Nell Sanderson and Alana Lowe sat down to discuss how to lead a team during a pandemic and the importance of having a well-designed voice telephony system in place.
Alana has worked in the contact centre industry for nearly 20 years and is an expert on communicating with callers to provide an excellent customer service experience. She has worked for large call centres including Telstra, The Royal Bank of Scotland, and QSuper.
When office staff were asked to work from home and call centres offshore had to close, businesses everywhere had to determine the most efficient way to keep operations running. During these challenging times, Alana shared what it takes to be a good leader. “Good leadership should be recognised regardless of the industry but in the contact centre industry you do have to lead and support a large team.” This includes:
- Making and implementing many quick decisions on the fly
- Supporting frontline leaders in how they communicate with their teams
- Provide a roadmap to direct staff and customers during these changing times.
Setting up staff from home is not only challenging but evolving day by day. Alana explains “previously, many businesses would have been weary of setting up hundreds of employees from home because:
- They were not able to test out the capability of technology
- There was risk of unproductivity when employees are left alone with their computers
- Unstable Wi-Fi connection
- Lack of equipment such as headsets”
Now, call centre staff could be primarily working from home due to the success of businesses taking that dive. However, this also means leaders will have to change their leadership style – how you communicate and create a work culture for a team that’s working from home.
Alana stresses on the importance of voice telephony in the overall communication of the contact centre industry. “A business without a good IVR system in place will leave callers feeling frustrated and upset after pressing more than the necessary buttons to speak to the consultant.” Alana recommends:
- Utilising call back options to hold their place in the queue
- Redirecting callers to self-help options: Letting them know they can email, visit the website for more information or chat with a virtual assistant.
- Setting realistic expectations: Let your callers know how long they will be waiting on hold.
Watch the interview here:
Follow Alana on LinkedIn here to find out more about her leadership coaching and contact centre expertise.
If you’d like to improve your caller’s experience, contact us and get started on your scripting today.
