Communicating call center services is a task that should never be taken for granted. Call center reps that are in charge of handling the customers are the most valuable assets of any organization. Therefore, whether you are running an in-house department or deploying outsourced call center services, you should judge the credentials of the reps thoroughly before handing them over the reins of your call center services.
To ensure proper delivery of customer services, a call center agent needs to be analyzed based on the following attributes:
1. Calmness and composure under pressure – Call center work requires an agent to receive call after call during a routine day-to-day operation. Although there are many who can do this, not many can perform this task while being calm and composed. It has been seen that even experienced agents fail to stay calm after receiving a certain number of calls. This can be attributed to an inadequate hiring process, which was unable to screen out the wrong candidates for the job. Ensure that you don’t make this mistake and drill your employees thoroughly by putting them through pressure cooker situations, in which, they have to react instinctively. Only once you are absolutely satisfied about their ability to stay calm, should you recruit them for your process.
2. Multi-tasking – Not only a call center agent needs to be well-versed in taking calls, he also needs to have good computer skills. And most importantly, he should be able to take calls and manage computer work, both at the same time. The ability to multi-task comes with experience but it can also be taught in the training room. Make sure that your agents have learned multi-tasking before sending them to the floor.
3. Memory and retention of knowledge – Call center process requires an agent to be well-versed with the process. A lot of information like call opening, FAQs, hold procedure text, call ending etc. needs to be memorized for effective delivery of customer services. When an agent is unable to retain important information and fumbles while delivering it, it gives customers an impression that he is inept and inappropriate for the task. This is not a good thing and may prevent an agent from developing a good rapport with the customers. In worst case, it may lead to the delivery of wrong information that may hurt the overall integrity of the process.
4. Drive to excel – Drive to excel in an agent is very important, especially for long-term welfare of a call center operation. Without this drive in your agents, you won’t be able to create an experienced core that you can depend on in crunch situations.
5. Friendly nature – A rude person in real-life, sooner or later, will show his true colors on calls as well. You simply can’t put your customers’ goodwill on the line by hiring such agents. Hence, it is always best to employ friendly-natured human beings that can show empathy and build good rapports over calls.
Summary
Hiring of agents for a call center process should be done with due diligence. Rating them according to the five parameters above can help you distinguish the best from the rests. However, if you find the selection process too elaborate and confusing, it is best to use outsourced call center services provided by Noida Exim Pvt Ltd. At Noidaexim, we offer both inbound and outbound call center services along with back office outsourcing services for all types of businesses.
