CX Demo

Author: Franz Malten Buemann

  • 5 Skills and Traits Every Call Center Leader Should Have

    What comes to mind when you think of the ideal call center leader? Organized? Professional? Inspiring? While those are certainly beneficial, the right candidate needs a lot more than that to make it as a successful call center leader.
    If you want your agents to consistently meet company goals, you must invest in the right leaders, including managers and supervisors. They must set strong examples of teamwork, work ethic, company values, and of course: customer service.
    Easier said than done, right? Being a call center leader is hard work; work that’s vital to ensure a successful call center operation. The cost of investing in the wrong leader is exorbitant– call center attrition and customer dissatisfaction are sure to increase if you do.
    How to Foster Agent Engagement in a Hybrid Contact Center
    Why Investing in the Right Leader is Critical
    Call center agents don’t have easy jobs. Their day-to-day work is riddled with angry customers, monotonous scripts, and constant problem-solving. Despite the $330 billion market value of the global call center industry, attrition is worse for call centers than in any other field.
    Did you know that ineffective leadership is one of the top reasons for call center attrition? That’s right – call center agents cite ineffective leadership as a leading cause for their leaving.

    FACT:
    Ineffective leadership is one of the top causes of agent attrition.

    The right call center leader can be the difference between average or severe attrition. The best call center leader retains the strongest agents for a long time, saving valuable company dollars and time in recruitment, onboarding, and training.
    In 2022, agent attrition is worse than ever. And, agent engagement continues to be the catalyst for customer loyalty and revenue.
    Bottom line? The easiest way to boost employee engagement and retention is to invest in the right call center leader.
    Agent Engagement Will Be Critical for Contact Centers in 2022
    5 Skills and Traits Every Call Center Leader Should Have
    Organizational skills.
    With so many agents, tasks, and objectives to manage, strong organization skills are key for call center leaders to stay on top of their work. Between call volume forecasting, agent training and performance management, and handling call escalations, even a typical word day can become overwhelming, fast.
    Workforce management is one area in particular that benefits from this skill. A good leader should be perceptive to company needs, and be able to take swift action to address challenges. This means staying on top of scheduling, ensuring all staff are equipped with the proper skill-set and knowledge base to support incoming customer queries, and providing support to team members as required.
    Patience under pressure.
    A patient call center leader can accomplish more in their work than an impatient one. After all, one cannot be successful in this role without keeping a cool head during stressful scenarios.
    Here are several common scenarios where patience under pressure pays off:

    Motivating agents; managing team culture.
    Handling customer escalations and complex queries.
    Conducting performance evaluations and providing feedback to agents.
    Building up performance metrics; delivering KPI reports.

    Customer experience managers agree that patience is one of the most vital soft skills that surpasses even technical knowledge in importance.
    The Manager’s Guide to Call Center Gamification
    Change management.
    Workplace transitions can turn into utter chaos without proper management. The contact center industry experienced this firsthand during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced a dramatic shift to remote and hybrid operations. But transitional periods involving employee turnover, new management, and the adoption of new tools and technology can also have a significant impact on agent morale and performance.
    Call center leaders should understand change management well so they can support their employees with the ever-changing industry. With new contact center trends surfacing every year, call center leaders must effectively take new industry information and changes into account and ensure their agents have the support and information they need to continue their work with confidence.
    Industry Report: Contact Center Trends 2022
    Flexible communication and relationship building.
    Communication skills are vital for call center leaders, as their work requires them to interact with many different stakeholders. They need to convey department activities within different contexts depending on who they’re communicating with – whether they’re addressing a customer escalation, managing a vendor relationship, or presenting performance reports to a contact center executive.
    Leaders must also be able to build relationships with their agents, so they can better guide their efforts. Agent performance reviews are one area that can be challenging to navigate. A call center leader should deliver encouragement and constructive criticism in a way that helps the agent grow. Of course, each agent will have unique needs and styles, so leaders should be flexible in their delivery for best results.
    The Only Call Center Metrics for Agent Performance You’ll Ever Need
    Hands-on problem solving.
    A good leader doesn’t sit on the sidelines and watch when agents are overwhelmed with high call volumes or faulty call center technology.
    The best call center leaders are team players. They’re not afraid to jump on the phones and help their teams throughout peak call volumes. If an agent struggles with software, leaders should immediately seek a solution. They might delegate the task to another agent, try to fix the software themselves, or call the provider to solve the issue.

