Newsletters

Customer Support:   (972) 395-3225

Home

Articles, News, Announcements - click Main News Page
Previous Story       Next Story
    
Savvy Companies Use Software To Avoid Customer Service Nightmares

by Calabrio Innovation Center - December 2, 2014

SAVVY COMPANIES USE SOFTWARE TO AVOID CUSTOMER SERVICE NIGHTMARES

It’s a contact center manager’s worst nightmare: an agent antagonizes a customer, rudely refuses to listen or provide the service being requested and then discovers the entire interaction has gone viral. Thousands, perhaps millions, of people hear and share the damaging interaction with their vast personal online social networks.

Others begin commenting on the company’s Facebook, Twitter and blog pages. In some cases, mainstream media outlets pick up the story and give it the credibility of “news,” providing fodder for water cooler conversations, bored editorial writers and columnists, and late-night comics and satirists —all because one contact service representative behaved inappropriately.

Could this actually happen?

It already has in a highly publicized incident involving a large cable and internet provider, which prompted an embarrassing public apology from the provider. Sadly, this type of incident could happen almost anywhere and probably will again. While contact center representatives are trained to resolve problems and retain customers, sometimes that just isn’t possible. A representative who refuses to accept “no” for an answer—to the point of being rude and confrontational—not only damages the reputation of the company he or she represents, but also alienates many current and potential customers.

Thanks to social media and smart phones, it’s never been easier for disgruntled customers to broadcast negative contact center experiences with the world. Most companies understand the potential damage inherent in this environment, but many do not realize that technology also exists to strengthen and enforce their customer service standards.

Contact center management software, such as Calabrio ONE, enables organizations to know what is communicated in every contact center interaction. This information empowers contact center managers to take corrective action and to reinforce positive behavior. Here are a few ways this type of software can help:

TALK OVER EVENTS
Interactions may remain calm yet still be classified as a negative interaction, such as when a contact center agent talks over the customer. By identifying talk over events, organizations can investigate these interactions and gain a better understanding of their agents’ behavior.

QUANTIFY INTERACTIONS
Agents learn techniques to help retain customers, such as redirection and answering questions with a question. Unfortunately, these techniques can backfire and lead to negative interactions when an agent is overly persistent. Contact center management software can quantify interactions and provide more visibility into how often a phrase or question is repeated.

TARGETED QUALITY EVALUATIONS
The right software allows quality evaluators to identify the most relevant interactions through simple yet powerful interactions containing pre-defined key words and phrases, such as “Why won’t you cancel my service?”

GOING THE EXTRA MILE
Beyond sophisticated contact center management software, some vendors also work directly with organizations to develop strategies for improving customer retention and customer service. Calabrio is a good example. Its Vision Workshops equip organizations with tools and techniques based on best practices of leading workforce optimization practitioners and leading industry experts.


FROM THE CALABRIO INNOVATION CENTER



Calabrio Innovation Center connects leading industry experts with organizations to help them understand advanced workforce optimization techniques to
accelerate the achievement of their contact center goals. Through state- of-the-art learning environments that incorporate real-world situations, Calabrio Innovation Center offers hands-on experiences.

Technology showcases, solution demonstrations, proof of concepts, Calabrio Performance Optimizations and best practice workshops provide the knowledge and techniques to advance contact center business operations.


 
Return to main news page