You trained agents and think they’re ready to help customers, but they struggle a bit. This might be the reason.
Many employees – new and veteran staff – say they don’t have all the tools they need to help customers and get the job done.
In research by business and customer loyalty expert Lorena Harris:
- 35% of employees said they don’t have access to all the data they need
- 31% said they lack some tools to do the job, and
- 28% said they aren’t empowered to do what they need to do.
So many well trained employees may sit with their hands tied waiting for others to finish the job. Then customers wait and grow frustrated.
Follow this policy we learned from a contact center in Nebraska, which increases agents’ ability to get the job done (without adding expense): Agents must get approval from a supervisor to tell customers “no.” That way, they feel they have more power to do what needs to be done to keep customers satisfied.