Offering customer support to the end customers is not limited to providing the right resolution. It is the frequency of resolving the issues at very first call made by the customer that makes you different from your counterparts.

Call centers often ignore the techniques that help them in resolving the issues during the first contact with the customer. But if taken seriously, resolution during first call enhance the levels of loyalty among customers that can improve the brand image.

Here are some essential techniques which ensure that your agents will be able to resolve most of the customer queries during the first call.

1. Empower the agents
   Make sure that the agents have power to offer delights to the customers by deviating the rules (if necessary). Offering attractive discounts or freebie can also be done by the agents if it increases the chance of delighting the customer. This can create a big difference and resolve the issue of the customers during the very first call.
2. Focus on improving product knowledge
   Most of the issues are not resolved during the first call due to the lack of knowledge of products among the agents. To avoid these scenarios, impart detailed knowledge of product/services by taking support of your clients. Manufacturing department, service centers and R&D department of the client can enrich the agents with vast product knowledge. As a result, agents will easily resolve the issue without any need of escalation.
3. Management should be involved
   Management team can play a key role in improving the rate of resolutions at first call. They can thoroughly analyze the unresolved issues and train the agents to handle these forms of issues in future effectively. There should be 10-15 minutes session at the end of each day to discuss how the quality of communication can be improved by the agents.
4. Make the Quality Assurance (QA) process more stringent
   This will not only provide you with the error points associated with the agents but will also motivate the customer support agents to be more productive. Therefore, make sure each call is being recorded in the call center and also ensure that agents are aware of it.
5. Use post-call surveys
   Sending surveys to the customers after ending the call will help you identify the quality of the service offered by your firm. This can be used to modify the process so that calls are resolved more quickly and effectively in the future. Outbound IVR and emails are best options for conducting post-call surveys.
6. Take support of data analytics
   It is the implementation of data analytics that separates a renowned call center service provider from the ordinary ones. Taking support of machine learning will help you predict how the callers will response to the resolutions offered by your agents. It is ultimately ensure that one call is enough to satisfy the customers through most effective solution. You can also include speech analytics for improving the quality of the process.
7. Use skill-based routing
   Installing skill-based routing technology will ensure that the most suitable agent receives the call on the basis of types of customers or their shopping habits. This right pairing in customer support department is necessary to increase the number of resolutions on first call. Skill based routing is a technology which you usually receive if you outsource customer services to a reputed vendor.
8. Teach agents the power of asking questions
   Make sure that the agents know the power of asking questions while communicating with the customers. More questions will help in gaining better understanding related to the customer issue through which resolution can be made more quickly.
9. Keep the agents motivated
   Your company may have 24×7 live chat support agents. But if they are not motivated, it will reflect in the interaction with the customers. You can motivate them by providing comfortable environment and providing them feedback on regular basis. Appreciation during improved performance also results in motivation of your agents. Developing a competitive environment at the workplace is another method that motivates the agents to perform better. All these and several other methods will ensure that agents resolve the customer issues with full enthusiasm and energy.

Conclusion

A renowned call center service provider uses a blend of above discussed strategies in order to resolve the customer queries during first contact. As a result, the reputation of the brand represented by the call center executives is increased.