Call Center Coaching Techniques to Avoid Common Mistakes

November 17, 2021

Call Center Coaching Techniques to Avoid Common Mistakes

Call centers are only as good as the agents on the phone. You want them to be as efficient and well-trained as possible to deal with any eventuality.

Coaching in a call center may seem like a daunting task, especially when you have hundreds of people with many different criteria you need to train for.

However, the best way to achieve success is by taking the first step.

This article is going to go through some of the best things that you can do to ensure that you are carrying out your coaching in the best way possible.

How Do You Handle Call Center Agent Coaching?

The key to successfully coaching in a call center is having an effective way to measure success. The most important thing is to have a clear understanding of what you want to accomplish with the coaching process.

If you don’t know where you’re going, how will you know if you’ve gotten there? (Best Coaching In A Call Center)

Any approach to coaching listed here sets a base for your contact center:

1. Coaching as a tool to improve employee performance;
2. Coaching as a means to motivate employees;
3. Coaching as a method to develop new skills;
4. Coaching as a way to increase job satisfaction;
5. Coaching as a part of a training program.

The coaching session should be structured so that it accomplishes one or more of these goals so your business reaches peak call center service.

Most Common Agent-Customer Call Interaction Mistakes

These are some of the most basic and common mistakes that many call center agents make during a call that can easily be avoided.

In coaching call center employees, these simple problems can be easily avoided if you coach agents through custom scorecards and real-time scripts and insights during customer interactions. The most common are:

1. Poor listening and follow-up. – This is one of the biggest problems that agents face when they interact with customers. They simply do not listen well enough or they get so caught up in their thoughts that they fail to hear what the customer has said. As a result, they often miss out on valuable information that could help them solve the problem faster and better which weakens customer experience.
2. Not asking for clarification. – When someone calls into your call center and says something vague like “I need some help” or “Can I speak to someone about this?” it’s very difficult to determine exactly what they mean.

Even worse, if you ask them to clarify, they may hang up before giving you the answer you were looking for. So instead of getting frustrated by people who can’t be bothered to tell you what they really want, try asking them to explain themselves more clearly which will emphasize customer care.

1. Failing to coach. – Many times, callers aren’t sure whether or not they should use certain services or products. That’s why it’s imperative that your customer service team coaches them through the decision-making process. Help them understand the benefits of using the product or service over others.
2. Using poor communication skills. – In order to effectively communicate with customers, you must first learn how to listen. Listening is not always easy, especially when you’re under pressure to provide fast answers to questions. But if you practice active listening, you’ll find that it helps you gain control of your emotions and stay calm while handling stressful situations; therefore, calls are ended on a positive note.

Coaching in a Call Center – Drop the Bad Habit

In considering the list above, agents at times can be guilty of making the same mistake over and over again. It is possible to train your agents to avoid these mistakes.

A behavioral coaching program can teach your agents to become more aware of their actions and behaviors and to change those behaviors accordingly.

By teaching your agents to focus on the positive aspects of their behavior, you can create a culture of accountability within your organization.

Agents who are coached regularly become more productive and efficient than those who are not.

Also during a call, these agents can rely on real-time coaching which provides instant feedback and insight into an agent’s performance, helping him or her improve their skills quickly and efficiently.

Action plans are developed based on each agent’s individual needs. These plans include specific goals and objectives and also address areas where improvement is needed.

Your team members take ownership of their plans and work hard to achieve success.

If all agents learn from their mistakes quickly through feedback and action plans, then they will have fewer opportunities to repeat them, allowing improved behavioral outcomes and excellent customer service.

Coaching in a Call Center – Compliance – Following the Rules

A good call center has trained staff who can answer questions and provide information about products or services.

When coaching call center agents, you also need to make sure they understand the policies that govern their work. Make sure each agent knows all the rules and regulations that apply to his or her position.

This includes knowing the company’s policy on answering calls, handling complaints, and dealing with special situations.

Compliance training is important because it ensures that your employees follow the law and protect your business’ reputation.

During and after every call you want to maintain positive feedback, and eliminate the negative feedback that can be rooted in agents simply being uncompliant.

If you don’t know what your company’s policies are, then you might as well have no policies at all!

Customer satisfaction scores can be simply impacted by having agents who do not follow the rules.

Your call center needs to be run according to a set of guidelines so that every employee understands what he or she is expected to do.

The best way to ensure compliance is to integrate a dashboard that displays procedures and expectations for all active calls in your contact center.

Motivation Derived from a Coaching Dashboard-Effective coaching in a call center

In regards to call center coaching, it can be easy as providing the tools or call center software where agents can analyze their own agent performance.

The coaching style of implementing a dashboard, it can help call agents see how they’re doing compared to others in their agent role.

In addition, this type of coaching can help agents recognize their strengths and weaknesses and adjust their approach accordingly.

With a coaching dashboard, agents can track their progress and compare themselves against other agents in similar roles. (Coaching in a call center)

They can use the data to identify trends and patterns and determine if there are any changes that need to be made.

When agents are given the opportunity to view their own performance, they tend to be more motivated to perform better which therefore increases employee engagement.

Also, when coaching call center agents, it is imperative to establish a strong relationship with your team members.

An effective coach or contact center manager should embody the coaching mindset of motivating and inspiring team members to perform better by providing constructive criticism and praise.

Contact center coaches should also be able to help agents overcome obstacles, such as a lack of confidence or fear.

A coach is a leader, but they can also have the help of these coaching programs which will assist them in reaching their goals as well as the goals of agents and their performance.

Coaching performance and coaching efforts take your agents a long way.

The Team Leads the Way

Agent performance is the key to achieving high-quality customer service. When agents feel confident and motivated to meet customers’ needs, they are much more likely to exceed expectations- effective coaching in a call center.

In addition, when agents are given the opportunity to ask questions, they tend to ask more questions.

This helps them to gain knowledge and understanding of the product or service provided.

This leads to better customer satisfaction and increased sales. Lacking dedication to their craft is the biggest challenge in the call center coaching industry today.

Agents often get stuck in a rut and become complacent. It takes a lot of motivation to keep agents engaged and focused on the task at hand.

To achieve this goal, it is important to give agents the ability to monitor their own performance using the coaching aid of the call center coaching dashboard.

This will allow them to stay motivated and continue striving for excellence.

Conclusion

Coaching in a call center doesn’t require you to be a coaching expert yourself. The most successful companies invest in a third-party QA solution that provides the technology and insights into your performance.

You may even consider hiring a company like ours to take care of and meet all of your call center coaching expectations.

We provide everything you need to handle coaching in call center issues and make sure your employees are getting the training and support they need to succeed. If you’d like to find out more about our services, contact us today!