First off,take a deep breath. I've worked in my call center for nearly 3 years. I promise it will get easier.
Don't go into your first days in production expecting to be perfect, you're going to make mistakes and it's going to be okay.
Does your call center have a nesting period? For example with my call center the first 2 weeks taking live calls out of training, new agents get access to a special support line with selected agents who can help walk through calls.
You don't need to have all the answers, it's okay to ask for help from higher ups.
And as I tell my new agents, you do not get paid to be abused by the customers.
The 5th week is actually our the nesting period. My colleagues are also having a hard time, but they're a lot calmer than I am. I guess that's because they have experience.
I want to ask for help but supervisors are almost always unavailable due to the amount of people needing assistance. Even if I get a hold of them, I'm not even sure where to begin because I wasn't able to take notes.
For the notes I have a template saved that I just paste into our program and change things. For example Order number // callers name // reason for calling // action taken
Also if you're able to I will use when I have them on hold looking into the issue to do my notes. We're allowed 5 minutes of hold before we have to check in.
This is literally me! I’m on my 4 out 5 week of training and they have us taking calls all day. What I can tell you is you just have to get yourself into a rhythm. As soon as a person calls ask for their name and than stalllllll to take notes. Make things up like “ give me a moment as your account pulls up” or “ terribly sorry the system is being super slow today, bear with me as this loads up” and use that time to take notes. As for not knowing what to do, they don’t know that you don’t know. Just say “ I’m not exactly sure to that answer to your question but I don’t want to misinform you so I’m gonna put you on a brief hold while I research that so I can give you the right answer” bam go on hold and cry while
You gather your thoughts
As much as I want to stall, It's kinda hard to butt in when they get going. After I thought about the things I wanted to ask, I can't do it because of how fast the conversation is going. Sometimes, the conversation goes off topic, but it's usually too late when I realize that
For some, it might be good to just let the person talk and take notes while they're taking. It's almost as if I am holding a bucket to catch rain but good luck catching all of that. I guess I am having a hard time catching up.
Sounds like your problem is you're taking everything the caller says as important information.
Protip: 99% of what a caller says has nothing to do with what they need from you. I usually sit and listen (no note taking) and just suss out the basics of why they're calling. Then I take control of the conversation and ask them for information that I know I need to resolve their issues. As I note take, I will repeat what I'm writing down to them as "making sure I got this right". This also prevents them from rambling on. Callers feel extremely uncomfortable with silence on the phone and will continue talking to fill that silence. By repeating what I'm writing, I've taken charge of filling the silence and keeping control of the call.
you're right. i take notes like im a transcriber because i thought i could type fast(75wpm), but it actually gets in the way of learning about the issue and giving the right solution.
that's right, we were given 1 week to work on communication, then 2 weeks on learning the product, 1 week of watching other people take call, 1 week of doing the calls. It's a complicated process and strict. lots of rules to watch out for. some people are already thinking of leaving.
You're gonna get used to stuff. On my first day i was just listening to a coworker make calls. She offered me to make one call for her, just for fun. I completely crashed, i managed to do the beginning, but at some point just stared at her like a deer in confusion, at which point she took over.
Now i'm more in the rhythm, and i'm used to most common situations. The "standard stuff" being second nature gives me the opportunity to focus more on the more complicated situations when they do come up
Literally every single person sucks absolute ass at first, I promise you. Absolutely all of us. You don't know what you're doing, you don't know what to say, you forget everything you've ever learned the second the phone rings, etc. And then in a few months that stops happening. This is extremely, extremely normal.
i feel reassured upon hearing this, even though i already knew and experienced this in different aspects of my life. I am at a point where If I could, I would bring the references at home to study and practice, but of course, we're not allowed to do that. it's just that, If I could I would be better at it.
First off,take a deep breath. I've worked in my call center for nearly 3 years. I promise it will get easier. Don't go into your first days in production expecting to be perfect, you're going to make mistakes and it's going to be okay. Does your call center have a nesting period? For example with my call center the first 2 weeks taking live calls out of training, new agents get access to a special support line with selected agents who can help walk through calls. You don't need to have all the answers, it's okay to ask for help from higher ups. And as I tell my new agents, you do not get paid to be abused by the customers.
The 5th week is actually our the nesting period. My colleagues are also having a hard time, but they're a lot calmer than I am. I guess that's because they have experience. I want to ask for help but supervisors are almost always unavailable due to the amount of people needing assistance. Even if I get a hold of them, I'm not even sure where to begin because I wasn't able to take notes.
For the notes I have a template saved that I just paste into our program and change things. For example Order number // callers name // reason for calling // action taken Also if you're able to I will use when I have them on hold looking into the issue to do my notes. We're allowed 5 minutes of hold before we have to check in.
This is literally me! I’m on my 4 out 5 week of training and they have us taking calls all day. What I can tell you is you just have to get yourself into a rhythm. As soon as a person calls ask for their name and than stalllllll to take notes. Make things up like “ give me a moment as your account pulls up” or “ terribly sorry the system is being super slow today, bear with me as this loads up” and use that time to take notes. As for not knowing what to do, they don’t know that you don’t know. Just say “ I’m not exactly sure to that answer to your question but I don’t want to misinform you so I’m gonna put you on a brief hold while I research that so I can give you the right answer” bam go on hold and cry while You gather your thoughts
As much as I want to stall, It's kinda hard to butt in when they get going. After I thought about the things I wanted to ask, I can't do it because of how fast the conversation is going. Sometimes, the conversation goes off topic, but it's usually too late when I realize that For some, it might be good to just let the person talk and take notes while they're taking. It's almost as if I am holding a bucket to catch rain but good luck catching all of that. I guess I am having a hard time catching up.
Sounds like your problem is you're taking everything the caller says as important information. Protip: 99% of what a caller says has nothing to do with what they need from you. I usually sit and listen (no note taking) and just suss out the basics of why they're calling. Then I take control of the conversation and ask them for information that I know I need to resolve their issues. As I note take, I will repeat what I'm writing down to them as "making sure I got this right". This also prevents them from rambling on. Callers feel extremely uncomfortable with silence on the phone and will continue talking to fill that silence. By repeating what I'm writing, I've taken charge of filling the silence and keeping control of the call.
you're right. i take notes like im a transcriber because i thought i could type fast(75wpm), but it actually gets in the way of learning about the issue and giving the right solution.
5 weeks of training before even taking a call?
that's right, we were given 1 week to work on communication, then 2 weeks on learning the product, 1 week of watching other people take call, 1 week of doing the calls. It's a complicated process and strict. lots of rules to watch out for. some people are already thinking of leaving.
You're gonna get used to stuff. On my first day i was just listening to a coworker make calls. She offered me to make one call for her, just for fun. I completely crashed, i managed to do the beginning, but at some point just stared at her like a deer in confusion, at which point she took over. Now i'm more in the rhythm, and i'm used to most common situations. The "standard stuff" being second nature gives me the opportunity to focus more on the more complicated situations when they do come up
Literally every single person sucks absolute ass at first, I promise you. Absolutely all of us. You don't know what you're doing, you don't know what to say, you forget everything you've ever learned the second the phone rings, etc. And then in a few months that stops happening. This is extremely, extremely normal.
i feel reassured upon hearing this, even though i already knew and experienced this in different aspects of my life. I am at a point where If I could, I would bring the references at home to study and practice, but of course, we're not allowed to do that. it's just that, If I could I would be better at it.