I received an email from a friend the other day describing her recent customer experience. The last line stopped me dead in my tracks because of my recent work on defining quality agent behaviors. My friend said:
Agents really make a difference. Without her, my bloodpressure would still be 180 over 140.
The agent worked for a credit card company. My friend had to call because after her husband died the credit card company closed his account and sent his $102 balance immediately to a collection agency. My friend admits she was anything but calm when she finally got through to the agent. She felt insulted that the credit card company treated her like a deadbeat after her family's long, good history with the credit card.
According to my friend, the agent handled the situation very well. My friend really wanted the agent to say the Company was the deadbeat for acting this way. Through it all, the agent remained calm and pleasant and never turned on her company. The agent ended the call with a heartfelt expression of sympathy for my friend's loss. In the end, my friend had only one small complaint... the agent could have spent a little more time emphasizing the family's value to the company.
So, how often do emotionally charged situations happen in your call center? How prepared are your agents to behave in a way that helps the customer on all levels? Do your agents have the motivation to treat each customer as an individual and the energy to follow through to satisfaction?
Do your agents make a difference? How many stories could you tell about the heros in your call center?
