Workforce Management Featured Article
How Signposting Can Expedite Service Calls
People like knowing what to expect. And when contact center agents drop hints into the conversation about what will happen next, it can serve both to make callers more comfortable and to prompt them to have the necessarily materials ready.
That way, the customer more readily gets the service he or she seeks. And the contact center can complete the interaction more quickly. So everybody wins.
A recent article by Carolyn Blunt of Real Results refers to this practice as signposting. This technique can shave about 30 seconds off the duration of a call, and without negatively impacting customer satisfaction, the call center consultant says.
When agents mention that in a moment they will need a credit card or a reference number, for example, it lets the customer know. And that customer may then take immediate steps to locate that information.
“In my career I have spent too much time … listening to an empty line while a customer rummaged around trying to find her glasses to read out her account number and the clock ticked by, when all along the call could have progressed via a postcode or other piece of DP data,” writes Blunt. “But by the time the question had been asked, the telephone had been clattered down onto a table, and it was too late.”
A better way, she adds, is to get the customer moving by saying something along these lines: “In a moment, I’ll need to take a few details, including a credit or debit card to secure the booking.” Or “In a moment, I’ll give you a reference number which you may want to write down if you’ve got a pen handy.”
These gentle prompts can make a lot of difference in reducing average handle times, she indicates.
Edited by Mandi Nowitz