CX QA Live! | The Agent-Centric Customer Experience Show

Jakob Mattice sits down with Kory Kostecka from RemX to discuss his insights into the ways we are staffing our call centers and how we can improve our hiring.

Our standard screening questions when hiring new call center agents focus on hard skills instead of the soft skills that really move the needle with brand loyalty.

Topics we discuss:

[ 4:59 - 5:44 ] Here’s what contact centers should be looking for: problem solving skills, listening skills and phone etiquette.

[ 8:06 - 10:44 ] Surveys show that customers value a friendly tone from customer service representatives. They want someone who’s trying to help solve their problem and they say they feel loyalty to the brand when they feel that helpfulness.

[ 12:51 - 14:36 ]  Here’s how to encourage our agents, who were hired for their hard skills, to develop their soft skills as well: incentive pay, providing a flexible schedule, company culture. and helping them feel like they are important and that the work that they do is important.

[ 15:27 - 16:59 ]  The opportunity for advancement is essential for retention.

[ 19:47 - 20:35 ]  We are often using screening questions that are too binary. For example, we may ask “How many years experience do you have?” And, if the candidate doesn’t say the right number, the recruiting team isn’t even going to get the chance to meet these new, “green” agents who may have the soft skills that we are looking for.

[ 24:13 - 26:09 ] Inherent AI challenges to watch out for and how to avoid them.

To listen to a recording of this and other episodes, visit vistio.io/podcasts. And to join our show live each week, go to vistio.io/cxlive.

Let’s welcome back Fred Stacey to the podcast! Today we’re discussing the unique challenges related to the global nature of CX in addition to the improvements we’re seeing.

We’re just always encouraged by the data which time and time again proves that positive agent experience directly correlates to high performance and profit growth. It’s just the reality.

This is why we are creating a metric to measure agent experience so that companies can leverage employee support programs even more.

Topics discussed in today’s episode:

[ 4:32 - 5:17 ] Having fewer US-based CX candidates means looking to other countries for customer support representatives who can man the phones and man the chats. The benefit of this trend is that those agents love their CX jobs and they do very well.

[ 7:33 - 8:32 ] Fred saw firsthand the challenges with expansion of Dell and early-stage Microsoft going over to India, the language and cultural barriers. The truth is that we are so much more of a melting pot now; we don’t have the same issues. Fortunately, we have technology developing that can simulate accented speech, which over the next 5-10 years will continue to bridge communication.

[ 15:56 - 16:53 ]  Since moving away from a manufacturing economy, we evolved from a service economy to an ideas economy, coming full circle on this globalization dynamic.

[ 18:41 - 19:03 ] Employees choose to work for companies they believe in. They care about the “how” and the “why” behind their company.

To listen to a recording of this and other episodes, visit vistio.io/podcasts. And to join our show live each week, go to vistio.io/cxlive.

You’re going to love our guest Leslie O’Flahavan and her refreshing take on the way we empathize with customers. She’s passionate about shifting the burdens off of CX agents so they can focus on connecting with the customers.

Topics discussed in today’s episode:

[2:34 - 3:00] "Empathy statements can be scripted. Yes. But the question is, “Should empathy be scripted?”

[5:12 - 6:32] We expect agents to express empathy to customers all day long. Is that fair for us to demand that emotional involvement continually?

[9:39 - 11:05] Are we giving enough training on sympathy and empathy as skills?

[12:28 - 13:36] Making sure that our empathy statements are sincere.

[14:36 - 16:32] Let’s fix the problems that prevent agents from giving good sympathy and let’s stop expecting agents to absorb the negative aftermath of the bad practices of the business.

[21:26 -23:16] We all know companies where agents are given a job that is doable and rewarding. They are trusted to make good decisions on customers’ behalf. Those businesses thrive.

[26:43 - 28:17 ] Do not put legal or financial risk decisions in the hands of the agents, but empower them to regain the customers’ trust in the company.

Leslie O’Flahavan is the owner of E-WRITE, a writing training consultancy. Check out her offerings to strengthen companies and organizations.

To listen to a recording of this and other episodes, visit vistio.io/podcasts. And to join our show live each week, go to vistio.io/cxlive.

Delighted to introduce you to Dave Seaton of Seaton CX. Dave’s consulting firm works with B2B companies to measure, manage and improve their customer experiences. He focuses on leadership, emotional intelligence and getting buy-in for CX.

His weekly newsletter CXPRESSO is for brave CX leaders who want to learn about how to score buy in, how to spur executives to action, how to cultivate a customer-centric culture and how to wrench your funding from the jaws of budget cuts all with out arguing or begging.

