Whatever the job and whatever the sector, we all go through the training and adaptation period to get used to the customs of the company we have just joined. As a manager, it is necessary to regularly analyse the progress of the beginners under your responsibility and provide them with support and learning.
It is always much more effective to learn on the job in real conditions. But if you’re talking about a customer service or sales department that uses call centre software and receives calls all day long, you can’t always get it wrong or you’ll lose a prospect or a customer. So, for newcomers to one of these sectors, there is a feature that could change the way they are trained: call whispering or discreet listening.
Throughout this article, we will detail what call whispering is and how its benefits can impact the productivity and efficiency of your business whether you are finding new customers or solving the problems of the actual ones.
Call Whispering, what is that?
In virtual PBX or call center software, you can add a feature that allows you to be partly present during a call. This is called call whispering, but it can also be called eavesdropping or call whispering.
The way it works is very simple to understand. Let’s say your apprentice receives a call. Call whispering allows you as a trainer to add yourself to the call without the caller knowing. This way, you can easily support the new agent in case of oversights or difficult situations.
Uses of call whispering
When configuring your call center software or virtual PBX, you can define, together with your telephone solution provider, the agents who will have the capacity to supervise calls, i.e. to have an overall view of what is happening at the level of call transmission and reception.
There is nothing better than call whispering to properly improve call handling skills. Through this coaching, trainee agents can be corrected on how to deliver the message in line with your company’s brand image.
This consistency of communication is very important for maintaining a good relationship with your customers because if the information received and the way it is given is the same at each contact with any agent, you can be sure to avoid misunderstandings and have to deal with problems accordingly.
In addition to being able to monitor the progress of calls, call whispering offers the possibility of being deactivated in the middle of a call. The aim is to be able to intervene in delicate or stressful situations.
The 3 modes of discrete listening
To control the conversations and messages delivered, the call whispering feature contains three modes that constitute it. These functions use unobtrusive listening for different purposes, whether for information gathering or for training.
- Call recording: With access to call whispering, you can access recordings of all calls in your call center. The purpose of this function is a training purpose, as it offers the possibility to review with hindsight the weak points and areas for improvement that may have been noticed during the conversation. Whether the recording is listened to individually or with the trainer, it is a very good way to see where you can go wrong.
- Supervision: This is the mode that gives you a view of everything that is happening in your call center. This mode allows you to monitor statistics such as the number of calls, customer waiting time and time spent on the phone. The supervisor can therefore have a global vision on the good functioning of the call center and thus give directions to follow as well as modifications of the objectives according to these results.
- Participation in calls: this mode gives the possibility to intervene in a call, whether the presence of the supervisor is communicated or not to the person who is at the other end of the line (it all depends on the type of intervention). Thanks to this mode, the supervisor can help the agent to make decisions, complete the information, etc.
Benefits of call whispering
As long as you have a call center software or virtual PBX in your company that is used for either your customer service or your sales department or both, the discreet listening feature can be beneficial to you. There are many benefits to integrating this feature into your team of communication agents including :
- Efficient training: the most notable advantage of call whispering is that it allows training on the field and to be confronted to real problems without being completely autonomous. The operator in training will feel more comfortable and faster knowing that he is not alone in case of complications.
- Mastering the brand image: being able to correct errors in language, vocabulary or even in the way you express yourself could prove useful. Indeed, your customers choose a product or a service but also the values that your company carries. This is why you need a certain consistency in the attitude you present to your customers. With call whispering, you can make sure that the company is well represented to customers and prospects.
- Bring in additional items: in a customer service setting, if you are called to report a problem, you may not have the solution immediately. With two people to think about it, you’ll be able to solve the problem faster. On the sales side, being able to “whisper” during a call allows you to bring an additional point of view or argument to convince a prospect.
- Handling stressful situations: in the case of customer service, you may be faced with annoyed customers, which is a stressful situation for an agent in training. With the help of call whispering, the supervisor can support the agent in difficulty by giving advice or even intervening directly in the call to find a solution.
- Measure the efficiency of your teams: with the supervisor mode, you have access to all the data concerning your call center and you will be able to correct any discrepancies and adapt your sales or communication strategies according to the results obtained.
Thanks to this feature you will be able to increase customer satisfaction, if there are two people to think about a customer’s request, the solution will be brought to him much more quickly and this is what every consumer is looking for.
As you may have seen, call whispering is actually an option that can be very practical for your company. To take advantage of it and get all the benefits, you need a call center software or a powerful switchboard. Fonvirtual can provide you with this tool and adapt the offer to your needs. In order to better understand what our call center discreet listening consists of, do not hesitate to contact us and we will offer you a clear demonstration.
