The three C’s to training your agents effectively

Does training your agents effectively get you happy customers? Successful companies seem to believe so. From conglomerates to startups, the businesses that rake in profits take customer service quite seriously. Training is basically a foregone conclusion. The real question is:

“What do customer service agents get trained in?”

The skills your agents need to excel depends greatly on your industry. Nevertheless, we’ve picked a few fundamental aspects that apply to agents in all areas of business that will make them the best at what they do.

Here are the three C’s of good customer service:

Compassion

Customers feel anxious when they encounter a problem they can’t solve quickly and independently. That anxiety can turn into anger, and a frustrated response on your part will only make things worse. Train agents to keep an empathetic and compassionate attitude with your customers in a way that can cut through the anger and address the underlying problem.

Teaching your agents compassion requires more than just verbal instruction. Give them a positive workspace that keeps them in a good mood. Encourage them to take breaks whenever they feel stressed. Remind them constantly that they have lots of backup and can always ask for help. After all, behind every compassionate agent stands a supportive and compassionate leader.

Comprehension

Compassion helps your customers’ questions get through to you, but comprehending their issues will give them the answers they’re looking for. Give your agents a crash course in analytical thinking, and teach them to deconstruct issues into simpler, easily understood chunks.

Empowering your agents to break their problems down can help them get to the core of the issue and leave a smaller margin for misunderstanding. This can save your agents and customers alike from having the difficult conversation.

Communication

Understanding your customer’s problem is halfway to solving the problem. It’s not a complete solution if you can’t give them answers in a way they can understand. If your agents are struggling, it may be that they’re knowledgeable in their domain but fall behind in their communication skills. Training them to articulate solutions will help them grow as agents and become more valuable assets.

This process doesn’t just help customers solve their issues, it establishes a bond with customers that can’t be done with scripts and jargon. Your agents’ fluency with the product may be top notch but it takes more than hard expertise and good grammar for a conversation to go well. Great agents understand what their customers’ pain points are. Training agents to communicate directly, succinctly, and with a friendly attitude will create a clear path to success for your customers.