Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Emotional Quotient is a necessity in Call Centers

The call center is one of the main segments wherein the Emotional Intelligence factor comes into focus. When it comes to the selection and retention of call center representatives by the HR department, considering emotional intelligent candidates is a good return on investment. In the following section, we would elaborate how Emotional Quotient of a candidate or manager is essential in the well being of a work environment.

Emotional Intelligence is all about an individual’s ability to understand emotions and act appropriately. If you want to retain your resources then hiring call center managers that focus on Emotional Intelligence (EI) can help. Emotional intelligent call center representatives are able to form strong relationships because they can communicate effectively and are able to cope well with stressful situations in any back office services. EQ can also be strengthened and be developed over time, which is why the call center industry would be well served with EQ assessments. HR managers ought to use and integrate these instruments into their standards for selection and development of human resources in a call center.

Planning the succession of senior leadership is critical to a call center’s success, and selecting the right candidate to hire or promote becomes simpler. Furthermore, EQ helps to identify individual specific strengths and weaknesses so that call center training and call center coaching can be designed to develop skills that contribute to future leadership.

When it comes to dealing with customers, any customer contact center cannot afford to have customers complain about inadequate support due to the indifferent attitude of call center representatives. Irate customers too cannot be dismissed without a polite word and an attempt to solve their issues. In short, call center representatives with a good EQ and the right call center coaching will be able to contribute significantly to the success and profits of any call center.

Phone answering or handling calls efficiently may be one of the main tasks of call center representatives which includes the call center representative’s ability to listen, build a rapport with a customer, engage in a dialogue and solve technical problems. The ability to handle odd timings, and call center work pressures, are areas where call center candidates need to excel and not get hijacked due to stressful emotional situations. Issues of self-control, self-esteem and self-motivation are areas linked to the emotional quotient. Identifying and growing these effectiveness skills is essential for call center performance.

Profiling call center candidates through EQ testing helps create a corporate culture imbibed with an atmosphere of teamwork and leadership. When call center representatives, management and managers can be profiled for EQ it makes it easier for human resource managers to determine, coach and develop star performers. Attrition rates are also significantly lowered in the call center that includes EQ assessment as part of their recruitment process.