Nightshift:call center agent’s blog

To any call center agent, this is one of the questions we hate. When a customers asks this, it only means that he is not happy with the service you provided, either because he does not understand the product/company’s process or the agent is just plain wrong (a la PLDT DSL scandal).

Not that I am boasting, but I seldom got customers who were not happy with the information I provided them. In the present company, there was only one instance that I escalated the call to my team lead (because of the wrong information provided by the previous agent). I escalated another call about a week later but my TL wasn’t able to take the call since the customer already hang-up.

In my previous call center company, I was dinged (read: coached) because I refused to escalate the call to the supervisor. What happened was the customer called in and immediately asked for a supervisor. Common sense tells us that we get the concern of the customer and try to resolve the issue, without the call being escalated. But our QA, who is also the client, said that I should immediately transfer the call to sup. What happened to the one call resolution?

Currently, we have four or five new team members. Since our TL handles a new batch of TQs (transition queues) agents and we have different schedules, we try our very best to assist the new agents. What I noticed, however, is that whenever our TL is around, she takes sup calls from the new agents. But when she’s not in our shift, there are no sup calls.

How to avoid sup calls?

• Product knowledge. The more you know about the product, the more confident you are to answer the customer’s question, the more they trust you.
• Relax. If the customer is yelling at you, maintain your composure. Don’t let them to control you; you as the agent, should take control of the conversation.
• Let the customer talk. Make an impression that you’re there to listen and help him. Do not interrupt.
• KISS. Keep the explanation short and simple. Some of the customers are s-t-u…
• Keep with the pace and tone of voice of the customer.
• Shortcut. If the customer sounds like he doesn’t want to repeat the information given (name, phone number, etc.) and he does have a case number, ask the customer for a brief description only of the issue. Customer’s concern is more important that the name, which you can verify later.
• But if the customer doesn’t want to give any information, tell him that you are there to help him but you need an understanding of his problem so that you could make appropriate actions. Tell him that he needs to cooperate (without sounding that you are making a threat).