.

Passionate: While passion may not be classified as a skill, it plays a crucial role in surpassing expectations in the realm of customer service. The ability to delight customers and transform them into enthusiastic advocates of your company requires a support team that possesses excitement and passion for both the success of the company and the satisfaction of the customers.

In a nutshell,

It is possible that your candidates may not currently harbor a strong passion for your company, and it may never become their foremost passion in life. Nevertheless, they should exhibit a genuine enthusiasm for working with people, specifically your customers, and assisting them in resolving their issues.

To evaluate their level of passion, you can inquire about a time when they felt the most fulfilled in their previous role. If hiring the right candidates can be likened to sowing seeds in fertile soil, then training your customer service team is akin to nurturing and cultivating your garden to reach its maximum potential.

Conclusion:

In the pursuit of high performance, many call centers in India inadvertently overlook essential elements. Patience, emotional intelligence, effective communication, resourcefulness, and genuine passion are often underestimated. Recognizing the significance of these qualities can lead to exceptional customer experiences, loyalty, and ultimately, long-term success in the field of customer service.