In a world that seems to be swamped with call centers, have you ever wondered how some manage to stand out – even thrive? One of the primary reasons is excellent leadership. A heavily-saturated marketplace is no match for a great management staff.
But how can you and your team achieve that same industry stardom? Here’s what you need to know about becoming a better call center manager and crushing your call center supervisor goals:
Increasing Agent Engagement
Engaging your agents is one of the biggest and best ways to achieve your call center supervisor goals. How? One of the most common complaints that call center staff members have is that they get bored easily on the job. It’s just the nature of the business; sitting in front of a screen and making or and answering calls for hours at a time can be very tedious when that’s all you’re doing.
That’s why engaging your agents between calls is so important. Keeping your agents on task is vital; keeping them from getting bored will keep them from getting burnt out on the job.
Likewise, it’s important to keep communication lines open between agents and supervisory staff. If your agents feel like they can talk to you, they are more likely to bring a concern to you before it gets out of hand. Keep this feeling of comfort and trust between your supervisors and staff to promote a friendlier, more supportive work environment and a more productive team.
Putting Prominence on Retention
Retention is incredibly important to successful call centers. Why? Think of it this way: hiring and training are two of the biggest drains on a company’s resources. Even once you have new team members in place and trained, it takes a while for them to work up to the level of experienced call center staff. This hinders potential productivity and can also decrease overall customer satisfaction.
That’s why hanging on to the call center agents you already have is so important. These staff members already understand the business; they’ve been doing the job long enough to know their part well and to contribute to the company effectively. Replacing them with someone who is brand-new and still learning would dramatically impact that contribution – and the company overall.
Retention is important for this reason. Keeping the highest possible percentage of your current staff in place over time lessen the time, money, and other resources that must be allocated to finding new employees. Keeping your current staff in place saves your company money and frees up the supervisory staff to focus on daily operations rather than training.
Coaching, Rather than Instructing
Training isn’t always something to avoid when it comes to managing your call center staff. While it’s true that excessive training can be a drain on resources when you’re constantly looking for new people to fill staff openings, ongoing training and enrichment sessions are a great way to boost morale alongside employee knowledge and experience.
The key to successful training for your agents is to provide coaching, rather than instructing. What does this mean? No one likes to be “preached to”. When it comes to receiving new information, people are most receptive to a person who jumps in and demonstrates the concept. Discussing the topic in a dialogue style and allowing agents to be participants rather than simply students will improve their understanding and retention of the information – and give them a feeling that you really care about their comprehension and experience.
Emphasizing Empathy
Nearly every call center supervisor was once an agent. This means that they have a deep understanding of the position their agents are in – and should, therefore, have a great deal of empathy for them as well.
How do your agents benefit from empathy? We all want to feel heard and understood. Offering this feeling to your employees by acknowledging their struggles and accomplishments from an experienced perspective gives them the sense that you care about them both as people and as team members. This heightens their sense of trust and comfort in the workplace and increases productivity. It also increases job satisfaction, which in turn keeps more of your current staff in place.
Just as you should be able to empathize with your agents as a call center supervisor, so too should you be able to understand where your callers or consumers are coming from.
The people on the other end of the phone line are just that – people. They have lives, stories, things going on that might make them short, curt, rude, or emotional while they’re on the phone with one of your agents. They might be confused, misunderstand what’s being discussed, or have questions or concerns that they feel aren’t being addressed.
When these situations happen, it’s important for members of call center supervision to be able to understand where consumers are coming from. Only by empathizing can you make a consumer feel comfortable enough to work with you rather than against you to solve their problem. When you can do this, you improve consumer relations and satisfaction. You also bump up your company’s sales numbers - and keep your own superiors happier by meeting your call center supervisor goals.
Meeting Your Call Center Supervisor Goals with Today’s Technology
A modern call center supervisor can’t hope to meet their goals or contribute to their company meeting its own without understanding today’s call center technology. Call center software and programming is the backbone of how today’s centers operate. Without knowing your company’s program well enough to teach it to others, you can’t be an effective member of the team – much less a leader of it!
At ChaseData, we offer numerous call center technology solutions that help your supervisory staff coach, train, engage, and support their agents. We believe in teamwork making success happen, and through our innovative and collaborative technological solutions, you can put that team spirit to work to achieve your call center supervisor goals. Contact us today for more information about which solutions might be best for your center and staff.
