Communication Challenges & Strategies of Call Center Executives in Bangladesh

BUS 251: Business Communication

Prepared for: Mr. Khandoker Asef Safa Kabir
Lecturer
School of Business and Economics

Prepared by:

Name | ID# | Mahtab Hossain Khan | 1321135630 | Abhi Barua | 1410305630 | Rezwanul Islam | 1320502030 | Md Adeel Anjum | 1321311630 | Mohammed Ahsan ul Haque | 1320379030 |

Section: 10
Summer 2016
North South University

Acknowledgement

First of all, we want to thank Almighty God to give us strength to work hard for preparing this report. The report is not only of our own hard works. There are many people who helped us a lot making this thing possible. Special thanks goes to Mr. Khandoker Asef Safa Kabir; without his co-operation and proper guideline, this report couldn’t become complete. We sincerely thank him for his tremendous support. A thanks goes to our course mates, family members, friends and relatives. Their unconditional support inspired us to go beyond our limit and to give our best preparing this report. Last but not the least, we thank those kind people who spent some of their precious time for participating our interview. Their co-operation helped us a lot to conduct the research and made our job very much comfortable.
We sincerely thank these people and wish them all the very best.

Letter of Transmittal

July 30, 2016

Khandoker Asef Safa Kabir
Lecturer, School of Business and Economics
North South University
Dhaka, Bangladesh

Dear Mr. Khandoker Asef Safa Kabir,
As you commissioned the research report on “Communication Challenges and Strategies of Call Center Executives in Bangladesh” on 27 June 2016, we are submitting the attached report.
The purpose of the report is finding out the problems call center executives face to provide with services to customers and the strategies they follow to overcome challenges. The report contains research background, literature reviewed, research methodology, findings of research, limitations and recommendation for future research thoroughly discussed.
We hope you find this report satisfactory.
Sincerely yours,

_________ ______________ ____________ __________________ Abhi Barua Md Adeel Anjum Rezwanul Islam Mahtab Hossain Khan __________________________ Mohammed Ahsan ul Haque

Table of Contents Brief Introduction of the Topic 1 Outbound Telemarketing Services 1 Inbound Call Center Services 1 Why it is significant in the context of Business Communication? 2 Key Objectives of the Research 4 Literature Review 5 Types of Literature Reviewed 5 Findings Obtained from Literature Review 6 Methods used for research 8 Data Collection 8 1. Primary Source 8 2. Secondary Source 8 Data Analysis 8 Rationale 9 Findings from data analysis 10 Starting the Conversation 10 Major Problems While Communicating with Customers 10 Overcoming the Problems 10 Resolving Misunderstandings with Customer 11 Communication Measures if Unable to Solve Customer’s Problem 11 Reactions to Offensive Behavior or Slangs 12 Communication Technique when a Customer Does Not Understand the Solution Due to Lack of Technical Knowledge 12 Communication Training for the Job 12 Building Goodwill for the Company 13 Ideas for Improving the Communication with Customers 13 Indications from the Findings 13 Other Relevant Issues 14 Creating Customer-friendly Experience 14 Limitations of Report 14 Recommendation for Future Research 15 Conclusion 15 References 16 Appendix 17

Brief Introduction of the Topic

The call center industry in Bangladesh was worth around $12 billion in 2013, of which 50 percent was accounted for by the country's domestic market. In 2013, national mobile operators Airtel and Citycell outsourced their call centers to local companies. Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) eased the licensing process for call centers in 2013.
A call center "village" was planned in 2009. As of 2013, around 70 call centers were in operation in Bangladesh. Bangladesh exports its call center services to countries including the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. The Bangladesh Association of Call Center & Outsourcing (BACCO) was formed in connection with the industry.
Currently almost 200 call centers are operating in Bangladesh and over 3 million people are served all over the country. Bangladesh is recently becoming developed day by day in web development and call center business. There is close relationship between web and call center.
Outbound Telemarketing Services
Outbound call center services have specialization in Appointment Scheduling, Debt Collection, Lead Generation, Research Surveys and Telecom Industries, Insurance, Telemarketing in Mortgage etc. Outsourcing Call Center Services and have high conversion rates, increased sales, and more contented clients, finally translating to reiterate purchases and faithful client relationships.
Inbound Call Center Services
Inbound Call Center Services provides Call Center Technical support, Answering service, Order Taking service, Help Desk, & Customer Service. Inbound Call Center Services assisting to push clients? Sales and have the most out of marketing dollars. The Customer Service Representatives (CSR) inbound call center always respond to clients, customers or prospects in a timely, polite and professional manner.
Why it is significant in the context of Business Communication?

