Going Into Call Center Based Service? - Part 1

I would like to continue along the same lines as my past few blogs, dealing with specific issues and questions you may have to deal with when interviewing for a customer service position; dealing this time with things related more to call center phone support and sales. There can be a vast amount of differences between face-to-face customer service, and strictly phone based service, so it is good to get in the right mind-set when approaching a call center interview.

While face-to-face service contains many aspects we have previously discussed, like the whole outward appearance, dress, body language, etc., you have other things to focus on when doing phone-based customer service. There are overlapping things between the two, but some are more specific for call centers.

One issue I want to briefly revisit that I spoke of in a post back in February, is that of working on auto dialer systems. If you are hired to work on an auto-dialer system where it is making outbound calls for you, please just remember that the computer only puts through a call to you AFTER the customer on the other end has answered their phone, and the system detects a human voice saying "hello." So many people working these systems make the issue of saying "hello?" when the computer connects the call to them, and that is an improper technique. Think about a normal call between you and a friend. You call your friend, he answers and says "hello" - would it make any sense for you to respond with a "hello?" as if questioning if he is there? Of course not, your response would be "hey Joe, I was wondering...." The same with auto dialers; the customer has answered and said hello; your job is to immediately proceed with the reason for your call; "Hi Bob, this is John from Super-di-dooper company...."

Now, let's look at things more related to the interview process. Call center positions tend to be computer based, and therefore it is very important that you have basic computer skills such as decent typing skills, basic computer knowledge and software/application skills, and especially good oral and communication skills. Previous call center experience is always a plus, and if you do have that, you may be asked such questions as "what kind of software and system do you have experience with," " how large of a customer database have you worked with," "How many calls a day do you normally handle, and what is the average time you spend on each call?"

You will usually be faced with situational type questions: "Describe a tough issue you had to deal with in the past, how you dealt with it, and what ways you think you could have improved in your handling of it." Give some serious thought to how you would handle questions such as "how would you handle a customer issue when you have identified that the issue is a result of poor service by a co-worker or your company in general?" Would you throw your co-worker under the bus and pass the blame, or would you take responsibility personally, and work to satisfy the customer? Would you agree with the customer about the fault of your company and grumble about it too, or would you accept responsibility for the error and seek to satisfy the customer?

I will stop here for now, and we will pick up next week with additional tips for call center based customer service.

Jeff McCormack resides in Virginia Beach, VA. where he works as a web designer by day. In his off time he is a husband, father, and musician. Aside from being a freelance writer for this Customer Service Jobs blog, he also seeks to assist in career choices and information by contributing to other Nexxt blog sites.