A Philippine call center must know that they not only need to meet their customer’s expectations, but they must strive to exceed them. For inbound call center agents, there is more opportunity in exceeding customers’ expectations even when they’re complaining. The important thing is that you listen and don’t tell them that they’re wrong; then acknowledge the issue, try to reach an agreement, and do your best to keep them happy. They may not be right, but at least you listened to their point of view. Usually people just want to be heard. You must use this complaint as a positive thing to help you grow and improve.

In an outbound call center setting, you need to be flexible in your approach. Don’t just make a sale but rather, offer solutions in the best interest of your customer. You also need to let customers drive how you interact with them. Though you may not always be able to offer the type of communication channel your customers want, you can still be responsive to their behavior. Lastly, honor your word. If you tell someone you’ll follow-up with them by end of day, you have to do it. There’s nothing worse than having someone tell you they’ll contact you later, then having to track them down again. Keep in touch with customers and check if the products or services are good.

Good customer service results to repeat guests while bad customer service drives customers away taking their friends, family and workmates. It is very important to have a good customer service not just to make the customers happy but to attract potential customers.

As everyone knows, laughter is the best medicine. It is a powerful antidote to stress, pain, and conflict. Nothing works faster to bring your mind and body back into balance than a good laugh. Humor lightens your burdens, inspires hopes, connects you to others, and keeps you grounded, focused, and alert. According to a study, people who have fun on the job are more creative,  productive, better decision-makers and more likely to get along better with co-workers. They also have fewer absents, tardiness, and sick days than people who are not having fun. Nowadays, companies realize that if they want to survive in the global market place, they have no choice but to be able to adapt quickly. They need to fine-tune employee recognition and engagement through effective programs that can spread positive energy within the organization and may lead to increased profit margins, customer retention, productivity and more.

Making work fun helps employees maintain performance and consistently provide quality, because it serves an outlet for tension and stress and makes work more enjoyable. Employees learn that they can lighten up on the job, and continue to be competent and professional. The key is taking your work seriously, while taking yourself lightly in doing that work. Enjoy what you do and do it well to make room for improvement and none for failure; that way, everyone wins.

One of the most inspiring stories that has been told is by Manuel V. Pangilinan, also known as Manny Pangilinan and MVP. The CEO of Philippine Long Distance and Telephone Company or PLDT, the Philippine’s pioneer in telecommunications. His story is from rags to riches; from being a student to eventually becoming a corporate tycoon. He was born poor but being poor didn’t stop him from reaching his dreams. Perhaps it became the source of his passion and drive. According to him, “whatever we may wish to do with our future, we can make it because it gets dark sometimes, but morning comes always”. These are the words from a man who believes that lifelong learning and exploring are key factors in moving towards success.

So whether you’re a student, hotelier, an inbound call center agent in a Philippine call center, a small business owner or whatever it is that you do, never stop learning. If you have a goal in mind that will bring you the happiness you’ve been wanting, don’t hesitate to start the journey to achieve it. Start your path today and act out your dreams.  And if you’ve already begun, consistently re-connect with your dream and make sure you strive hard toward your goals until you reach your destination and believe in yourself and do not let anybody stop you from reaching them.

You may have once thought of a clear and bright future but all you ever did was plan for your career. Most job seekers all want the same things; a job that pays well that allows you to earn loads of money so you can settle down in the big city, with a lifestyle that makes a statement to family and friends. But as you all know, it’s not that easy to attain unless you work hard.

Attaining success and making your job the right career requires hard work and sacrifice. You should spend some time to make sure that you are crystal clear about what you want in your working life. In addition to that, your career goal should be one that you truly want and not what others want for you. This is important because you will not be truly happy and fulfilled if you are doing it just to please somebody else. Most importantly, you should have a convincing reason why you must achieve this career goal. However, there may be times that you find yourself striving to move forward but getting nowhere instead. Remember, whatever your personal barriers to career growth and development, you can overcome these obstacles. Anyone who sets goals, creates a timeline for success, has adequate support, and strives for excellence can prevail over these barriers to achieve the success that all people deserve. Like your goals, only you can decide which ones to believe in and pursue.

But as we all know, it is a very competitive world out there, countries around the world are now seeking to challenge the Philippines’ dominance in the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector, especially in more high-value, non-voice services.  Non voice jobs involve table jobs such as transcription, insurance, finance and across industries like airlines and transportation, securities, human resources, litigation and financial services, insurance, data processing, e-publishing and healthcare. The new challenge is how to develop our own qualified workforce with the specialized skills required by the non-voice sectors such as scalability of entry-level talent; availability of specialized skills; availability and quality of managers; and migration of skilled talent. It is very essential for us to make sure our schools graduate young professionals who can fill in this human resource gap. Government, industry and institution of higher education are enhancing the regulations in training potential call center and other BPO workers and those engaged in non-voice BPO to make them more competitive and attractive to the industry. TESDA has even ramped up support for training and development of non-voice based skills in the BPO sector particularly in the Visayas to boost the region as a choice destination for investors.

