How to Improve Call Handling Skills: Secret Tips

When you pick up the phone, you are not just answering a call; you are opening a door to build trust, solve problems, and represent your brand. Now, a highly competitive marketplace always demands better customer service. So, better call centre support relies on a set of call handling skills. Call centre service is almost as important as products, because a better call center service brings more sales and up-selling. 

It is essential for you and every agent to know the proper procedure and behavior in the call; otherwise, wrong service on a call can decrease brand value and customer satisfaction as well. Now let’s learn about those skills that can hone your call handling skills.

Foundational Skills for Excellent Call Handling

To provide excellent call center service, you, as an agent, need to develop several key skills to effectively satisfy customers. Those skills are not only usable for call handling, but you can use them in different fields of your personal and professional life as well. Let’s discuss some criteria that help increase your confidence and improve customer satisfaction as well.

Active Listening

You don’t just show that you are listening, you need to listen to your customer attentively because if you miss anything, you can’t find the customer’s frustration or problems they are facing. In that case, if you ask twice, there is a probability of the customer being mad at you. 

• Show That You Care 

• Building Trust 

• Stay Positive 

• Avoid Distraction

• No Interruptions 

• Reflective Listening

While speaking with a customer, try not to be distracted and let the customer finish first, don’t interrupt while talking, after the customer completes, then you start probing to find out the reason behind. Sometimes, a few smart customers find their own solutions, so letting them finish first is very important.

Clear and Professional Communication

Clear and professional communication is mandatory for a call center agent because this is what customers initially look for from a call center agent. Speaking with a clear tone is one of the most significant qualities because an unclear voice can irritate any customer easily. 

Coming to professional communication, it refers to you as an agent who follows the modality of the company you work for, maintaining a format of speaking like starting with a greeting, ending sentence, and not sharing any confidential information or asking anything personal. 

As an example: “Hello, thank you for calling [Company Name]. My name is [Agent Name]. How can I help you today?”

Professionalism is very important because it increases brand value to customers and also boosts your personal career.

Empathy and Emotional Intelligence

Empathy is one of the core elements of call handling skills; empathy creates rapport and improves customer experience. Empathy shows how  much a call handling agent cares about customer feelings, such as: 

“I understand how frustrating that must be.” 

“Thank you for reaching out about this.”

“I understand why you feel that way”.

“I can see how frustrating this must be”.

“I appreciate you bringing this to our attention.”

Emotional intelligence refers to how you, as an agent, handle a frustrated  customer, a complex situation, or a changed and upset customer. You should be careful before delivering any statement, because if your statement impacts negatively, it may bring bad feedback and reviews as well. 

So be careful and learn from previous feedback, listen to complex call handling records, and suggestions from seniors for these situations. Such as: “I understand how frustrating this must be. Let’s see if we can find a way to resolve this quickly.

A stat says that as a call center agent, 90% of agents think they are confident enough and able to handle situations with emotional intelligence, but in reality, only 10%-15% of agents are able to implement this.  

Problem-Solving and Critical Thinking

A call center agent needs to have problem-solving skills and critical thinking ability, in one word, needs to be “SMART”. A call handling agent often faces complex cases, so it’s important to build the ability of someone who can gather information, identify the root cause, analyze the situation, consider the situation, and implement solutions. Let’s take a look at a real example of problem solving.

Situation: An upset customer’s call about his newly bought laptop’s screen was damaged while opening it.

Agent: “I understand how frustrating that must be. Let me know the damage details, and I will help resolve this quickly for you.”

Customer: “The screen is cracked and I need it the day after tomorrow for my trip.”

Agent: “Thank you for letting me know. I can offer an expedited replacement to get it to you before your trip. Would that work?”

Customer: “Okay, that would be great.”

The above case is a problem-solving situation where the agent satisfies the customer in an extemporaneous manner. This is called problem-solving and fast thinking of a call handling agent.

Product and Service Knowledge

When a custom call you for queries of any product you as a call handling agent must know product details or if it is a service then service knowledge because, wherever a potential customer does not get proper answer depth information from a call center service, they usually move to a competitor of your company so it becomes huge loss for your company. 

Train yourself as an expert on product or service knowledge, with other qualities as well. It will bring customer satisfaction, your career improvement, and your company will grow along with it. 

Practical Techniques for Managing Calls

There are some breakdowns of managing calls as a call center agent, like being prepared, setting a tone, and ending phrases etc. Let’s take a detailed look at those techniques in the section below.

