Does Your Team Know How to Handle Difficult Calls?

Written by KOVA Corp

It’s a fact of life for every contact center – difficult calls will come. As a manager, you are the employee’s first line of defense, offering the information and support the employee needs to handle each stressful situation.

Since you know that into every call cue some difficult calls must fall, be prepared with a plan of defense to ready your team. With some foresight and preparation, you can minimize the harmful effects of these difficult interactions, both to the company and to the call center team.

Anticipate customer difficulties.

When your brand changes message, upgrades a product, or enacts a recall, you know customer service calls will go up. Keep your team informed of major changes coming soon and provide the information they need to meet customer needs in a timely manner. Provide anticipated questions they may receive and sample answer they can use. And as the calls begin coming in, stay in close communication with your team to find if any unanticipated concerns are arising so you can give the entire team support.

Continue role playing.

You likely practiced quite a bit of role playing when you brought new team members on the floor. Don’t stop once they become more experienced. Continue practicing routine and unusual questions, both on the computer and in team huddles. This keeps your team sharp and helps them continue to grow in their customer service skills.

Habitually shadow and support.

Your team members need to see you on the floor every day, listening, patting on the back, and giving help or encouragement. While you walk the floor, you will hear mistakes that may be made or even witness an escalating call and be able to step in with information or even take over a stressful situation. There is no substitute for being there.

Create emergency signals.

During stressful calls, sometimes putting a customer on hold only makes things worse. Give your team an easy way to get your attention. For instance, you could ask them to wave a hand in the air if they need information or have a non-threatening issue. Have your associates take a more obvious move like standing up in their station if they have a critical call or irate customer that needs immediate support.

Developing physical signals for help accomplishes two things. Most obvious, it draws attention across a busy contact center to an issue that needs leadership attention immediately. But it also helps the customer service professional mentally; taking a physical change of position and using body movements helps trigger new areas of the brain to work, which helps the associate think more creatively and quickly to come to a faster solution for the customer.

Be aware of the contact center mood.

Most of all, the contact center leaders need to be constantly aware of what is going on around their floor. By staying active by walking around the floor and staying vigilant to look across the associates, managers and supervisors will become sensitive and supportive of the needs of associates almost before they can ask for them. That quick response makes all the difference for a satisfied customer and loyal employee.

We at KOVA want to support YOU in your contact center goals. Contact us today.

Is Your Organization Ready to Optimize their Public Safety Systems?

eyeusers