The wonderful time in November when everyone is huddled around the table, gazing at the turkey and being thankful for what they have, is often followed by one of the most stressful days of the year known as Black Friday.
For call centers, this typically means an overflow of calls, tons of training, and longer work hours. If you take the necessary steps to prepare, however, you can provide exceptional support as well as increase your sales.
Simply keep on reading to learn about some tips to help you get ready for this year’s holiday season.
Adopt Festive Spirit
Holidays bring a sense of joy, which means get festive! Nothing says boring like hearing the same old elevator music during the holiday season. Get festive by creating seasonal announcements, messages, and on hold music, all of which can be personalized as well. Your customers will appreciate it.
Reduce Wait Times
An overflow of calls is typical for holiday season. During this time, you want to make certain that the customers calling in do not have to wait too long. To prevent bad customer experience, enable customers to select a callback or virtual hold option. When customers ask for a callback or virtual hold, they can wait to speak with an agent without staying on the phone the whole time.
Staff during the holiday season will be extremely busy and these options will provide them small relief as well as higher satisfaction for your customers.
Maximize Your Workforce
It is crucial to make certain you are not understaffed during the holidays. Hire new agents, schedule more agents on the same days, or staff the highest number of agents for peak times throughout the day. You may also assign agents answer calls from home, allowing them to handle their workload during hours that may not be available at the office.
During this time, you will want to strictly enforce training and coach those that lack the knowledge or experience to handle specific customers. It is also recommended to extend your work hours during this season, as there will be many customers calling in to speak with one of your agents. If possible, begin the work day earlier.
Establish Omnichannel Support
Implementing omnichannel support can reduce the large volume of calls already coming in. Additional channels of support will also increase your customers’ ability to choose how they wish to contact you. For agents, this means a decreased call workload to catch a break, quicker replies to your customers, and flexibility in methods of communication.
Let your customers know that you will be there for them throughout the holiday season by providing information on where and how they can contact you either on your website or social media platforms.
Check on Your Agents
For this holiday season, be prepared to oversee interactions between agents and customers. You will most likely have new staff working alongside older agents at the same time. To keep everyone on task and prevent any issues between agents and customers, analyze your monitoring system regularly.
By gaining insight into your call center in real time, you will be able to provide guidance when necessary. Agents may be stressed during this time and will need your support in handling difficult customers.
Don’t forget to appreciate your employees this holiday season. Giving out seasonal rewards and acknowledging the work they do will make agents on the job feel motivated and appreciated.