Answering the Call 

At the very beginning of the call, you need to prepare  a few things like:

• Prepare yourself:  Before making a call as an agent, taking preparation is important for a successful result. This includes researching the client, defining call objectives, and finding potential objections. An organized or better-structured call with a clear purpose, along with understanding the client’s needs and pain points, will improve the chances of a positive interaction.
• Extempore response:  answering your customer in a smart way is essential because not all customer will ask you easy question some customers are complex and tricky deliberately ask you difficult thing, right then you may ask for a little space then go through your companies modality or ask your team leader/senior in smart way so the customer does not gets bored. Sometimes, answering using general knowledge or improvising with accurate information, your promptness is important.
• Warm greetings:  starting with a warm greeting like, “Good morning/afternoon/evening, welcome to Company XYZ. How can I make your experience great today?”. And your greeting must be very smooth, as it needs to make your customer feel that you are eager to help them.
• Set the tone: voice matters a lot in the call handling industry. If you greet a customer with a lower and irritated tone of voice, the customer will not feel comfortable, and your chances of satisfying them will decrease significantly. So, maintaining an empathetic voice and smoothness matter a lot.

To sum up this particular topic, better call answering improves the customer experience and also retains customers.

During the Call

This phase refers to a few techniques that are going to help during the call handling session.

• Attentive listening:  Active listening or attentive listening requires focus on what customers are trying to explain and use, smiling, nodding, and verbal affirmations like “Oh, I see,” “I understand,” or “Let me clarify” to show engagement and understanding. 
• Clarify and confirm: clarification and confirmation on customers’ statements is essential, so ask open-ended questions like “Can you tell me more about that?” or “How did that happen?” to encourage the caller to elaborate and ensure you are fully understanding their perspective.
• Stay focused:  to stay focused on a call, you need to maintain some technique and, more importantly, avoid things like : 
  • Back-to-back call with no mental reset time
  • Pressure to complete the target
  • Background noise
  • Personal depression or thoughts

Avoiding these things helps you to stay focused during the call to devote yourself to the customer completely.

• Use required tools and modality: as a call handling agent, using CRM is essential, because all the customer details you require can be found in the CRM, and the dialer is also as important as the CRM. Some companies have their modality sites, script books (in case you forget or need any information about the service or product, then you look for the documentation book or site), or a cold calling script to boost agents’ ability to handle calls. There are more tools to use to provide call center service; using them will increase your efficiency for sure.

Closing the Call

Closing calls with a catchy sentence can help your customer keep a good impression of you, if you make sure to have a smooth ending with the customer. Make sure things are done before closing. 

• Brief recap: Before closing, you have plenty of things to implement. First, briefly recap the issue raised by the unhappy customer or the main point to the customer.
• Confirmation: probe the customer to know if they agree with the brief, and make sure there are no misunderstandings. Example: “Does that sound right to you?”
• Offer assistance: Make sure the caller has no further questions or concerns before ending the call.example: “Is there anything else I can help you with today?”
• Additional concerns: Sometimes, callers remember something they wanted to ask at the end. Be patient and allow for those moments to unfold.
• Set expectations for next: If there are any follow-up steps like sending an email, making another call, confirm when they will happen. Example: “I will send you the details by tomorrow afternoon.”
• Confirm schedule: Give clear timelines for when the caller can expect the next call. Example, “I will get back to you within 24 hours.” Make sure the customer has had no bad experience with you earlier.
• Appreciate the customer: Say thank you to the customer and express gratitude for their time and for choosing to speak with your company. Example: “Thank you for your time and patience.”
• End on a positive note: end the conversation with the customer with a friendly tone, such as, “It was a nice conversation with you, wish you a good day.” Your tone is important because a bad customer experience can be harmful to your company and career.
• Provide contact information: If the caller requires additional help, provide relevant contact details. Example: “Feel free to reach out to us at [email/phone number] if you need anything else.”
• Use a warm closing: at the very last moment, close the call with a smooth transitioning sentence like “I appreciate you reaching out, please don’t hesitate to call again if you have any further questions.”

Bad customer service can ruin a company’s reputation because bad things spread like fire. It’s your responsibility to talk in positive language to provide exceptional customer service

Documentation

Call documentation involves recording important details, such as the call date, time, customer information, and the issue discussed. Document that information to resolve the problem and the outcome of the call. 

Write customer feedback, extra requests, and any necessary follow-up actions. It is also important to maintain related documents, such as risk and change management plans. Regularly collect reviews from the call quality assurance team of your call center to assess your performance and ensure  quality of your service. 

Creating a knowledge base enables you to solve problems more efficiently, while self-service options reduce call volume. Continuous analysis of call data and customer feedback helps improve service and efficiency, allowing you to handle more tasks effectively.

