A contact center agent does more than just answer phone calls or respond to social media messages. They are on the front lines of a company’s customer service efforts, requiring agents to be empathetic, quick-thinking, technology-savvy, and so much more.
Though some see an agent’s job as something anyone can do, only customer service pros can offer the ultimate customer experience. Your contact center is filled with employees who are capable of excelling at their work, but you first need to provide training and resources that help agents reach their full potential.
Company-sponsored seminars help agents grow while also emphasizing your goals and values. Investing in your agents’ continued improvement shows both your commitment to excellence and interest in workplace satisfaction. With regular seminars, you can enjoy happier employees, more satisfied customers, and greater gains for your company overall.
5 seminars you should offer to contact center agents
1. Contact center software training
Your contact center solution offers a wealth of features that can improve and streamline your agents’ work. To get the full benefits, however, your agents first have to know what’s available and how to use it. Once hired, every new agent should attend a training session focused solely on your contact center technology. You can also offer periodic courses throughout the year to keep knowledge fresh or introduce new features and updates.
Bring in experts
No one knows your platform better than your IT team, so partner with them to have an expert lead your sessions. You can also ask top agents to share the shortcuts and processes they’ve discovered to make work even more efficient.
2. Building the habits of a top customer service rep
What do successful contact center agents do that others don’t? When everyone has access to the same tools, what leads some people to perform better than others? Offering a seminar that answers these questions gives your employees the opportunity to step up their game. Provide strategies for making the most of downtime or completing administrative tasks more efficiently. Give – and take! – suggestions for a productive morning routine. If you have agents who work remotely, you can also use this seminar to give guidelines on successful work-from-home experiences.
3. The importance of interpersonal skills
Agents spend a majority of their time interacting with customers, so interpersonal skills are absolutely essential to positive customer and employee experiences. For this seminar, cover the different factors involved in a positive interaction. Discuss the importance of empathy, positivity, and emotional control. Teach employees how to listen to and acknowledge the customer’s problem, even when they don’t agree. Give agents the tools they need to provide friendly, positive customer experiences in every situation.
4. Collaboration: How and why it should be part of your daily work
When agents don’t have the ability or incentive to collaborate, your handle times, customer satisfaction, and workplace efficiency quickly suffer. Before teaching employees about collaboration, make sure you have a cloud contact center solution that enables quick and easy internal communication. Emphasize the benefits of information sharing among colleagues, both how it improves their work and how it creates better outcomes. Remind agents that they’re part of a team, one that grows or fails together.
5. Understanding the contact center of tomorrow
This seminar is critical to maintaining optimum customer service performance. Technology changes quickly and you don’t want your agents to be left behind. If your solution changes due to updates or new features, train your agents before it rolls out. You should also keep agents aware of changes in the customer service industry or your company’s strategies. When you equip your agents to stay on top of their game, you and your customers reap the benefits.
How much does employee engagement affect the customer experience your contact center offers? Discover the power of agent enrichment at our new EX+CX guide.
Originally published Aug 06, 2020, updated Dec 30, 2022
