In the famous boiling frog fable, a frog falls into boiling water, but leaps right out. He survives. Another frog falls into a slowly heating pot. Each heat increment goes unnoticed, so by the time the water boils, the frog is so accustomed to the heat that he stays - and dies.
According to the Harvard Business Review, the call centre industry is in warming water: 53 percent of its call handlers – for many the only link to their customers – are bored, demotivated, or close to burnout. Whilst the cost of call handler replacement runs between $10k - $20k, according to McKinsey, it is more expensive losing customers whose lifetime value exceeds that.
Since call handlers are often the only (or most frequent) interaction with prospects and customers, investing in powerful, fully featured headsets lets call handlers please callers more easily. It’s a virtuous circle: happy callers make call handlers feel more valued, who in turn react better to callers.
According to research by Unified Experience Platform E1, 98 percent of employees say that their endpoint is important. Arguably, the one endpoint that affects call handlers’ quality of work most are headsets.
Headsets to call handlers are like pistols to a gunfighter. A good headset can make a call handler sound authoritative; a bad one makes a call handler sound weak through a tinny tone.
How a call handler comes across to a caller can influence a caller’s behaviour. A bad headset reveals background sounds of keyboard rata-tat-tat or babies crying, revealing a less professional call handler and company. So, the caller behaves accordingly – maybe rudely or aggressively.
Good headsets take advantage of clear voice capture (CVC) technology, which filters background noises when the call handler speaks, so the call handler’s voice sounds crystal clear to the caller. Without background keyboard, baby or dog noises, the call handler sounds more authoritative and persuasive. The caller might think the call handler is more senior, in their own office, and so treats the call handler with more respect. With callers and customers behaving positively, call handlers start feeling valued.
