The summer's end signals an important and familiar change. For numerous remote contact centers, it's time to move into a busy time of the year, where the stakes are particularly important for the customer experience. The majority of people, such as customer service representatives, are looking forward to an overhaul, so now is the ideal moment for the contact center's leaders to review their remote-based work plans.
Remote work is becoming a well-liked choice for call centers all over the globe. As cloud connectivity and technology make it possible to create online call centers, companies increasingly employ remote workers to fill their departments for customer service.
There are many benefits of implementing remote call centers. However, this transition can pose issues. One of the main concerns companies face when they move to a remote service is how to keep their agents in good order while their customer service staff is scattered across several places.
Today, effective remote management is essential
There are indications that remote work is here to stay across industries and for customer service organizations in particular, even though some contact centers are considering moving to a full-time on-site work environment. This is mainly because remote work has real advantages for both firms and employees. Making sure there are no errors is crucial. For managers of distant contact centers, it is a vital, long-term customer experience.
Which Management Techniques for Remote Contact Center Agents Work the Best?
These best practices in management will increase the remote agent's engagement and increase your team's overall customer experience skills. These two aspects are crucial to the long-term success of your business.
1. Avoid the Temptation to Micromanage
There is a possibility of a loss of control if your customer service staff isn't operating in an office area in a place where everyone is present and within earshot. For certain managers, this may lead to the temptation to compensate excessively by micromanaging. Beware of the temptation.
The nature of remote work demands more flexibility from the employee. There are bound to be interruptions at home and even obstacles as simple as problems with your internet connection. For agents who are brand new to remote work, there could be a period of adjustment. Give them time and patience, and support to help them succeed in customer interactions.
For the majority of agents working in contact centers and remote customer service centers, work is running smoothly. They can provide the same high-quality customer service. As it is possible to cover, hours and objectives are met. Be flexible in managing your team's demands. Let them succeed so that your distant contact center, as well as your customers too, will benefit.
Research shows that customer support agents are extremely satisfied working remotely and, consequently, the connection between retention and recruiting:
- 77% of the agents believe their job satisfaction has improved because they work remotely
- According to statistics 50% of agents say they wouldn't want to work for a firm that didn't offer remote work options
- If their employer did not permit remote work, 57% of employees said they would be very or extremely likely to quit their current position
- 49% of managers in contact centers use remote-based work to serve as a tool for recruiting and retention tool
This is good news for everyone in the remote contact center, its clients, as well as their employees.
2. Communicate more frequently than you might expect to
Based on research findings, both customer service and management are of the opinion that better communication leads to greater engagement. Leaders in customer experience say that agents are most motivated and engaged when they are regular and meaningful channels of communication, through phone or digital channels.
Even if you aren't hearing about your client service reps doesn't mean that they don't require your assistance. Problems that aren't expected can arise, and customers should be aware that they can count on someone to help their needs when they need it. Be aware of indicators of low performance or morale of the team and share information in order to find solutions.
Meetings with one-on-one agents from remote locations can aid in assessing the motivation of managers and allow them to make quick adjustments as necessary. Sharing and building a creative team is essential, as per the survey of customer service representatives.
Managers have reported that checking the satisfaction of remote teams increases engagement. Be aware that better communication can be two-way. Research shows that an absence of clarity about expectations as well as recognition and connections to the company has resulted in lower levels of engagement when remote employees are compared with other employees.
Assist remote contact center staff in knowing the goals and strategies of the organization and encouraging the team members to provide input. Take note of what's working and what's not throughout the organization. Also, show that you're acting to address the issues.
3. Smart Hiring and Recruitment
Controlling your remote customer support team is easier when you choose the right employees. Think about the qualities you believe are essential for the most efficient remote workers, which include reliability, the capacity to learn quickly, as well as flexibility.
In a highly competitive job market, the most qualified job seekers will naturally look for top-of-the-line employers. Just as job seekers strive to be noticed, employers should be different too.
The best part is that sourcing for virtual contact center employees isn't a requirement. You don't need to limit your search to candidates in the local area; that can provide the chance of finding more qualified candidates. Managers in the survey mentioned this as a major benefit of remote working.
4. Train Well
The most effective contact center managers recognize that successful remote employee onboarding and continuous training for agents is crucial to their success. Maintaining remote agents engaged requires a new approach and innovative training methods.
The use of games for remote training has been proven to be efficient. One of the study's participating contact centers uses Kahoot!, an online workforce education tool, to produce game show-style quizzes that anybody may take remotely using Zoom.
If you are training remote contact center personnel via video, record the sessions so that agents can view them over and over again to improve clarity or strength training. Be aware that one-on-one coaching isn't your only remote training option. Virtual classroom classes are beneficial for remote contact centers and are efficient for your company.
Consistency is essential for successfully informing remote customer support agents. A virtual classroom is a great method. It's an efficient way to address common problems as well as improve knowledge retention and increase productivity quickly.
5. Make the most of technology
In contact centers, video conferencing might be the main tool for managing distant agents. According to the study's respondents, video conferencing software like Zoom is the most widely used technology to support remote workers (54%). The tools that can help remote customer care professionals and manage remote customer support teams go far beyond video conferencing, though.
Workforce management and quality management tools can help with optimization. When customer experience managers can't immediately offer in-person support and feedback, contact center solutions can address the issues that come with remote work. These tools can be used to:
- Agent evaluation
- Resolution of a problem
- Collaboration
- Scheduling
Managers aren't able to put schedules of remote customer service representatives on whiteboards in the office; WFM software can help by adjusting the schedule based on demand. It also allows remote agents in contact centers to check their schedules and even trade shifts from any location. If these services utilize cloud computing, they will simplify and adjust on the basis of demand.
Manual processes and spreadsheets weren't specifically designed to handle the complexities of remote contact centers' personnel requirements. Upgrade to an advanced solution for your contact center.
6. Take care of yourself by being a student's heart
A simple but significant step towards maximizing your team and the overall efficiency of your remote contact center is to take note of and implement changes as needed and feasible. Flexibility is an important requirement for employees. To ensure that contact centers retain the high quality of their employees, they must win and retain customers; they have to be flexible.
Utilize hard performance data as well as personal data gathered from your interactions with remote customer service representatives to help improve. For example, the data found in the study indicates that remote customer support representatives are eager to work from home. The data was simple. As with everything you've learned, find out what this means to the remote call center you have.
Recognize the State of the Remote Workforce to Improve Management
The time has come to implement some improvements to the remote call center.
Examine the individual experiences of other managers of remote contact centers and agents to help your remote call center staff manage it better and give a better customer experience.
Want to get more insights on the future of Training & Management? Check out our related resources:
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