Nowadays we lots of businesses having call centers or customer care call up line where customers call up for information or seek help regarding any issues they come up with while using a product or a service. Therefore, businesses need a sound communication system while communicating with their customers over the phone. Not all customers are same and henceforth, different types of customers need different types approach while communicating. While interviewing different clients from different sectors of call centers, we came to know that the ones who are handling these customers need to mold themselves according to the ones they are dealing with.
In this ever-changing world of business, people need to be as fast as possible to cope up with the speed of change and come up with innovative ways to stay in the playing field. As a result, call center executives face many challenges;

* Our Agents Sound Disconnected and Rarely Build Rapport with Clients - This is the most common Challenge we find in our work with service centers. Agents sound like they are merely going through the motions when they greet the client, making no effort to seem happy the client called or eager to help. Clients pick up on this immediately. Some clients even say, “How are you doing today?” Too many of these agents will only offer a weak “Fine,” or “Okay,” back to the client. I have actually heard some agents say, “(sigh) well, not so well”. You can bet clients are not very happy the routing system dropped them in this agent’s cube. * Too Many Angry Clients Exhaust the Agents Every Day - Too many irate callers each day. Typically, “too many” occurs at about 30% of all calls received. By the end of their work day, agents feel beaten down, frustrated and angry. They are angry at callers for being so rude and inconsiderate. They are angry at the company for not doing enough to bring them relief. * We Give Away Too Much when Clients are upset - Agents are giving away far too many credit dollars because clients are upset. Credit dollars come in the forms of free months of service, refunds, reductions in a bill, or even upgrading clients to higher end products/services for free. Although we are all for giving credits when they make sense, doing this too frequently can drastically reduce overall profit margin. It also trains clients to call in, pretend to be upset, and try getting a credit any time a small problem occurs. * Every Call Sounds Completely Different – No Consistency and, therefore, No Quality - At a time when a quality customer contact is more critical than ever, your agents all handle calls differently. If you were to tap into twenty phone calls, you would hear twenty very different ways agents are responding to your clients. This becomes a quality problem because supervisors cannot manage to a specific expectation. You either have to be masters of hiring the very best people or your customer satisfaction will decrease, little by little, every month.
Want to be a good manager for call center? It’s a grueling work but the rewards are great. Here are some ways to better call center management. * CAPITAL - If you are a businessman and want to diversify your portfolio by putting up a call center, please know that such business venture requires a significant startup capital. Study your options well and take stock of your funds before engaging in such costly endeavor. If possible, do some appropriate researches. Drop by and arrange interviews with call center owners. Leave no stone unturned. * EQUIPMENT - A call center basically needs, office space, phone lines, computers, dedicated servers, and a broadband connection. It also needs specialized software. These costs money. Anyway, equipment can be tailored to the growing needs of your proposed call center. You can start up with a small office space; invest in four computers or so, some telephone lines and equipment. Just remember to get reliable equipment or your call center will suffer an early demise. Then you can upgrade these devices as the need arises.

* PERSONNEL - Call centers requires staffing. And staffing means hiring people to do the job. In other words, call center rely heavily on people manning their jobs. It’s the backbone of the call center industry. It’s labor-intensive. A large chunk of your investment will go to wages. In addition, remember to give the right training to your call center agents. Your personnel can spell the difference between success and failure of your call center. * LEADERSHIP - To supervise effectively a team of employees in a call center, you must provide the right leadership to them. You see, being a call center agent is a demanding job. Employees get tired easily. For a start, you should design your office space so would be conducive for workers. Plus, you should build rapport and goodwill between you and your call center agents. Tempers can run high in any given moment and as a manager, you should be knowledgeable enough how to diffuse such situation before it could escalate into a big scenario. Keep your cool. And always strive to talk softly, amiably, but firmly so you will be respected. Otherwise, you will get a high turnover volume that could drastically affect your investment. * MONITORING - If you can, select top-notch, high-end call center software because it incorporates an excellent employee monitoring features. Pick the best. You can make a choice because there are many of them in the market. Again, this type of software costs money. The good thing is, it offers you monitoring tools and real time access to call center agent’s conversations with their customers. Thus, you can track their performance as well as institute needed improvement in weak areas.
Key Objectives of the Research

The main objective of this research was to find out how each of the sectors of call centers handle their ways of communication and how they solve the problems when they are faced with issues from different people holding different point of views. Every work has some special objective. The main topic of this report “Business of Call Center in Bangladesh” is to fulfill the academic requirement of the BBA programmed. But it is not only the objective of the study report. The following are the other objective of the title of the report paper,
• To analyze the actual meaning of Call center.
• To analyze Importance of Call center in Bangladesh.
• To analyze Advantage and Disadvantage of call Center in Bangladesh.
• To analyze Opportunities of Call Center.
• To analyze Benefit of call Center in Bangladesh.
Literature Review
Call center is one of the best means used for today’s business to provide with solutions and information to customers. Companies all around the globe, such as banks, telecoms, electronic products, internet service providers, all have call center services for ensuring 24/7 customer service. However, communication with customers can be tricky sometimes for these call centers. There are some factors that can make communication with customers challenging. Many researchers and experts have discussed about these factors and strategies that can help call centers to overcome these communication challenges.
Types of Literature Reviewed

