Behavior Coaching

Tips for Call Center Behavior Coaching

A lot of companies spend lots of money and time trying to improve their customer service experience. However, without a properly trained workforce, this can amount to a waste of resources. It is therefore of great importance to work on improving the behavior of call center agents who interface with customers.

Dealing with employees who have a negative work attitude or who do not meet up with expectations can be challenging. To ensure that employees are at their best, a company must have and sustain a proactive coaching program.

This ultimately benefits the business as the staff will learn the proper etiquettes and behavior that is required of them. They will also learn how to professionally relate with other colleagues as well as with customers. You can find ways of cultivating positive behavior from this article.

Method Behavior Coaching

Methods for Behavior Coaching

There are several approaches that you may use in correcting negative behavior. Below are a few of them.

Take Charge and Be In Control

The first thing to do as a manager is to ensure that you are in control of the call center. Ensure that you are firm but at the same time fair to everyone. You should also avoid the spread of negativity from troublesome individuals to others in the fold.

Ensure that such employees do not have their way nor undermine systems and structures. Instead, work with team members who are positive to entrench the right attitude.

Be Specific in Your Examples

Everyone on your team will be happy when treated fairly. They will also appreciate clarity from you on any issue and what needs to be done. This helps them to quantify and put in context what they are not doing right.

For instance, showing an agent that their performance dropped by a specific amount is more beneficial than saying it generically. Therefore, you must provide them with clarity and with specific examples. You should also be objective and let them know what is wrong and what needs to be improved. You can make use of a call center quality monitoring software to show team members how they are performing.

Use The Sandwich Method

Most people do not like to be criticized even when it is constructive and they will most likely respond defensively. You can try the sandwich method to ensure that your agents are open to constructive criticism. This is when you praise them for the positive things they have done but in between, you highlight the negative.

You put the agent at ease by starting with something positive that they have done. This will make them more receptive. You can start with the individual’s performance data and then introduce the feedback and show them how to improve.

When you are have given them the feedback, ensure that you close the session on a positive note. Make sure that the agent is left energized and motivated to improve rather than deflated.

Utilize Role Play

You can use role play to enable your agents to fully understand how to improve their performance. This is when you choose a recent interaction the agent had with a customer and act it out. The agent can act like the customer while you act as the agent.

You act the scenario out showing the individual the right way to respond. With this, they better understand how to handle such situations. You can now switch roles at this pointwhere they become themselves and you as the customer.

All the while, ensure to give helpful tips and feedback. You can learn how to use role play here https://www.mindtools.com/CommSkll/RolePlaying.htm.

Work With Agent in Formulating a Plan of Action

When you have identified specific areas that calls for improvement, you should work with the agent in establishing a plan.Involving themhelps to make it more attainable and leaves the agent responsible and motivated. They will also fully understand what is expected of them. Doing this also gives them the opportunity to discuss any challenges and help to clear up any confusion.

Conclusion

Having an errant or negative individual on your team can be debilitating. Sometimes, it is not intentional but it is the job of the manager to ensure that their team performs maximally.You can begin to encourage and instill positive behavior in your team by using proactive and effective methods.