How To Train Your Call Center Agents

Call centers are chosen by thousands of companies to outsource technical support or customer service operations and this is a trend you can see everywhere. However, the success of such call center setups depends primarily on 2 factors- agent performance and skill of the call center management. It is not just enough to deploy the latest software in the call center management software. The agents have to be capable of utilizing such apps and using their communication and analytical skills to ensure the customers get the best possible experience. For this, the management needs to impart proper training to the agents in such setups. While every call center offers an initial training or induction to the agents- it has to be extensive and well planned.

Ways to ensure the agents receive the best training

The training program for call center agents should be prepared carefully and not just to get some newbies on board in the shortest possible time! It is not only about the duration of the training but what is included in the module has an impact on the efficacy and performance of the agents. This holds true for inbound and outbound centers.

Listed below are some useful tips that can be used to train the call center agents in the right way:

• Teaching the significance of timing and punctuality-In a call center setup, adhering to timeline is of utmost importance. Operations do not come to a halt in such setups anytime and most call centers resort to rotational and continuous shifts. So, the agents have to be punctual and they must learn how to overcome various hurdles to ensure they can stick to timing and target deadline. This must be taught well in the training phase.

• Explaining the importance of patience- In call center jobs, patience is a prerequisite. Sometimes, working shifts get extended without prior notice. At times, dealing with certain types of callers take more time. It may be cumbersome to explain things to a few such callers. The agents, however, should not lose patience. These aspects have to be reiterated in the training stage. Patience is also required because working as a team is necessary for these setups.

• Teaching them ways to be flexible- To succeed in a competitive environment like a call center, flexibility is required. Not all callers will be of the same type and the same is applicable for working days. Sometimes, the unexpected workload can be there. The agents also need to be prepared for additional shifts sometimes. Without flexibility, they will not be able to sustain in such setups.

• Showing how to handle complex cases by simulation-The call center agents have to cope with complex cases and callers from time to time. To teach them the best ways to cope with such situations and resultant stress, simulation can be used in the training. Seasoned call center agents can be used to perform such simulation sessions to train the newly inducted employees. It is also necessary to teach them the tried and tested techniques to evade escalation of cases.

• Using call recording to teach real-life examples-Most call center applications to have an inbuilt call recorder for recording calls. These calls are often used for training needs. Listening to the recorded call sessions will give the new agents the exact idea of ways to deal with various types of callers.

• Teaching the agents to use technologies-In call centers setups, specific types of applications and technologies are used. These apps and technologies keep changing over the years. In the training phase, the agents must be taught the ways to use such software and apps. Of course, they will learn to utilize the apps better when they get into working mode. While most call centers now use cloud-based solutions, there can be many other types of software too. These software applications have a centralized call center dashboard which is used to perform a lot of tasks.

• Keeping a tab on the progress-The training period may comprise of 2 weeks or a little more in these setups. However, the team imparting training to the newbies also needs to check the progress. This will be useful to figure out if the new agents are being able to pick up the lessons or not.

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Created on Sep 27th 2019 08:24. Viewed 485 times.

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