Contact center agents play a major role in multi-channel customer experiences. They’re in charge of delivering a positive experience across all touchpoints through more personal and immediate service.
Due to customers’ demand for prompt assistance and the new trends in customer support and service, it proves necessary for agents to broaden their scope and manage not only phone-based but also multichannel customer interactions. Such an improved profile requires agents to possess a specific range of skills to excel in their daily tasks.
The main qualifications that multichannel agents must have include:
1. Effective communication. Agents must display strong communication skills so they can both share information and convey messages. They must also be capable of listening actively to feedback to understand customers’ opinions.
Staff members who communicate well on an interpersonal level can offer a better service because they can provide appropriate, effective answers or resolutions and be empathetic to customers by identifying their needs beyond words.
2. Patience. Multichannel agents must take a tolerant attitude in customer service as it is the key to building a strong relationship with customers.
This trait is a must for customer service representatives, as well as for sales executives and debt collectors. Establishing a good rapport with customers and trying to convince them to take specific actions in spite of their objections requires perseverance and tolerance.
3. Swiftness. Agents must be able to handle customer interactions over any channel with a strong sense of immediacy and efficiency. They must be knowledgeable about their tools and learn new customer persuasion, service, and sales skills fast.
Agents are the backbone of contact centers because they’re responsible for providing either a good or poor customer experience. That’s why they must be trained on a constant basis and be equipped with all the resources they need to complete their tasks with ease. Apart from this, they must work in an environment that drives high performance.
Happy Agents, Happy Customers
Granting monetary incentives or bonuses to agents for their performance is not the only way to create a healthy environment in contact centers or to keep workforces happy.
Today’s trends suggest that a positive work environment is created by empowering agents and allowing them to devise their own customer engagement techniques.
Flexible call scripts help agents to practice their skills more freely. Instead of a limited number of courses of action, agents must receive training on overcoming objections and using all the data necessary to “captivate” customers. This way, agents’ creativity is encouraged.
Another way to keep agents happy is to provide them with tools that really work. They must have access to highly-intuitive platforms that they can learn to use without extensive training. They must also be allowed to customize their workspace or user profile so they feel more comfortable.
“When employee satisfaction levels are high, customers notice it, and results are improved. “
CenterWare Xion Agent by Nuxiba is a very user-friendly platform. It centralizes multiple customer interaction channels in a single window and features all the tools agents need to streamline their operation, like call disposition codes and agent-supervisor instant messaging.
