Do you see your agents as brand ambassadors?

Jabra’s Andrew Doyle argues that the role of agents as brand ambassadors is often overlooked.

It is likely we will see a shift towards contact centres becoming much more of a customer experience and knowledge centre, playing an important role as “brand guardian”.

Companies are no longer being defined by their products but by the way that customers experience them. And now that the customers have so many options of brands and products to choose from, that experience is vital.

Minimising customer handling time can be risky business

For many companies, LEAN and cost reduction have been key words during the financial crisis, and there has been a great focus on how each contact centre agent can minimise customer handling time. But according to Laura Bassett from Avaya, this can be risky business, as it might initially save the company costs but leave the customer with unresolved issues after having been through customer service. The key here being that although your company may save on handling time, your customer might be the one that is left with all the extra work, creating a very poor customer experience of your brand.

Sarah Stealey Reed has got it right: “What customers want right now is to be helped as fast and effectively as possible,” she said. “So the agent needs to be effective, efficient and proficient about it – it is not about how long it takes the customer service agent afterwards, but about helping the customer as soon as possible.”

Reduce the customer’s handling time – not your company’s

Businesses must never forget that the way your customer service agents handle your customers’ issues basically communicates whether you care about your customers or not. And those customers will not hesitate to tell other customers publicly what they think about your customer service, which is why an increasing amount of critical communication on social media stems from customers sharing bad customer service stories on Facebook and Twitter.

Contact centre agents should be seen more as brand ambassadors whose main goal is to create the best possible customer experience.

Do you agree with Andrew Doyle?

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