Looking for affordable telephone skills training for a small group of call center agents. 

 

Can  you point me in the direction of affordable (i.e. cheap) customer service or telephone skills training for call center representatives?

 

Myra's answer to: Looking for affordable telephone skills training for a small group of call center agents. 

How do I get all of my supervisors together for calibration?  

My call center has a great quality monitoring program and it's been well received by our call center agents. We have had some challenges with consistency and most likely, regular calibration sessions will help, but we just cannot find the time to get every supervisor together. What suggestions might you have for getting an entire team of call center supervisors together for call monitoring calibrations sessions?

The answer to "How do I get all of my supervisors together for calibration?"

If you think losing one customer isn't a big deal, think again!

What's the best way to coach call center agent calls?

Do you have any recommendations or even a script for coaching call center agents when their phone calls are monitored?

The answer to "What's the best way to coach call center agent calls?"

Call center agents resist feedback

We have a great call center call monitoring program in place and our call center supervisors hold one-on-one coaching sessions with every agent monthly. We are getting a lot of resistance from some of our agents. They get defensive about feedback, dispute everything, and make no change. What can we do to get agents to be less resistant to feedback?

Answer to: Call center agents resist feedback

Are Generation X employees slackers?

Is it true that most Generation X workers are lazy slackers? I supervise 12 Generation X employees and they do the work of only about four people.

The answer to: Are Generation X employees slackers?

Myra's Favorite Phrases for Dealing with Difficult Customers

I attended your full day customer service training workshop in Puerto Rico a few years ago and you gave everyone a handout called "Myra's Favorite Phrases for Dealing with Difficult Customers". I held on to that for quite some time, but now I've changed jobs and I (and the entire call center) could really use your tips. 

Would you be willing to email that handout to me?

The answer to "Myra's Favorite Phrases for Dealing with Difficult Customers"

How can I get Generation X and Generation Y employees to work on time in my call center?!!

Is it me or do "under 30" employees have serious issues with getting to work on time? In a call center environment we don't have room for flexible scheduling, yet our Generation X employees seem to take this ticket anyway. Ideas?

The answer to: How can I get Generation X and Generation Y employees to work on time in my call center?

Supervisor training to help address problems with attendance, dress, and personal phone calls?

Is apologizing to customers safe?

I've heard convincing arguments from both sides: You should always apologize to customers AND you should never apologize, as it puts the company as risk for litigation. Is it "safe" to apologize to customers?

The answer to "Is apologizing to customers safe?"

 

 

Can I Get Your 10 Golden Rules for Complaint Handling and Dealing with Difficult Customers?

 

I attended your Negotiation Skills for Call Center Agents training event in Denver last week and you referred to the 10 Golden Rules for Complaint Handling (and dealing with difficult customers). That sounds like a great script. Can you email me a copy of the 10 Golden Rules for Complaint Handling.

 

The answer to: Can I Get Your 10 Golden Rules for Complaint Handling and Dealing with Difficult Customers?

 

Structured Empowerment for Call Center Agents

How can we get call center agents to feel empowered, yet not give away too much money?

Myra's answer to: Structured empowerment for call center agents.

10 Tips for Implementing a Quality Call Monitoring Program

Top 5 Reasons to Record Agent Calls

How can we get call center agents to work in inclement weather?

Any ideas on how to get call center agents to work during inclement weather? We have tremendous call ins and late arrivals when snow falls.

Myra's answer to: How can we get call center agents to work in inclement weather?

What are the top 10 ways to motivate call center agents?

I attended your How to Motivate Call Center Agents webinar 2 or 3 years ago and you gave list of the top things that motivate call center agents. Is it possible to get a copy of that list?

The answer to: What are the top 10 ways to motivate call center agents?

Myra Golden Seminars announces the public release of new Complaint Handlin g & Dealing with Difficult Customers Online Video Course. Read the press release.

Find out why the issue is not the issue when it comes to customer complaints

7 Questions About Generation Y With Myra Golden

 

25 Telephone Tips for Investigators

How can I stay motivated around negative people?

Some of the people around me have become increasingly negative. They complain and gossip when they're not  helping customers. how can I stay upbeat around this? And is there anyway I can make them upbeat again?

The answer to How can I stay motivated?

Five questions about call centers with Myra Golden

 New Generation Y articles and videos right here!

How Can I Give Feedback That Nips Problems In the Bud Without Causing Resentment? 

Is it possible to talk to an employee about performance problems or attitude issues without them rising to the defense?

The answer to: How can I give feedback that nips problems in the bud without causing resentment?

Get Myra's Killer Verbal Self Defense Techniques

By verbal self defense, I don?t mean you fight back with killer wisecracks or tactics to wipe the floor with your customers. By equipping you with tactical verbal self defense techniques, I want to give you strategies ? and confidence- to regain control of a tough verbal attack from your customer. It?s simply about helping you regain control, while maintaining your credibility. Here are three of my favorite verbal self defense techniques.

How can we improve customer service delivery in the face of growing customer needs and technological advancement?

