Customer service is vital to many businesses today and call centres can be a key part of this. However, not every call centre experience is a positive one for consumers, which is why it’s so important to ensure that best practices are in place. High quality calls will go a long way towards establishing positive relationships with customers and increasing the chances of positive outcomes. So, what do you need to know about call centre best practices?
Make sure the team has the right tools
There are a wide range of different tech tools that you can use today to help ensure that your call centre team is doing the best possible work and picking the right ones can make all the difference.
Be clear about operating procedures
What is expected of the team working on calls? Producing a clear set of standards and procedures will ensure that everyone knows what they need to do when dealing with customers on your behalf.
Have clear metrics
Tracking metrics like first call resolution, dropped calls, wait time and customer satisfaction will give you a clear idea of where the team is excelling and where improvement is necessary.
Make sure attitudes align with your ethos
Having the right people at the end of the phone is going to be a crucial part of getting the most from a call centre investment. This is partly about attitude - are they focused on solving a problem for a customer and providing a great experience in the process? Having experience can be useful for a role like this but it’s not as important as the approach that someone takes to every call.
Switch to optimistic, positive language
It’s essential for call centre reps to avoid telling customers that they “can’t’” do something too often. Where this is the reality it’s often better to focus on what can be done instead. For example, a refund may not be possible but store credit is.
Politeness goes a long way
Simple manners make a big difference to the way people feel they are being treated, from “please” and “thank you” to being aware of not taking up too much of someone’s time.
Invest in training
When call centre teams are well trained they are consistent and confident, so this makes a big difference to eventual outcomes.
Incentivise people
Using incentives can help to boost morale and employee satisfaction by recognising where a job has been well done or someone has gone above and beyond what was required of them. This creates an atmosphere where everyone is striving to do better.
Ask for feedback
Customer surveys, for example, are a very quick way to see how your customers feel about the call centre service they’ve received.
Make sure you’re compliant
It’s key to ensure that your call centre team is within the latest legal requirements when it comes to contact, recordings and operations in general.
Call centres can be hugely effective with the right best practices in place. Find out more by booking on to our Call Centre - Achieving Best Practice training course.