3rd Party Remote Call Monitoring Feature

Let’s imagine, for a moment, that there was a company that offered perfect customer service. Every call is picked up by a live human being on the first ring, and the agents have all the answers. Every text is answered immediately, short and sweet, email messages are returned within minutes full of helpful information, and back-office functions never make a mistake with billing. Such a company would have no need for issue escalation protocols, customer retention strategies or win-back offers, right?

Since there are no perfect companies – companies are run by humans, and humans are very imperfect – we’ll never really know the answer to that theoretical scenario. But there is evidence that no matter how great a company’s support is, customers will always find a way to complain about something. It’s human nature, writes blogger “The Professor” for BPA Quality’s Web site. (The professor is actually Craig Antonucci, Chief Customer Officer for North America of BPA Quality, leaders in call center quality experience.)

“In my world of contact center quality monitoring with www.bpaquality.com, we often hear this anomaly in calls, where customers find the pain point to focus,” the Professor wrote. “Most agents follow suit and are dragged down that devious path of misery, never really placating the need. The best agents we hear are the ones we don’t hear from…because they are busy listening and understanding.”

Customers having a bad day (or week…or month) may be set off by the smallest perceived error on the part of a company. Of course, you can’t accuse the customer of being unfair, dramatic or childish – not if you want to keep that customer. Sometimes, wrote the BPA Quality blogger, customers are just looking for a little empathy and kindness, and for acknowledgement to their problem. It’s similar to the “misery loves company” adage.

“Empathy is probably the most misunderstood and inaccurate feedback criteria to a contact center agent,” the blogger wrote. “Often confused for sympathy, when delivered properly, empathy is a powerful tool.”

The best agents are those who understand this and are willing to listen, empathize and take steps to solve the problem, no matter how small it is. While it may seem like a pointless problem to the agent, in the long run, the goodwill that positive action will generate is worth its weight in gold…and in future sales.

“Resolve the problem and misery AND make sure the customer knows the two are tied together,” wrote The Professor. “The best agents we hear do this, and it provides tremendous reassurance to the customer, even relaxing them to a point.”

Customers will reward you with loyalty and appreciate your understanding. It will also be a testament to the skill and experience of your agents, who will feel better about their jobs when they’ve successfully resolved an issue and retained a customer.