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Customer service tops the in-demand skills list. We need agents with these skills to take care of our customers. And, then we need to take care of our customer service agents in return, or they’ll leave. They will. They have other options in the employment market.

Start to see the agents as long-term fixtures and assets in your business. Offer them career development opportunities and invest in them. Feature agents’ accomplishments. People want to be recognized, not just compensated.

Today we’re chatting with Idris Said from XTendico about truly understanding the key role agents play in relationships with our customers and how invaluable that is.

Topics discussed in this episode:

[3:05-3:41] Consumer feedback is a huge value center. Agents are fielding questions, receiving feedback, hearing which issues our customers have; you can’t buy this kind of data in focus groups!

[8:05-8:59] We should empower agents to provide frequent feedback to management so we capitalize on everything they are learning.

[13:05-13:51] Customer support agents are problem solvers. All day they are decoding what the consumer is saying to get them to a resolution. Soft skills cannot be replaced by technology.

[23:25-24:23] Work should fit into an employees’ life and not the other way around. There are more jobs than applicants so agents can choose the best work situation for them.

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