How Effective Listening Can Become a Difference Maker in Call Centre Industry

In the arena of outsourcing, effective listening has emerged as a powerful tool to improve customer service. It is important to practice on our listening skills until the time it becomes a habit. It can certainly improve our relationships within our organisation, and most importantly with our valued customers. In an outbound call centre environment, effective listening often paves way for a satisfied customer base. This skill is inculcated among employees through various training modules over a period of time. If we think of it, we often listen to people we value. For an organisation, customer is the one who brings in that value.

One of the biggest mistakes call centres executives commit is that they try to dominate the conversation because they mistake the conversation as a competition between the customer and themselves. They often fail to make use of their listening skills. They interrupt customers and try to complete their sentences.  They often start ignoring what their customers have said and haste into making their own points.

But every time an outbound call centre executive fails to apply his listening skills and withhold his attention from a customer when they are talking, he/she makes them feel worthless and insignificant. Such an attitude creates a downward spiral that often leads to dissatisfaction and unhappiness among the current or prospective customer base.

Let us now iterate some of the most valued points that actually makes effective listening a key difference maker.

Being attentive while listening

The executives working at lead generation services companies are often taught the art to listen without interruptions. It is absolutely vital to showcase immense patience while listening to a prospective or a current customer. In an excellent outbound call centre setup, it is important to smile and prompt the customers to keep speaking and expand on their remarks. Initially, it requires remarkable discipline to utilise effective listening skills, while interacting with the customers and not interrupt them on certain areas of correction. But with the passage of time, with visible benefits of attentive listening, call centre executives embrace this habit as a way of life. 

Taking a pause before replying

It is often observed that the outbound call centre executive is not really listening at all to the customer. Instead, they are found preparing remarks and getting ready for what they are going to say next. Then, the executives make a grave error of jumping in with their comments, largely ignoring what the customer has just said. It is advised to the executives that they make it a habit to pause for four to six seconds before relying. There are a number of benefits to take a pause, and one of the prominent ones is related to avoidance of risks associated with interrupting the customer. It also showcases that the executive is deliberating on the suitable solutions that they can offer to their customer.

Clarifying the doubts

Rather than jumping in with a solution, the executives at leading lead generation services agency need to pause and ask certain questions such as “what is the exact nature of solution you are looking for?” Or “what did you mean when you described a particular problem?” Clarifying your doubts will showcases their interest and builds a certain level of trust among the customers. Such a practice will not only build a certain level of trust but will allow them to persuade and influence their customers in the right direction.

Dishing it back in your words

This is often referred to as the “litmus test” of listening. When an executive of outbound call centre briefly summarises what the customer just said and dishes it back to them, it actually conveys the message that the call centre executive was genuinely listening. Such an act will instantly build a rapport between the parties in conversation, and the customer will feel empowered if he/she knows that his/her voice is being heard and valued.

We can conclude the above discussion by agreeing that effective listening is an absolute must to thrive in the customer markets. It can also be inferred that call centre executives with proficient listening skills can act as a true difference maker for any organisation. 

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Created on Dec 31st 1969 18:00. Viewed 0 times.

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