Handling Challenging Call Situations

This phase is most important for any agent who works in a call handling center, because handling challenging call situations proves your ability and experience. Let’s deep dive into it.

Dealing with Upset or Angry Callers

Some customers are inherently aggressive, and some are charged due to facing problems. Let’s learn how to deal with them.

• Stay Calm and Listen: an emotionally charged customer will speak louder with you on the first attempt, for most of the time, at that moment, stay calm and listen to them, but don’t react. When they finish, you can start because if you also start saying something, interrupting the customer, then they will get mad at you eventually. So, stay calm and listen to the customer first.
• Use a soothing Tone: using a soft voice can mitigate customer anger, so use a clear and soft tone, even if the customer keeps throwing anger towards you. 
• Say sorry and Offer Solutions:  when you make mistakes or defects from your company side, it’s essential to say sorry and something relatable that works in the same way as the customer’s requirements. This can help you a lot to handle situations, but remember not to offer something that is irrelevant or off topic, as it may bring difficulties to you.
• Set Boundaries if Needed: Some customers might become abusive, right at the moment, set a limit to keep the conversation respectful.

Managing Talkative or Off-Topic Callers

Sometimes, talkative customers will please you with their interesting stories about their daily life, which can impact your call duration, so you need to be careful about this.

Turn back to the conversation: as a call handling agent, you can’t directly force a customer to stop their explanation, so keep in mind to give them a limited time to speak whenever you have a chance to speak, appreciate their stories, and redirect to the issue. Example: “Thank you sir for this interesting story, let’s get back to the issue …..” 

Be patient: don’t lose patience while your customer is talking actively or making you listen to off-topic stories or their daily life incidents. 

Set a time limit:  politely tell the customer that you have limited time to finish the call and request in a convincing way to drag the customer to the pain point of the call.

Handling Demanding or Impatient Callers

Demanding and impatient customers are usually difficult to handle on the call, but don’t worry, if you follow the techniques below, then it will be easier for you.

• Acknowledge the customer’s urgency: Start by confirming the customer’s opinion and expressing understanding of the customer’s time limitation.
• Be efficient: Provide clear and concise answers. Avoid small talk and focus on resolving the issue quickly.
• Offer alternatives: If the resolution takes time, let them know when they can expect updates or provide options for faster service.

Addressing Technical Difficulties (Caller or System)

Technical problems are important, just like every call. To treat this kind of call in a special way, one needs to have product or service knowledge in a sufficient amount and promptness as well.

• Keep patient and confirm again: sometimes tech issues can be frustrating. Keep a calm, soothing tone of voice to help and make the situation easier.
• Troubleshoot: Carefully guide the caller through basic troubleshooting steps, offering clear instructions to solve their problems. If the customer is not used to technology, be patient and guide them without showing negative reactions.
• Escalate: If the issue cannot be resolved immediately, explain the next steps and escalate the matter to the person assigned to assist.

Handling these situations effectively involves listening, empathy, and clear communication while keeping a calm, professional behaviour.

How to Ensure Continuous Improvement in Call Handling Skills

Continuous improvement in call handling is essential because call center agents represent a company. Any mistake you make is a mistake of your company to the customers.

Seek feedback from supervisors and colleagues: always try to collect feedback from your team leader, supervisor, or colleague because feedback is a key element to finding your own mistakes and correcting them accordingly.

Engage in ongoing training and development: if there is any training session or development session going on in your company or outside of it, join it for self-improvement..

Analyze call recordings: find your own call recording or collect from the respective person to hear them out and laugh at your own mistakes. But assure the recovery, and you won’t make it happen anymore.

Self-Assessment and practice: Regularly practicing is the key to everything. Self-assessment, feedback, and practice can exponentially improve your call handling ability.

If you follow the above techniques, it will be very easy to become an expert in the call handling of your company.

Conclusion

Call handling skills are not rocket science; you just need to concentrate on the issues you are supposed to improve, that’s all. Regularly practicing and finding your own mistakes can bring easy solutions to your call handling skills. 

To be the expert on call answering service or call handling industry, just follow the above explanation solely, and be your dream character in the marketplace. Thank you for being a reading companion in this entire session, and also, wishing you a happy journey. 

FAQ

What are the 7 P’s of call handling?

Prepare, present, polite, patient, personable, professional, proactive.

How can I be a good call handler?

Focus on clear and effective communication, active listening, empathy, and problem-solving skills. Maintain a positive attitude, respect the caller’s time, and be organized.

How can I improve my call handling time?

Focus on streamlining processes, providing agents with the right tools and training, and proactively addressing customer needs.