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A Perfect Pair: 5 Ways Personality Pairing Will Improve Your Call Center Outcomes

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In the late 19th century, the legendary American entrepreneur Marshall Field forever transformed the retail landscape — and single-handedly invented the concept of customer service — when he famously declared to the staff of his eponymous Chicago department store, “Give the lady what she wants!”

More than 100 years later, Field’s simple formula for business success is still profoundly effective.

It’s also never been more difficult to deliver on.

A constantly-expanding universe of choices has made consumers smarter, savvier and far less tolerant of sub-par quality and service. And while increased CS automation has added efficiencies, slashed costs and provided a certain degree of convenience for customers, there is a downside to self-service. Sometimes, you need to talk to a real person. By the time a customer in that position has run through the number-pressing gauntlet and finally made contact with a live agent, they’re often exhausted, confused and just plain mad.

Even more significantly, exactly what a customer wants isn’t always easy to identify — not only for agents, but for customers themselves.

A customer may ostensibly be calling to resolve a billing error or order a product. But in any customer/agent conversation, there’s a deeper level of need at play. This need has nothing to do with product and everything to do with personality. And if your call center isn’t equipped to accommodate it, you could be risking revenue, retention, reputation and much, much more.

Why personality matters

Conversations in call centers are no different than conversations in any other area of life: they’re better when those involved have a good connection. And, just as in everyday life, “better” means different things to different people.

In general, people align with one of four major personality types: Emotions, Opinions, Thoughts, and Reactions. Each one of these types has its own way of expressing itself and of wanting to be treated, preferences that are communicated to others through things like word choices, tone and syntax.

Most of us aren’t consciously aware of either projecting or receiving these “advertisements.” We simply know that we click with some people but not with others, and automatically form our conversations and relationships accordingly.

In the typical call center, that control is lost. Callers and agents are forced at random into what are really mini relationships, with potentially disastrous consequences.

The good news is, it doesn’t have to be this way. In this as with so many other things, technology has arrived to save the day. Some of today’s biggest and most service-heavy companies are deploying personality-based call routing software to automatically connect callers and agents who are highly likely to have a natural rapport. As they’ve discovered, pairing personalities in the call center has the potential to be massively beneficial, influencing virtually every critical metric. Here are five reasons why:

1) Personality pairing makes a great first impression

Every customer goes into a call hoping for a good experience and outcome. Precisely what that means for them, however, depends largely on their personality type. That’s where things can start to come apart. Even a fairly specific expectation such as “politeness” can vary widely at the granular level. What resonates with one type can be offensive to another. Imagine the reception you’d get if you greeted Warren Buffet with a hearty, “What’s up, bro?!” and you begin to get the picture.

In those critical first few moments, it’s important to set the stage for the smooth, mutually-satisfying interaction everyone wants. Aligning customers with agents who recognize and respond to their definition of good service — whether that means being warm and nurturing, prompt and efficient, or respectful and results-oriented – can help to set both of them up for a successful call.

2) Personality pairing leads to shorter calls

Average talk time (ATT) is a metric near and dear to the heart of every call center’s operations. When agent/customer personalities conflict, that metric rises for the simple reason that mismatches create a very real language barrier.

A customer is using a specific set of words to communicate his or her needs; the agent is using a completely different set of words to respond. Negotiating that miscommunication can pile precious minutes onto a call, all while the customer’s blood pressure skyrockets and their satisfaction plummets.

Agents and customers who understand each other’s personality language have naturally shorter conversations. And when ATT goes down, the financial benefits are significant. In an average 300-seat call center, for example, just a one-second decrease in monthly ATT can translate into a dollars-and-cents savings equivalent of as much as one full-time agent’s salary. Companies using personality-based call routing have seen monthly ATT reductions of well over 100 seconds. It adds up—fast.

3) Personality pairing means happier agents

The notoriously high turnover rate many call centers experience is understandable. It’s tough to spend hours and hours a day being yelled at, criticized, and feeling like you’re not doing your job well.

However, agents who primarily serve customers with whom they have a positive connection feel understood, appreciated, valued, and satisfied. That’s a recipe for a motivated and content employee, as well as the calculus for significantly lower hiring and training costs.

4) Personality pairing wins you the long game (even if you lose a round)

Call center agents are trained to solve the problem a customer presents to them, and rightfully so. But if a customer’s personality needs aren’t met, chances are they’ll walk away with a negative impression of the conversation, and by extension, your organization, even if their transactional needs are met.

What’s at stake here is the most important success measure of all: lifetime value. With a myriad of other companies vying for their business, customers don’t need to stick with one that makes them feel bad, mad, or undervalued—and they won’t. What’s more, in the age of social media, a single negative experience can be detailed and broadcast to millions, dealing a potentially devastating blow to your business.  It happens constantly, every single day.

On the other hand, when a customer feels listened to and valued, he or she is much more likely to maintain a positive impression of you, regardless of the actual call outcome. And, if you’re really doing it right…

5) Personality pairing creates customer evangelists

The flipside of a tweet or Facebook post that broadcasts disappointment is one that lavishes praise. A happy customer who is also socially plugged in—and these days, more and more customers are—can be as wonderful for your company’s name and numbers as an unhappy one can be damaging to them. They can put a positive message about you in front of hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands, even millions of people… all without you spending a dime of your marketing budget.

Success in business ultimately comes down to satisfying the deep human need to be heard and understood. Organizations that leverage new technologies to meet that fundamental need in their call centers are innovating and defining CS/CX standards for our generation—and scooping up the customers, employees and profits of those who fail to keep pace.

 

An edited version of this article originally appeared in the May 28, 2015 edition of Customer Care News

 

Image copyright: serkucher / 123RF Stock Photo


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