Thanks to advanced technology, today's contact centres are intelligent enough to enable agents to recognise callers by name. In the not-too-distant future, contact centres have the potential to give details on a caller's buying history, preferences, historical patterns, geography, culture, account status, interests, acceptance or declination of past offers, etc.
They will even be able to detect a customer's mood, monitor an agent's tone and recognise common swear words to help prevent interactions from escalating into emergencies.
There is no doubt that technology has enhanced the ability of contact centre agents to provide a high level of service; however, when an agent gets an irate customer on the line, technology's ability to help is limited.
In the call centre industry, dealing with upset customers comes with the territory. And, in recent years, it seems that customers are getting more aggressive with agents, primarily on the inbound side.
For call centre managers, it is important to remember that the innocent agent bearing the brunt of the customer's outburst is not defenseless. On the contrary, agents are the ones in control, and they need to be able to show it.
Emerging technologies such as emotion analysers that sense when a caller is becoming irritated will further aid agents in the near future.
Dave Paulding is Interactive Intelligence's regional sales manager for UK and Africa.
Here are some guidelines for agents and supervisors that have been around as long as call centres, and they still work:
1. Keep cool, and do not take the situation personally. Sometimes this is easier said than done, especially when a customer is screaming at you about a problem you had no part in creating. But as a call centre consultant once said: "Agents who control their emotions deal from a position of strength." More than that, agents who get defensive and elevate confrontations with customers do not just lose business, they lose their job.
2. Listen closely. Let the customer air their complaint without interrupting, and take written notes if necessary to better understand why the person is upset. In most cases, once an irate customer knows someone is listening and is actually sympathetic, they calm down and are more inclined to listen themselves.
3. Gather the facts and assess the problem in full. As the saying goes, the customer is always right. Yet customers can also be wrong. Either way, listen attentively to get the person's point of view, ask questions, and reiterate that you can appreciate why they are upset. This helps lower the person's defenses and gives you a better chance of proposing a resolution. Also, above all else, if you or your company made a mistake, admit it.
Conversely if a customer's account record or trouble ticket proves they have misunderstood the situation, clearly explain that their frustration is understandable and then convey the facts from your end. Doing so allows you to question their complaint in a respectful manner, and move toward this next step.
4. Provide an equitable solution. There is nothing more important than keeping a customer happy while doing what is best for the business that employs you. Whether replacing a defective product or offering a billing adjustment (including certain times when the customer is not right), issue a proclamation of, "Here's what we'll do," and then do it to the person's satisfaction. If it takes R500 to retain a customer who spends R5 000 with your company every year, consider it money well spent.
As front line ambassadors, things like continuous training, on-demand coaching, call recording and scoring, scripted "solutions" and post-call customer surveys prepare agents to deal with irate customers more effectively than ever. Emerging technologies such as emotion analysers that sense when a caller is becoming irritated will further aid agents in the near future.
But the bottom line is that customer service is a people business, and the best skills any agent or supervisor can possess for diffusing an irate customer is to just be human - to listen, take a genuine interest in that customer and be a voice of reason. These are people skills, and in a call centre they are invaluable.
* Dave Paulding is Interactive Intelligence's regional sales manager for UK and Africa.
Share