In order to manage a staff of high performing phone agents, it’s important for call centre managers to have strong relationships with their reps. That means keeping the lines of communication open, showing gratitude, recognizing jobs well done and boosting employee morale through everyday good-natured interactions. Of course, there are a few other techniques that can help along the way.
Here are three ways to improve the performances of your phone agents:
1. Share your own on-the-job experiences.
Here’s hoping you’ve done some work on the phones yourself. No one likes being told what to do by someone who has never done it before. Use your own experiences on the phone to discuss the ways in which your phone agents can improve their own customer relationships. Share stories and be sure to include the ones where you made mistakes. Have a laugh at yourself and encourage your team members to learn from their own missteps.
On Playvox.com, Briana Songer advises call centre owners to make clear what their expectations are of their phone agents. Doing so will help everyone to determine the do’s and don’ts of their jobs. “Don’t let it be a secret what your expectations are,” she writes, “Set precise goals that you want to see achieved and how you want to see them performed.”
2. Allow agents to hear their own calls.
Can you recall the first time you ever heard your recorded voice? Chances are it may have taken you by surprise. We sometimes forget that our voice boxes and eardrums and pretty close together. We hear our own voices differently than everyone else. In addition, we likely aren’t aware of some of the speech habits we have. By listening to their own calls, your phone agents will be given opportunities to correct mistakes they didn’t even know they were making.
“Have your agents listen to their own calls and grade them,” insists Songer, “Have them figure out what needs improvement. This not only helps them understand their abilities but it lets them take control of their performance.”
3. Upgrade your dialing software.
According to John Rydell on CallMiner.com, “there is nothing worse than receiving a sales call with a long awkward pause before a connection is made. Not only is it a strange way for a conversation to start, but it wastes the time of your prospect and the time of your sales agent. Eliminating this delay on every call by using a dialing software is a sure-fire way to cut down on inefficiency throughout the work day.”
At MeloTel, we couldn’t agree more! This is why we so highly recommend DaFeeder Preview Dialer to all call centre businesses. DaFeeder Preview Dialer offers one-touch dialing capabilities in addition to an online filing system that helps your reps better manage their customer relationships.
The revolutionary service delivers a feature-rich set of processes that enhances effectiveness, drives sales, improves customer satisfaction and provides insight into performance. For more information about DaFeeder Preview Dialer, please don’t hesitate to contact us at 1-888-MELOTEL or use the Live Chat feature on our website!
