Customer inquiries have ramped up since the pandemic altered consumers’ buying habits. For companies that weren’t prepared, redirects at call centers have increased and hold times have lengthened. The demand for personal connections has skyrocketed, and consumers have sought out customer service from brands that are able to provide a more empathetic approach. An unwillingness or inability to meet these needs has resulted in consumers seeking out other brands that can.
The conversation about why these changes have occurred can go on for days, but the fact is that without stepping up your approach to offering customer services at the level today’s consumers want them, you’re going to lose current customers and fail to make new ones.
Meeting Challenges
Barely a year into the pandemic, the way contact centers approached their productivity strategies began to change drastically. Digitalization and automation became hot topics. “Times of crisis are moments of truth” became the slogan that pushed new strategies forward for industries of all types facing some of the most trying times ever. Deloitte’s study shows that the “contact center of the future” is one that embraces the latest tech, including artificial intelligence (AI), which anticipates clients’ needs, continues to get “smarter,” and makes customer interactions far better.
But all the problems contact centers face today can’t be fought with technology alone. Agents must have a high level of training if they’re going to have the knowledge necessary to meet the needs of the customers, and this includes much more than just product and service knowledge.
Contact Center Training
The best contact centers know that the first step is finding employees that are the right fit for customer service. They prioritize attracting the best applicants with strong communication skills and put them through a comprehensive training program.
Good communicators are empathetic, excellent listeners, ask the right questions and convey a sense of warmth, kindness and caring. Pair these traits with the right training and you have an agent positioned to make customers happy.
At Protel BPO, we know how to find the agents who make customers happy. But we also know that without the right education, even excellent communicators can’t do their jobs. That’s why our training programs are so detailed. Our agents become an extension of the companies we work with, but that’s not the only perk: the customers they communicate with say they feel like they’ve spoken with a friend. When you outsource customer service to us, you’ll never regret it.
Contact us and find out more about how we can meet your customers’ needs while saving you money.
