" WHAT HAPPENED TO TELEPHONE ETIQUETTE TRAIN- ING AND THE THREE MOST IMPORTANT WORDS: ' PLEASE ' AND ' THANK YOU '?"
To find out how contact center leaders can best seek, and ideally ensure, high-quality, loyalty-building CXs in an ever-changing environment, we had a virtual conversation with consultant and Advisory Board member Laura Sikorski.
WHAT DEVELOPMENTS AND TRENDS ARE YOU SEEING IN ENSURING QUALITY, E. G., QUALITY ASSURANCE( QA) THROUGH THE CONTACT CENTER, AND WHAT ARE THEIR DRIVERS?
A: Quality assurance( QA) scoring is the assessment of empathy, accuracy, and compliance for interactions. High performance and productivity should be based on results achieved from procedural updates and targeted training / coaching.
Individual performance evaluations and productivity enhancements are still priority measurements, regardless of how many agent seats / shifts are available to answer interactions. This should never change in the contact center. Mentoring and coaching are the drivers here.
Achievable scores for service level, adherence, Net Promoter, first contact resolution( FCR), and customer effort should be realistic and produce a culture of continuous improvement and high performance.
However, let us not forget that staff empowerment must be reviewed and adjusted regularly. Fortunately, I am seeing more QA programs focusing on team performance.
Team peer pressure can be a powerful influence. And it may help reduce turnover by encouraging open communication, celebrating successes, supporting flexible scheduling, and promoting wellbeing. A team-based approach strengthens support and fosters a positive, collaborative environment.
Remember your Contact Center IS the heartbeat of your company and it directly influences customer and employee satisfaction as well as profits. Happy Employees mean Happy Customers.
Service level, average speed of answer, and abandon rate are the key drivers that will create meaningful customer connections and retention.
ARE CUSTOMERS’ QUALITY EXPECTATIONS RISING AND IF SO, WHY? ARE CONTACT CENTERS MEETING THEM, AND IF SO, HOW, AND IF NOT, WHY NOT?
A: I have said this many times in Contact Center Pipeline articles: customers expect and demand excellent and consistent service. But customer loyalty is not what it used to be. From my own experiences, I no longer tolerate mistakes in shipping, incorrect delivery time quotes, price inconsistencies, and inconsiderate / rude agents. Unfortunately, I do find the latter increasing and I am shocked.
Budget cuts are causing short staffing and longer wait times are prevalent. I too am not as loyal as I used to be. Are you?
What happened to telephone etiquette training and the three most important words: PLEASE and THANK YOU? I’ m not sure that this even exists in training programs. There is now less servicing of phone calls while researching information and agents forgetting to use the HOLD button.
So, if your contact center— and, most importantly, your company / brand— wants to retain the loyalty of customers like me, do your initial and continuous training courses include the following?
• Telephone voice
• Telephone answering
• Controlling the call
• Power talking for results
• Telephone call handling, in particular:- Dealing with angry / irate customers- Diffusing difficult customers- Active listening- Successful communications- Keys to customer service- Practical steps to problem-solving- The“ deadly sins” of customer service- Customer service survival skills
" WHAT HAPPENED TO TELEPHONE ETIQUETTE TRAIN- ING AND THE THREE MOST IMPORTANT WORDS: ' PLEASE ' AND ' THANK YOU '?"
-- LAURA SIKORSKI
Also, I’ m not sure why, but I do think many companies think noise-canceling headsets are outdated and too expensive. I really dislike hearing other agents speaking to their customers and my concentration to listen to my agent wavers. And I’ m sure many other customers feel and are reacting the same way.
Moreover, chat used to be the best way to communicate with a human and was always fast and accurate despite an agent managing four to five customers at one time.
Now AI is doing the chatting and many times it( notice I said IT!) just does not react with accuracy to a question. I type fast and still have a hard time with AI understanding what is needed to help me.
28 CONTACT CENTER PIPELINE