Call Center Solutions

What should you do if your call center operators are having a hard time managing mean customers? Depending on the individual psychologies of your workers, you may have to employ different tactics. For instance, let's say that one of your operators is particularly sensitive. Every time a customer yells at him, he goes into a funk and he's unable to proceed down his call sheet.

To help diminish his fear, you could teach him disassociative techniques. In other words, you make him feel less emotionally invested in his calls. At the same time, however, you want to make sure that he doesn't lose his ability to empathize, as that can prove extremely useful in terms of connecting with customers who are similarly effusive and sympathetic.

Solutions to Call Center Woes

Let's consider a different example. Perhaps one of your operators likes to fight back against mean callers. Rather than reacting defensively and politely to aggressive customer behavior, she responds with twice as much bile. In her case, you might want to encourage her to transfer calls quickly to other operators or to disconnect when she feels overwhelmed.

You should also encourage your employees to lean on one another in times of crisis. Every call center operator has encountered problem callers. By getting your employees to share their stories, you in effect create a group therapy session to expiate their frustrations. The end result of this personalized training will be a more relaxed and responsive call center department.