Call Centre Training: Professionalism

Attitude
Service is an Attitude
We live in a world of immediate satisfaction – 24-hour banking, overnight delivery and access to the world by Internet.
For customers, this means they can get what they want, when they want it.
For you, the customer service representative (CSR), this means if you don’t deliver, your competition will.
Service is an attitude as much as it is an occupation. Your goal is not just to provide customer service but to deliver customer satisfaction.
Customers are not satisfied until their expectations are met or exceeded – not yours.
To provide good customer service you must do more than follow a script or master a few skills and techniques. You must have a sincere willingness to please people.
Great customer service makes you feel good.
You are a customer every day. You know when you’re not getting great customer service.

Positive Language
Your attitude is reflected not only in your voice but also in the words you speak. You can change your attitude by changing the way you speak. Using positive language shows your enthusiasm and sincerity and lets the customer know what you can do, not what you can’t or won’t do.

Honesty
Honesty is an important characteristic to have in every day life and even more so in the work environment. Employers are looking for someone who is honest, so they can trust them to get the job done properly.

Willingness to Work
Employers are looking for people with a positive attitude and a willingness to do their job. Everyone has off days for one reason or another but in general, a willingness to work means you want to do well at your job and find things to keep you busy while you are there.

Accepting Direction
All employees have to accept direction. It is part of the job. The boss is responsible for seeing that all the day to day tasks are accomplished. If the boss doesn’t direct the employees, important things don’t get done.

Positive personality

Appearance and Grooming

What makes a positive personality?
Appearance
There is a belief that your "outer you" reflects your "inner you". If you look untidy and sloppy, it is presumed that you will do untidy and sloppy work. This isn't necessarily true, but it is a common perception. Even in a Call Centre where you never see your customer, you are often judged on your appearance by those you work for and with.

Confidence
There are two kinds of confidence.

1. The first and most common kind comes from other people's views and opinions of you. This is nice to have but not always dependable. If you get your confidence from your job, you may easily lose your confidence if you are suddenly fired or laid off.
2. The second kind of confidence is much more important and that is the confidence you have in yourself. This confidence grows when you really try to achieve something, or when you lose something and grow through your loss. It also grows when you learn to trust your judgments and perceptions. When you learn to like and accept yourself, internal confidence grows.

Creativity
Creativity is the ability to think beyond the obvious to solve problems.
Creative people think about problems and come up with new and exciting solutions. Creativity is a quality we all have but it must be practiced. Develop a creative approach to your work and life.

Determination
Determination is sticking to it. Do not give up. See things through to the end and use your creativity to overcome problems. If you don't succeed the first time, START OVER. By following things through, your self-confidence will grow.

Enthusiasm
The major quality that employers look for is enthusiasm. It is the greatest quality you have to sell. Enthusiasm is defined as:
-  a zest for living
-  interest in many things
-  curiosity
-  a high energy level at work and in life

Imagination
Use your imagination. Picture yourself in positive situations. Use your imagination to create the person you most want to be. Feed this image into your mind everyday and it will become true. You will be able to live your life as you "dream" it. You can use your imagination to build your confidence.

Communicating your best image
Preparing to be on stage, looking your best, creating good impressions- all are part of customer relations. Good grooming is so critical that many jobs require special uniforms to reach high standards of dress. This is true even in call centres where you never see the customer face to face.

A note on body odour...
It is a smelly subject, and it makes people uncomfortable to talk about it, but the last thing that you want to do is offend the people you work with by smelling like body odour!

Here's the deal...
1. You need to shower everyday. If you cannot shower or bathe, you need to wash.
2. You need to wash your hair at least every other day. Hair picks up odours as well. Greasy-looking hair is unappealing and unprofessional.
3. You need to use deodorant.
4. Wash your clothes as often as possible. It is okay to wear clothes more than once as long as they are still clean-looking and clean-smelling. When you sweat, your clothes absorb it. You need to choose something else to wear to work.
5. If you smoke, then you have a whole other range of "smell issues". Sorry, but it's the truth. Make sure you brush your teeth often. Chew a breath freshening gum.

Remaining positive
Many customer service people allow times of lag time between customers to turn into boredom. This often results in a negative attitude.
When a customer phones seeking service after one of these lag times, the employee is often not ready. Staying alert and positive to serve customers is a major challenge.

Attendance
Rules for Attendance
-  You should always come to work unless you have a good reason for being absent.
-  If you have a good reason for being absent, you must give your employer enough time to find someone to replace you.
-  When you call in, you must speak to the person in charge. If you give the message to someone else, and they forget to pass it along, it will be you who is responsible.
-  When you speak to your boss or supervisor, make sure that you explain your reason for missing work. It should be communicated clearly and respectfully.

When should you inform the boss?
There are two types of reasons for missing work:
-  Emergencies
-  Special Occasions

In either case, you should give your employer as much notice as you possibly can.
Emergencies: Call as soon as you find out you will have to miss work. You can often give the boss three or four hours notice, and that should be enough time to find someone else to take your place.
Special Occasions: You almost always know about these well in advance. The boss expects you to give notice of these absences before he or she makes up the schedule. This is usually one or two weeks ahead of time, but check to see if your workplace policy is different.

Did you give enough notice?
If you don’t inform your employer when you are going to be absent, you will probably get fired. Giving notice is professional and will help you keep your job.

Working as a team

Teamwork
If you have ever played organized sports, you know the great feeling of satisfaction that comes from being a team member. A group harmony develops when people who work closely together share a victory or achieve a common goal.
In the customer service field, you will get plenty of opportunity to show that you are a team player. Doing your share of the work, and helping others is all part of being on the team. The more successful you and your co-workers are at making a team effort, the more satisfied the customers are going to be. It is hard to do it all by yourself.

Call centres are usually organized into teams of 10-15 people.
Working as part of a team is important because call centre reps must work together to manage the calls in their queue. There are many ways in which the actions of one team member can affect the job of the others.
-  If one rep is out of queue unnecessarily, the others have to manage more calls.
-  If one rep doesn’t handle a customer well and that customer calls back, another rep may have to take the call.
-  If one rep is speaking too loudly or sounds upset, the others on the team have to concentrate harder to deal with customers.

Asking for help
Asking for help is not admitting that you cannot do your job. There is always a learning curve when you start somewhere new. If you do not know the answer, it is always better to ask for help than give the customer false information. Businesses are more productive and a nicer place to work when the employees work together as a team.

Accepting criticism
Criticism does not have to be a bad thing. It can be a suggestion for improvement. In a Call Centre you are always looking for ways to improve.
If you have to punch a time card every day and you keep forgetting to punch out, what would happen if your boss didn’t criticize you? You might not get the pay you deserve.
If your boss suggests that you come up with a way to help you remember to punch out, he has provided you with constructive criticism and you will probably have an easier time remembering.
Some workers have a difficult time accepting criticism. They might:
-  Blame someone else – “It’s John’s fault.”
-  Argue that it’s not their fault – “I didn’t do anything wrong.”
-  Make excuses – “If these stupid computers were faster, I would get the call done faster.”
-  Complain about being picked on – “You always get mad at me.”
-  Pout – Don’t talk at all.
If you do any of these things at work then you need to stop and think of better ways of handling criticism.

Below are some good ways to accept criticism. Write the name of the person from each story beside the answer he or she should have given.
“Thanks for telling me. I’ll listen more carefully next time.”

“It’s hard for me to talk to strangers, but I will try harder.”

“I should have checked my schedule myself. I’ll do it this week.”

“I’m sorry about that. I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

“You’re right. I guess I didn’t look for that broom very hard.”