In order to know more about communication challenges and strategies of call centers, a deep study of literature on this topic was required. Fortunately, there was enough literature on this topic all over the internet. Here we reviewed an article published on a website named “Ameyo” where the writers discussed about four most familiar call center problems that must be avoided. We have also reviewed another article written by Kevin McMahon where president of West Interactive Skip Hanson discussed about various challenges a call center faces in daily operation. There is another article where writer Nick Applegarth discussed how call center employees can improve communication with customers. We also reviewed an article entitled “Five Telephone Communication Skill Tips for Customer Service” written by a college student named Laura McConney. These literatures helped us a lot to know about various communication challenges that call centers around the world face and also about strategies that can be helpful to solve the problems.
Findings Obtained from Literature Review

Though all these above-mentioned articles have been written by foreign experts, they are very much relatable to our country’s context as communication challenges are more or less similar everywhere around the world. One of the biggest challenges that has been found from literature review is language barrier between customer and agent of the call center. Ameyo team (2015) stated, “Often customers will have to communicate with agents who cannot speak good English. Or even if they do, it might be difficult to understand because of their accent.” Language is the way of communication between customers and agents. If both parties cannot understand each other properly, the purpose of call center does not serve. To eradicate this problem, they have suggested call centers to hire employees only with language proficiency and also to take their accents in consideration.
Repetition of information is another problem that has been discussed in the article. Sometimes customer’s call gets transferred to another agent for further assistance; in this case, customer has to repeat his problem to the new agent. This causes loss of time and energy of both customer and agents. This is why it is considered as another big communication challenge for call center.
The article also suggests few qualities an agent must have to communicate well with customers. As a good communicator, an agent should be fluent in language as well as a good listener. Moreover, agent should possess pleasing personality, friendly tone of voice and helping mentality.
In another article write has discussed about some advises that may help a call center overcome this challenges. Skip Hanson suggests to be ascertain of customer requirements. McMahon (2015) quoted Hanson, "A transformed contact center has the ‘right’ mix of customer engagement for its business.” An agent cannot help a customer with his/her problem as long as he/she does not under it properly. So it is very important to have clear idea of customer’s requirement to be a successful communicator in call center.
Another article writer Nick Applegarth suggests call center to create an effortless experience. Applegarth (2015) said, “Put yourself in your customer’s shoes. The customer may start off online but they can’t find what they’re looking for, so they start a chat or simply phone in to the contact center.” Customers ask for call center’s assistance when they face any problem or need information regarding product or service. Call center should create comfortable experience for customers so that they do not feel frustrated or embarrassed while receiving assistance.
Laura McConney mentioned five tips that can significantly improve one’s communication skill over phone to deliver better customer service. These five tips are – adopt a positive tone, clear enunciation, be sincere, use the name and leave the customer satisfied.
“Projecting an enthusiastic, natural, and attentive tone while on the phone can help a customer feel comfortable during a conversation.” (Laura McConney, n.d.). The writer gives emphasize on creating a positive tone to initiate good communication with customers.
Enunciation – speaking clearly is also important for communicating over phone. This greatly helps eradicating communication gap between customers and agents.
Avoiding artificiality and being sincere also helps communicating over phone. McConney said, “Starting with the greeting, conversations over the phone must be sincere. Say hello and be genuine. Try to avoid scripted greetings as most sound artificial and inauthentic.” McConney also said, “Answering a customer’s questions with sincerity and positivity will not only satisfy them by the end of the conversation but will also help calm an angry caller.”
McConney also suggests using customer’s name during conversation, though in Bangladesh’s context, it does not seem very much appropriate.
McConney also emphasized on leaving the customer satisfied. The writer said, “Finishing a conversation in a positive manner can transform what may have started as an angry phone call to a pleasant experience for the customer.”
We reviewed multiple literatures over the internet to collect expert’s and other researcher’s views, suggestions and opinions on this topic. To sum up, the literatures we reviewed were quite helpful for us conducting the rest of the research.
Methods used for research
Data Collection

In our report we collected data from various sources. We categorized the sources of required data and information into two groups.
1. Primary Source

The primary source of our research was oral interview. We conducted interview of four employees from four different organizations who are engaged in similar kind of job. First we designed a questionnaire with some specific questions and then we conducted oral interview of those employees working in call centers in different telecommunication operators.
2. Secondary Source

For related information of our research we also used secondary resource. We collected required and relative information from secondary sources that consists of: * Journals * Newspapers * E books. * Websites from internet
Data Analysis

The purpose of your research was to find how the executives of call center communicate with their consumers, what are their challenges and strategy they use to overcome those challenges. To find our required information we designed a questionnaire focusing on the real world situations of the call centers. We asked several questions like ‘How they communicate with customers over phone’, ‘how they behave when customers are dissatisfied or angry’ and many more like this. We found almost similar answers from all the interviewees. Most of them told us they start a conversation with regular greetings, they try to be friendly and cooperative with their customers over phone, they try to deliver clear massages and how to maintain unexpected situations. They also discussed about their training program where they were taught how to operate a professional communication with customers in various situations. The entire questionnaire was designed to find the real world problem and solutions and interviewee’s similar kind of answers indicates that our questionnaire was well focused on its topic.
Rationale

