hey everyone this is your contact center coach here to talk to you about the five key plays
you can make for great call performance on each and every call following these key plays will
not only score you points with the person you report to but more importantly it'll score your
points with your customers and scoring points with customers keeps them coming back for more which
is never a bad thing when customers have so many choices about who they can do business with this
video is brought to you by benchmark portal the source for contact center training certification
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contact professionals such as yourself so let's get started these are the five key plays you
should keep in mind for each and every call you handle accuracy empathy ownership options and
speed but before we look at these in more detail let's start with a couple important questions
so why is this important I mean what's in it for you well first of all job security the more often
people keep coming back to do business with your company the more likely you are to be
employed and if you're not sure about that just ask anyone who used to work for one of the many
large companies that we've seen go belly-up recently I imagine those folks would love to
be able to serve their customers again also the better you are at what you do the more likely you
are to be asked to do more and the more you can do the more valuable you are your company that
makes you more promotable as opportunities arise so let's look at those five key plays in detail
if you haven't guessed it accuracy is getting details right no one likes to have to repeat
themselves that's a five-yard penalty every time for callers because it feels like you're wasting
their time and it makes them feel like you're not listening so here's four ideas on how you
can improve your accuracy first of all remove any distractions that keep you from focusing
on details if you're working at home see if there's something within earshot or in your
view that's distracting you if so get it out of there the second idea is a simple rule two ears
one mouth if you take the time to listen before responding you'll save yourself in the caller
a lot of grief in the long run thirdly write things down unless you have a perfect memory
and most of us don't jot down key points about what the caller is asking for this will help
you to visualize and know exactly what they're calling about finally restate what you heard
for example let me see if I've got this right you want to defer this month's payment and make
a double payment next month instead is that correct this restating is a powerful way to
ensure you got it right and to show callers that you heard them even if you didn't get it right
restating allows the customer to correct you and that's okay because it's hard for anyone to be
upset with you for trying to get things right for them the next play in the book is empathy but what
exactly is that simply put it's putting yourself into your customers shoes how would you feel in
the same situation how would you respond if you were the customer calling you it's easy to get
caught up in policies and procedures losing track of what's most important to callers and what is
that it's the feeling that you're seeing things the way they do so put yourself in their shoes
when you explain or address something ask yourself how you'd like to hear that message
and do keep in mind that tone of voice plays a huge role in expressing empathy
because you can say all the right empathetic words but if the feeling of care and concern
is not behind those words well people can see right through that and no one likes talking
with someone who says the right things but is insincere that's a 15-yard penalty every time
next up is the option play whenever possible explore and provide options people like to make
choices in fact we're seeing this more from an increasingly smart and demanding customer base
and practically speaking if you allow the caller to make choices then they can't be upset with you
can they afterall they made the choice if you are faced with the situation where the caller
is unhappy because they don't like the options you've offered try asking them what they had
in mind this helps you to get to their bottom line then offer to explore those options with
the correct person in your center to see if it's possible you may be surprised what you
learn and how happy customers can be when you at least give it a try ownership means treating
your customers problems like they're your own but what does it mean to take ownership at
work well it's about taking initiative we take ownership when we believe that taking action is
not someone else's responsibility but your own you as an individual become accountable for the
quality and timeliness of the outcome treating the situation like it's your own it means that
you care about the outcome like you were owner of the company taking ownership tells others you
can trust me to do the right thing and that puts points on the board for you and for your company
the final key play to make for great performance is speed now to be clear speed doesn't mean how
fast you can run a 40 speed means following up with customers in a timely manner or in
the manner you promised so how can you make sure that happens first of all don't make promises you
can't keep if policies permit under-promise and over-deliver in other words if it's going to take
two hours tell them by the end of the day that way if it does take three or four hours instead
of two the customer will still be happy when you call back sooner speed is also how fast you speak
try to mimic the speed of the customer if you have a caller who speak slowly then slow down your pace
to match theirs it makes them feel comfortable and gives them a better chance to understand you
the reverse play on this is that if you have a fast talker or someone who's just in a hurry
then you'll need to get to the point and quickly because the lollygagging your way through the call
will get you flagged for a legal procedure every time so to summarize the five key plays for great
call performance are be accurate no one is ever in a hurry to get the wrong information show empathy
and remember that a caring voice has the most impact on the message you give provide options
when possible people like having options and they like to control the decisions they make take
ownership like you're the owner of the company this builds trust between you and your customers
and finally watch your speed if you promised a response time then stick to it or better yet
deliver better response time than you promised and don't forget to adjust your speed to that of
the caller so that you're responsive to them and not the other way around well that's all for this
video we do hope this was helpful to you in your contact center role by the way we have some great
online training courses that can make you a better asset to your company so if you're interested feel
free to reach out just for more information don't forget to hit that like button and subscribe to
our Channel and feel free to leave comments or suggestions below we'd love to hear from you
this is your contact center coach saying game over thanks for joining us and for taking the time to
make yourself a better player for your company and your customers now go out there and be great