Contact center agents – whether they are called representatives, advisors, consultants, etc. – have one of the toughest jobs in a company. The people who perform this role are required to know:
- The company’s products and services
- Policies and procedures regarding the handling of these products/services and support-related issues
- Product/service pricing
- Current and past marketing programs and solicitations
- How to use the operating systems and applications to perform their job – can be anywhere from a few to over 70
- Time management skills
- Customer retention skills
- Communications skills
- How to de-escalate interactions with angry customers
- When, who and how to contact other departments
- More
Agents must be able to handle inquiries in a variety of channels – voice, chat, email, SMS, messaging, social media, and more. They must be empathetic and enjoy working with people. Outstanding agents are highly trained and skilled and are excellent at multi-tasking. There’s more to this job than most people think, and it’s very difficult, particularly because agents typically receive a non-stop flow of inquiries (or sales requests).
Demands on Agents are Great
Besides the long list of required job skills, agents often face demands placed on few others in a company. All too frequently, agents are told to come in to work in inclement weather when the rest of the company’s employees are advised to work from home for their safety. Agents are generally unable to attend company events, such as corporate updates or outings, during work hours, as they need to be available to keep the company open and support customers when the rest of the company is off. And, while the pandemic may have proven that agents do not have to come into the office to perform their job, it placed another strain on them. While employees in many other departments were able to take their time in setting up a work space in their home in the early days of COVID-19 when companies were moving their employees out of the office, agents were told they needed to be back “on the phones” (or answering digital inquiries) on a next-day basis.
Agents are the Day-to-Day Chief Customer Officers of a Company
On a daily basis, agents are a company’s chief customer officers. They respond to inquiries, act as sales consultants, explain or translate business communications to customers, analyze competitive offerings, calm angry or frustrated customers, and in times of trouble (whether it’s a personal or a national issue such as a war or pandemic) function as therapists by allowing customers to vent before politely and mindfully moving them to a business-related topic. Agents function as the voice of the enterprise to its customers and vice versa. Agents are typically the first to know about an issue or problem happening at a company, as impacted customers reach out to them immediately, in most cases even before the operating department that caused the issue is aware of it. A large part of a company’s success rides on the performance of agents, who are frequently the least respected and lowest paid and compensated employees in a company.
Call to Action: Make an Agent Career Path
Companies invest a great deal of time and effort, which translates into money, to train their agents. In some situations, “basic training” is two weeks, and in other organizations it can be 3 – 6 months, depending on the complexity of their operations. Yet, companies seem to care little for the loyalty of these very valuable and well-trained employees, as is reflected by the high attrition rates. To retain these highly skilled and talented employees, it’s time for companies to create a professional contact center position with a career path. As part of this process, companies should evaluate the compensation structure and come up with a way to make these employees feel valued. It’s well past time for agents to be recognized as the professionals they are.
Visit our CX Idol webpage to nominate a customer services agent and celebrate customer service excellence.
