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Tim Searcy, the outgoing past president of ATA speaks to me.

I know it has always been about ENGAGEMENT.  No kidding.  WE have so many rules about AHT.  The agents are ‘freaking out’ about it.  The companies are counting their money and the one who gets lost in this shuffle is the CUSTOMER!  Engagement requires Questions.  NOT ANSWERS!
The world is Crazy for answers.  Some people don’t even know the right questions.
An open ended question like “What would you like to know?” won’t cut it.  We have to say something about making the customer right and then ask a good question.  It’s time we asked the RIGHT questions.  Why is that so hard to understand?

• What is your agent asking the customer?
• Ask yourself: Does the customer like the questions you ask?
• Does the customer know the answer to the question you ask?
• Are you able to ask a question that will move the call forward?
• Does the Customer “feel” good about the questions and
• Does the Customer want to answer it?

These are some of the questions you should be asking yourself.
NOT How can I cut the call time or the AHT?
The real question is: How can I make the customer feel good, smart and right with the question I ask? Now that’s a question worth asking yourself, your training department and your management.

It’s NOT: “How can I cut the AHT? — It’s, “How can I make the customer “feel” good and smart to answer my questions in a way that gives the agents the information “they” need […]

Blown AWAY is what I am (YODA)

Today, I just want to say, that I worked with a person with Go-to-Webinar for ten minutes.   His name was Rubin and he did not conduct Business as Usual…ho-hum.

Round 1 – Ready to Fight?

Calling to cancel your membership or return a product? Put your boxing gloves on, it’s time to fight. It can be stressful these days when calling an 800-number to end your subscription or to return a product. As a call center savvy consumer, I know the representative/retention specialist on the other end of the phone is about to do his or her best to convince me to keep the service or product. Here comes the script, here come the offers and that typical bad question, “Why do you want to cancel your service?” Ultimately, it is my decision and, yet, I am about to face someone over the phone that will attempt to talk me out of it.

Having built and trained world-class call centers over the years, and as customers, Judy and I have both encountered countless examples of how companies actually fight their customers as they are trying to close or cancel an account or return a product. Far too often scripts are written that unintentionally make our customer feel ‘wrong and stupid’, putting them on the defensive and more eager than ever to cancel. It is a challenging task to train your retention representatives to think in a new way, one that makes customers ‘right and smart.’

When did it become wrong for customers to change their minds? When did it become a fight with the consumer when they simply want to say, “No thanks.” Our representatives are really between a rock and a […]

Empowering Your Customers by Asking the Right Question!

Judy and her team continued to work with the agents to help determine the cause of the customers’ rejection. Agents quickly had the answer (as they often do) when they told her that the customers were irritated at being asked why they wanted to cancel. Some customers even said, “It’s none of your business, just cancel.” It is a standard opening question in most call centers and yet it undoubtedly puts the customer on the defensive. “Why do you want to close your account?” or “What didn’t you like about the product?” may seem like decent opening questions but really causes the consumer to ‘put up their dukes.’ It was clear that the company had asked the wrong question. But how do we fix it? How do we find out why the customer wants to cancel without asking, “Why”?

The answer is to simply ask them about what caused their consideration, their choice or what made them choose to opt out. We recommend an opening question like “May I ask what led you to your decision today?” This question gives serious importance to the customer’s right to choose. It empowers the consumer and opens a dialogue that will often reveal clues on the underlying reason for the cancellation. The approach does not just throw money or an offer at the customer. Instead, it acknowledges their choice to choose us.

Judy recently had a wonderful opportunity to work with a company that sold a continuity plan […]