We were instructed to find the real world situation of professional business communication. To find the real world situation of call center it was best way to gather information from people who are engaged in this sector professionally. Undoubtedly oral interview of call center executives were the best alternative we had to know the real world challenges and solutions of professional business communication. By the interview of four different organization’s employee we could successfully understand how they communicate with their customers, what are the challenges they face during communication, how they handle the situation, what are the professional communication environment in their workplace. We tried to design the questionnaire that would cover the requirements of our purpose of the research and after the interview we could manage to know many things about different real world situations. The information we found from the interview are very necessary to understand how the call center professionals communicate with their customers and handle various situations professionally. Data from the secondary source also provided relative knowledge that helped us to understand a complete picture of a business communication environment. The interview along with the secondary source information was very effective to prepare our findings of the research.
Findings from data analysis
Starting the Conversation

Interviews were conducted to four different organizational employees, all of them more or less provided with the same kind of answers. It was marked that all call centers use the same form of greeting their customers, that is, “Good morning/Good afternoon sir/ma/am”, then they have a different ways to carry-forward the conversation. One executive said they have different approach of greeting for inbound and outbound calls. For inbound call, they usually greet and then say “How can I help you?” and for outbound calls they first need to introduce themselves and then continue with the offer for which they have called.
Major Problems While Communicating with Customers

We found out that all of them had some common problem as well as some different problems relevant to their different fields they were operating. For instance, the common problems are that the customers are arrogant to listen and understand, customers do not have the technical knowledge required for understanding. Some different problems were that the customers were uncomfortable speaking in English, executives have some software or hardware problems for which they cannot operate comfortably, at times customers were unable to define the problems they were facing and executives had some “prank” calls which is just to take advantage that the executive cannot act offensively and prank callers take the advantage of it. Furthermore, it was also marked that customers used to blame the organization for incidents they are not liable for. For example, customers blaming the telecom operator for not providing authentic internet service even though the mistake was that the customer was typing the password wrong.
Overcoming the Problems

The common way of overcoming the problem is to explain the customer again and again and make them understand that whatever the executive is talking about is for the wellbeing of the customer and it would be beneficial for them. Furthermore, if it is a technical problem, then the executives solve the problems by educating the customer about the technical knowledge required and if it’s a personal problem then the executives try to be friendly with customers so that they can define the problem well and the executives can try to solve that. Moreover, if the problem is because the customers do not understand the language, the executives are instructed to use easier words and familiar language. If the problem is something like the customers claim they are overcharged for something, the executives need to explain that how they were not overcharged or they need to explain the billing system.
Resolving Misunderstandings with Customer

The usual way to resolve misunderstandings were that the executives needed to listen thoroughly what the customer was trying to explain and then explain themselves again and again to convince customers not to get them wrong. Furthermore, two of the call centers had instructions to transfer the call to the senior managers. At times, the executives needed to explain the customer about their limited power so that the customer also shows an understanding behavior. There were also issues that the customers were informed wrong about a certain issue by the executives by mistake so the executives called the customer again as soon as possible to protect the organization’s goodwill and avoid customer dissatisfaction.
Communication Measures if Unable to Solve Customer’s Problem

When executives are unable to solve a problem, they have methods for solution depending on what kind of problem the customer has. For instance, if the customer has problem understanding something verbally, executives send them e-mails to allow them read the e-mail again and again and understand the solution. Another way to solve the problem is to transfer the call to senior executives who have more expertise to solve problems. Moreover, there are also times when the executives apologize for not being able to solve the problem and keep the customer’s request to show to the management and get back to the customer later.
Reactions to Offensive Behavior or Slangs

Some executives had instructions that they could never cut the call, instead they were instructed to calm down the customers by reacting more politely and addressing them as sir/ma’am. One of the executives also said that they were instructed to act like they understand the customer’s situation and as they must be frustrated regarding a problem, to make them feel that they are working to get the best solutions available for the customers. Furthermore, if the customers did not calm down or used slangs unnecessarily, some organizations had policies to mention that the call is completely professional and plead the customers to show professional behavior. Even then if the customer continued to burst out on executives, they were instructed to disconnect the call with proper dialogue such as “We will get back to you in a better time for you”.
Communication Technique when a Customer Does Not Understand the Solution Due to Lack of Technical Knowledge

One executive answered that they were supposed to educate the customers about the technical knowledge step by step so that they understand the solution accordingly. One executive also said that they plead customers to give phone to someone who is more familiar to technology and explain the solution to them. Moreover, at times they refer customers to come to their service center for extended help.
Communication Training for the Job

All of the executives surveyed were given a formal training before starting the job, however the duration for the training session varied form organization to organization. The basic skill that was taught according to them was the “communication skills” required for the job. One executive said that he was taught how to react to different questions and answers. The executives were taught how to keep calm, how to respect customers, technical knowledge about the product/service. One executive who worked in an organization that had international customers was given training for developing his accent of speaking English language.
Building Goodwill for the Company

