Mistake Call Center Newbies Make When Taking Calls

hey everyone today i am going to talk
about
mistake number one that a lot of call
center newbies
make when assisting customers over the
phone and that
is delaying the answer to a simple
question
just for the sake of following the call
flow
now what do i mean by that so we all
know that
the call flow has seven steps right
but out of those seven steps only four
should be executed every single
call the rest of the steps the
the steps two three and four should be
executed only
when the situation calls for it
there are situations when performing
steps two
three and four just doesn't make sense
because there are questions that are
just so
simple so straightforward so close ended
that as soon as the customer asks the
question
you already have a ready answer for it
and the only thing that makes sense
is to answer the damn question now what
do i mean by this
here's a sample mock call
hi thank you for calling questron this
is jennifer how may i help you
hi i'm calling because i want to get a
quote on your internet
plans how much does it cost for a 20
mbps fiber connection
sure i'll be happy to help you out with
that as you understand
you want to get a quote on our internet
plans is that right
um yes that's actually what i just said
what do you think i said now
what do you think is wrong with the
agent's answer
you have five seconds to answer that
question
time's up so the problem with the
agent's answer is that
she did not directly answer the
customer's
simple question as you heard the
customer's question was
how much does it cost for a 20 mbps
fiber connection
and the agent's answer was sure i'll be
happy to help you out with that
as you understand you want to get a
quote on our internet plans
is that right it just doesn't make sense
though
this part is the step two which is the
assurance
but let me ask you a question is this
really necessary
is this it was it really necessary for
the agent to assure the customer that
sure i'll be happy to help you out with
that when the question was so
simple so straightforward
i don't think so and another thing that
the agent said was
as i understand you want to get a quote
on our internet plans
is that right but again was it really
necessary to probe
and to confirm when the customer stated
the question
so clearly i don't think so
absolutely not
[Music]
now here is a different mock call with
the same customer the same question
but with a different approach from the
agent
hi thank you for calling questron this
is candice how may i help you
hi i'm calling because i want to get a
quote on your internet plans
how much does it cost for a 20 mbps
fiber connection
our 20 mbps fiber is 30 per month
that's already unlimited no data cap and
we currently offer a free
30-day trial for this plan awesome
i would like to get the free trial so as
you heard
the agent answer the question directly
straight to the point
without any assurance without any
probing question
because they were just not necessary the
customer asked a straightforward
question
she got a straightforward answer now i
know
this might sound so so nitpicky
of me to talk about this but i have
experienced this first
hand with companies which i shall not
mention but i have experienced this with
the agents
from other companies and
i it just doesn't make sense because
first of all it wastes the customers
time
and it wastes your time your customers
time is precious
and so is yours and you have to remember
that you have
stats that you have to maintain and
delaying your answer
just for the sake of following the call
flow to a t
just doesn't serve you and the customer
any purpose
[Music]
now of course this only applies for
straightforward questions with
straightforward answers
but let's say that the customer called
and said something like you know what i
am so confused about your website i
cannot understand anything about your
advertisement now i'm so frustrated i
don't know what to do
now could you please for the love of god
tell me
how much your 20 mbps fiber connection
is now if the customer says it like that
obviously it is the right time for you
to empathize
with her frustration and then answer the
question
directly but because but if the question
is only
a direct question how much is your 20
mbps connection
then you have to answer the question
directly
straight to the point it saves you and
the customer
time everybody's happy
now let me give you a second example and
i want you to figure out what's wrong
with this mock call
hi thank you for calling question this
is jennifer how may i help you
is your physical store open today i'm
currently on my way there right now
sure i'll be happy to help you out with
that may i know your account number and
full name
one two three four five and my name is
tabitha
thank you and your last name
ratched listen i i just want to know if
your store is open today why are you
asking for my info
is your store open today or not i'm so
sorry about that
yes tabitha our store is open today
so as you heard the customer just wanted
to know
if their physical store is open
and as you heard the agent
asked for the customer's information
but again was that necessary
absolutely not there was no need to pull
up the customer's account because
the question is so general in order to
answer it there was no need to pull up
the customer's account
you just have to answer yes or no and be
done with it
now if after that the customer has
another question
that is related to her account then that
is a time that you ask for the
information
but because the question is just hey is
your store open today yes or no
then you gotta answer yes or no and
another thing that the agent said was
sure i'll be happy to help you out with
that but again
that was absolutely not necessary it was
just delaying
the the call and it was
making the customer irritated now here's
what could have been done better
hi thank you for calling question this
is candice how may i help you
is your physical store open today i'm
currently on my way there right now
yes our physical store is open right now
until nine pm
awesome i'll be there in five minutes
sure
is there anything else that i can help
you with today no that's all i need to
know
thanks bye now of course the most common
response that i hear
from agents when talking about this
mistake is
it's impossible because every time we
deviate from the call flow
we get a markdown from our qa
our qa's really insists on us sticking
to the call flow
a hundred percent now if this is your
situation
i recommend that you really
discuss this with your team lead and
present your points tell your team lead
that every time
you stick to the call flow and the
customer is only asking a very simple
question
that you are irritating the customer and
you are hurting your stats
and wasting your time and the customer's
time this way you will have a
communication where
you and the management will both benefit
and because after all your goal is to
really just make the customer happy
while following the company policy
[Music]
please note that i am not discounting
the fact that there are
specific accounts that require you to
really
obtain the customer's information before
you talk to the customer
and that's fine this is usually true
for financial accounts and some other
accounts where security is really
important but majority of the time
with questions that are so trivial like
what is your opening hour or does this
handbag have a zipper do you have a
physical store
these questions you don't have to assure
empathize with the customer you don't
have to check the customer's account
and you just don't have to probe because
the
question is so so clear already
and of course as with all accounts you
have to clarify everything with your
team lead if you have any confusion
because this is the only way that you
could have that communication where
you know you benefit and you know
exactly what you will be doing in the
future
all right guys that is all for today in
my next video
i'm going to talk about mistake number
two and once it's ready i'm going to
link it up here at the top right corner
of this video this is going to be a
series
um i was initially planning for it to be
just one video
one long video but i think i need to
talk about every single mistake
for each video because i think it's
important that
it's really detailed that you understand
every mistake
so you will be able to avoid them in the
future
all right that is all for today bye
thank you for watching