Workforce Management Featured Article
The Cure for Agent Apathy: Better Technology and Better Training
What drives customers away from a business? Is it substandard products? Is it long wait times when they call for help? Is it underwhelming marketing efforts? A bad shipping or refunds policy? While all these things might play a role in reducing customer loyalty and engagement, there is evidence that one ill is at the root of customer defections from a company: a bad experience with a customer support representative.
Earlier this year, the International Customer Management Institute (ICMI), together with cloud contact center solutions provider Five9 (News - Alert), released a report entitled “Agent Apathy: The Root Cause of Poor Customer Service.” The report, which was compiled from feedback from contact center agents, revealed that most contact center agents today are experiencing high levels of stress on a regular basis, and it’s leading to them virtually “disengaging” from their jobs…and from the customers they serve.
“When morale is low, it is to be expected that it will eventually seep into an agent’s interaction with a customer,” wrote Jeanne Landau for Business2Community. “Businesses cannot expect agents to provide superior customer service when they are experiencing inferior job satisfaction. So what can be done? When asked what is needed to help improve performance, two answers were commonly given: better technology and better training.”
In an effort to cut costs today, many companies trying to “make do” with old, improperly integrated systems. They may also have high agent turnover, and the regular flow of new workers means that no one is very experienced in learning “work around” for the system. The result is agents who feel out of their depth and who are expected to work wonders with inferior tools and training. It’s not hard to understand why this happens – most companies today are trying to spend as little capital as possible since profit margins haven’t yet recovered from the recession of 2008 – but it’s also not hard to understand why this approach damages business in the long run.
“Agents are on the front lines with customers every day; having them use outdated, useless technology is like sending today’s soldiers into battle with muskets and bayonets,” wrote Landau. “Unfortunately, too many companies are hesitant to spend money on such means, and do not seem to be interested in the ROI when it comes to new technology for their agents.”
The ROI with up-to-date contact center technology comes from agents who are better equipped to provide customers with the answers they need, which leads to shorter call times and happier customers; elimination of duplicated efforts and errors; the ability to see cross-sell and upsell opportunities that can lead to improved revenue; and contact center agents who are content with their jobs and who aren’t constantly thinking of leaving, which reduces the high costs associated with frequent turnover. Companies that train agents who stay longer will get more investment from their training efforts, and reduce the amount of managers’ time spend breaking in new agents. Automation is another benefit that contact centers can gain from up-to-date technology.
“By providing better tools and technology in the call center, like speech analytics which can monitor agent interactions with customers and capture elements of the customer experience directly from the actual voice of the customer, companies can quickly assess and address agent performance and satisfaction concerns immediately. This would help improve job satisfaction and productivity, which would lead to happier, more loyal customers.”
It’s not hard to map out the significant return on investment that better technology and better training can provide to the contact center. But companies first need to be willing to spend some money to earn some opportunity.
Edited by Stefania Viscusi