The Dilemma of a Customer Service Agent of a Bank

The other day a friend of mine, was talking to a contact centre of a reputed bank. Her complaint was, that on making a transaction of a substantial amount, bank did not send a sms notification. The concern was that this amount was for a credit card payment, for the same bank, from which amount got debited from, so why would bank hesitate in sending sms , immediately.? Valid question…

Due to several online surprises that keep happening, questions keep surfacing our minds, so my friend got down to talking to the bank agent, who asked her to wait it out for 24 hours, which was fine for then.

However, at that point of time, bank agent went ahead and asked, ‘Why don’t you have your credit limit upgraded? Some sentences mentioned at the wrong time, can either make you laugh or cry, but both are reactions!! I found it funny , more often than not , we do place, the cart before the horse, don’t we? My friend was obviously super angry because, this question was not appropriate, considering she was already worried about her paid amount.

This is where behavioral training for customer service comes in-

Every organization wants more revenue, but you will agree with me, that there is a time and place to ask a question. The agent could have arranged for a resolution if the sale was important, and then looked for up selling? In this case my friend would have had a solution given to her, then and there perhaps she would have been more open to getting credit limit increased?

Not being judgmental here,about contact centers

BUT…

Who is the best judge to know and ask upselling related questions?- Maybe- Your Team

Who is the best judge to know, whether the problem will get solved in next 24 hours to solve the problem or not? ( From his experience)- Maybe –Your Team

Who is to use his Emotional and Factual Intelligence in place to see, what questions need to be asked at which time, to get upselling done properly…Your Team

Who is to sensitize and train your team- Maybe ‘You’

Here are some statistics, gathered from

https://blog.hubspot.com/service/customer-service-stats

According to Glance, 78% of customers have backed out due to poor customer experience. Also according to Bain and company - Increasing customer retention rates, by just 5%, can increase profits by 25%- 95%

You may be wondering , that you do mention it to your agents, to ask the right question at the right time. I am certain that you do. But training reinforces belief systems , practices and purposes, which is different from Instructing. Instructions can make agents shaky , as agents try to remember all possible questions to be asked,within an average handling time, which can make them nervous and therefore leads to possible errors. Training on the other hand can make someone see the purpose of the instruction, and enables trainees to take informed decisions, and that’s why results are noticeable.

Authored by Shayanti Roy