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**Long Post: Sorry in advance, but I need to vent and I don’t see my Therapist until next week.**
So recently at my job, which is “technically” a call center setting, but I work remotely, so I work from home. I work for Barnyard Insurance and take calls from our Agents as a Service Advocate II (That’s my official position title). Very rarely, do I take calls from customer’s. I wasn’t hired to do it, and I don’t mind taking those calls occasionally, but that’s not what this vent is about.
This vent is about is about changes in the way we structure our calls, specifically when we are ending/closing a call. We were never taught a specific way to end our calls, but I have been using “Is there anything else I can help you with today?”, which is by and far, a good closing statement b/c it leaves open help from me if necessary and they forgot something and if not, then we are good, I can tell them “have a great rest of your day / have a wonderful rest of your day / etc”. I’ve gotten nothing but high marks on my calls and I’m tied as a top performer for my Team. I was just recently given props from our Leadership Team for a 5 Star Customer/Agent Survey that was done from one of my calls. I don’t say any of this to brag, but to explain, that I’m FREAKING GOOD at my job and I build a rapport with our Agents, and will always go out on a limb to help them and make sure they are taken care of.
Recently, we’ve had Department Director changes and shuffling of Directors and we have gotten new leaders. We were sent out an email asking about call flow and our opinions on it and if we like any of the closing statements they listed or suggestions from us on call flow/verification/ending calls. I replied back along with my co-workers and we stated that we didn’t want to follow a script when it came to calls b/c our whole purpose was to be natural, have a relationship with our Agents and treat them as an equal (not like a customer), and allow us to have that flexibility in our calls. We are now being REQUIRED to use the following closing statements on our calls and it’s got me so upset to the point that I’m on the verge of an anxiety attack/panic attack (which is stupid and I realize, but I have my reasons and other things going on in my life and this isn’t helping).
We’re now being required to ask either of the following questions:
“Have I effectively resolved all your issues today?”
“Was I able to resolve all of your issues today?”
I CAN’T STAND IT. I am NOT a Robot…. I don’t like reading them off b/c I sound like a freaking Robot and I have told my own supervisor this multiple times, and I know he does truly empathize with me, but I also feel like, Upper Management basically asked us our opinions and then went “F-It, we’re not going to listen to what employees say or their opinions and we’re going to have them ask these questions and let them get more abused by an angry or upset Agent on the line”. We recently had a system upgrade and our whole system was done for 3 days (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday) and our call volume has been high b/c of this and Agents have been upset about it and they can’t bind policies or issue new business, make changes, make payments, etc for their Agencies and I completely understand how frustrating it is for them b/c we are also dealing with the same issues they are within our system, BUT I cannot bring myself to ask an Agent at the end of a call “Was I able to resolve all of your issues today?”, when I know I haven’t and they aren’t going to be happy, they’ve been on the call with me for over an hour and for me, that just opens the door for them to go off on a rant again.
I know this was long and if you made it this far, thanks for reading. I have tried really hard to put my own take on the new closing statements, but I’m very much against them still, simply b/c I don’t like to feel like a Robot and that’s what they make me sound like. It’s just not my personality, or how I am and I don’t feel comfortable with it or like myself. Has anyone else dealt with something like this and how did you deal with it?
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