Well the key measure for building goodwill for the company as a call center executive is customer satisfaction about the solution, as according to all of the surveys. More measures to contribute for the goodwill is to have great listening skills, which ultimately results to better replies and builds goodwill. Furthermore, one executive answered that he promotes offers that are beneficial for the customer, which promotes to customer satisfaction and thus, goodwill for the organization. Some organizations does feedback calls to customers which requires the customers to rate the executive in a scale of 10, which also makes the customer feel that the organization cares about them and lead to customer satisfaction and goodwill.
Ideas for Improving the Communication with Customers

The ideas of improving the communication varied from organization to organization. For instance, the employee from the organization that had international clients suggested that communication will improve if the organization hired employees who could speak in the customer’s local language. He said that it will help grow a friendlier environment and would also enhance customer understanding. Another executive said that the organization can train and retrain its employees to aware them about new kind of problems in order to provide more efficient solutions. Furthermore, another executive came up with the idea of talking out of the box such as some friendly conversation not related to the problem, this will make the customer more comfortable and satisfied. The effort to minimize the mistake and lacking in the service was also suggested by an executive.
Indications from the Findings

The surveys indicated many problems faced by the call center executives and the solutions of it. Well, what we found from the survey is that customer satisfaction is the most valuable thing for the call centers. Executives are trained and taught technical knowledge and communication skills by the organization to enhance the understanding of the customer, which will lead to customer satisfaction. Call centers are so concerned about customer satisfaction that some of them do not allow disconnecting the call irrespective of the customer showing an offensive behavior or using slangs because they do not want customers to remain irritated about the call. All of the call centers have a code of conduct, for example, greeting the customers before starting the conversation as an example of courtesy and well behavior to enhance the image of the organization.
We could also assess that organizations also provide much effort in the “backstage” work required for call centers to operate. For instance, it provide its executives with training sessions, it backs them up with enough technology that they can provide solution to the customers in real time. On the other hand, we also could emphasize the problems executives faced due to different kinds of customers. For instance, dealing with both literate and illiterate people, dealing with cross-cultural customers, calling customers at a time when they are not comfortable talking, etc.
Other Relevant Issues

Creating Customer-friendly Experience

While interviewing call center executives, we have found that it is very much necessary to make callers feel comfortable during conversation. That is why, call center employees should put emphasis on creating friendly experience for customers.
Limitations of Report

* Time - In preparing this report time was a constraint because this report had a deadline. We had to complete our work before the deadline. With more time we could have made a more detailed report. * Appointment issue - We cannot just walk in a call center and interview people. We needed to fix an appointment with the call center before we could interview them. * Reference issue - Gaining an appointment and interviewing would have been much easier if we had proper reference. * Confidentiality - Call centers do not want to give information that might put them at risk. They might fear that interviewing their employees might disclose any information that could jeopardize their competitive or technical advantage. * Budget constraint- Taking interviews, travelling to different call centers, making phone calls for fixing appointment all requires funding. Recommendation for Future Research

* More time - Since we had to submit the report before a certain date, we could not interview as much people as we wanted to. So increasing the deadline will solve this problem. * More interviewer - More interviewers could gather a lot more information that would have given us more insights about the call center industry. * Bigger budget - A bigger budget would have allowed us to visit more call center’s thereby interviewing more people.
Conclusion

Call center has become very common for both local and international companies to provide customers with better service. However, providing call center services may become problematic due to some communication challenges. In this research, we have tried to figure out these challenges and discover strategies that call center executives use to overcome the problems. We have worked very hard during our research session and hope that it would help concerned people and future researchers on this topic.
References

Applegrath, N. (2015, May 27). 5 Ways to Improve Your Communications Strategy. Retrieved July 29, 2016, from https://www.callcentrehelper.com/5-ways-to-improve-your-communications-strategy-75956.htm
Business Process Outsourcing (2016). . In Wikipedia. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_process_outsourcing#Benefits_and_limitations
McConney, L. Five Telephone Communication Skill Tips for Customer Service. Retrieved July 29, 2016, from http://www.skillsyouneed.com/rhubarb/customer-service-telephone-skills.html
McMahon, K. (2015, June 27). The Top Challenges Facing Contact Centers. Retrieved July 29, 2016, from https://www.westuc.com/blog/managed-voice-services/top-challenges-facing-contact-centers
Point, A. (2013a, March 6). Report on Market Opportunities of Call Center in Bangladesh. Retrieved July 29, 2016, from Business, http://www.assignmentpoint.com/business/report-on-market-opportunities-of-call-center-in-bangladesh.html
Point, A. (2013b, June 4). Call Center in Bangladesh. Retrieved July 29, 2016, from Organizational Behavior, http://www.assignmentpoint.com/business/organizational-behavior/call-center-in-bangladesh.html team, A. (2015, February 9). 4 Most Familiar Call Center Problems You Must Avoid. Retrieved July 29, 2016, from http://www.ameyo.com/blog/4-most-familiar-call-center-problems-you-must-avoid

Appendix

Research Questionnaire

Topic: How to connect best with customers over phone: Communication challenges and strategies of call center executives in Bangladesh

Question 1: What are the major problems do you face communicating with customers?

