How to Provide Better Service to a Customer Who Calls

When customers contact your support center, they deserve nothing but the best treatment. If the customer is unhappy with the telephone support they receive, they are unlikely to buy your products or services again. Still, many organizations upset their customers with poor phone handling.

Both small and large organizations commit this mistake. The truth is that most companies don't want their customers to call them. They would like the customer to check out the FAQ section on their website. And if they can't find the answers there, they would like the customer to use the live chat facility on their website or communicate through social media.

 

Companies just don't want the customer to pick up the telephone. However, most customers who call the help desk have already tried one or more of the three methods mentioned above. They picked up the phone as their last resort. And if they still don't get the answer, you can imagine how frustrated they will be.

If you are guilty of annoying the customer with poor call handling methods, you need to review your practice. You should get the process checked by a team of qualified professionals. Here's what you need to do.

Imagine that you are the customer and try calling the support center

Listen carefully and try to analyze the experience. You have probably already done this. You need to do this again.

If your telephone system provides useless information remove them. For example, when a customer calls your phone system might ask them to listen carefully because your menus have changed. The truth is that customers don't care whether your menu has changed or not. All that the customer wants are solutions. The customer wants to be able to talk to the right person without any delay.

Try to minimize the steps involved in getting to the right person. Don't frustrate the customer with numerous instructions. Instead, simplify the process.

Find out which category of customers calls you more often

If you are running a physician's office, the people who are more likely to call are patients. In this case, you should tell them to press 1 to make an appointment. Don't ask them to press 5 or 6. The option that applies to the category of people who call more often should always be stated first.

Don’t refer them to your website

Don't ask customers who have called your support center to visit your website to find a solution to their problem. In all likelihood they have already tried that method.

Revise your customer representative scripts

Perhaps you need to make your team more engaging and respectful. Customers don't want to listen to programmed scripts. Instead, they want to listen to a real human being who can understand their problems and suggest appropriate solutions. Remember that for most customers their problem is unique and they expect you to handle it with the seriousness it deserves.

Hire the right people and provide them the right training

If your customer care team is efficient, there will be fewer issues. You also need to invest in the right hardware. Provide an empowered environment for your team members to work in. This will help you earn the loyalty of your employees and customers.

Remember that the way you handle customer calls affects their level of satisfaction. When they call you, make sure that they are greeted by a real person with real answers.

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How to Deliver Great Customer Service

Organizations that provide great after sales service will have no difficulty retaining customers. This explains why every organization wants to deliver exceptional customer service.

Now the question is: How can an organization provide high quality customer care and keep its customers happy? Here are some tips:

Know how to deal with unsatisfied customers

You may be selling a great product or service; still, problems can occur. And when things go against their expectations, customers can become unhappy. You cannot deliver a great customer experience if you do not know how to deal with an unhappy customer. Make sure that your agents are aware of the happenings.

If there are recurring problems and your company is already taking measures to solve these problems, your agents should be aware of that. This way they can assure callers that your employees are working to resolve the issues.

By fixing recurring issues, companies can prevent future customers from facing the same problems. This will also improve customer satisfaction.

Let your agents know how they are performing

Run a few customer satisfaction surveys and share the outputs with your agents. Let them know that their hard work is being recognized. And if they ever go off the track, you should let them know that as well. When your agents realize that their performance is being rated, they will be motivated to work harder.

Develop your agent's Emotional Quotient (EQ) skills

Your agents are dealing with real people and not bots, and hence developing their EQ skills is important. This will help them deal with frustrated and angry customers better. Your agents should be able to empathize with the customer and see things from their perspective.

Good EQ skills are essential to build better rapport with the customer. You should also train them to ask the right questions that will help them get a complete picture.

Encourage your call center agents to own up

If there are problems, your agents should admit it and take responsibility. This gives callers the impression that they are talking to a person responsible for solving their problems.

If the agent merely passes the problem over to another agent, the customer will get frustrated.

Quality is as important as AHT

While monitoring the performance of your agents, you should definitely consider average handling time. If the agent takes too long to resolve a problem, it is not a positive sign. However, quality is equally important. The agent is not supposed to rush through the calls. They should show enough patience to hear what the customer has to say. This is necessary to ensure that problems are being resolved properly.

Put the customer first

Put the focus on the customer. Your goal must be to ensure their satisfaction. Forget about internal processes and do whatever you can to increase customer satisfaction.

Empower your agents

Appreciate your agents' hard work. Reward them. However, this doesn't mean that you should give them time off their work or the phone. Instead, give them an opportunity to work on individual projects that need not necessarily involve calls. This empowers your agents and gives them a better understanding of your business.

Ask your agents to notify recurring problems

Ask your agents if they notice any patterns or trends in the incoming calls. If there is a problem that affects several customers, your agents are usually the first people to know about it. By keeping in constant touch with them you can detect problems early and address them.

Keep your customers informed

Try to increase the number of one-call resolutions. This is not possible all the time, but that should be your goal. Keep the customer well-informed and up-to-date. They should know what is happening in the background. They should know what steps you are taking to solve their problem.

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How to Deal With Angry Callers

A call center has to deal with all kinds of callers. While some callers are polite, some others are rude. Some may be upset; others are simply bad-tempered. Dealing with a sulky caller requires tact.

Since all call centers will have to deal with ill-tempered callers from time to time, teaching your operators how to deal with these callers is imperative if you want to increase your quality scores.

Grumpy calls don't necessarily mean that the call center or the operator is bad at solving customer problems. In fact, many of these calls are quickly resolved. Still, angry callers are a big headache for all call centers. Before we learn how to deal with this issue, we should take a look at standard metrics used by call centers all over the world.

Quality scores

The quality score is a measure of the overall caller experience. Calls are usually recorded for quality control. While measuring the quality of calls, the quality control team will assess factors such as personality (of the caller's as well as the operator's), openness, level of service, and adherence to polite language.

Each call is scored on a scale of 1 - 10. By analyzing these scores, a company can find out what sort of service the customer received. This doesn't mean that grumpy calls will lower the credit score. In fact, these calls may have a high score depending on the way the agent responds.

Grumpy calls with high scores indicate that they were properly managed by the agent and that they do not require the intervention of a supervisor. As far as possible, agents should try to subvert the need for their supervisor's involvement.

First call resolution

One of the most important metrics used to measure quality score is first call resolution. If there is a first call resolution, the caller does not have to contact the call center again for the same problem. This improves customer satisfaction and quality scores.

Supervisors can easily measure the number of first call resolutions. If there is more than one call from the same phone number, it implies that the problem was not solved immediately. And when the caller has to call again, the operator will have to spend more time dealing with the same caller. As a result, the operator will get less time to manage other callers. That's bad for the call center. Operators who receive grumpy calls should try to solve the issue immediately. There should be no call back or transferring. Again the emphasis should be on time management.

Calls per hour

The efficiency of a call center is sometimes measured in terms of the number of calls it handles per hour. If the agent/operator handles a large number of calls in an hour, it is safe to assume that s/he is resolving issues in an effective and timely manner. And if the operator handles more calls, it means more money for the call center.

Call centers can increase calls per hour by updating software and hardware. This will expedite call transfers.

Stay calm

The agents should be trained not to take anything personally, even when dealing with an angry caller who hurls abuses or insults. Don't drag the conversation. Listen patiently and do whatever you can to resolve the issue at the earliest. Remember that if the agent is angry, the customer will be angrier.

The agent's sole concern should be resolving the caller's problem. And when the agent shows a genuine concern for the caller and tries to address their problems earnestly, the sulky caller may begin to sound appreciative. Let the caller give vent to their frustrations, but the agent should stay calm.