Effective Communication in a Call Centre

Peter Drucker, a famous management consultant, stated that the most important thing in communication is hearing what isn’t said. So how should we groom and expect agents to be able to hear unvoiced customer concern? How can we holistically improve nonverbal communications for contact centre services?

Recognition of Barriers

In troubleshooting, what would you do first? Find what causes the problem. In parallel to communication, an agent first needs to determine the barriers present. It might be as simple as craving for something to eat that keeps away the agent from focusing on the customer at the other side of the phone. Begin by consciously enumerating what may hinder you from doing a good job and either fix it or start working on getting it fixed. Agents that are happy to serve will communicate that happiness over calls and chat.

Click here to see a video that explains the ten barriers to effective communication.

Willingness to Listen

Familiarity may breed contempt, and when it comes to call centres, this happens when agents become inattentive to issues or concerns that they are already familiar with. However, good agents know how to listen. No matter how similar the queries you get, you must first listen to your customer carefully, intently, and in full. Don’t jump to conclusions just because you’ve heard a familiar word. In order to listen well, take down notes that could help you fix the problem. Also, as with listening to your customer attentively, you are able to make your customer feel that you understand them, thus, gaining trust and brand loyalty.

Remain Calm

While you are listening, it is a must to remain calm. If you happen to encounter an irate customer demanding answers you’ve yet to give, calmly take note of his query and transfer him to the right person, or calmly stall until you can give a satisfactory answer yourself. Just smile. Smiling, as medical research says, improves your mood.

Think Critically

Of course, customers don’t call you for a little “friendly” conversation. It’s important that, as you listen intently to your customer, you are also thinking of ways to resolve his problem. Yes, you need to multi-task. There might be short scripts provided you could read for commonly encountered problems but making it personal makes you more credible and dependable.

Respect

And finally, the most important thing every agent should do: treat your customers with respect. Respect goes boundlessly in and out of the workplace. Truly, communication is important to every individual and organization, but how it is done determines its efficiency. It also includes how well an agent works together with other agents especially when transferring queries. It could also be simply shown by keeping yourself quiet or refraining from making unnecessary noise and distractions while others are talking to customers.

Respect ties up all professional traits well. Hearing what isn’t said, respect balances workplace demeanour accordingly. As communication directly affects sales, gaining good reputation through respecting your customers and the other agents as well inside a contact centre service provider could be the culture you need to build an efficient and pleasing team.