Staffing your contact centre with the right team is essential to the success of your customer service.

There’s a saying in the customer service industry: “Customer service isn’t a department — it’s a lifestyle.”

What does it mean? Instead of thinking of your customer service as a specific branch of your business, you need to look at it as an element of your corporate culture that’s as essential to your company as your time clock or payroll. This is particularly true for the contact centre, where effective service means that every agent on your staff is adept, creative, and willing to go the extra mile for the customer.

A 2015 U.S. State of Multichannel Customer Service Report by Parature revealed that 98 percent of consumers considered customer service an important factor in their choice of (and loyalty to) a brand, making the process of hiring the right staff for your contact centre an essential part of creating a value-driven customer relationship.

Hiring Guidelines

Finding a few good agents can be easier said than done, though. It’s not easy to find the right combination of problem-solving skills, sociability, and creativity that good customer service requires.

The process begins with hiring. How do you wade through the sea of applicants to find those diamonds in the rough? As with many aspects of customer service, having a plan before you begin will help keep you on course.

Know your budget. Every business has a bottom line, and most contact centres can’t afford to break the bank on new hires. Keep your budget in mind when hiring to give yourself the best idea of how to hire the most qualified candidates that will be fairly compensated.
Determine the unique skills for your centre. Is the majority of your business phone-based? If so, you might be best served by employees with excellent phone skills or tone of voice. To screen for the best candidates, conduct a phone interview as a first filter. Is a large amount of work done through email? Ask for an email address and use it as the first interview screen. Your best bet might be to hire employees who can type quickly and effectively put their thoughts into words. Optimizing your employee skill sets to your contact centre is one of the best ways to build efficiency.
Review your applicants. Take the necessary time to find the right fit. Applicants who understand the needs of your centre and who can explain what value they can provide to you reflects the communication skills necessary for a good contact centre agent.

Training for Essential Skills

Finding the right team is a good first step, but the work doesn’t stop there. Nobody in the customer service workplace starts out ready to bear the brunt of problem resolution; proper training is essential for agents to meet your customers’ needs. The Genesys Global Survey found that the presence of competent agents was one of the biggest factors in customer satisfaction, highlighting the importance of having a well-trained team.

So what skills are necessary for contact centre agents? The list could be endless, but there are a few skills that are ubiquitous to effective contact centre agents:

Attentiveness: Attention to detail and the ability to listen are fundamental to customer service.
Personality: Nobody likes dealing with robotic personalities; part of the value of human agents is the personal touch they can add to an interaction.
Patience: It should go without saying that customer service reps require greater than average problem-solving stamina and patience.
Flexibility: The ability to adapt to new situations and provide versatile solutions can make all the difference for your customer satisfaction and turnover rates.
Creativity: When normal problem solving isn’t enough, a creative agent can provide the support that turns angry customers into raving fans. This may include knowing when to make exceptions to established call centre protocol to deliver what an individual customer needs.

It’s All About the Love

Hiring the right team and making sure they’re properly trained is great, but above all, your agents should be driven by their passion to help others solve their problems. Your employees are the ones in the trenches each day, directly fielding the emails, calls, and social media responses that comprise the majority of your business. This can get overwhelming, and will create fast burnout for agents disinterested in their work. A passion for problem solving and building human connections is critical to your call centre staff, along with the training and natural talent they already have.

Effective service relies on the ability of your agents to meet these goals even when the grind of customer service sets in. This doesn’t mean that they always have to be doing what they love — only that they can find the love in what they do.

Curious about other tips for staffing your centre with a team that exceeds customer expectations? Check out our free white paper!