Topics discussed in today’s episode:

[ 6:40 - 7:09 ] Buy-in is not enough to create change. Listen in to hear what is actually needed.

[ 14:04 - 15:08 ] When leadership isn’t aligned, everyone feels it. We need to put the company initiatives into action.

[ 17:48 - 18:42 ] The sequence of adoption, from early to late adopters and how this shows up among CX stakeholders.

[ 22:24 - 23:12 ] Alignment is a bit of a buzzword now because we all understand what it means for company culture and how valuable it is, but it’s still hard to achieve because we all have our own sets of values.

Sign up to get Dave Seaton’s weekly newsletter, CXPRESSO, here.

Let’s go make our worlds better!

To listen to a recording of this and other episodes, visit vistio.io/podcasts. And to join our show live each week, go to vistio.io/cxlive.

Understanding what matters to agents is important, now more than ever. If agents aren’t satisfied with their work or connected to their contact center’s culture, they can find opportunities that better suit their needs elsewhere.

Wouldn’t it be great if there was a way to measure agent satisfaction so contact center leaders could prevent turnover and improve agent performance?

We agree. That’s why we’re developing the ASAT metric.

Put simply, the agent satisfaction score will measure satisfaction based on how well agents’ needs are met across six dimensions:

Examining these six factors creates a holistic picture for contact center leaders to understand what agents need to succeed.

With the ASAT metric, leaders will get actionable information on how to structure training, what tools to purchase, and how to cultivate a work culture that best helps agents do their job.

For more information on the ASAT metric and its six dimensions, watch the latest episode of CX QA Live! with Rob Connelly from Vistio and Jeremy Watkin from NumberBarn.

Talking with Jakob Mattice today about the amazing themes from the ICMI Contact Center Expo in Orlando. Meeting in person, building community and networking with so many great colleagues was so inspiring. Let’s dive in to some of the ideas we share at the conference, namely our focus on Agent Satisfaction as our main metric.

[ 8:38 - 9:28 ] Agent empowerment is when an agent understands and solves the customer’s problem and then goes beyond to make a connection with the customer. As a result they feel like they have purpose in their work and they are adding value.

[ 9:32 - 10:16 ] Improving training practices, to create a connection, even in this virtual world, so agents can have the “why” and the “how.”

[ 10:54 - 12:06 ] Having a good perspective of where you are as an organization and where you want to go. Not making enormous changes, but rather focusing on accomplishing feasible goals.

[ 13;47 - 15:35 ] The intersection between agent experience and customer experience, the ASAT Metric.

[ 15:36 - 17:05 ]  An in-house automotive company cx agent success story.

[ 21:41 - 22:19 ] We are not just building a pipeline. We are building a community. #voa for voice of agent.

Let’s make each day better!

To listen to a recording of this and other episodes, visit vistio.io/podcasts. And to join our show live each week, go to vistio.io/cxlive.

What a great episode today! Sheri Kendall, leader of the CX training team of Wayfair returns to talk about training safe, successful and satisfied agents!

FYI: If you haven’t had a chance to listen to episode 17, be sure to go back and catch that episode next to hear even more from Sheri Kendall.

In CX when issues aren’t resolved quickly it’s a lose-lose situation. The CFO wouldn’t be happy about the amount of time invested in trying to fix the problem and the customer actually becomes more determined to leave the brand. Long term, multiply this out and think of the outcomes facing your business. What is the fate of your market share?

Sheri helps us recognize some of the mistakes we make in CX training:

Be careful never to say “just customer service.” Customer service is often the only interaction your customers have with your brand besides marketing.

Allow agents to be human at work, they are, after all, literally tasked with interacting with our human customers.

The script, the process, the tech: Please have a note screen so the agents can document the call and facilitate all future calls with that customer. Agents can be an “agent of peace” for the customer and win major customer loyalty.

Highlighting other topics we discussed:

[ 6:52 - 7:27 ] Empathetic customer service at its best: understand my issue and resolve it quickly.

[ 16:12 - 16:27 ] When agents get to show up as themselves, the customer experience is better. Empathy and connection can be present.

[ 19:15 - 20:22 ] If your job is to connect with another human and you don’t even feel that you belong in your work environment, that’s not complementary. It helps to understand how your job plays into the bigger picture.

[ 22:05 - 23:42 ] An IRL experience with a policy that was quite ‘anti-customer' where the agent empathized with the customer, reassured the customer that the leaders do care and empowered them to provide feedback. This interaction was a success because there was psychological safety in that CX work environment that allowed the agent could connect with the customer.

