What makes a great call centre agent? There are all the obvious characteristics like patience, friendliness, and attention to detail, but at CDA we focus on instilling the right soft skills in our agents. These are the skills that will facilitate a pleasant and professional experience for the client. So much focus is places on reaching targets that often these soft skills get lost along the way, but they’re what will clinch the sale in the end.

1 – Teach them how to deal with an irate client

Whether you run and inbound or outbound call centre, the one thing you’re guaranteed to experience is an irate client. Your call centre agents should be equipped to handle these types of calls. Dealing with aggressive clients can be absolutely soul-destroying for agents, so having the skills to take control of situations like this is essential in turning the situation into a positive one.

2 – How to build rapport with your client

Agents only have two tools to work with: their voice and the limited attention span of the client they are speaking to. They need to know how to quickly build a rapport with the client so that they actually want to listen to what the agent has to say. More importantly, this contributes to an overall positive experience for your clients.

3 – Learn how to truly listen

Inbound call centre agents have to listen, but when it comes to outbound call centres, agents do sometimes forget to take time to listen to what the client is saying. They only have a limited time to close a sale, and their focus on the client can get lost. Many times, sales opportunities are missed because an agent did not listen attentively enough. Listen, repeat details, and if you don’t know, find out and get back to the client. This is what makes an agent a professional.

4 – Every call is a sales opportunity

Regardless of whether the agent is in a sales environment or not, every time a client interacts with a brand there is a possibility that they could purchase. Teach your agents the true value of every lead they call or every call they receive and what that means to them as an agent and to the brand and or business.

5 – You are the face (or voice) of the brand

So few agents realise that when the interact with a client over the phone their voice and this conversation maybe their first and their only direct interaction with your business. If they do not truly understand this, then how can they truly understand the impact of a negative experience a client may have with them? They are valuable brand ambassadors – this not only improves their self-worth (valuable part of the brand image) and self-belief but their understanding of how their behaviour can impact on the overall business.

Looking for a team of professional call centre agents who will add value to your brand? Get in touch with CDA today.