As we’ve pointed out in many past blogs, call centre workers have tough jobs. Most are on the phone for the majorities of their work shifts and can take upwards of 100 calls a day. They need things to help ease the pressure associated with their roles as phone agents. As a call centre manager, one of your most important roles is to find ways to improve the lives of your call centre employees. So what are the best ways to do that?
Offer regular and ongoing coaching sessions.
Never let your team members feel like they’re alone. There should be constant communication between you and your agents. Your morning meetings are important opportunities for you to boost spirits and energy that will last throughout each day. But your one-on-one feedback sessions are equally important. Be sure to have an open door policy that encourages your employees to discuss any and all issues they may have.
“Ongoing coaching reinforces the skills, techniques, and methods learned in training,” writes Nancy Pais on 31West.net, “Educate agents on the big picture, tell them how they can boost the company’s brand image, and monitor calls in real-time. Monitoring ensures that agents are following best practices protocols.”
Be mindful of the moods in your office.
Remember that your employees are humans. In other words, they have feelings. It’s incredibly important to be aware of how your phone agents are feeling during each day of work. Think about it. They are representing your business to people over the phone. If they sound drab, dull, bored or upset, your customer satisfaction is going to plummet.
Mark McDermott of Australia’s CX Central notes that, in some cases, agents may have difficulty selling your product because of how they feel about it. He cites an insurance firm where agents were struggling to sell mortgage protection insurance because they felt that the premiums being charged were very high when compared their own earnings.
“This was presenting an emotional challenge for them in how they pitched these products,” he informs, “By developing the right coaching skills with their line managers, these managers were able to talk to their people about what constituted a large premium and what the impact would be –even for their relatively wealthy customers if they were unable to pay their mortgage.”
Encourage your agents to be leaders.
If you want to empower your employees, put them in positions of power. Your top phone agents should be given the opportunity to offer others tips and advice to help grow the success of the team at large. Offer incentives for team members who wish to do a little training. And be sure to publicly acknowledge the successes of your employees. Recognizing jobs well done in front of the whole team goes a long way in boosting morale and fostering greater team spirit.
At MeloTel, we proudly offer DaFeeder Preview Dialer, which we consider a call centre must-have. It offers your reps one-touch dialing capabilities as well as the ability to create and maintain detailed notes about each call. Check out this five minute(ish) video about DaFeeder Preview Dialer, created by MeloTel’s Founder and CEO, John Meloche!
For more information, please don’t hesitate to call us at 1-888-MELOTEL or use the Live Chat feature on our website!