We have a special announcement for the CX Industry tomorrow, on October 25th LIVE at noon Eastern Time at ICMI in Orlando where we are broadcasting with Jeremy Watkin. We very excited to share our news; it’s going to help CX leaders understand what’s happening within the agents’ experience and make better business decisions!

Keep asking questions and we’ll get better together!

To listen to a recording of this and other episodes, visit vistio.io/podcasts. And to join our show live each week, go to vistio.io/cxlive.

Welcome to the podcast! Today we are talking with Fred Stacey about his experiences in call centers, both helping to build them and helping them in recovery.

Dovetailing nicely with our Agent-Centric Call Center Philosophy is the objective today to discuss Employee Experience. What can we still do to enhance the work life of our employees? How can we engage with them and support them?

What’s working and not working? What can technology to do serve them as they engage with customers each and everyday. For example, gamification adoption is at about 20% even though it’s been around 10 years. What is the ideal role of technology in supporting employee experience?

Topics discussed in this episode:

[ 3:28 - 3:57 ] For call centers in recovery invest in mid-level leadership; we’re talking about floor-level leadership. It’s shocking how many c-suite executives have never taken a call in their call center.

[ 11:14 - 12:25 ] People here in America are in for a rude awakening when it comes to the costs of running call centers. Fred Stacey fears that companies, right after making any necessary cuts in marketing will then turn and make cuts in service and support. Wait times creep back up and customers and employees alike will feel the strain.

[ 13:04 - 13:37 ] Taking a positive viewpoint, we ought to start viewing the entire cx operation as an opportunity for positive business outcomes!

[16:06 - 17:23 ] Agents receive a ton of information that is coming from a human perspective, but we should also gather the structured and unstructured data that never makes it way up to the c-level executives. Teach leadership how to engage with agents to find out what they know.

[ 27:17 - 28:06 ] Fred Stacey has been a witness to call center global expansion in the Caribbean, later-stage India, Latin America, South America, and early-stage Philippines. In these locations call center employment is a very good position. It’s a fact that companies that focus on employee experience always perform better.

Call centers aren’t just a necessary evil or a cost we must sustain to do business. The truth is call centers are the easiest way to access positive business outcomes. Make sure your leaders have the skills to connect with their agents. The only thing that’s missing is recognizing the agents in this process.

To listen to a recording of this and other episodes, visit vistio.io/podcasts. And to join our show live each week, go to vistio.io/cxlive .

We’ve got a special episode for you today! We recorded this conversation on October 4th, the 10th annual CX Day! Meet our fantastic guest Jim Tincher who is the author of the book Do B2B Better which is available now. He’s an expert in all things change management, but you’ll have to tune in to hear what he calls it because he doesn’t actually love that term’s vibe.

Jim is here to talk to us about activating employees in ways that truly benefit them. Call center work is so important and we know that, first hand, as consumers in our lives outside of work. The role of an agent is the most important factor in our customer service and our customer satisfaction. So let’s dive into how to activate our agents!

[ 7:20 - 8:20 ] Change management is really about looking at behaviors that create a better outcome.

[ 11:49-12:59 ] The link between customer outcomes and agent outcomes.

[ 19:05-19:57 ] Coaching agents on improvement in specific ways instead of vague survey feedback.

[ 23:53 - 24:51 ] How to help executives understand the pressures the agent faces.

To listen to a recording of this and other episodes, visit vistio.io/podcasts. And to join our show live each week, go to vistio.io/cxlive.

Today we’re chatting with Idris Said from XTendico about truly understanding the key role agents play in relationships with our customers and how invaluable that is.

Customer service tops the in-demand skills list. We need agents with these skills to take care of our customers. And, then we need to take care of our customer service agents in return, or they’ll leave. They will. They have other options in the employment market.

Start to see the agents as long-term fixtures and assets in your business. Offer them career development opportunities and invest in them. Feature agents' accomplishments. People want to be recognized, not just compensated.

Topics discussed in this episode:

[3:05-3:41] Consumer feedback is a huge value center. Agents are fielding questions, receiving feedback, hearing which issues our customers have; you can’t buy this kind of data in focus groups!

[8:05-8:59] We should empower agents to provide frequent feedback to management so we capitalize on everything they are learning.

[13:05-13:51] Customer support agents are problem solvers. All day they are decoding what the consumer is saying to get them to a resolution. Soft skills cannot be replaced by technology.

[23:25-24:23] Work should fit into an employees’ life and not the other way around. There are more jobs than applicants so agents can choose the best work situation for them.

To listen to a recording of this and other episodes, visit vistio.io/podcasts. And to join our show live each week, go to vistio.io/cxqalive.