Are Your Call Center Agents Using a Negative Tone with Customers?

You run a call center. You’ve trained your agents, written a stellar script and adopted the latest technology to improve call flows, queuing and customer databases. But your customers are still unhappy with the quality of their interactions.

What gives?

It might be about the tone your agents are using when they speak to customers, according to call monitoring solutions provider BPA Quality. In a recent blog post, BPA’s Stephanie Taylor notes that there is a fine line between being competitive and being critical, and many agents don’t understand this.

“Instead of telling me about the great services a company provides, I hear agents telling me how awful their competitor is – berating the competition with phrases such as ‘have you checked them out with the BBB?’ or ‘you’re not going to like how they treat their customers,’” writes Taylor. “What I (and all customers) hear is ‘you’ve made a really dumb decision’ or ‘you’re not very bright to have made such a choice – are you crazy?’”

It’s a harsh approach that both insults the customer and sets a bad tone for future interactions, particularly if the customer is there to cancel his or her service in the first place. It will simply confirm to a customer that your company isn’t any different from others, and prevent a possible future return of that customer to your company.

“Keep singing the praises of the great service and product offerings you provide, and customers will keep you in mind …. and maybe even become your customer again,” writes Taylor.

Edited by Rich Steeves

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