Contact center agents have a lot of pressure on them. They represent what can potentially be great, and poor, about the company. Great agents means repeat customers, brand loyalty, and attracting new clients. Poorly trained agents can lose business. Improving customer satisfaction is a top priority for all contact centers, so why are there still so many disgruntled public perceptions? Is there anything contact centers can enforce to help improve contact center perceptions?

Reinvigorate Your Contact Center
Old technology ushers in an old mindsets. When was the last time you upgraded to a newer contact center software model? Cloud-based contact center software and social media are easy to use technologies that have big results. Customers can email or chat with representatives readily, instead of making phone calls. Different availability means better customer happiness.

Virtual Contact Centers
Work-at-home agents are happy agents, and this can help your company in multiple ways. Firstly, you reduce company overhead by reducing (or dismantling) an on-site premise completely. Secondly, you are hiring veterans, stay on home parents, students and retirees that are actively looking for part-time, or, full-time employment. Lastly, staff retention is increased by offering telecommuting benefits to employees, as they are saving money on commuting costs and possibly childcare. Employees can also be set at an “on-call” basis, in case there are spikes.

Outsourcing, Not Much Better
With newer technologies in place, such as the two above, companies are realizing that it might be good PR to bring contact centers back from overseas. Outsourcing at one time had been the cheaper option, however, at what cost? Many customers complain largely at being handled from outsourced agents who do nothing but exasperate problems. This has lost a lot of potential repeat customers and severely dampened brand loyalty.

Training
This is the last area to address. As technology continues to expand, so should the technical knowledge for agents. Not having the technical expertise to sufficiently answer questions leads to call transfers, call drops, and disgruntled customers (and agents). Good training to sufficiently answer questions alleviates this stressful environment and helps make more single phone calls successful.