They call in every day; you talk to different ones for hours on end; you hear their problems and answer their questions: Customers.

During the monotony of the workday, it’s often hard to personalize each person’s experience when they call. The process changes from quality over quantity to quantity over quality. However, the race to see just how many customers you can get through in one day is not helping your contact center, or customer loyalty. If you use contact center best practices you’ll keep them coming back. Be well versed in these 3 common contact center customer service mistakes to be able to avoid them in the future.

High call numbers don’t mean high satisfaction

Sure you’re getting through your calls, but that doesn’t mean you’re giving each customer the best experience. Never allow your mindset to change and think more about getting through the call than building a relationship. Listen to each customer’s problem and make sure to restate it so you know that’s exactly what they need help with. No customer is the same; they all want different things. After you understand what they need, take the time to fix it. There’s a difference between working efficiently and speeding through a call. By listening to each customer and addressing their needs, you’re ensuring that you’re able to help a wide variety of customers and making sure each one comes back.

Not every problem is the same

Let’s say you have a customer who calls multiple times a week, so you start to get to know them. Even though it’s the same person, their problems and the solutions to those problem will change most every time. People go through hard times sometimes, so don’t assume you understand the problem right away. Take the time to listen and respond to make sure you’re addressing this problem in the right way. Additionally, you may have many different customers, all with similar problems. After the fifth time, it may become tedious for you, but treat each one with the same respect as the first person with the problem, and they’ll keep coming back.

Listen to your employees

The start of good customer service is not always with the contact center representative, but often with their boss. Employ positive contact center management techniques. Listen to the employees in your contact centers and help them when they have questions. This will help you, as the boss, to gain insight into how to better help the customer - and be able to prepare other employees with scenarios that might occur when they’re on the phone. Not listening to your employees does both you and them a disservice, because you’re not giving them all the materials they need to succeed.

Some customers can be frustrating, and others interesting - but it’s important to give each one the same respect and service. While it’s important to know the “dos” of customer service, it’s also important to keep the “don’ts” in mind, so as to avoid them. Have your own list of don’ts? Leave us a comment below and share!