I have an inkling to make an article today but as I was browsing the criteria under personal experiences the word Diaries caught my eye & a sparkle of interested ignited in me. I am going to share my experiences here as a Customer Care Representative; my struggles, my perserverance to survive each day. Hope you will find time to read this..
Last Friday, I was down & couldn't help but cry in our training room. Something happened that made me upset about myself. If you have happened to read my article before, probably you all know that I am currently being trained as a Customer Representative in one of the leading Telephone Company in United States of America. Having been employed in a collection department with my previous account, I was trained to be courteous but transactional at the same time. While in this company Courtesy & concern is also needed, as well as relaying to the customer all the positive words that we can share to them. I must admit that often times, I would re-phrase what I am trying to tell to the customer, words such "you need to" instead of saying "you have to", as well as, "May I" versus" Can I". Although, this two words may literally means the same thing it differs on how you say it to your customer. The other may sound like you are asking for the assistance of the customer to help you in their account while the other may sound like you are directing the customer to do something for you. I am always reminding myself how my customer may think while I am talking to them. Sadly, that day, I have received a call from an irate customer, luckily, at a time that I am also in a live barge with one of our trainer. So, to cut the story short, there were moments where I need to put my customer on hold because I need to consult our guides to walk through a customer with their concerns & at the same time for a quick advisory. From my first call up to the last call that I was with her, I was really nervous to make a mistake, which resulted to making mistakes. So, since the customer is actually upset when I received the call, he was very impatience & end up using profanity then the call was transferred to my superior. The calls that I received after those are quite hard for me since it was the first time that I have encuntered them but luckily I did survived with a high handling time rank. After our break, I was advised that I need to take calls once again for me to catch up & lower the numbers that I have acquired. Before that I have a coaching time & the co-trainer told me that they have high hopes on me & that they are expecting that I can make it since I have 6 months edge compared with my co-trainees, not to mention that I came from collection department, so they are relying on me that I know how to properly deal with the queries & concerns of each customer. Then while I was taking a call, I was asked how many months have I been taking calls from my previous account, I answered & I was compared to my co-trainee who happens to be a newbie or a call center virgin. I got upset not on what he had done but in myself. I couldn't help but cry since it hit homerun, I was asking myself, why I am so afraid to face each calls or to tick anything in the account of a customer. I am used to it, why am I afraid? And it dawned in me that I was afraid of committing any mistake, knowing that they are expecting something from me, that I am afraid that I could not come up to their expectations.
My tears are literally falling when I had the next call. Good thing, I was able to get a hold of myself, not to make the customer aware that I was upset. The last thing that was advised to me is to focus on the customer; not to mind anything that I can hear on the background, even when somebody is calling me or asking me to do anything. I was even reprimanded to turn my chair around. My superior definitely awaken the sleeping agent in me & from that call forward I was able to regain my self confidence despite of being upset. Knowing that I could not be or might not be reporting to work on Monday, this superior asked me to maintain the composure that I have regained while taking calls. Until the time that I was walking to where my husband is waiting, I was feeling down & while I was riding with him in our motorcycle, cried again for myself. During our day off, I was battling between deciding to go to work or to resign because of what had happened. Yet there are co-workers who sent out messages telling me to go on pursuing what we all started, to dream to go through graduation & to claim this job. Their faith in me build enough courage for me to report to work & to start over again.
When I step into our bay, all of my superior, the support team, even our coach, the one that I have mentioned that encouraged me was glad to see me. As expected the call that I have had with the irate caller gave me a low score feedback & that day affected my standing. I took my first call with almost mounting fear but let go of it. I took each call with great attentiveness & care, as most of them were elderly & there are times that I have to repeat what I am saying. Although other issues had arise within our office hours, like my monitor would die, accidentally ticking wrong auxiliary while talking to the customer or ticking break 1 since it is actually our break while making memos for the last call then realizing that I made a mistake then ticking another aux again then was given a heads up to tick on break resulting to receiving my first memo because it reflected as I'm making or taking a double break instead of having only one. I made few mistakes today but hearing all those affirmations coming from all the people that I have talked to today paved off the result of my call handling time. I also applied what he told me, to stay focus on my calls no matter what. Finally, I can say that I am unleashing, I am finally getting to be the kind of Customer Care Rep that they are wanting me to be. Things may not be as easy for me compared to my other co-trainee but still I am thankful for all the hardship that I am going through each day. I am starting to believe in myself again, starting to believe that I can, I will become the agent that they are expecting from me & I can make it despite all odds.