 

The answer to improving customer service in the wake of technological advancements.

 

How do you start a customer service training program with employees have been doing it their way for a long time?

 

The answer to customer service training for long timers

 

 

How can call centers proactively prepare to handle an outage issue?

 

The answer to call center outage.

Any ideas for rewarding and motivating call center agents when you have no budget?

The answer to Any ideas for rewarding call center agents on a budget?

How do I address "little tardies" without coming across as a micro manager?

I have two to three employees who are regularly late every single day. They are usually in the office within 10 minutes of the start of their shift, but the point is they are always a few minutes late. How do I address the "little tardies" in such a way that I'm taken seriously, yet not come across as a micro manager?

The answer to: How do I address "little tardies" without coming across as a micro manager?

When should you reverse a fee for a customer? 

When should you reverse a fee for a customer, what is a good way to say enough is enough. Is their a tactical way to give tough love.

The answer to: When should you reverse a fee for a customer?

Motivating Agents for Quality (Beyond Call Monitoring) 

Other than monitoring and feedback, which has minimal impact on some individuals, how can we motivate our tenured agents to improve their call quality?

The answer to: Motivating Agents for Quality (Beyond Call Monitoring) 

What's the falsest and easiest way to build rapport with customers over the telephone?

The answer to: How to build rapport on the telephone.

Gen X v. Boomers

What are some of the major differences between Generation X call center employees and workers who are Baby Boomers?

The answer to: Gen X v. Boomers.

How can I proactively detect problems with call center agent morale?

Is there a way to proactively identify problems with morale or productivity before they bubble over and become huge problems? We usually have pretty good employee morale, but then sometimes we look up and have a huge problem.

The answer to: How can I proactively detect problems with call center agent morale?

 

Should we expect high turnover with Generation Y?

In your opinion, is turnover going to be as big of an issue with Generation Y as it has been with Generation X?

Got stress in your call center? Then you'll want to grab and share these 4 tips now!

 

The answer to: Should we expect high turnover with Generation X?

How can I reward call center agents on a budget?

I just took over a small customer service department and it?s already apparent to me that morale is very low. There is no bud g et for employee rewards, but I need to find some low cost (or even better, no cost) ways to reward my employees in order to motivate them. Any ideas?

The answer to: How can I reward call center agents on a budget?

How do I address too many personal phone calls in a call center?

How would you address employees who are spending too much time on personal phone calls or personal emails? I don't want to "police" my agents, but we do have a business to run and in a call center, a lost call is lost revenue.

The answer to: How do I address too many personal phone calls in a call center?"

What help you can provide to deal with an outage in a call center?

The answer to: What help you can provide to deal with an outage in a call center?

Can you provide solid statistics for IVR versus live agent?

Do you have statistics that reflect the cost savings of customers being served with an IVR versus talking to a live agent? 

The answer to: Can you provide solid statistics for IVR versus live agent?

 Trying to justify the bottom line benefit of your consumer affairs department? Click here.

 

Do you have tips on how to politely, but firmly say "no" to customers.

Saying YES and helping in every way possible is the nature of customer service representatives. Do you have any tips on how to help them politely but firmly say 'no' to a consumer, or decline a request when it is necessary? We still want happy consumers and happy reps, but unfortunately, we have to say 'no' more often than in the past. How do we help reps make that transition?

Answer to: Do you have tips on how to politely, but firmly say "no" to customers.

Seeking tips to improve written English in emails

The answer to: Seeking tips to improve written English in emails.

Are customers always right?

The answer to: Is the customer always right?

Seeking good interview questions.

I wondered if you could give me some possible questions so that I might prepare more effectively for a call center manager position.

The answer to: Seeking good interview questions.

How can we improve productivity with email responses?

My call center is struggling with email customer service. Our average resolution time is lower than our targets and our email agents actually are less productive than agents who are exclusively phone agents. Can you offer any tips on how we can streamline email communication in order to be more effective and productive?

The answer to: How can we improve productivity with email responses?

Seeking good customer service training videos for call center training.

Can you point me in the right direction for obtaining customer service training videos to augment our call center customer service training? Thank you for any help you may be able to provide.

The answer to: Seeking good customer service training videos for call center training?

I've submitted over 2 dozen questions and you've always helped me right on target, so I'll give this off the wall question a shot:  

What exactly is a home improvement loan and how does one go about applying for a home improvement loan?

The answer to: What is a home improvement loan?

 What is caller ID spoofing?

In order to more effectively reach consumers in our outbound calling I was told to research caller ID spoofing. Can you explain what this is?

The answer to: What is caller ID spoofing?

Do you have tips you can share to motivate employees through coaching? 

We have a really good coaching program in place, but I'm wanting to also motivate employees, specifically call center agents. Do you have any tips you might share?

The answer to: Do you have tips you can share to motivate employees through coaching?

Looking for things NOT to do with angry customers.

What are some proactive things call center agents can avoid doing so not to arouse anger in customers who are calling with a problem?

The answer to: Looking for things NOT to do with angry customers.

