subject: Need for Training in Call Center Units [print this page] Need for Training in Call Center Units Need for Training in Call Center Units
Looking at cost cuts is the need of the hour. Not just call center firms, every business unit worth the money is looking at innovative ways to cut out the frills. Some are pulling back perks and privileges; some are cutting down on manpower and streamlining the whole work process. On a managerial level, it is important for the BPO firm to work with only the much-needed employee strength. The organization must be an agile horse, so to speak. However, some answering service units are cutting down on training and induction to make haste and curtail costs. This may save immediate costs for the telemarketing units, but in the long run, it will increase internal costs and worse still, customer frustration. A closer look will reveal why.
To begin with, call center agents need proper initiation into the project they will be working on. They need proper briefs on how they can answer queries. They need information about the project. Your inbound call center trainers must be able to teach the agents every single possible answer. The customers who will be calling the answering service may ask anything under the sun. It may also be about rival products/services! A thorough understanding of the client company is important as well because the BPO agents would be the voice of the company. If this process doesn't go off well enough, the agents would be fumbling for answers and your company would be fumbling for a back-up plan to shield the negative effect it would have on the branding.
Training is needed because customers are unpredictable. You can hand over a list of probable questions to your call center agents and let them take over the calling. If the customer asks a tricky question, the inbound call center agent will struggle to answer. The lack of confidence will repel the customer. Worse still, the customer may feel that the products/services are not really of a standard quality. Your BPO agent may decide to transfer the call to another agent who knows the answer. Without training, all agents would be on the same boat. There will be a frantic search for someone who knows the answer! And all this while, the customer will be on wait. This will build up a call volume clutter. In short, you will have a mini disaster on your hands.
Wrong information about the product/service is probably the worst thing that a call center agent can do to your business. When you hold back training resources, you make the BPO agents highly susceptible to make that fatal error. In their desperation for information, the telemarketing agent may just fabricate bits and pieces of information and answer the caller. This does not work in any way because customers would never like to be misled, even in the minute details. Once they feel that their trust in the voice on the other end of the phone is lost, they would not like to have anything to do with the brand anymore. That would mean lesser customers and revenue. In a nutshell, in your efforts to save money on training, you are actually losing out on more money!
