The transfer is a standard feature of many contact centre calls. Transfers are common, but they come with a host of potential hazards. Transfers can aggravate both customers and employees; customers dislike being kept on wait longer or, even worse, having to repeat themselves, while employees are concerned about the impact of transfers on average hold times and customer satisfaction.
Despite this, a transfer doesn’t need to be a terrible experience. It’s a no loss situation for both parties, clients and staff if callers are routed to the right associates who can assist them.
Knowing the difference between a cold and a warm transfer and when to utilise each is essential if you want to become proficient with transfers.
A cold transfer occurs when a caller is transferred to an associate without speaking to that colleague. In contrast, the context is provided by a warm transfer. As part of a warm transfer, a receptionist chats with the employee who will receive the transfer. Before taking the call, the colleague will know the caller and the circumstances surrounding the caller’s call.
In a call centre, what is a “Cold Transfer”?
We’ve all had to deal with a cold transfer at some point. In contact centres and customer service departments, it’s the most popular method of passing calls amongst employees. In a nutshell, a “cold transfer” is a method of transferring a call to an employee without first preparing them for the task.
A customer calls, their call is received, and the call is forwarded to a person who handles the conversation from there, without gathering any additional information beyond the customer’s reason for calling.
Cold transfers at a call centre can also take the form of routing calls to a different representative when one person isn’t available to take the caller’s call. As soon as one agent’s knowledge or training on a certain subject has been exhausted when attempting to assist a caller, a transfer is made to another agent who has more experience in that particular area of concern.
How Do You Do a Warm Transfer?
Many consumers prefer the warm transfer to the cold transfer in a contact centre when it’s an option. Calls received by a receptionist or automated system are transferred to an agent or representative based on what they know about the nature and cause of the issue or problem you are reporting. That way, the individual who answers your phone can provide excellent service and an understanding approach right from the get-go because they already know what you’re going through before saying hello.
Even while warm transferring is desirable, it isn’t always practical or even possible to use this method in all situations. Cold transfers are the only option available to most institutions for connecting customers with someone who can assist them. Please get to the root of the problem and start solving it right away, and tailor the client experience as much as possible in order to achieve a customer-satisfying cold transfer at a call centre.
Handling Cold Transfers in the Best Possible Ways
A call centre’s ability to use a cold transfer depends on handling it. They expect their issues to be resolved swiftly with as little face time (or phone time) as possible in the fast-paced environment of today’s consumers. Your call centre can meet and even exceed these expectations with the correct technology and training.
A loosely structured template of prompts should be used to instruct employees of an effective call centre to obtain information. In spite of the fact that no employee should ever speak to a customer in the same manner, every time they pick up the phone, giving your employees a general script to follow will help them collect the most accurate and relevant information possible, most politely and efficiently possible.
Interactive voice response (IVR) is one of today’s best technologies for making the most of consumer calls as rapidly as feasible. Calling a call centre used to entail sifting through a maze of menus and being tossed into a sea of other people waiting to speak with someone randomly. Using IVR technology is no longer necessary. Today, callers can voice their concerns and have the system use that information to better direct their call. Less time on hold and increased customer satisfaction result from this strategy for dealing with issues.
Your agents should be trained to handle the transfer process correctly if it is necessary to do so. Your agents will always encounter queries or concerns that require the attention of specific staff members, no matter how well prepared they are. The following is the best suitable course of action your staff should do while transferring a call are:
- The first step is to inform your caller of why you’re transferring the call and ask for their approval. Callers will not feel like they are being “jerked around” by the chain of persons receiving their calls
- If you’ve got anything to say, do it. Customers can ask for the identity of the last person they spoke to by name if they get disconnected, allowing them to skip at least one step in the process
- Make an introduction between your teammate and your client by transferring the phone conversation, and if feasible, stay on the line so that you may explain your predicament to your coworker. This will transform or transfer the call from a chilly one to one that is a lot more enjoyable for the person on the other end
It is becoming increasingly common for call centres of the future to combine the use of advanced technology with the training of their personnel to identify the root of a customer’s problem quickly. This two-pronged approach is essential if you want a call centre that grows and continues to address problems for callers of all kinds.
Why Invest So Much Time and Energy?
Call centres today go to great lengths to improve the cold transfer experience for customers for various reasons. The reputation that their customer service has earned them is one of the most important factors. Everyone has been on hold for excessive time with a corporation or had their problems repeatedly passed from one staffer to another in a seemingly never-ending loop. As a result of this kind of encounter, contact centres are perceived as rude and indifferent to the demands and concerns of their customers.
In today’s call centres, every effort is made to alter that notion. Using the tools at our disposal and making ourselves more approachable to our clients and customers to address their concerns and queries and meet their demands. Cold transfers in contact centres can be transformed into something entirely different today by utilising the latest technology to better the process for all parties involved.
FAQs
Q.1 What are the different sorts of call transfers?
Call transfer is a regular function of modern telephone services that essentially involves transferring calls from one user to another. A call can be transferred in the cold (blind) and warm (attended).
Q.2 In a call centre, what is a warm transfer?
A warm transfer requires the operator or a receptionist (this can be an alive or virtual receptionist) to engage with the team member receiving the call before connecting to them.
Q. 3 What are the benefits of a cold transfer?
If the chat previous to transferring was essential, a cold transfer might result in an angrier client when asked again about the reason for their call. It’s a smart business goal to give good phone customer service because this could be a prospective client’s first impression of the organisation.
Q.4 In a call centre, how do I transfer a call?
Introduce the caller to the person or department to which they are being transferred. First, introduce yourself to the new contact. Next, ask if there is anything further you can do to assist the caller and express gratitude for their patience. Explain why the call needs to be transferred to the caller.
Q.5 What is a call centre blind transfer?
When one agent transfers or shifts a call to another agent without telling the next agent or the customer, this is known as a cold transfer. It is also known as Blind Transfer since neither the next agent nor the consumer receives any context about the call being transferred.
