Customer service call center job description - How to build a great customer service team

A good customer service team is essential in ensuring customer satisfaction and avoiding churn. In today’s omnichannel world, you should plan out beforehand the skills and qualities needed in a great customer service team and outline those in your customer service call center job description. When you get the right pieces together, your customer service superstars can make a real difference to your customers. 

In today’s social media connected world, customer service has a significant impact on how customers value brands. A customer service team could be the only human contact a customer has with a company or organisation. Ensuring customer satisfaction requires omnichannel service. This calls for versatility from both agents and call centers.

Demands to consider when crafting a customer service call center job description

Customer service teams need to be highly organised and capable of seamless teamwork. There should be a common base of best practices and a willingness to adopt the latest trends that improve customer satisfaction.

Modern customer service teams should be based on solid teamwork. An operation that brings out its agents’ strengths and caters for all customer needs brings the best results.

In our previous blog about sales call centers’ job description, we provided tips on how to assemble a sales team that closes like never before. This blog lists tips on crafting a customer service call center job description that helps recruit a strong team. For more specific roles, you can read our blogs on the job description of agents and managers.

Efficiency and empathy cornerstones of successful customer service call centers

The call center environment is often hectic. Teams frequently use several channels to solve a single case. Analytics also plays a major part in modern call centers. Your team needs to remain empathetic and efficient even in the middle of rush hours. Add to that the pressure of knowing that your performance is constantly measured.

Customer service call centers have certain metrics that give a clear sign of the performance level of a team:

• Average call abandonment rate: You should evaluate the size or performance of your team if too many callers hang up without an agent picking up.
• First response time: Being as accessible as possible is important for good customer service.
• First resolution rate: Your team should be able to resolve most customer cases during the first contact, as customers don’t like to be transferred between agents.
• Customer satisfaction score: You should try to aim for high CSAT ratings, since they are accurate indicators of customer retention.
• Average handle time: The ratio between average talk time and average handle time can reveal problems in the wrap-up or resolution process.

The metrics above provide insight into your operation’s processes. They don’t, however, prepare your team to handle situations where customers are often frustrated and in a hurry.

Soft skills, such as empathy, are key in de-escalating difficult situations and keeping interactions positive.

Teamwork is a major factor in keeping your agents motivated. Team leaders should ensure that everyone gets the support that allows them to succeed. The team should strive to share their experiences and best practices with others, so the whole team can reap the benefits.

Top 5 qualities for customer service call center teams

There is no profile set in stone for a good customer service agent. Diverse agent backgrounds and individual strengths can be beneficial in providing a specific approach to challenging situations.

To offer customer service that regularly delights customers, you should, however, build teams that are:

• Empathetic and positive: Empathy is key in both customer contact and teamwork. Your whole team has to enjoy helping each other and finding the right solutions that meet customer needs. A positive attitude should come naturally to an agent as it improves customer satisfaction.
• Analytical: Every member of your customer service teams should be aware of their performance levels and actions required to optimise processes. Together they should also find ways to improve the whole team.
• Calm under pressure: Call center work is hectic. Your team should focus on what matters, even during the busiest hours and occasional problems.
• Tech-oriented: Today’s customer service call centers should offer omnichannel services. This requires teams to work seamlessly across different channels to fulfil customer needs. Also, the current AI trend is only going to get bigger in the upcoming years. Your team should be able to utilise latest technologies without hesitation.
• Resourceful: There are plenty of repetitive interactions in customer service. There are, however, also challenging cases where your team has to find creative ways to solve problems. Sticking to best practices is wise, since they are methods that have been proven to work, but recognising  opportunities to think outside the box is also important for problem solving and upselling.

Where should you post customer service job ads?

To maximise the visibility of your customer service job ad, consider both international and local job sites. You can find international candidates for remote call center jobs in global services, such as Indeed, Monster or Workable. You should also try to find local talent through regional channels that are popular in the area you are hiring for.

These days also social media is a huge channel for recruitment. LinkedIn and other job-related platforms are definitely worth including in your recruitment process. Post a job template in your official social media channels that your employees can share on their own accounts. For a more visual approach, you could try Instagram stories or TikTok to attract younger talent.

Every call center has its own demands and strengths

The qualities listed in this blog are good guidelines and approximations that support you in drafting effective customer service call center job ads. You are, however, the expert of your own call center and know the special skills required in your business environment. You should always emphasise the qualities that work for you.

Today’s recruitment is not all about your needs. To attract the best talent, you need to offer candidates more than a job. The work culture you create in your call center might be one of the most important factors that govern what kind of people want to work for you.

When you get the balance between your demands and what you can offer right, you will attract the right kind of candidates.