Question 2: How do you overcome these problems?

Question 3: What an executive does when s/he is unable to solve a problem?

Question 4: Which language do customers prefer more?

Question 5: What is the behavior (according to rules) of an executive when a customer talks in an offensive manner or use slangs?

Question 6: What is the step taken when a customer don’t understand the solution of a problem due to lack of technical knowledge?

Question 7: How do you think you can improve your communication with customers?

Mahtab Hossain Khan
1321135630

Topic: How to connect best with customers over phone: Communication challenges and strategies of call center executives in Bangladesh

Name of the Participant: Nurdian Khan
Gender: Male
Occupation: BPO Freelancer
Date of the Interview: 24th July 2016
Location of the Interview: Columbus Coffee, Dhanmondi

Interviewer: Thank you so much for meeting on such short notice and making time for this interview.

Interviewee: Glad to help you. Let’s begin.

Interviewer: How do you start the conversation with your customers over phone?

Interviewee: Well different types of calls have different approaches. If it is an outbound call then you start by saying,” Hello I am ABC calling form Company X, We have new offers” and similar conversations. And if is an inbound call and you are representing a company you simply start saying, “Hello sir/madam how can I help you?” and then continue accordingly.

Interviewer: What are the major problems that you face while communicating with customers over phone?

Interviewee: First thing there could be two parts, firstly the technical problems and secondly the support problems. Say for example one is having troubles with certain machinery or any hardware/software problems. Or someone being confused or frustrated after using certain product and are seeking help form professionals.

Interviewer: How do you overcome these problems?

Interviewee: Basically you follow the probing approach. You try to solve as much of the problems as possible and answer as much as you can. If is a technical issue then you solve it with the technical knowledge or handle the customer as per instructions for the organization. And if it’s a personal problem or issue then you clarify the situation by getting to know what is bothering them, in short probe them to know what the main issue is.
Interviewer: Do you ever have misunderstandings while communicating with customers over phone? How do you resolve such misunderstandings?

Interviewee: Yes we do face a lot of misunderstandings while dealing with them over the phone. Sometimes they are not clear about what they want or they are unable to explain what they are looking for. As a result they must be so frustrated that they even do not want to listen what you have to say, hence misunderstandings and miscommunication tales place.
Now resolving them is basic courtesy. Its better you hear them out or what they have to say and then you get onto solving the issues because now you have all the necessary contents required to resolve the misunderstandings

Interviewer: How do you communicate when you are unable to solve a customer’s problem?

Interviewee: When there seem to be no way you are able to solve someone’s problem then the best way is too seek strong backup, that is pass it on to your seniors or the person who is able to solve his exact problem, or if there is no one there to back you up you simply ask your customer for a permission to get back to them after a while.

Interviewer: How do you communicate when a customer talks in an offensive manner or use slangs?

Interviewee: Given the situation that your customer is frustrated and he or she is just bursting out for it and they get it all out on you as you are all they got representing the company. Simply let them finish and let the take it all out then you politely state that you are aware of what he or she is going through and you care to solve the problem and you are trying your best to help him or her out and try giving them the solutions they need.
Then again if the customer is really out bursting for no reason and you feel that it is crossing some boundaries then humbly let them know that it is a professional call and its better that he or she remain abstinent from using such slangs and ask them for a better time to get back to.

Interviewer: How do you communicate when a customer does not understand the solution of a problem due to lack of technical knowledge?

Interviewee: I approach as simply as possible. Have a toddler approach if needed. It is not a “MUST KNOW” situation when it comes to technology and its usage to it is better you let them know the process, without excluding any steps.

Interviewer: Have you received any formal communication training for your job? If yes, what factors did such trainings focus on?

Interviewee: Well I did get a training for a year when I started a call center job, but I haven’t received a certificate. Moreover I read articles, watched YouTube videos and mostly learned from my job regarding customer care.
Well it mainly focuses on basic ideas and necessities to handle a call.

Interviewer: How do you build goodwill for your company?

Interviewee: It all depends on how you are as person and how your approach is when you handle a call. As they all are getting to you so it is better you have a very good profile and an amazing listening skills. If you are polite and they are satisfied, the goodwill goes up, if not goodwill goes down. Interviewer: How do you think you can improve your communication with your customers?

Interviewee: Try to talk out of the box, which is try to create a friendly surroundings while talking to them so that they feel comfortable sharing their side of the story. If you here sound of pets over the phone then try asking them about the pet and show some interest about the pet. If you hear a baby crying then try to know about the baby, its birthday and much more. These will help you to establish a friendly ground for the conversation. And getting to know these will ensure the customer that you care for them and try ending with a best wish and kind regards. I am pretty sure it will improve the communication process.

Interviewer: Thank you so much for interview and sharing your valuable thoughts.

Interviewee: You are welcome and I am glad to be a part of it. Good luck!

