5 Great tips to build your call centre resilience

How to build your call centre resilience

My first sales job was in a rudimentary call centre and to keep my job I had to make at least 4 sales per hour shift – I lasted quite a while – 6 days!!

Contact centres have changed since then but to thrive in the modern-day version a particular type of resilient thinking is required.

However, this resilient thinking is not stable over time, it cannot be targeted in recruitment.

It is something that agents have to learn and remember to do.

Resilience is a daily decision, not something that someone permanently has.

5 Great tips to build your call centre resilience

To decide to be a more resilient person, follow my 5 great tips to build your call centre resilience on a daily basis:

1. Activate a positive feeling or memory

Before you take/make the first call activate a positive feeling or memory.

The brain is designed to focus on the negative (it is a survival mechanism) but you can intervene by thinking about the positive things in your life; people, favourite place, favourite moment, funny TV show etc.

This will set you up better for that first call.

2. Hang out with positive people

During the breaks hang out with the positive people.

There is always someone complaining in a contact centre and they want to recruit you to their cause.

Don’t get recruited, hang out with the people who will lift you up, not people who drag you down.

3. Have a learner focus, not a judger focus

Have a learner focus not a judger focus when confronted with problems.

Ask learner questions; ‘What is useful here?’, ‘What are my options?’ ‘What is this here to teach me?’

Avoid judger questions; ‘Who is to blame?’, ‘How can I prove I am right?’, ‘What is wrong with me?’

4. Imagine

Imagine yourself handling; negative, nasty, rude, obnoxious and disrespectful customers with; grace, humility, humour and effortless skill.

See yourself not being affected by them.

5. Write it down

When you have a tough day, write down what went well and what you are grateful for.

The act of writing it down makes it real and seeing it written increases the impact.

Just thinking about it is not enough to get the full benefit!

In summary

Remember being in a contact centre is like a business on fast-forward, you learn so much so rapidly and it will give you skills that will benefit you for years.

It has for me and many of my colleagues.