Think back to a time when an agent was able to problem-solve for you so effectively that you came out of that situation with gratitude.
Traditionally seen as a soft skill, compassion has become a necessity for improving the customer experience. The ability to reflect compassion is the ultimate facilitator of trust-building with your customers.
For a brand to succeed, this feeling of empathy must be interwoven within the company culture. When you fail to do so, you may not only lose customer loyalty but may also create a sense of apathy in the workplace, resulting in great talent-seeking opportunities elsewhere.
The current environment is marked by an absence of trust, causing relationship-building to stall. A lack of empathy among employees and management can be seen as off-putting by customers, especially when interacting with your call center staff.
How are some brands successfully instilling empathy into their culture?
We’ve discovered that employees need to live and breathe in an empathetic environment. This will ultimately help them deliver a higher level of service to customers during a time when trust is at an all-time low. Creating visible moments of vulnerability within an organization creates stronger bonds among team members, which results in exceptional customer service.
Top-performing managers take the time to develop an emotional connection with call center reps to understand what they are going through outside of work. This compassionate connection changes the thought process of your team from ‘How can I solve a customer problem?’ to ‘How can I make a significant difference in someone’s day?’
This notion of corporate culture vulnerability doesn’t happen by accident. When fostered correctly by an executive team, it trickles down throughout an organization and in turn, helps call center reps have more meaningful conversations.
The development of strong, trusted bonds with customers can be achieved with empathy training. Implementing these training sessions makes it immediately evident to your customers that you value an empathetic culture. The right tools can give an agent the support to help a frustrated customer and guide the conversation to a successful resolution. To infuse a sense of vulnerability into these conversations, call center reps need to practice various scenarios with their managers.
Final Thoughts
To truly embed empathy throughout a company culture, it must start at the top. This mindset will not only create a better working environment but prevent employees from sounding robotic and relying on pre-written scripts. Empathy training teaches employees how to connect with customers on a deeper level and trains them to be better problem solvers.