Emotional Intelligence (EI), or the ability to understand and manage our emotions, is becoming increasingly prominent in today’s society.
In Emotional Intelligence 2.0 (2009), Travis Bradberry and Jean Greaves identify the four EI skills in self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and relationship management.
Our research into EI levels in the Contact Centre Industry suggests that agents younger than 25 years old tend to score lower on relationship management than the 26–40 and over 41 age groups.
This is to be expected, if we keep in mind that relationship management – like any other EI skill – can be practiced and developed with time.
What is more notable is that, by virtue of its very nature (which involves dealing and communicating with people of all ages and backgrounds) the customer service sector may be a valuable platform to improve relationship management skills. And this is why those who have worked in a customer-facing position for longer achieve higher scores.
T2 programmes will equip you with all necessary techniques to enhance your communication and collaboration skills, with the added value of a customer-service focus.
Feeling Stressed or Under Pressure?
Stress and pressure. These apparent enemies of ours can be found everywhere, whether we want it or not: from song titles and edge-of-your-seat movies, to our personal and professional lives.
But although some people might use them interchangeably, they are quite different.
Feeling stressed equals feeling overwhelmed and unable to cope with the many demands placed on us; feeling under pressure refers to the more circumscribed situation in which not only we feel stressed, but our performance/results have vital consequences (Weisinger and Pawliw-Fry 2015).
Today, we’re going to share some brand new research we conducted on stress in the customer service sector.
The data we’ve collected from a cross section of Contact Centre Agents, whose work experience ranges from less than 2 to more than 6 years, displays a correlation between more work experience and higher stress levels.
CSRs that have been working for longer are, on average, more significantly Type A Personality. That is, they’re more prone to stress, and therefore more rigid and less adaptable to the changes that their work environment constantly demands.
So given this prelude, what are the trends going to be like for the most experienced staff: are we set for a horror-story finale, or are there any surprises in store?
Stay tuned for more T2 research!
T2 programmes enable delegates to harness strategies to reduce stress and anxiety, and learn positivity and confidence techniques.
Hot Topics in Training
Our latest survey of 1,200 Call Centre Agents revealed a huge need for training in two key topics: handling awkward customers (40%) and dealing with difficult questions (23%).
This is either a reflection on today’s more sophisticated, demanding customers. Or on Call Centre Agents, who realise they need greater emotional intelligence and inter-personal skills to cope with modern, savvy consumers.
Or both.
Tell Me What You Want… What You Really, Really Want!
Customers of Scottish Power and Npower would not have been surprised by the Which? survey which identified these utility giants as providing the worst customer service around. Customers, it seems, are using the media, and other innovative methods, to let companies know that they need to make drastic changes, or face the consequences.
So what, I hear you say. They don’t really care! It may seem that this is the case, but poor performance very often equals commercial turmoil and strife. After all, customers vote with their feet, and this has a MASSIVE impact on the company profits. This sentiment was support by Richard Lloyd, from Which? who said, ’Nearly nine in 10 people told us poor customer service puts them off using a brand again’.
Customers were particularly peeved by substandard complaints procedures, poor knowledge of call centre staff and their inability to make the costumer feel respected and valued.
It can’t all be bad news. Certainly not! Lush, First Direct and John Lewis were ranked amongst the top performing businesses with customer satisfaction reaching a staggering 89%.
While striving for improvement, it is useful to look at what others are doing well.
First Direct has recently partnered with the University of Huddersfield to create a Foundation Degree for Call Centre staff. Educated staff = happy customers. The market for low level call centre training is plentiful, but options are slim when you look for qualifications for higher level call centre management. This is disappointing as these are the individuals who drive change and have the ability to impact frontline communications.
Whilst complaints handling featured heavily as an area of concern, accurate written and verbal communication and the use of empathy can play a huge role in diffusing tense situations. Call centre agents need to be fully versed in Psycho-Linguistic tips and techniques so they can minimise the number of cases being escalated. Corporate communication should also be overhauled, so that the ‘Corporate Voice’ of the organisation is defined and creates a positive feeling for existing and potential customers.
We asked Dr Valerie Bram, Director of T2 and industry expert on Psycho-Linguistics what her ‘secret recipe’ is for customer service excellence.
“Just like Dolmio, we don’t give away all our ingredients, but our happy clients assure us that by following our simple recipe, they can guarantee a whole load of happy customers, asking for more of the same.”
She was happy to share her five ‘Top Tips’:
- Move from process to personal. It goes a long way in easing a tense situation
- Use a tone, when you write or speak, which communicates sincerity
- Make sure your customer feels loved and valued
- Communicate in a way which shows the customer you mean business
- Use language which creates trust!
Want to try out our recipe for success? Check out our website www.t2linguistics.com and get in touch.
Our happy customers swear by it and us!