    DID YOU KNOW?
    Fonolo’s Voice Call-Back technology is an excellent example of software that’s reliable, efficient in handling call volumes, and frequently tested to ensure functionality.

    So, why does all this matter? A good call center leader has a domino effect on business success. Strong managers lead to more engaged employees, which leads to an 147% higher average of earnings per share than the competition.
    Finding someone that embodies all the above five traits isn’t easy. Next up, we’ll discuss some ways you can ensure your call center has the right leaders.
    How to Find the Best Call Center Leaders
    A candidate might meet some requirements for a management role, but completely lack others. It’s hard to find good talent! Here are some tips to find the best call center leader:

    Prioritize succession planning: Always think about the next manager in the line-up so that you’re not scrambling if a leader finds a new opportunity.
    Ask the right interview questions: Ask candidates about specific examples of their experiences managing teams. In addition, consider your center’s pain points prior to the interview and ask the candidates how they could address them.
    Invest in agents: Give them opportunities to mentor their peers and grow leadership skills. You might find a strong leader already working on your team!
    Offer competitive benefits: The best talent goes where they’re appreciated. Make sure your job ad lists fair and competitive compensation and flexible work arrangements to attract and retain the best talent.

    Hiring for a call center manager? Remember to ask specific questions about candidate experiences, and look to your existing team for succession opportunities. #CallCenter #CCTR #HiringClick To TweetThe post 5 Skills and Traits Every Call Center Leader Should Have first appeared on Fonolo.

  • Launched a User onboarding Tool on PH

    Today we launched Checklisty on Product Hunt. Checklisty helps companies achieve over a 35% increase in Product Adoption rates by helping train their users better with a user onboarding checklist. Checklisty helps: Increase trial conversion. Get faster onboarding. Cut down time-to-value. I would be pleased to get your feedback and comments on our new project, so please check our PH page 🙂 Product Hunt: https://www.producthunt.com/posts/checklisty submitted by /u/Ornery-Discount2701 [link] [comments]

  • Modern marketing and hustle

    Hustle uses shortcuts and effort to bend the conventions of society to get more than the hustler’s fair share of attention. Hustle burns trust for awareness. Because it’s a shortcut, hustle might deliver in the short-run, but hustle is notably non-consensual. Few people want to be hustled.

    Marketing is the work of helping people get what they’ve wanted all along. Marketing is about establishing the conditions for a small group of people to eagerly spread the word and build connection. Modern marketing changes the culture by establishing what the new norms are, and does it in a way that makes things better for those it serves.

    Taking attention vs. storytelling and service. Sometimes it feels like the shortcuts and depersonalization and scale are the only option, then a great marketing project comes along and we’re reminded that in fact, we can do work we’re proud of.

  • Your A-Z Content Audit Guide

    Today, you’ll learn step-by-step how to do a content audit that works – and we know it works because we’ve grown our traffic 10x over the past few years using content. And in-depth audits have helped us get there. In this guide, you’ll learn: Where to find your site’s content strengths Steps to repair content…
    The post Your A-Z Content Audit Guide appeared first on Benchmark Email.

  • Salesforce Acquires Phennecs: Sandbox Privacy Startup

    Salesforce has acquired Phennecs, a provider of privacy, compliance and data management solutions. Trust is Salesforce’s number one value, so Phennecs’s addition will strengthen their ability to offer data security and privacy compliance across the platform within sandbox environments. About Phennecs Phennecs is built on… Read More

  • Are we reaching the email endgame? Communication with customers

    Recent reports in publications such as The New York Times have questioned email’s longevity as a communication channel of choice. But what’s the reality? How can we do communication with customers effectively? The argument goes that Generation Z (born between 1997 and 2012) – a generation raised on social media and instant messaging – prefers almost…
    The post Are we reaching the email endgame? Communication with customers appeared first on Customer Experience Magazine.

