A customer who insist on being transferred to a person in authority may have had a bad experience with another call center representative. Take into consideration that the caller maybe angry, dissatisfied, and at the end of his rope.
Following are the various ways a call centre agent may handle this kind of situation:
1. "Spiel" it out
"Given a chance, I will be glad to assist you with your query, after which, if you still find the need to speak to a supervisor, I will transfer the call..."
This simple statement enforces empowerment coming from accountability. This would instill ownership to the mind of the customer giving him an assurance that his concern will be resolved by the agent he is talking to.
2. Show empathy
A call center agent should always try to be empathic to the customer and ask what the caller's needs are. This kind of response help bring down the customer's level of frustration and may bring a win-win situation in the end, for both the agent and the customer. The call centre agent may let the customers know that she can help them just as well as his supervisor. This statement can give the customer some form of trust and confidence on the agent who assured her that the issue at hand will be resolved by the right person.
3. Tone is everything
On every call, tone can make or break the relationship of a customer with the company and employee. So be sure to apply the right tone when talking to a frustrated caller.
4. Honesty is still the best policy
There is nothing wrong with explaining to the customer the actual situation:
"I am in a position to respond to your concern and assist you in any way that we can without the need to transfer you any further. I am sorry that you were not happy with the response to your concern, but that is what we can do for you at this time. If you are looking to escalate your call in order to obtain a different answer, I apologize, but our position will not change."
5. A call center agent should ask the customer for the information to pass along to the supervisor, while in the meantime looking at the problem themselves. If the customer's problem is within the call center agent's skill, then the agent may state to the customer that the problem can easily be resolved, followed by a lot of empathy to calm the customer.
6. Use your instinct
If a customer sounds like he wanted to hear some information from someone in authority just for his own satisfaction, transfer him to the supervisor..if only to keep customer satisfied.
A large call center usually provide their own team who are vintage and highly trained agents who may handle escalated and complicated calls. These agents are not usually monitored for handle and talk time, and given a higher level of empowerment just like a supervisor. All transfers done are warm transfers to make them in a better position to handle the customer.
Customers looking for supervisors are usually transferred to this team.
Do you have your own way of handling customers looking for supervisors? Tell us about it and empower your call center colleagues!
MyLot buddy here (Zeroflashx2) says:
"Yeah, I've experienced some of the sup calls as well. At first, I'd really ask for a good reason why the customer needs to talk to a sup. I try to explain as much as I can based on the context. They do accept the explanation some times but still wants to talk to the supervisor.
At that point, I just have to give it to my supervisor as it's his/her request. I just hate those supervisors who hides when they start to hear someone talking to an irate customer.
Well, to be honest I've been on both sides. When I was an agent it was mostly an escalation team (from quality) who answered the call. My sup did receive some of my calls but he is usually very busy.
I've been a sup as well. So far, the sup calls that I missed are due to me being on a meeting/out of the office. We're not customer facing though so most of the times we just have request for a call back from sup. Did that a lot of times.
Well, being a sup, you can bend the rules a bit without actually breaking it.
You have more control over the issue and the agent who works on it. You'll try to think of ways to give something to the customer without losing."
No comments:
Post a Comment