Next time you place a call into a company in search of assistance with a product or service, it’s very likely you’ll be receiving a tad more attention than usual.

That’s because today’s call center agents are being trained to truly know and grasp the brand they are selling or managing inquiries about – good or bad. Neglecting to do so can lead to poor service levels, as demonstrated by the U.K., where customer satisfaction is at an all-time low, according to recent research from Henley Business School.

Whereas existing customers and prospects can Google (News - Alert) a company to familiarize themselves with the brand and products portfolios, call centers have solely become an outlet for our customer complaints or when we seek out complex advice. As a result, this is calling for an overhaul on call center training tactics so that agents can become completely engulfed in the brand they represent.

According to an article in Marketing Week, today’s call centers and customer service departments are heavily investing in staff training for techniques involving social media and rapid problem-solving. Other training methods entail moving away from the scripted call center methods of the past.

For First Direct, a U.K.-based online banking service, introducing customer service reps heavily trained in Twitter (News - Alert) and social media has been a “leap of faith.”

“We plan to reduce call volumes by pro-actively using Twitter to seek out and help customers in distress,” said Natalie Cowen, head of branding at First Direct, as reported by Marketing Week. “Given that the call center is the most expensive part of our organization, this will save us money. If the reps aren’t trained properly, they could cause more trouble than they solve and in turn increase call volumes, while simultaneously creating poor PR for the brand.”

Meanwhile, in order to stand apart from its competitors, ING Direct has completely altered its approach to call centers by doing away with the scripted response model, and instead creating a more personalized caller experience in which they have more control over their customers. 

Marketing Week also reports that other brands are teaching their employees to pay attention to customer emotions and are focusing on hiring personnel that exude a positive outlook and behavior. Shopping channel QVC, for example, has kicked off a strategy to “dig deeper into people’s beliefs” in order to better comprehend how its employees will interact with customers. So far, the initiative has paid off, as its contact center has produced almost $100,000 in savings on call volume due to high call resolution and call avoidance.

“It’s all part of giving staff more freedom to express themselves,” said director of customer services, James Keegan. “If that happens, and the staff are the right fit for the brand and believe in our values, they can be great marketers for us… Four or five years ago, our recruitment would be based on competency and experience. Now I’m looking at behavior and attitudes. It’s difficult to train people on values, beliefs and what they think great customer service is.”

Ahead of the game on call center training, the Resource Center for Customer Service Professionals (RCCSP) has formed a one-stop shopping model for call center, help desks and support centers in search of customer service management training courses. RCCSP offers boot camp-style sessions that focus on topics including tech support resources, project management, metrics and benchmarking, CRM, hiring and training, and more. For more information, click here.