  • Five best practices to improve sustainability in business for last-mile deliveries 

    In a recent report, Accenture describes last mile deliveries as being at a crucial moment in terms of sustainability: “The last mile ecosystem is at a tipping point. Go one way, and it can extend these gains. Go the other way, and environmental impacts will worsen.”  Simply put, the pandemic has encouraged retailers and other…
    The post Five best practices to improve sustainability in business for last-mile deliveries  appeared first on Customer Experience Magazine.

  • @Mention a Related User In a Post to Chatter Action

    Last Updated on April 4, 2022 by Rakesh GuptaBig Idea or Enduring Question: How do you @mentioned related users in a Post to Chatter Salesforce Flow action?  Objectives: After reading this blog, you’ll be able to:  Use the post to chatter action in the record-triggered flow Use Get element to
    The post @Mention a Related User In a Post to Chatter Action appeared first on Automation Champion.

  • Auto Post a Message to Chatter When an Event is Created

    Last Updated on April 4, 2022 by Rakesh GuptaBig Idea or Enduring Question: How do you automatically Post a message to Chatter Group message when a user creates an event? In Salesforce, Chatter Group represents the group of people. It’s a great way to boost collaboration in your organization. You
    The post Auto Post a Message to Chatter When an Event is Created appeared first on Automation Champion.

  • What I Wish I Had Known About Product Development Before I Spent Three Years Doing It

