Hints and tips from Lanonyx for Call Centre working
Call centre working can often be hard and frustrating all at the same time. But, there’s also a great deal of pride to be taken from doing a great job for customers while simultaneously developing a wide range of practical and impressively transferable skills.
So what skills can be developed from call centre working? They might not be skills that you can earn some sort of diploma for, but they’re certainly valuable and transferable –
- Coping under pressure – Many call centres will expect that a certain number of calls will be dealt with in a set amount of time. They will also have an expectation about how long someone should wait before their call is answered. However, you can’t allow for how long each caller will spend on the phone. You’ll be expected to maintain a professional manner whilst your manager gesticulates and urges you to hurry up. Keep your cool and you’ll have developed a skill for life.
- Patience is a virtue – You have no idea what is going to greet you each time you answer a call. Some people will be friendly, many won’t. You’ll encounter customers who are prepared and those will have to go and find an important piece of information that was sent to them 6 months prior and hasn’t been seen since. If at the end of the conversation you can be the same cheery individual who greeted them at the beginning of the call, you’ll have earned your saintly wings.
- The art of pure communication – All forms of life are here! You’ll probably speak to some of the nicest people possible but interspersed here are there will be those with anger issues and drop outs from charm school. Over time you’ll develop strategies for each, becoming a master of your art. There will also be times when you’ll have to escalate a query up or provide information to another department. How you communicate this information could determine how many times you’ll need to speak to the same person. Ensuring all the information is present and correct first time, and delivered in a way others will understand, is an extremely valuable, time and money saving, skill.
Being the best you can be at the job will generate great pride when handling all kinds of queries from all kinds of people. How do you go about being a great operator?
- Make like a thespian – You’ll most likely have some form of script to adhere to, but making it sound like you’re shooting from the hip is a real art form. It’s far better for the customer to feel like they’re getting a personalised service and they’ll probably respond better to you too. So, learn your scripts and remember that each caller is different and as far as they’re concerned, very important.
- Learn your ABC – F’s and S’s sound extremely similar on the phone. Learning the phonetic alphabet will certainly help you differentiate if you’re not sure of what a customer has said. You want to make sure you get all the information right first time so taking a little longer to spell out words that aren’t clear will pay off in the long run.
- Kill negativity with kindness – Although you’ll be faced with all sorts of customers, and in some cases abusive ones, maintaining a professional and polite demeanour is essential. Work on techniques to keep your cool and make sure you convince your customer that you’re going to do everything in your power to help them. Only mute the call to talk to a colleague if it’s for advice relating directly to the call, if the conversation is being recorded your manager will still hear if you muted the call for any other reason. Conversely, the sense of achievement you’ll feel by having managed to calm an irate customer down and solve their issue simply by utilsing your professionalism and politeness will be immense.
For more information about how our Call Logging and Call Recording software can help develop you even further in your call centre working, please give us a call on 0333 0022 440 or contact us and one of our friendly team will be ready and willing to assist.