Call centres are often competitive atmospheres. Especially when the office spaces are large, call centre environments can be busy, noisy places filled with enthusiastic individuals who are all vying for top spot on the list of in-office performers. At least, they should be. With call centres often employing people with extroverted personalities, they are bound to have a lot of energy within them on any given work day.
As a call centre manager, it’s your job to keep energy levels up. Naturally, with the hard work that comes with being on the phone comes fatigue and sometimes, disappointment. Sales agents who work on the phone often hear the word “no”, so overcoming objections becomes a huge part of their jobs and an integral part of their success. Rebuilding broken confidences of employees is therefore a big part of your job.
How else can you improve performance at your call centre? Here are five ways:
1. Hire and train team builders. It’s always a good idea to hire good team players to be part of your staff. A team player is generally the type of person who works well with others. However, team builders are the type of people who actively seek to help the people around them to feel better about themselves. If you can encourage the members of your team to be “leaders” by offering assistance and motivation to their teammates, you’ll manage a very lucrative call centre.
2. Insist upon relationship building. If your call centre work is sales-based, it’s wise to train your team to focus on building relationships with customers. In other words, it’s more about their interactions than it is about the products and services you sell. Your team should be used to using their customers’ names and asking probing questions to pinpoint their needs and concerns. That way, they will be in better positions to earn trust and long-term loyalty. This, of course, helps to boost sales.
3. Introduce in-office competitions. With this, you can transform a dull and dreary call centre into a lively and energetic place to work. A lot of people enjoy the idea of competing for added bonuses and incentives. A standard paycheque is often not enough to drive one’s competitive spirit. The opportunity to earn more (even if it’s not monetary) and to be publicly recognized as a top performer is often an excellent source of motivation.
4. Publicly acknowledge your top performers. Branching off of that last point, it’s important to highlight the top performers on your staff. Even more than a physical reward of some kind, a public acknowledge of a job well done works as a great motivator for employees to achieve. Simply put, people appreciate being valued. When you regularly express your gratitude and show your appreciation, you nurture a team that is encouraged to keep achieving success.
5. Offer regular feedback. Your team members need your help. Offer your guidance, words of wisdom and expertise on a regular basis so that they know they have your support. Furthermore, constant feedback keeps people on their toes. It helps them to correct mistakes and resolve issues so that they don’t reoccur. Keep in mind that feedback can also be positive. Show that you recognize the hard work being done by your employees during your feedback sessions.
At MeloTel, we offer the perfect solution for call centre managers looking to provide accurate feedback to their phone agents. It’s call the Monitor/Whisper Control Panel and it enables you to listen to calls live and as they happen. You may also whisper information to your agents without the other parties hearing you. And, if necessary, you can even “barge in” and take over the calls from your agents!
For more information, please don’t hesitate to contact us at 1-888-MELOTEL or use the Live Chat feature on our website!
