If like me you have to deal with foreign call centres on a regular basis, I am sure you have often concluded that the company does not care about you, this is just to make more money, and no one seems able to or want to help you.

Unfortunately, in all too many cases you would be correct.

The call centre environment is now plagued by a cost cutting culture that is destroying our levels of confidence and satisfaction. It is quite clear that in times of recession companies need and must give added value to their customers. The perception however is very different.

My company has been hired on a few occasions to train and develop call centre staff abroad. It has been an interesting challenge. One must first understand the enormous difference in culture, employment conditions and law and most importantly the desire or lack of it on management’s part to make a change for the better.

I have found that in too many cases the only concern is “how can we get the customer off the phone as quick as possible so we can meet targets” “why are our people not taking more calls”

There is little or no attempt to make the staff understand the needs and wants of the customer. The staff are driven to work in spite of their managers rather than be inspired.

There is limited training, the staff must stick to a robotic script and as I am sure many of you have recognised that if you ask to speak to a manager you will probably be hung up on.

I appreciate that call centre and customer service staff should be trained to control the call and establish a “first call resolution”, however there is no question that a lack of clear articulation from the staff is lacking .There is little or no attempt made to listen to the customer and everything is done via “the screen.”

A perfect example of this happened the other day to me. I needed to add my son in law to my car insurance as he was borrowing my car for the weekend. I phoned a well-known insurance company who have there centre in Mumbai and was dealt with very slowly by a young man called “jack” (pathetic) who after 20 minutes finally understood what I wanted. I did not want to change the policy; I did not want him on the policy as a named driver I just wanted to add him for the weekend. This eventually was done I went through the numerous security questions (why not just use a password) and then was told £15.00 would be added to my direct debit. Great you might think, frustrating, slow, and annoying that it took so long but it was done. If only.

The following day I realised that, my daughter needed the car not my son in law. I phoned back and not wanting aggravation decided just to add my daughter for the weekend and not replace my son in law with her. Although this would cost me an extra £15.00 I felt it was not worth the trouble.  When I phoned I was asked my address post code etc and was told you do not have a policy at the address you have given I said well what address have you got. I was told, “We can’t tell you under data protection. ONE HOUR later I found out after being hung up on twice that the person who dealt with me the day before had keyed in the wrong address I got a vague apology and a promise of a call ( after they had listened to the tape) I am still waiting. My policy is up for renewal next week. Guess what? I will give my business to someone else.

The point I am making is that the call centres are poorly trained do not care about the customer and will continue to take new customers at the front end and churn them out at the back end.

SOLUTION

It is simple do not close them down but the companies have a decision to make. Do I only care about reducing overhead or do I want to provide exceptional levels of customer care.

We have to start from scratch. All foreign call centres can be trained to deliver the levels of service we receive from some of our home based call centres but there has to be a willingness from senior management and bean counters to change.

Training must be provided from day one in customer care listening skills and the use of a structure rather than a robotic script. It would also help if when an operator did not know an answer he or she would admit it and deal with it rather than going silent and frustrating the only person that matters THE CUSTOMER. It is vital that the culture is changed so the customers experience and perception of foreign call centres changes for the better

If the perception is that they do not care and deliver bad service then the people at the very top of these companies must take responsibility and deal with it. At present they are building a wave of resentment that will come back to haunt them. The cost of quality training should be seen as an investment. There is no value in someone being trained to deal with English people if they have no understanding of the culture and the expectations of their customer base.

In conclusion of course profit matters, however we must all look to be better at what we deliver and there is no doubt that the present customer experience is poor and will only be improved by constant training and working with the staff rather than just looking at the “kpi’s” and ignoring the one key indicator for future sustainable growth the customer.