Welcome Financial Institution Pros! Today’s post is especially for you. In the midst of increasing usage of mobile banking and online transactions, it’s hard to believe that we still have customers who love to call our representatives in our centers and branches. Some of our customers just feel better speaking to a representative when they [...]
When coaching with our agents, we have many important skills to focus on such as listening, use of empathy, following correct procedures and engaging with our customers. One skill that can be overlooked is word choice, in other words the words and phrases that an agent uses either in writing or when speaking with customers. [...]
Welcome to the follow-up to “Coaching Misses and Fixes.” Last time we looked at some of the coaching improvement opportunities. Here are some more ideas for your consideration: Avoid talking about other agents and their skill problems Your agents don’t really care how coworker “Mary” struggles with the same skill issue or that coworker “Joe” [...]
Workforce attrition can wreak havoc on any business, and this is especially true for call centers where it continues to rise. Keeping agents happy amidst the call center chaos can prove to be challenging for supervisors. Busy schedules mixed with the unpredictable nature of the environment leaves little time to develop, support and ensure agents [...]
One of the most important jobs we have as leaders is to make sure we are coaching successfully with our team members. Unfortunately coaching is sometimes done based solely on process goals rather than looking at the “moments of truth” that we create for our agents during the process. So many things we do and [...]
Chapter One: Detective Holmes had solved many cases and now she had been brought in to a call center to solve one of the most challenging cases she had ever had. "Empathy” was missing and no one knew why or where Empathy had gone!! This may not be a best selling mystery book opening, but [...]
With some of the latest contact center tech talk focused on chatbots and eliminating the need for human agents, it might seem strange to think about automation and employee engagement going hand in hand (and thank goodness because I would much prefer to resolve issues with a friendly human versus a robot). In a recent post, [...]
Let’s pretend you’re the customer. Like most customers, you’re pretty savvy when it comes to figuring out answers on your own. In fact nowadays, customers are smarter and more complex, because they prefer self-help support within the marketplace and they can access it in various ways, 24/7. But, what happens when you reach a roadblock? [...]
With 2017 in full swing, it’s the perfect time to take control of your frontline and make the necessary changes in your center to ensure success. Reflecting on the past, think about the areas that could be improved to bring your operations to the next level. Is it agent training and development? Meeting service level [...]
Sometimes coaches become a little like Santa Claus. Keeping the list. Checking it twice. Knowing who has been “naughty or nice” with the customers. Checking the coaching off as “done” and waiting for the next coaching time. But, unlike Santa, our coaches need to find ways to not only document skills on a list but [...]