    People always tell you that building a business isn’t a quick and easy journey and that the “overnight success” stories you see tend to downplay the years of work that go into creating that success. So, when I started my innovative undergarments company, Perkies, I expected it to be about the journey, not the destination.What I didn’t expect was for it to be a three-year journey of figuring out how to develop my signature product (a sticky bra with replaceable adhesives) before selling a single unit.I’m not saying it wasn’t worth it. Seeing the glowing reviews from women who feel more confident while wearing our product makes up for every long day spent cold calling manufacturers, every prototype I had to assemble with my own hands, and every rash I developed while trying to find body-safe adhesives that actually worked (true story).I also don’t think my multi-year timeline was out of the ordinary for creating a product that hasn’t existed before. But, there are things I wish I had known to set expectations for myself (and maybe help the process go a little smoother).So, to help other inventive entrepreneurs who are embarking on the journey of developing a product, here are four things I wish I had known from the get-go.1. It Was More Complicated Than I ThoughtWhen I first had the idea to create a product for women who were tired of throwing away an entire sticky bra just because the adhesives had worn down, it seemed so obvious. “How has nobody thought of this before?” I wondered.I quickly realized, though, that while others had probably had the same idea, no one had gone to the trouble of turning the idea into a final product—likely because there are so many steps involved in doing so.Here’s just a brief overview: I had to determine where to source the materials for each component of the product, and then find separate manufacturers to put all those elements together. We ended up working with a manufacturer in China for the bras, manufacturers in the U.S. for the three different adhesives we use, and an adhesive converter who laminates the adhesive layers together into the finalized stack up. I also had to work with many different experts to develop specialized materials and processes—and quickly realized I wouldn’t even be able to automate everything immediately. Until recently, I was cutting the specific shape of our adhesives by hand, and I still add in the layered pull tabs myself.And this is all on top of shipping and fulfillment, plus the supply chain issues that have been plaguing us since, well, the plague started.There were a lot of steps between my original idea and my early prototypes (on the left) to the functioning sticky bra with replaceable adhesives we have today (on the right)!Oh, and Murphy’s Law applied at just about every step along the way. I can’t count the number of times I had to extend deadlines because I was waiting on a manufacturer, I’ve been close to tears because a supplier sent me something that didn’t work, or I accidentally sent a faulty sample to a customer.Ultimately, what separates an idea from an actual product is entrepreneurs who have the grit to get through all of this. Based on my experience, I’d recommend giving yourself enough time and mental fortitude to deal with the complications. I also found it incredibly valuable to make friends with other product-based founders to commiserate with when I was in the weeds.2. I Either Needed a Lot of Time or a Lot of MoneyI knew that I’d be able to streamline the development process if I could raise a little funding: I could pay materials experts to source the perfect adhesives, I could pay manufacturers to rush my orders, and the like. Unfortunately, I quickly found that no investors were interested in signing a check until I had a working prototype. I couldn’t create my product without money, and I couldn’t raise money without a product.Instead, I sacrificed my own time to do the R&D. And it was not glamorous. I would spend weeks finding manufacturers who could answer tiny questions like whether the adhesive could be a few millimeters thicker to improve adhesion. For months, every time I went to a workout class, I wore different adhesives to see what held up to sweat. I’d invite friends over with different bra sizes to test molds for me. It was a lot of time and effort for tiny gains toward my goal.You can’t be afraid to ask for help—friends were often thrilled to help me test product samples.I also opted to move in with my family to give myself more financial runway (not that I had much of a choice). If you don’t have the luxury of moving home to start a business, I’d recommend making a plan for how you will fund your idea or how you’ll give yourself enough time to put in the work. Can you find friends and family or angel investors who believe in you despite not having a prototype? (I’ve since found that former founders are much more understanding of the product development process than VC firms or angel investors who have never started a company.) Can you do product development on nights and weekends while you continue working your full-time job?3. I Needed to Build Interest Long Before My Product Was ReadyEspecially since I didn’t know how long this whole process would take, it was tempting to not tell anyone except my closest friends and family what I was working on until the product was ready.Instead, I pushed myself out of my comfort zone and started creating traction on our social channels. We didn’t have product images yet, so instead I designed fun graphics hinting at our final product. I also found that followers loved getting a peek into the behind-the-scenes of product development. In the end, it was helpful to already have a following of excited potential customers once the bras were ready to sell.Early Perkies marketing images gave a sense of our product shape and purpose.Another valuable way I found to start building brand trust (and making a little money) was developing an ancillary product that I could get to market faster. While doing early customer research, I realized sticky nipple covers were a popular undergarment in this category and that they would be much easier to develop—so we launched “Perkies Petals” six months before the sticky bra came out. This had the bonus benefit of helping me iron out kinks in sales and shipping before the sticky bras were ready.Finally, I learned a lot about the common strategy of soliciting pre-orders. We did a friends and family pre-order for the bras, and while the influx of cash was nice, it also added extra pressure, especially when we had to keep pushing back the timeline (see point #1).My advice: If you’re considering a pre-order, only do it with people who you know will be forgiving! And whatever approach you choose, do everything you can to build buzz along the way. The last thing you want is to finally have a product—and then spend months and months finding customers to buy it.4. Product Development Never StopsAfter pushing back the launch timeline again and again (leaving my friends and family who had pre-ordered hanging), I finally set myself a hard deadline to launch in May 2021. Even though the product still didn’t feel 100% there, I knew I needed to get it to market at some point (plus, I wanted to get people their backless bras before summer!).This was hard for a perfectionist like me, but it ended up being incredibly helpful. I’ve learned so much from hearing about the experiences of real customers using the product. It was a good reminder that, while you obviously don’t want a product that disappoints customers, you can and will continue improving things even after you launch. (Remember: the iPhone didn’t launch with all the features it has today!)Most of the feedback I have received has been excellent, but based on some constructive notes from customers, I’ve changed the location of the pull tab on the replaceable adhesive, improved the instructions that come with the bra, and more. We’re also in the process of developing new products to keep the business growing.In other words, even after almost four years, I’m far from done. Product development truly never stops, and if that sounds exhausting, this may not be the right path for you. But if you, like me, think the constant journey to build something new will energize you every day, then stick with it. If you can put your pride aside and put in the time and effort, you’ll create something customers love—and that’s an amazing feeling.