What Qualities Should Call Centers Take Into Account When Hiring Agents?

The work of call center agents is complex and demanding. They have to maintain a good balance between satisfying customers and the needs of organisations. Every call is different; therefore, they need a skill set to deal with a multitude of different situations that may arise.

What Qualities Should Call Centers Take Into Account When Hiring Agents?

1) Effective Communication Skills

The nature of contact center work demands good communication skills. An agent must not only have good oral communication skills, but also must be an attentive listener and maintain an active listening in order to understand the caller’s query and offer a solution that meets the caller’s needs.

2) Retention of Knowledge

Agents need to remember all the information about a company’s business. Callers want immediate answers, and any hesitation or lack of conviction lowers their confidence in the accuracy of the information.

On many occasions, call center agents have to retrieve information instantly, since callers do not have time to wait while they get answers to their queries. To do this, they have tools that allow them to access customer history, as well as serve them from their preferred communication channel.

3) Ability To Handle Pressure

Many contact centers experience high staff turnover when agents experience burnout due to the pressure associated with the job, dealing with frustrated and potentially upset callers. For this reason, they must be able to remain calm in any situation, even when the conversation escalates.

4) Speed And Efficiency

From a business perspective, an agent who is fast and efficient will be able to receive more calls and increase results. Of course, the quality of customer service should not be affected by the speed of service and customer satisfaction should always be the main objective of any call center.

The fast and efficient service is also highly valued by users. They do not want to stay longer than necessary, but at the same time, they need their problem or query to be satisfactorily resolved.

5) Resolution Of Complex Queries

Traditionally, call centers have provided their agents with scripts to work with, and many companies still use this procedure. However, while this can work when addressing common issues or problems, it limits your ability to respond to unusual inquiries or requests efficiently. Callers are put on hold while the agent looks for a solution. This has a negative effect on satisfaction and ultimately on the company itself.

Call center agents must be able to resolve any query, regardless of its complexity. This often requires a degree of creativity on your part to come up with a solution that satisfies the caller and preserves the best interests of the company.

6) Emotional Stability

A good agent must be able to control their emotions, whether they are dealing with a friendly caller or someone who is upset. It is vital that officers remain calm. A bad response from an agent is unacceptable and only makes the situation worse.

For this reason, they have to learn that, by remaining calm, they can redirect the situation and change it by offering an acceptable solution that satisfies the user. They should strive to be professional and level-headed at all times, which helps to provide consistent, high-quality customer service.

7) Empathy

Empathy is a very important quality of a successful call center agent. A warm and friendly approach will go a long way in developing a good relationship with the person he calls. An agent must be able to convey a genuine understanding of a customer’s concern and ensure that they are being heard.

A lot can be accomplished if an agent shows empathy for a client’s problem. From the caller’s point of view, there is nothing more unpleasant or frustrating than dealing with someone whose attitude reflects complete disinterest.

8) Organisational Capacity

Contact centers are busy work environments that require good organisation, not only by management but also at the agent level. They need to be able to multitask while talking to customers, including taking notes, consulting the company’s database, and updating the CRM system. They need to be well organised to get the job done efficiently.

9) Willingness To Teamwork

In today’s world, where cloud-based call centers employ agents located all over the world, it’s easy for people to work remotely. However, all contact centers work best when agents work as a team, using everything that a full-featured call center software solution has to offer. It’s important for agents to foster relationships with other team members and for everyone to be available to offer mutual support when needed.

Team building helps companies promote smoother operations and more efficient customer service. Contact center supervisors cannot be expected to support every agent on every inquiry they have. Team members can support each other and ease the management of that burden to a great extent.

In conclusion, these qualities are not only key to the success of a call center agent, but also have a significant impact on the future of a company. Training employees is of vital importance, as well as monitoring the most important key performance indicators (KPIs) of the call center.