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I just started working from home as a call center advisor and I’m not a very social person and I find it difficult to relate to customers who are often painfully incompetent and blame me for their own mistakes.
I know that’s probably not the right attitude to have for this type of job, but I don’t have many other options right now and I was hoping that some call center veterans might have some advice for how to deal with customers and make the job more tolerable.
I finished my training last week and it feels like I’ve been thrown into the deep end with taking calls all day and I feel like a failure for not feeling ready and making mistakes on my calls.
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There are 4 phases that you go through with any job, and my other CC veterans can back me up on this.
Phase I: You are Unconsciously Incompetent – You have no idea what you’re doing, and no idea on how to do it.
After your first day/week of training, you move to the next phase.
Phase II: You are Consciously Incompetent – You know what you’re supposed to do, but you still don’t know how to do it all.
This is when you get thrown to the wolves…
Phase III: You are Conciously Competent – You have the tools, and the training, but the workload can be overwhelming, and frustrating. You are most likely here…. But fear not, there will come a day when it all just *clicks*
Phase IV: Unconsciously Competent – You know exactly what to do, and can do it in your sleep. (Might even have dreams about it)
The key thing to remember when communicating with your customers, is..
Don’t.
Take.
It.
Personally.
Customers will lash out, give you BS excuses, scream, call you names, threaten to sue, etc….. They are upset about something that the company you represent has done to them. This is where the “you people…..” comes from. You are not the person that has wronged them, but you do have the ability to correct it and let their voice be heard.
When I worked in a CC environment, I made it a goal to have the customer apologize to me, by the end of the call. It didn’t always happen, but it did, more often than it didn’t.
Good luck, and keep at it!