Bruce Belfiore, CEO
BenchmarkPortal
Providing superior customer experiences (CX) is essential for any business, and your contact center is a focal point for your efforts. Managers who are new to their positions, or who feel they need to “go back to the basics” to confront major challenges, can often benefit by reviewing a checklist of essential points. For these people, we offer the following tips:
Hire the right people: The people who work in your contact center are the voice of your company to your customers. Make sure you hire people who are friendly, patient, and knowledgeable. Look for candidates who have a track record of providing excellent customer service. If your current approach to hiring is not providing you with good results, then I recommend an “everything on the table” assessment that starts with your job descriptions and covers all processes from how you attract and screen candidates through to conducting and using exit interviews.
- Train your agents: Even if you hire the right people, they need to be trained to handle customer interactions effectively. Provide them with training on your company's products, services and technology, as well as training on customer service best practices. We find that soft skills training and refreshers are key to keeping centers at the top of their CX game.
- Use technology wisely: Technology, including new AI-powered technology, can help your contact center operate more efficiently, but it should not replace the human touch. Use technology to automate routine tasks, but make sure your agents have the training and skills to make decisions and provide superior service.
- Personalize the experience: Customers want to feel valued and appreciated. Train your agents to use customer names, personalize interactions, and provide personalized recommendations based on customer preferences and purchase history.
- Monitor quality: Regularly monitor the quality of customer interactions to ensure that your agents are providing the level of service that you expect. Use tools such as call recording and speech analytics to identify areas for improvement and to recognize and acknowledge outstanding performance.
- Continuously improve: Customer needs and expectations change over time, so make sure you are continuously improving your contact center operations. Solicit feedback from customers, monitor industry trends, and benchmark your performance against your peers to identify opportunities for improvement.
By following these basic tips, you can create a contact center that provides superior customer experiences and sets your company apart from the competition.
