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Maddening plotlines. Mercurial characters. Unexpected outcomes. Is it an episode of The Twilight Zone or a day in the life of a call center agent? From seething callers to self-defeating processes—agents today deal with a lot. (It’s no wonder that poor agent experience is leading to record disengagement and turnover.) But just how bad—or how strange—can customer interactions get? Let’s count down the top four call center crimes…
If Silence Could Kill
We’ve all heard the phrase, “the silence is deafening.” But few know the true dread of “dead air” quite like a call center agent who’s placed a customer on hold. Even the shortest wait can hold dire consequences for agent call scores (and even company CSAT results), as Savannah learned below.
Buried Alive in Knowledge
We’ve all experienced information overload at one time or another. But while most of us can step back and process what we’re experiencing, call center agents often aren’t so lucky. Every second counts when a customer is on the line, and time spent thumbing through training manuals or aimlessly searching knowledge bases can come back to haunt an agent in the end.
AHT or Empathy:
An Impossible Choice
No agent should have to choose between meeting performance metrics and delivering empathetic customer service. And yet, that is often the case. Without real-time, AI-enabled assistance, agents find themselves in this impossible situation time and time again.
Human Punching Bags
It’s a horror story that’s familiar to every call center agent: a stressed customer lashes out over the phone. And odds are, the cause has nothing to do with the agent—it’s process failure, manual error or system miscommunication. But because the agent is there, he or she must bear the brunt of the customer’s wrath.
Do You Have a Call Center Horror Story?
CX gremlins? Nightmare callers? We want to hear your call center horror stories. (Just be sure to keep it clean.) Share them with us on LinkedIn. We’ll be waiting on the edge of our seats…