How is Agent tone of voice scored on call monitoring forms?

I am considering some of the classes for several of my analyst.  I want to know if you have any specific information on how TONE is scored or looked at from a scoring perspective and a coaching perspective?

The answer to: How is agent tone of voice scored on call monitoring forms?

How many agent calls should we monitor?

Is their a scientific formula to tell call centers how many calls should be monitored for each agent and how often agents should be monitored?

The answer to "How many agent calls should we monitor?"

What should we look at when it comes to monitoring emails?

We have not monitored emails in the past, but in an effort to ensure quality in all of our customer contacts, we will be monitoring email correspondence. Can you provide a checklist of what to look for in email communications? 

 

The answer to: What should we look at when it comes to monitoring emails?

What is an acceptable rate of abandonment?

We are trying to set up quality service standards for our small call center and were wondering what is an acceptable rate of abandoned calls?

The answer to "What is an acceptable rate of abandonment?"

We need agents to not escalate calls to supervisors

Some of the agents in our call center are too quick to escalate a call to a supervisor when we know the agent could have quickly and easily handled the problem with a little listening and care. How do we get agents to handle more calls on their own without sounding like we (supervisors) don't want to take customer calls?

The answer to: "We need agents to not escalate calls to supervisors"

Need skills to negotiate with gold-digging customers

We are finding that many customers today are savvy negotiators and they are tough to deal with. Do you have tips for how to negotiate with customers who are bent on taking the company to the bank?

The answer to: Need skills to negotiate with gold-digging customers.

How can we reduce call volume? 

What ideas can you share for redirecting calls or eliminating unnecessary calls? 

The answer to: How can we reduce call volume?

How do we get call center agents to buy-in to a quality call monitoring and coaching program? 

Hi. We're looking for ways to create buy-in among our call center agents for our quality call monitoring program.

The answer to How do we get call center agents to buy-in to a quality call monitoring program?

Can you provide a list of job competencies for call center agents for use in screening and hiring?

We are preparing to ramp up for our peak summer season and desperately need tools for screening and hiring call center agents. We currently require a typing test and a voice sample. What else should we consider as we hire not just to fill seats, but to retain employees? Also, can you point me to sample interview questions we might use?

The answer to: Can you provide a list of job competencies for call center agents for use in screening and hiring?

What is an acceptable level of call abandonment for a large call center?

The answer to: What is an acceptable level of call abandonment?

Can you provide an outline for calibrating?

We've never calibrated among call center supervisors, but every supervisor in our call center has noticed that we see calls differently. Can you share instructions how to hold a calibration session?

The answer to: Can you provide an outline for calibrating?

What factors impact turnover for call center agents?

We are experiencing turnover levels of nearly 300% and we're at our wits end about what to do. We're attempting to start by identifying what factors lead to turnover with call center agents. Can you advise on factors that lead to turnover in call centers?

The answer to: What factors impact turnover for call center agents?

Customer service agent gives away too much money.

I have an employee who regularly spends far more to resolve a customer problem than she needs to. This agent is great with customers and they love her and we love her too. We just need to give her some good firm, yet flexible guidelines for resolving customer problems without "giving away the farm." HELP!

The answer to: Customer service agent gives away too much money.

How do I deal with angry customers?

Help me better deal with difficult and angry customers!!!

The answer to: How do I deal with angry customers?

Looking for tips on email customer service

We are handling 170% more emails from customers this year than we did this time last year and we need to ensure our emails are professional. Can you provide email writing tips I can take back to my email response team?

The answer to Looking for tips on email customer service.

What are ideal service level targets for call centers?

We are setting and monitoring service standards for the first time in our call center and could use help with determining what ideal service levels are. Do you have a benchmark of service standards for call centers in the areas of response to complaints and inquiries?

The answer to: What are ideal service level targets for call centers?

Seeking a list of call center acronyms with description.

I just returned from a call center conference and there were at least a dozen acronyms used that were just Greek to me. Is there a master list you can pass on to me?

The answer to: Seeking a list of call center acronyms with description.

How do we make IVR customer friendly?

In three weeks our small call center will go live with an IVR system. We've put this off for quite some time because we wanted to keep that "human touch", but now we're at the point where not implementing an IVR will cost us money and will not maximize our workforce. Can you give advise on how to make the IVR as customer-friendly as possible? 

The answer to: How do we make IVR customer friendly?

Looking for sample complaint response letters

We're looking to beef up our consumer letters and wondered if you had any templates?  

 

The answer to: Looking for complaint response letters

From agent to call center supervisor

I was once my employees' peer and now I'm the boss and admittedly, I have a challenge giving constructive feedback. What tips can you share to help me more easily give my employees feedback.

The answer to Help giving employees feedback?

Is my employee really sick?

This is going to sound awful, but I know that I have employees who call in sick when they aren't really sick...could be that they are out clubbing the night before, hung over, or some other equally unacceptable reason. What do you do when you suspect -- but do not know for certain - that the employee is not really sick?

The answer to: Is my employee really sick?