We've all had the joy of speaking to bad call centre operators; some of them are inexperienced, some are tired and others are just clearly having a bad day, but we seldom think of the knock on effects these operators have.
In most cases a bad operator is the cause of minor headaches, frustration, and the shouting of few four-letter words - which at worse will result in the company losing a client or two through word of mouth and bad publicity - but the consequences of an event that took place over the weekend may have potentially been far worse.
Making an emergency call to 10111 to report what appeared to be a drug deal taking place, Yusuf Abramjee, head of Lead SA, was hung up on three times and had the F-bomb dropped in his lap in a most unfriendly manner, causing such a palaver that by the time the cops did show up it was too late for them to do anything.
Hanging up on and swearing at callers is waaaaay up there on the Things Not to Do While Talking to Callers list, and for good reason.
In your company such behaviour would lead to a disciplinary hearing and undoubtedly the loss of the customer involved - as well as anyone who'll listen to his story about how poorly your staff treated him - unless you have the charm and skill to turn things around, probably at your expense.
Avoiding incidents like this is fortunately quite easy to do, and all it takes are regular checks into how your call centre staff are performing. Send them on training, have ghost callers rate their performance and swiftly deal with any issues that may arise, and the frequency with which problems do crop up will drop.
Please feel free to browse StaffTraining.co.za for more information on the training workshops we offer, who the courses are aimed at and what specific outcomes they achieve.