A healthy company/customer relationship contains many ingredients of any human relationship. That’s why replacing customer service reps with ChatGPT or an “Interactive voice response” (AVR) system – while sometimes necessary – has one big blind spot. Customers would rather deal with a real person. According to an eMarketer survey, four out of five respondents prefer to connect directly to a human customer service agent over any kind of “automated chatbot or other automated call-responding service.”
From appointment scheduling to payment processing, the fact is that people like talking to other real people. There are many reasons for this, all of which should matter to you, and some of which can have a real impact on your bottom line.
Call Center Agents Are Better at Communication Jobs
Good communication has a direct effect on the quality of service your company can provide. What organizations that use in-house or remote call centers realize is that every conversation is a little different. Someone with contact center expertise may tailor their responses to the particular question, concern and flow of a conversation. A human can make on-the-spot recommendations and suggestions. What’s more, they are able to use their own judgment to gauge the situation and recognize if a customer is disgruntled or struggling to communicate their needs.
In short, agents can be trained to recommend suggestions that will take the conversation where it needs to go.
Humans Use Communication & Empathy Techniques to Create Positive Impressions of Services Provided
A real person with the proper expertise will know how to use a range of communication techniques that engage customers. Phrases that create a sense of human connection are shown to be effective in leading people to perceive the service provided in a more positive way.
One reason words and phrases that convey empathy and understanding create more satisfied customers is because they believe the person on the other end of the line truly cares about addressing their needs. For a closer look at why, Oakland PD’s communication training explains five ways that good verbal techniques help customers feel heard and seen:
- Empathy is used to communicate that the agent understands their situation.
- Showing you understand their emotions helps build trust with customers.
- Customers appreciate reassurance that their issue will be resolved.
- Customer service staff can limit distractions to focus only on the call at hand.
- Agents use certain positive statements to show agreement with the customer’s position.
Real Customer Service Reps Have the Flexibility to Make Fast Decisions
It’s not just the authenticity and empathy that folks appreciate. Equipped with more flexibility, a real call center agent can make quick decisions based on what they’re being told, as opposed to IVR that has been programmed to say a certain order of words and phrases regardless of the specific circumstances.
Well-Trained Agents Can Gain People’s Trust – and Redirect the Conversation
Another way to gain people’s trust is to summarize or restate in different but similar words what you hear from the person on the other end of the line. A chatbot can be programmed to do this to some extent – but the technology is simply not at the level of a human, yet. Prospective customers and clients can get frustrated at the first sign the bot isn’t picking up on their needs, whereas a well-trained agent will sense their tone of voice, picking up on subtle verbal and non-verbal cues, and take charge of the interaction to bring it to a positive conclusion.
You Can Use Customer Feedback to Your Advantage
Finally, a real person will be able to navigate unexpected moments during a conversation that can be used to the company’s advantage. Some customers are happy to provide positive feedback. And brands can use those messages to their advantage. Even constructive feedback you weren’t expecting may alert you to something that should be changed on your end that will ultimately help your company provide better services.
Best Trained Call Center Agents Work for Lighthouse Enterprises
Lighthouse Enterprises has a long-standing reputation for providing some of the best-trained call center agents in the industry. Thanks to our uniquely low retention rate, nearly every call that comes in is resolved on the spot, resulting in improved efficiency and money saved for the diverse organizations that use our services.
Reach out to Lighthouse Enterprises to discuss how we can improve your customer service today!