Contact Center Stories

One of the perks of working in a contact center is learning new cultures and actually interacting with the people of different customs and environment than yours. A certain barrier is broken when you communicate with someone from the other side of the globe, albeit over the phone or instant messengers. But what if you were selected to be trained for a new skill which will happen in a foreign country? Will you be an

From steaks and wines to candies and chocolates, from fine dining to fun sales talk, from selling mobiles phones to plasma TV sets to reseller hosting services, from wearing a blazer and skirt on my first day to comfy shirt and jeans the next… a totally new environment, more spontaneous and definitely more fun! I’m on my fourth week as a Customer Service Associate for a call center company operating on

People say that dogs are a man’s best friend. I think that the statement is too general. Not all people love dogs, after all. But I can say, with conviction, that dogs are certainly a call center agent’s best friend. Let me explain why. This morning, as I was eating breakfast after a tiring shift the whole night, our dog came to lie down near the table. This is what he does every morning. Of course, the

One thing I’ve figured out is that I like sharing stories. I haven’t got everything figured out or anything like that but I do like sharing thoughts and experiences. Maybe someone out there will find it entertaining, inspiring or helpful even. Here are some of mine for you to read, in case 2012 really turns out to be THE last year we’ll ever experience. We always say later, tomorrow, next time, so

As a customer service agent with shifting schedules, one of the hardest things to do is sleep. Combine the unholy hours of the graveyard shift with constantly changing schedules, not just hours but days, and you have one heck of an insomniac. Sometime last year I thought my freaky dreams stopped already. I mean, really, really freaky. One series was me as some “Federal Agent,” bursting into a wedding wi

No two calls are ever the same. This is one of the key things that agents learn about the call center game early on. They’re enticed by the decent salaries that can help them actually afford car loans without breaking their banks. They’re intimidated by the idea of irate customers with issues that are so strange that they cannot be solved. However, none of them ever truly realize that no matter the natu

Wherever you work and whatever you deal with, stress is a given. Why do you think employees have started joking about the benefits of that good old squeeze stress ball, anyway? If you happen to take a close look at those long lines in call center recruitment offices, you will notice how many aspiring individuals take the time to wait until their names are called for the qualifying exam and interview. All of these s

Call centers are an interesting thing, particularly among those who work inbound sales. In most cases, when people think phone sales, they imagine outbound calls. Tele-marketing, as it may be known to the general population. However, there are just as many agents manning the phone lines in the inbound sector, where it is the customers doing the calling. Incidentally, these people have their own interesting stories

Every call center agent knows that the middle of the shift is usually the worst. It’s the time when the freshness of the morning (or night, as it were) has worn off, and the end of shift is still too far away. It’s like being stuck in a bad movie with a horrible-looking date — you can’t wait for it to end. Not incidentally, this is about the same time that productivity suffers. Breaks are to

Since the industry started in the 1970′s, the marketplace for call center technology has been huge. Call centers nowadays require high capital and a large number of people. Computing set up used to cost several million dollars as only an initial cost. Also, as a people-intensive industry, the operating cost is very high. The call center industry is one of the early adopters of cloud concepts such as abstracti