The relationship between contact centers and their customers can be a volatile one. Sometimes the experience is just not up to par, other times customers are ranting and raving about how happy they are. I’m sure your contact center can relate to both sides of the spectrum. Just keep in mind, there are always things you can do to increase the amount of positive outcomes you receive. Yesterday, Cupid drew his bow to embrace the love between contact centers and customers. After you put these strategies in place, be sure to review them again and again – consistency is the name of the game.
Here are five things you can do to take your contact center to customer relationship center. Continue reading
Are you the Yoda of your friends and family, full of realism and words of advice? You may not realize it, but if you’ve ever worked in a customer facing position, you’ve likely learned some hard lessons about life. The call center can truly open your eyes to human behaviour and the psychology behind it. By interacting with people constantly, it’s inevitable that you’ll eventually get hit smack dab in the face by some real-life wisdom during your time at work. It might take years, even decades, to cultivate the knowledge and humility call center agents learn in a fairly short period of time.
Your call center works hard year-round to make sure metrics are being met and customers are happy. Oftentimes, when you’re busy dealing with everyday tasks, it’s easy to forget the importance of a fun working culture. Studies have shown that call center agents quit most often because of their work environments rather than their compensation. Companies need to find more ways to increase agent engagement and motivate employees. Luckily, a fantastic opportunity is just a few days away: Halloween.
Do you send customers to voicemail when there are not enough agents to handle calls? When hold times are too long? Or as an option regardless of hold times? If so, then thank goodness you’re here, because using voicemail in the contact center can have serious consequences that you might not be aware of. In fact, you’re better off leaving callers on hold!
Call centers get a bad rap for being stress inducing, soul sucking, and just plain dreadful places to work. That may be true for some, but if you’re a savvy call center leader, making the most of your work, and walking away from each day unscathed, is completely possible. Not all of us know the secret to keeping a positive and productive outlook at work, but thankfully we have the Internet for that. 
If you’ve chosen a career as a contact center manager, it won’t take long to realize how demanding the job is. It takes someone with many special qualities to succeed in this line of work. We’ve spoken to our fair share of call center managers, and we’ve noticed that many of the shining stars share a variety of common attributes. That’s why we’ve developed this handy dandy anatomy chart to highlight the characteristics needed to successfully handle this role. 
It’s that time of year again! No, we’re not talking about building a gingerbread house or going on shopping marathons – it’s time to plan your contact center strategy for next year. Savvy companies are developing ways to help grow and improve their business. Having a plan in place is the key to goal setting, implementing the most appropriate action items, and measuring performance. One area you’re likely dissecting is the customer experience. Is it up to par with customer expectations? Are they actually happy with your service? After all, a strong CX strategy can help you retain more customers, and stop them from deflecting to competitors!
