Surface Ripples

Stop the Scripts?

It seems increasingly that the operators in Help or Call Centres are being obliged to follow a set script when dealing with customers.

This may be to ensure that they don’t say anything that might compromise their employer; hence no deviation from the “approved wording”. 

The flip side is that this makes customer interactions longer than necessary.  For customers whose time may be limited, the process of allowing the “conversation” to run its course can be frustrating and result (as it has for me!) in loss of patience as some poor operator is obliged to read out pages of legalese, statutory warnings or cautions. 

It’s not their fault.  If they don’t do it, they could land their employer in trouble.  The world is becoming more regulated and proscriptive (no pun intended) at the expense of satisfactory customer experiences. 

Some businesses may have no choice (particularly in the financial services sector where a slip could cost an institution millions).  There must come a time, however, when the customer’s needs matter more than potential corporate liability. 

Equally, if the problem in question doesn’t fall under the “standard script”, operators are often left not knowing what to do.  This is especially the case where there seems to be no escalation procedure for them to hand the customer over to a more experienced colleague (although in some cases I believe this is improving).

What’s the solution?  First of all, if we can, hire staff with the right “qualifications”. Yes, they may be more expensive, but in the long run if there’s increased customer satisfaction when dealing with our businesses, isn’t that worth it?

Another solution might be to provide proper training on call handling rather than simply putting them at a desk with a phone. I suspect this does happen, but that the training simply involves using the “approved scripts”.

I’m sure some people will suggest that AI is the way to go. In the future, it may well be but at present my experience of AI “chatbot” is uniformly poor.  The AI needs to be trained a lot more before it can successfully handle a customer interaction, especially in cases where escalation is needed. 

I deliver change in markets ranging from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With a wealth of international experience in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management.  I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email. 

Labels: Customer Care, Productivity, Selling, Strategy

posted by William Martin @ 08:33