Tone and Clarity Matters - Call Center 102

I have this gut feeling that someone might be needing this. I have written an article regarding any tips if you want to be a call center agent before and here is another article that I thought might also help for those aspiring to be part of the BPO Industry.

For years, BPO has been the home of many who just graduated be it college or high school level for the very obvious reason: BIGGER SALARY.

It is also where those who are what we consider as over aged to work would apply because call center industry would just accept even when you are already 60 or 70 years old.

Here in our country some big companies would require a College level if not College Graduate to do blue collar jobs but then you are only being paid around $6 to $8 which is the minimum wage of course based on where I live, it will be different if you work in Manila which is the main city of our country but living there is also expensive. As per my cousin who lived there for almost 2 years everything there comes with a price. Even renting a small room would cost your huge amount of money so it will not be too easy to go there just to find a job if you do not have any budget while trying to apply. Though the amount mentioned above is per day salary of an employee but still it will never be enough especially with the current situation of the market where the prices of the goods are all getting high!

So going back, when working in the BPO industry other than being conscious with your communication skills you would also have to master the motto: FAKE IT UNTIL YOU MAKE IT!

Yes! This has been my motto since I started working in this industry. Why? Because, it will never be easy to pretend that you care over someone who just shouted at you and called you a lot of profanity words for something that is not even your fault!

Yep, prepare your mental health for that. If you are not used to getting shouted or the feeling of talking to someone who is so frustrated then here I am preparing you. LOL!

As I am saying, focus not just on communication skills but also on what we call "EMPATHY" plus "TONE". BOTH should come together. Yep!

When a customer tells you their story about how sad are they for not receiving their package which is supposed to be for their mother's birthday, for not having internet when they needed it for work especially to those like me who are working from home, for having challenges in paying their bills because of some family emergency or could be because they lost their job you have to EMPATHIZE and not just say, "Okay".

You must tell them how sorry you are with what they are going through and that you will do your best to look for better options, way or do your best to resolve their issue. Tell the customer that you understand them even though you cannot really relate because maybe you have not experienced that before. But stating the words or the what we call "SPIEL" will not work if you will not put emotions.

How can you put emotion when you cannot even relate? Hmmm?

Well, when you empathize you have to imagine yourself on the same shoe as the customer. What if it happens to you? What would you feel?

Also, as you continue working in this industry you would feel the fulfillment of helping customers. It would be a different satisfaction hearing them saying even a simple "THANK YOU!'.

And as you go along you will eventually develop that care and empathy towards them too. Your TONE matters when trying to do conversation over the phone especially that there is no way for our customers to see our facial expressions or even our body movement.

Imagine a 70 years old woman calling to ask assistance for her phone service because it is not working and it needs to work because she has a bed ridden husband. They needed the phone to work in order to call E911 in case something happens.

Or say a man complaining because his supposed to be proposal got postponed because the ring he ordered for his girlfriend did not arrive on time?

See? There are so much story in this industry that you may discover yourself once you become one.

Also , if you are planning to apply feel free to comment down your email address so I can ping you. I will be more than glad to help you and welcome you in BPO Industry.

...end thoughts...

Come to think of it, whenever we communicate to our love one's through calling, sometimes they suddenly feel bad towards us because of our tone, or maybe you might have experienced feeling bad to someone you talked to over the phone because he sounded not interested to a certain topic that you are trying to open up. Pretty much the same with our customers in BPO industry. So you have to make sure you work with your tone.

One way to do that is to record yourself reading a certain novel. Try to put the exact emotion. Or maybe singing an English song.

Note: All the pictures that I used in every article are from either UNSPLASH or my own click.