Improving Agent Eloquence

Answers

• Elcardo Posted at 12:00AM on Mar 9, 2009

  I aggree with the above comments. Regular ongoing coaching is important in this instance as the colleague will need support from you and a constant reminder to overcome this habit. As the saying goes, it takes 21 days to create a new habit. Within in days you should see a difference. Have the colleague pin up suitable words to use on the front of their monitors/screens when interacting with customers so that he/she is constantly aware of the importance to avoid this verbal habit. I trust this will help you...

• Marissa Posted at 12:00AM on Mar 9, 2009

  I know exactly what you are talking about. I have an agent who uses the 'auuggh' sound as a filler quite often in his conversation. A rather simple and even humorous way to discuss with the agent is to give them a visual of what that sound does to the impression on the caller. When he makes that sound, I can 'see' a doctor placing a tongue depresser in the patient asking them to say 'aahhhh' and pretty sure that is not the visual the agent intends for their caller to form.

• Anna Merryman Posted at 12:00AM on Mar 9, 2009

  If you have recorded calls, I would recommend having a coaching session with the agent where you play back the call for them to listen to. Ask them how they felt the call sounded and if there is anything they would do different. If they don't pick up on it right away, point it out to them. Ask them what perceptions that the customer could form about the agent and the company based on the phone call. I would also make sure, first and foremost, that the agent feels confident and that they have what they need to perform their job successfully.

• Dave M Posted at 12:00AM on Mar 23, 2009

  I've assigned a senior agent to record many calls with the goal being to create several topic-specific training sessions. In the process of doing this, it was amazing (in a bad way) how many uhmms and ahhs there were. We have extracted enough of these to put together a 60 clip of 25 people with many different uhmms and ahhs. This will be placed as an intro for each of the sessions. The sessions are intended as a peer-to-peer learning exercise so it will get the point across in a humorous way that I hope will have more impact than a lecture new "rule".

• Lindey Posted at 12:00AM on Apr 6, 2009

  Dave M: I would love to use that file in my training class, any chance you want to share?