Md Adeel Anjum
ID# 1321311630

Topic: How to connect best with customers over phone: Communication challenges and strategies of call center executives in Bangladesh

Name of the Participant: Moiz Iqbal
Gender: Male
Occupation: Businessman
Date of the Interview: 24/07/2016
Location of the Interview: Interviewee’s residence

The interviewee is and ex call centre executive. He worked for around a year in Virgo International in the year 2012.

Interviewer: How do you start the conversation with your customers over phone?

Interviewee: The interviewee answered that at first he used to greet the customer such as “Good morning sir/ma’am”, then representing himself as a Virgo international employee, he used to start the conversation about the service.

Interviewer: What are the major problems that you face while communicating with customers over phone?

Interviewee: The interviewee simply answered that he had problems in communications such as customers didn’t understand or were ignorant to understand, so they had to explain again and again to customers. At times, it was problematic because customers were not very comfortable speaking in English as Virgo International had international clients.

Interviewer: How do you overcome these problems?

Interviewee: The interviewee answered that he had to convince the customer that whatever service they were providing was actually beneficial for them and it would decrease their cost for the service than they were currently paying.

Interviewer: Do you ever have misunderstandings while communicating with customers over phone? How do you resolve such misunderstandings?

Interviewee: The interviewee answered that he used to transfer the call to the senior manager if they had misunderstandings with the customer. Interviewer: How do you communicate when you are unable to solve a customer’s problem?

Interviewee: The interviewer said that he used to explain again and he also said that he was instructed to send e-mails to the customer so they have a better understanding as they can read again and again and understand taking their time.

Interviewer: How do you communicate when a customer talks in an offensive manner or use slangs?

Interviewee: The interviewee was very keen to answer that he was instructed to act more politely and calm the customers down. He also mentioned that they were strictly instructed not to cut the phone.

Interviewer: How do you communicate when a customer does not understand the solution of a problem due to lack of technical knowledge?

Interviewee: He said that he used to explain that the whole thing works on a basis and also educate them as far as they could so that they are able to understand.

Interviewer: Have you received any formal communication training for your job? If yes, what factors did such trainings focus on?

Interviewee: He said that they received a formal training for fifteen days where he was taught the communication skills required to talk. He said that he was taught to react better, his accent for speaking English was developed, etc.

Interviewer: How do you build goodwill for your company?

Interviewee: He said that they focused on customer satisfaction. They were instructed that customer satisfaction was the key term required for the goodwill for the company.

Interviewer: How do you think you can improve your communication with your customers?

Interviewee: The interviewee said that he thinks that the call centre may employ local employees, like employees who know the local language of the target country so that the customers would be explained better.

INTERVIEW EXCERPT
General Introduction
Name of the course instructor: Kh. Asef Safa Kabir.
Course: BUS 251.
Name of the participant: Aminul Haque Razu.
Gender: Male.
Occupation: Junior Apprentice.
Date of the interview: 25/07/2016.
Location of the interview: Bashundhara Residential Area.

Interviewer: Thank you brother for giving me your time for this interview.
Interviewee: You are welcome. Please proceed.
Interviewer: How do you start the conversation with your customer over phone?
Interviewee: I try to start with a good impression and I use regular greetings like ‘Good morning’/ ‘Good evening’ sir /madam. I try to welcome our customers with respect and offer our help gently.
Interviewer: What are the major problems you face while communicating customers over phone?
Interviewee: Yeah in my regular work life there are some problems I face during a communication. The most common problem is some people cannot express their massage clearly; some people don’t understand my massage clearly though I try to avoid complicated words or sentence, some people behave irrationally and they become arrogant and don’t show a gentle behaviour, there are also some phone calls for nothing but funs. Actually those are the prime problems I face during a phone call with customers.
Interviewer: How do you overcome those problems?
Interviewee: When someone fails to say clearly what his problem is I try to be friendly with him. I like to make him comfortable and find out his problem specifically. All I try to understand what he is trying to say. When someone doesn’t understand my message clearly I use easy words and simple sentences. I make jokes; make the other participant friendly so that he can share his problems without any hesitation.
Interviewer: Do you ever have misunderstanding while communicating with customers over phone? How do you resolve such misunderstanding?
Interviewee: Yes it’s very common in our profession to face misunderstanding. Sometime customers become very angry with our operator and face many problems they like to convert their tensions to us. We give solutions for some specific problem some customers don’t understand that. They ask for solutions, which we don’t have the authority to solve. This kind of situation become very unpleasant for them and in such situation we try to explain our limit or power easily, we try to keep the situation cool and try to offer alternative solution for their problem.
Interviewer: How do you communicate when you are unable to solve the customer’s problem?
Interviewee: First of all I try to explain my position and try to keep calm. If there is any problem that is beyond my power I like to clarify my position and try to offer the customer’s with alternative potential solutions and instruct him for potential solutions.
Interviewer: How do you communicate when a customer talks in an offensive way or use slangs?
Interviewee: I try to keep calm and make people friendly in such situation. I try to be friendly with them and ask for a friendly behaviour in return. But sometime people just don’t want to stop and keep using offensive and abusive words then I tell the other person that his call is not related to service then i thank him and then just disconnect the call.
Interviewer: How do you communicate when a customer does not understand the solution due to lack of technical knowledge?
Interviewee: Generally I try to explain the solution with easy words and simple sentences. I use examples to make them understand clearly. Most of the time examples are effective to make people clear about the solution.
Interviewer: Have you received any formal communication training for your job? If yes, what factors did such training focus on?
Interviewee: Yes before starting our job we had to pass a training session where we were taught how to communicate with customers with proper respect, how to keep calm when there is any dissatisfied consumer, how to handle unwanted situations gently.
Interviewer: How do you build goodwill to your company?
Interviewee: I promote the services and offers of company, I let the customers know about recent bonus packages-services and tell him how he can get the offer for himself. Sometimes Grameen Phone offers special bonus packages which many people don’t get aware all time I promote those offers so that people know about it, get benefited which will increase their satisfaction for GP. Being friendly with customers and help them without hesitation also increases my organization’s goodwill.
Interviewer: How do you think you can improve your communication with your customers?
Interviewee: I think if we get more efficient training on communication of various situations we can improve our communication more. Our training program is not enough to handle the real world situation. I think an influential training program can make a person an efficient communicator.
Interviewer: Ok that was all. Thank you again.
Interviewee: Anytime. Good day!

