Active Listening Skills for Call Center Agents

Effective Customer Communication Takes Patience and Empathy

Working in a busy call center is a demanding job that also requires the important skill of active listening.

A common mistake made by call center agents is to not listen properly to customers. This problem has many causes. Employees are often under pressure. It can be difficult to listen calmly while working in a demanding and complex environment.

Overcoming Corporate Jargon

Another cause of poor listening skills is the use of corporate language. Large corporations have their own culture and vocabulary. Employees use a day-to-day language heavy with acronyms, business jargon and the snappy, abbreviated wording of emails.
Commonly used words can also find their meaning altered. A customer ‘solution,’ for example, may mean the sale of a financial product. Or a call center agent may be asked to take ‘ownership’ of a call. Even jokes tend to lend themselves to a specific workplace culture.

Thinking Outside the Corporate Box

This can be perfectly acceptable when dealing with fellow employees. However, when dealing with outside customers it can be easy to forget that they do not understand internal corporate jargon. While the call center agent may pride themselves on their communication skills, it can be too easy to forget how language may affect thinking in a work environment.
If a customer calls and says they have a mistake on their statement, the agent’s brain may be mapped out entirely according to the company’s policies and procedures manual. The call center brain may have difficulty dealing with anything that happens outside of this framework.

An Example of a Failure to Listen

For example, a customer calls and says a change of address request has been faxed in but not actioned. The agent maintains it can't have been faxed, as all those requests are done on Monday according to company policy. In the agent’s mind, they think they know exactly what the problem is. The customer must have made a mistake, as the company’s policies and procedures are written in stone.

This causes the agent to fail to listen to the customer. After the customer has repeatedly complained that the fax has been sent, the agent reluctantly agrees to check the relevant department. It transpires that there has been no action taken. A computer malfunction means a whole batch of changed addresses failed to update. An email notifying everyone is soon to be sent out.
In this situation if the agent had listened first and kept an open mind, the problem would have been resolved quicker, saving both the company and customer time. Instead the agent could not take the complaint seriously, and presumed the customer was in error.

Anticipate the Customer’s Problem

This is a simple example. Errors in a work environment, however, can be complex and multifaceted. To anticipate a customer’s problem and address it effectively requires standing in their shoes. If they say something unlikely has happened on their account, no matter how outlandish, accept what they say and check the details.

Tips to Improve Listening Skills

Following are some tips to remember when listening to a customer.

• Try to see things from the customer’s perspective. They are calling from outside the business and may not have the words ready to describe what they mean. For example, a debit on an account to a call center agent may be a purchase to a customer.
• Remember that all businesses make mistakes. If a customer calls with an unusual complaint that seems unlikely, always give them the benefit of the doubt.
• Assist the customer when they can’t find the right words to describe what they mean.
• Never assume that the customer will be able to read their statement or receipt the way the business does. Customers frequently struggle to find the balance, statement period, and even purchase listing on their statements. Statements for financial products or services can be complex. The call center agent will be familiar with reading them in detail, the customer won’t be.

Effective listening in a call center environment calls for patience and an open mind. It also calls for imagination and empathy as customers struggle to convey sometimes complex problems in a language they are not used to.