Like any department, the Contact Center must also create and assess a well-studied strategy so that customer service, sales and marketing campaigns are effective. There are some very useful strategies to consider. Let’s see which they are.
Contact Center strategy
The strategies that every leader or person in charge of a Contact Center should always keep in mind are the following ones:
- Recruit the best people to achieve success in your customer service department. It is essential to hire people with a good attitude, then you will teach them the necessary skills for optimal work. Have a planned training program related to these skills. Remember that it is not an expendable area to reduce costs.
- Be a leader. A leader must recognize the importance of her/his position, believe in the strategy, be active, be an example, and offer steps to those in charge to carry out the strategy. You must ensure that the customer service is correct, and have in mind the idea of continuous improvement. Self-assess your functions and your relationships with agents and supervisors.
- A happy worker, a happy customer. If your workers are happy in their workplace, you will get an impeccable deal with the client. We must determine what the potential of this happy agent is and offer him a career plan to keep him/her motivated.
- Our customer’s loyalty is important. A loyal customer will defend your company, it is also more profitable as it is less expensive. And he/she will get involved, even commenting on products and services. So he/she will help us improve.
- Listen to your workers and customers. Regularly listen to calls from your agents with clients and analyze them. A good software, such as EVOLUTION, will allow you to record conversations, locate and listen to them easily. This way you will find out what works and what doesn’t. It will help you improve the quality. It is also interesting to have focus groups for feedback and take note of suggestions. They will inform you of any deficiencies that the Contact Center may have.
- Customer complaints. Complaints should be welcomed, they help us improve. And it is important that they are not repeated, therefore, they must be resolved and show that the lesson has been learned.
- Evaluate the processes from the point of view of the Contact Center agent, and the customer. You need your team to invest in new processes and follow up.
- Be careful with the tools you use. There are options to cut costs, but check if they really pay off in the long run. Will you get real improvements? We advise you to be careful with “promising” tools, use them with caution. Remember that there are no quick fixes to improve customer service.
- Measure actions that are done well. You should measure the correct ones, and not the easiest ones.
- Build a good reputation and communicate properly. Remember that there are no quick fixes to improve customer service, but there may be an option that will give us a victory. Try to analyze it. As for good communication, coordinate all the available tools, although most Contact Centers are reactive and do not approach the client in a proactive way. If you have excellent customer service, communicate it, as long as it is a reality.
What should I and what should I not do to have a good strategy
As the person in charge of a Contact Center, ideally you should:
- Get the team involved and trust your agents.
- Focus on the customer.
- Commit to reaching the top.
- Listen to your agents, supervisors and clients.
- Measure the right actions.
- Have a good long-term strategic plan, and adapt it to new situations -such as teleworking during confinement, due to COVID19-.
It is important that you are aware that you should not:
- Stop training the team in difficult times.
- Pretend you’re good if you aren’t already.
- Hear only good news. You must value everything.
- Ignore your customer database. Take care of each of your current clients.
- Give up, even if the situation is complicated.
How agents of a Contact Center should be
An agent has to meet a series of requirements so that the Contact Center can offer a quality service. We provide you with a list of the best support skills for an optimal service:
- To be nice. You must be respectful, polite, and understanding with customers. Insist your agents on the importance of kindness when talking to clients.
- Summarize conversations. An agent summarizing the conversation to the client shows that she has been listening carefully, and will avoid misunderstandings.
- Participate in active listening. This is essential for effective communication. Facilitates understanding of needs and shows a predisposition.
- Use simple language. An agent must think that his client may not have much knowledge of the product or service, so it is better that he explains in detail the resolution process and how it can help him.
- Offer maximum options to customers. It is important that you involve clients in solving their problems. This brings a higher level of customer satisfaction (CSAT).
- When necessary, your agent should transfer a call to a more knowledgeable colleague. For example, with ICR Evolution, distribution policies can be defined, so that calls are handled by the most appropriate agents. You always have to make it clear to the client that he will be transferred to someone who will help him/her solve the problem in an effective way.
- Spread the word. It is interesting that an operator wants to collaborate with his teammates to disseminate new information, which he considers useful for the Contact Center. As long as you share it in a serious, transparent and broad way.
Remember that good customer service will improve the image of the company, your agents will be more happy to work for it, and you will attract talent to your organization. In addition, you should not forget that providing your team with an omnichannel tool such as ICR Evolution will make the work of your agents more agile and simple and will help you achieve your strategic objectives.
