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The Argument for Contact Center Training

If a contact center manager could invest in only one initiative, what should it be? While I hope that contact center managers have a budget that allows them to invest in enhancements to the operations, people and systems needed to deliver a consistently outstanding customer experience, there is one item that stands out. It’s training. And this holds true for service organizations of all sizes – from the single person behind a counter to contact centers with thousands of people.

Correct Answers is What the Public Wants

Customers are willing to forgive many wrongs and mistakes made by a company, once they get to an outstanding agent who accurately and nicely answers their questions. (The agent will get an “earful” of what previously went wrong, but even this is positive, as it will hopefully allow the customer to get the negative out of their system by venting to the agent instead of “going viral” on social media.) While it is essential for agents to be trained in the “soft” skills that enable them to successfully interact and communicate with a public that is not always pleasant, being “nice” is not enough. It’s more important for them to give correct and concise answers and information. I’m not saying that it’s OK for agents to be rude, nasty or short with customers. What I am saying is that receiving accurate and helpful information and answers is a priority for callers.

Give Agents a Chance to Succeed

The public often blames agents for poor service and wrong information, but it’s typically the company they work for that is at fault. Sure, there are rogue or rude agents – these are people who should never have been hired to work in a service organization – but more often than not, agents are doing what they have been trained to do. If they are not properly informed about a company’s policies, procedures and systems and are not taught how the organization wants them to communicate with their customers, they’ll ask a peer or just do whatever it takes to meet their productivity goals. Since agents, like most employees, are goal-oriented, companies need to set the right goals and give agents the tools to succeed. In a contact center, this means prioritizing high quality service and a great customer experience (which has to be clearly defined). To achieve this objective, agents must be trained to deliver accurate answers and information and to present it to each caller in their frame of reference so that it is easily understood. This is much harder than it sounds because every customer is unique and has different expectations. The best way to prepare agents is via experiential- learning, where they can practice the skills they need to survive and thrive in a high-pressure environment.

High Quality Drives Productivity

Well-trained agents can rapidly diagnose (and if necessary diffuse) a challenging situation and determine the most effective approach for interacting with the customers, so that they can then succeed at their primary job, which is delivering an outstanding customer experience. The better prepared agents are, the more effective they will be at resolving issues and answering questions. While the primary goal of agent training is not to improve productivity, it is a direct outcome of good training; there is a direct and proven correlation between effective training and reduced average handle time (AHT). Agents who are fully prepared and trained to answer questions and manage callers will get their job done more quickly than someone who struggles to find answers.

Training is a Bottom-Line Issue

Too many companies skip training because they are in a rush to get agents on the phone to “help” customers. This is an extremely counterproductive strategy, as putting agents on the phone before they are trained is more likely to hurt a company than help. Effective training pays for itself by improving the customer experience, building agent satisfaction and engagement, enhancing productivity and reducing operating costs. So, if your budget allows only one investment, go with training.

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Ask the Experts

Question:
What are intelligent virtual agents and how are they used by contact centers?

Answer:
Intelligent virtual agents (IVAs) are products of artificial intelligence (AI), a branch of computer science focused on the development of intelligent machines that mimic human cognitive functions to learn, reason, work and react in a human-like way. IVAs are known by various names, some of which include interactive virtual agents, virtual agents, virtual reps, v-reps, chatbots and chatterbots. Visual representations of IVAs, on websites or within mobile apps, may be shown as avatars or have a more human-like appearance. IVAs have been programmed to communicate with humans and are powered by multiple underlying technologies, including speech-to-text/text-to-speech, speech recognition, natural language processing/understanding, voice user interfaces, machine learning, and more. They leverage interactive, context-aware knowledge bases to retrieve the data needed to “converse” with humans.

IVAs are used by contact centers to extend and enhance the self-service and agentless capabilities offered to customers. Though most commonly encountered on company websites, IVAs can also support inbound and outbound voice, interactive voice response (IVR), chat, text and mobile apps. Contact centers are leveraging IVAs to improve the customer experience by providing automated self-service and agentless options for routine activities and transactions, such as answering basic questions and directing prospects and customers to additional resources for customer service, sales, marketing and product support. This, in turn, frees up the IVAs’ human counterparts (agents) for more complex and interesting interactions, which increases agent engagement. Since IVAs never sleep, call in sick or take a vacation day, they are always available to customers, and because they don’t have “a bad day,” their interactions are always professional and they provide a consistent brand experience.

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DMG Consulting LLC is a leading independent research, advisory and consulting firm specializing in unified communications, contact centers, back-office and real-time analytics. Learn more at www.dmgconsult.com.