In the timeless tale of Aladdin, a street urchin was granted three wishes by a genie after rubbing a magic lamp. While your customers may not wish for the same things that Aladdin did, namely everything he needed to win Princess Jasmine’s heart, they still have wishes that, if you could provide them with a magic lamp, they would ask the genie to grant them.
3C Contact Services, the leading provider of outsourced call center solutions, spoke to its partners about the steps they had taken to fulfill their customers’ wishes and the following three quickly emerged as the most common:
- “I wish someone would just answer the phone!”: When your customers call, how long are they on hold for? You’ve doubtlessly heard horror stories about customers being on hold for an hour or more. Most call centers usually have queue systems and calls are answered in the order they come in. But how long are your customers waiting for before they reach a representative? And how efficiently are your agents handling the calls? It is inevitable that some calls may take longer than others to handle, but your reps should try to keep the queue moving, answering questions and resolving issues as efficiently as possible. After all, what message does it send about your organization if someone calls, then spends the next half-hour listening to elevator music? They may just jump ship to your competition.
- “I wish someone would just get this working!”: If your customer has a piece of equipment that isn’t working, such as a computer or smartphone, they will want to get it up and running as quickly as possible, especially if it is vital to their job. How long do your clients have to wait before they receive a service call to resolve any issues? Do your agents get back to them within a few hours, or is it days? Furthermore, are you able to diagnose the problem on the first call, or does it take several calls before you’re able to figure out what the issue is? If your customers have to wait days for a service call and it takes several more to resolve the issue, you may just start losing business. Make every effort to return customers’ service calls in a timely manner and resolve issues on the first call.
- “I wish they would stop transferring me!”: When a customer calls, how quickly are they put through to the proper individual? Furthermore, how often do they have to verify their name, address, etc. when being transferred? And how often do they spend talking to the wrong agent? Staff should immediately know who to transfer your customers to, or your phone system should clearly outline the proper extensions.
3C Contact Services advises that if you deal with your customers’ calls in an efficient manner, not to mention clearly outlining who a customer should call for any inquiries and issues, you’ll be more successful at fulfilling their wishes. Most importantly, your staff must know who to transfer customers to or handle calls themselves.
