Call Centre

Call Centre Tone and Language

The tone and language inside a call centre often determines the level of success that is possible. Managers and team leaders need to be positive and upbeat. If team members are trained properly in the use of the telephone answering service, they will do well within the right work environment. Unfortunately, some managers and team leaders use phrases that unintentionally torpedo the efforts of those they supervise.

‘Should of’, ‘would of’, and ‘could of’ are examples of subtle demanding language that can easily lead to ‘need to’ and ‘must’. Such language in a call centre is psychologically inept. Anytime someone is handling telephone services and is put into a ‘must’ situation, then they are set up for failure. Certainly some people will rise to the occasion and prove their telephone answering service skills, but others will fail where they might otherwise succeed given enough time and experience.

Other call centre no, no phrases include the use of the word “but”. An example is, “You did fantastic, but you still can do better”. At first this may sound a bit harmless, yet let’s analyze it. Basically, the phrase compliments the coworker on his telephone services skills with a handshake and then it immediately slaps him across the face with the other hand. Generally, nobody in any civil work environment will respond well to duplicitous phrases like this.

Whenever you try to improve call centre people skills and say such things inside a call centre, those phrases will spread like an insidious infection. The examples set by managers and team leaders will be carried over to others around them.