It is very evident that our country is achieving another goal,  not just as the number one spot in the outsourcing industry but also as the haven for non-voice BPO services.

Engage in communication.  Effective communication is always important. Many times, an argument will develop because of communication breakdowns. When someone is talking, listen carefully and make sure you understand that person’s point before you respond. Likewise, make sure the other person understands your own point.

Recognize and respect qualities. Keep in mind that all employees are valuable assets in the business community whatever they are like. Each one has an important role to play.

Use a learning mindset approach.  Approach each interaction with an open mind—avoid making decisions or predictions before you start. Really listen to what the other person has to say and remain open to their viewpoint. When people feel your support, they will be more willing to work with you.

Don’t be a difficult person yourself.  It is easy to identify someone else being difficult. But, how many times do you look in the mirror and acknowledge that you are the one being difficult. Know thyself and recognize what triggers your own responses.

To succeed in telemarketing, you should also be fully aware of the main purpose of the call as well as what you want the recipient to do after the call. It is also best to set a secondary objective that seems realistic. When it comes to generating sales leads, you have to remember that time is money for both you and your potential client. Be concise, clear, and spell out your intentions before the client gets the chance to hang up on you. However, you should also be ready to listen to what the he is trying to say. If he does not seem interested in the products or services you are offering, you have to respect their decision and thank them anyway. It is also important to ask meaningful questions that will illustrate problems that your clients may be experiencing. Do your best in sounding natural because there is nothing worse than listening to someone who sounds like he is reading straight from a book. A good telemarketer is a good listener but also someone who can make others disclose in him or her to a degree from the onset. That’s because the telemarketer must get his/her prospect talking. And that’s not possible unless the telemarketer’s manner evokes some trust in the other person. This is a vitally important make-or-break point of telemarketing.

Sleep is one of the most important gifts you can give your body. But you are fighting your body’s natural sleep-wake cycle by staying up through the night, and sleep loss can be dangerous. Even if you are sleeping during the day instead of the night, you still need an average of eight hours to keep your body functioning properly. Go to sleep as soon as you can after work. Relax in a warm bath and then hit the bed. It’s also important to make your room as dark as possible and avoid the overuse of sleep aids.

Eating healthy when your timetable seems so backwards is difficult. To maintain a nourishing diet, it’s vital to adjust your meal routine around your schedule. Do not skip meals. To avoid pumping in empty calories from vending machines or fast food, plan ahead. It is easy to eat to pass the time, but you’ll gain weight this way. Bring a healthy meal with you to work. Drink lots of water. Sufficient water in the body improves alertness. Limit your consumption of caffeinated drinks. Consume no caffeine at least 4 hours before sleeping. Cut down on your alcohol intake, especially before sleep. Alcohol usually induces sleep, but it reduces the quality of sleep.

Proper sleep and a healthy diet are especially important for night shift workers. Treat your body right so you can withstand the challenges of working in call center.

Happy employees are any business’ best asset. However, keeping them happy in any economy is hard work. If the workplace is stressful, employee production goes down. Happy employees are satisfied and feel a sense of accomplishment in their work. They like themselves and what they do, and find satisfaction from their work. The best employees prefer to work for companies that provide the type of exceptional value that creates customer loyalty, thus, creating loyalty has become the toughest test for leadership in Philippine call center. Great customer service depends on the people providing that service. They have to be willing to serve well. They have to be inspired to go beyond what is their responsibility, in other words, they have to be treated well.  When workers feel that they are a dynamic and essential part of the team, they are more productive and willing to go the extra mile for customers and co-workers. A positive work environment is critical no matter how many employees you have. Therefore, give praise openly, set goals appropriate to the work, and always take your employees’ needs seriously. It is management that fosters the work atmosphere so they are responsible for conducting things in a way that helps raise people’s spirits.

A company will have strong customer service if it has strong leadership, and the commitment that this leadership conveys. When you have a happy and productive workforce that is eager to contribute, your company can weather any storm.

All this has had a significant impact on how brands are now positioning themselves, and how they re approaching their customers. In this period of intense competition and fleeting customer loyalty, the ownership of the relationship is now with the customer.  Companies need to strengthen customer relationships and optimize business outcomes by proactively engaging customers with the ideal customer service through any channel the customer favors. Interaction is an important factor. Every interaction with your company creates a lasting impression on the customer that’s why social media is providing an empowering platform for customers to very publicly discuss your company’s product and brand. In achieving your business goals, you also need to optimize your resources including inbound call center agents, business process outsourcing, back-office and automated systems. Legacy infrastructure and disparate hardware and application systems must be integrated to empower every employee responsible for customer service, sales, and support.   Another is every customer interaction incorporates an underlying customer process to ensure that the back office achieves similar efficiencies as its contact center counterparts.  Performance management and analytics will also increasingly play an important role in helping business executives determine customer engagement effectiveness and guide the decision-making process.

Customer engagement involves developing and fostering a sense of trust, emotional commitment and an ongoing involvement with your company. Your brand is not just viewed therefore as a functional benefit to be purchased for a price rather its a relationship partner in your customers life.