Guest Post: Agents Are the Answer: Empower Your Workforce to Improve Customer Experience and Reduce Attrition

This week we feature an article by Cassidy McDonnell, Creative Solutions Manager at Balto Software, a company that helps agents live on the call to analyze what’s working and scale best practices in real-time. She shares how organizations can improve employee engagement and customer satisfaction.

It’s time to call the customer service line: you dial a number, click through the pre-recorded options, and find yourself humming along to the surprisingly pleasant hold music when, before you know it, your ears are met with a pleasant voice saying: “Hello, how can I help you today?” 

When your problem is quickly resolved, and you hang up the phone, you can’t help but wonder: why don’t all of my customer service calls go like that?

In 2022, the Conversation Excellence Lab at Balto had the same question and discovered what makes contact center employees feel fulfilled, successful, and effective in their roles.  

In their recent survey of over 560 agents, they found that agents who stray from their prescribed call scripts are happier in their jobs overall. A deeper dive into this finding reveals that agents most often deviate from their scripts because they want to improvise based on the customer’s needs. Because they know what is required to complete a successful call, they can treat their call script as a roadmap of suggestions rather than a list of requirements to repeat verbatim. 

Agents are the people most familiar with common customer concerns. When they improvise on a call, it is because they understand the situation’s fundamentals and have the confidence and knowledge to lead the conversation independently. If these agents are completing calls successfully when improvising, it is worthwhile for managers to not only encourage this behavior but to listen to what these agents are saying and consult them when creating scripts. 

Our analysis found that agents who are involved in writing their scripts are more likely to stick to them, less likely to want to change them, and more interested in continuing to be a part of the script writing process. When we asked agents to score their involvement in script writing on a scale of 1-5,  agents who reported the lowest involvement (2.19) were the most likely to want to change everything about their script, whereas those with the highest rate of involvement (3.53) reported wanting to change nothing at all. Those with the opportunity to share their expertise become more invested in their work and benefit their coworkers with the content and experience they bring to the table. 

Additionally, we found that although remote agents use their scripts more than in-person or hybrid agents — likely because they can’t overhear new best practices from coworkers — they are less likely to believe that these scripts are effective and less happy as a group overall. They have less modeling for improvisation and are less involved in the script-writing process. Involving your agents in script writing, whether they are in person or remote, improves their confidence and buy-in. In turn, those with a greater sense of ownership over their script are more likely to trust it. 

Scripts are helpful and necessary for agents, especially when they are starting out in their careers. Additionally, for those in compliance-heavy industries like collections and insurance, specific language may be crucial to the success of the call, meaning not every part of the talk track can be improvised. However, especially as agents become more knowledgeable and confident in their roles, they are actually happier and more satisfied when they have the freedom to deviate from the script to meet a customer’s specific needs. 

Treating scripts as guideposts empowers agents to use their own voices and when they are experienced enough to do so, contribute their own content to the scripts driving their conversations. This practice encourages agents to engage more thoroughly with their work, leading to higher employee satisfaction and retention. Additionally, including agents in the script writing process can help improve the overall script content and promote trust and positive relationships between front-line workers and managers. 

Take some time to listen to what your agents are saying when they deviate from the script. Do they address concerns the script doesn’t touch on? Do they interact with the customers in a personable and effective manner? Be open to improvisation, encourage agents when they successfully go off script and consult your employees for script revisions and updates to improve both employee engagement and customer satisfaction across your organization. 

Cassidy McDonnell is the Creative Solutions Manager at Balto. She has a passion for Artificial Intelligence, people, and technology.

For more articles from Shep Hyken and his guest contributors go to customerserviceblog.com.

Read Shep’s latest Forbes article: Creating An Amazing Customer Experience On A Budget