Interviewer Name: Rezwanul Islam.
ID. 1320502030. BUS 251. Section: 10.

Name of the Participant: Md Mainul Huq Gender: Male Occupation: Team Leader (Manager) Date of the Interview: 26 July 2016 Location of the Interview: Grameen Phone Uttara Interviewer: How do you start the conversation with your customer over phone? Interviewee: We use to have our default greetings. In Bangla we say like, x বলছি কীভাবে সহযোগিতা করতে পারি? And in English we say, X speaking, how may I help you? Interviewer: What are the problems that you face while communicating with customer over here? Interviewee: Few problems we face often in our daily calls. For instance, customer doesn’t want to understand how the problem occurred. They don’t even want to know about that. Whatever problem they face in their phone they blame the sim operator which is very much unfortunate. Like, if their FB is not working for password problem they think it’s a problem of sim. Besides, their regular complain they are being charged more in call & other uses though they are charging according their plan. Basically this happens due to their knowledge lacking about the sim. Interviewer: How do you overcome these problems? Interviewee: We use to make them understand briefly about their problem. Like the most common problem that is customers are being overcharged or they are being charged without any reason. We use to inform their whole usage in details that how they consumed it & what was the use. Obviously, we do it in a respective way. No matter how much customer is angry or fed up on us we keep our patience until he is not getting the point. Interviewer: Do you ever have misunderstanding while communicating with customers over phone? How do you resolve such misunderstandings? Interviewee: Yes, obviously. As it’s a communication over phone & everyday almost 2.5lac call we have to attend there misunderstanding happens sometimes though the frequency is too little. For instance, customer called for a 1 GB internet package details & we inform him along with price & speed except validity. And if we realize that we missed a info which was we don’t have monthly 1GB package where we got 1.5GB package which was previously 1GB monthly package though the price is same. And our 1GB package has weekly validity. We use to call back him & clarify about the info. However, if customer made a misunderstanding and call for that info the next customer manager who receives the call clarify the info. Interviewer: How do you communicate when you are not able to solve a customer’s problem? Interviewee: First of we beg apology obviously. For few service like handset setting, package change, etc. which they are completely unable to do. We refer them to our Grameen Phone Center. And if they face any problem due to our service down we beg apology & communicate them the committed time. Furthermore, we keep service request as well in few cases to our management. Interviewer: How do you communicate when a customer talks in an offensive manner or use slangs? Interviewee: That’s so sad of us. We use to warn him if he continuously behaving in offensive way. If he do it for more than two or three time we cut the call with proper dialogue. And if he use direct slang we cut hang up the call at once without any dialogue. Besides, we raise a complaint against that number Interviewer: How do you communicate when a customer does not understand the problem due to lack of technical knowledge? Interviewee: After trying several time we suggest him to give the phone to someone near to him who is literate enough about this things. If that doesn’t work we refer him to our service center Interviewer: Have you received any formal communication training for your job? Interviewee: Yes, I do. I had a 25 days long training on the modality of providing service & the tools I need to use in operation. After that I had to give an evaluation test on that. Interviewer: How do you build goodwill for your company? Interviewee: As we are telecom company. We give some special offers to customers along with some special offers to few numbers. And our STAR subscribers get special benefit & discounts on various food court & fashion house along with other benefit as well. Besides, we have Net Promoter Score (NPS) system to evaluate our service. After taking service from hotline within three hour they get a call where they have to score within 0 to 10 based on our service & how much he was satisfied on that. It’s one of our KPI as well. We make a feedback call as well later on based on that score that why he scored that & what are the scopes for our improvement. Interviewer: How do you think you can improve your communication with your customers? Interviewee: By filling up the lacking & reducing the mistakes both in our service style & in our tools as well.