Workforce Management Featured Article
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For those who have ever worked in customer service, the phrase, “the customer is always right” can conjure up feelings of frustration. It’s difficult to swallow your pride and apologize to the irate individual when you’ve actually done nothing wrong and they are being unreasonable. While that doesn’t describe every customer encounter, it happens often enough to leave a mark. In workforce management, much of the focus is on how to avoid the situation in the first place.
A recent Fonolo (News - Alert) blog offers insight into how you can better apply workforce management, while also empowering agents on how best to interact with customers. The ultimate goal should be to positively impact how the customer feels about the business after he or she interacts with the agent. Let’s explore a few areas that could be improved in the call center if your agents are falling short of this expectation.
Agents First – it’s easy to drive an environment where the customer is your first concern. But does that always lead to healthy agents who enjoy their jobs and like interacting with customers? Get your agents involved in the decisions that you make, the training you offer and brainstorming when trying to solve problems. When they feel like full members of the team, they’re more likely to produce better overall results. When your agents are happy, your customers are happy.
The Customer Experience – while a number of companies claim that this is their first order of business, how many actually put the customer experience as a priority? At the same time, how many actually measure the customer experience and adjust according to expectations and satisfaction? Too often, the main order of business is taking the customer down a path that is convenient for the call center, which negates the purpose of the customer experience focus in the first place. If you’re not understanding how the customer interacts with your organization and whether or not it meets their goals, you won’t meet yours.
The Angry Customer – no one really wants to receive the call from the angry customer, but it happens. For whatever reason, the customer feels the company has done them wrong and it must be fixed. The agent who takes the call is likely not at fault, but must take the brunt of the frustration and then try and turn it around so the customer is happy and satisfied. While not every interaction can be saved, providing your agents with the right tools to address these interactions successfully is critical to customer and agent satisfaction.
Workforce management is definitely important to have in place to ensure you can achieve your goals in the call center. But unless you pay attention to these three elements as well, you won’t hit a higher level in quality interactions. Make it a priority to improve in these areas and then get ready to enjoy the outcomes.
Edited by Stefania Viscusi
