Special interview
Author: Hu Xueneng
2020-12-30 07:10
Last update date: 2020-12-30 07:10
Banks are becoming more and more digital, and everything is processed online or on mobile phones, which naturally increases the number of operational inquiries.
Take the HSBC Phone Banking Center as an example, it handles about 40,000 calls a day on average!
However, urbanites are under great pressure in life and they are particularly concerned about money and banking matters. From time to time, the customer service director will encounter some customers who are emotional and even foul language.
Peng Shuzhen, head of HSBC's Hong Kong Wealth Management and Personal Banking Telephone Wealth Management Center, said that customer service directors occasionally encounter these cases, and the bank also has ways to deal with them. "When there is a big market gap, customers may not be in a good mood. If we want to find someone to vent, we will try to understand how small we are, and give our guests more care and sympathy."
The new crown pneumonia epidemic is raging, and branches have shortened business hours. Apart from using more online banking, telephone banking has also become an important channel for inquiry.
Peng Shuzhen said that compared with previous calls from customers, most of them only asked for a single item. Since the epidemic, the demand pattern has changed, and the items asked by customers have increased. More people have inquired about how to use daily banking services through digital channels, including money transfer and account opening. Shangji receives more support.
Peng Shuzhen said that since the epidemic, customer demand patterns for phone financial management have changed.
(Photo by Gao Zhongming)
Software and soft skills training to help the frontline respond to customer queries
When a user calls the bank’s Call Center, how do frontline employees teach the way "over the air"?
It turned out that the bank introduced many tools to help front-line staff respond to customer queries, including simulator tools.
"When a customer asks about a certain online or mobile financial management step, such as money transfer, the simulator will simulate the operating environment, and colleagues can gradually teach the customer how to do each step on the phone." Peng Xu said, also because of this tool. Employees at the telephone customer service centers in Guangzhou and Manila, Philippines, can teach customers how to use them as if they are in the operating environment of Hong Kong.
The center currently handles about 40,000 calls a day on average, and each customer service officer answers more than 50 inquiries a day. The frontline handles a large number of inquiries and occasionally encounters problematic calls, such as foul language when the customer is emotional, how to deal with it ?
Peng Shuzhen said: "We usually try our best to calm our customers, and then learn about the customer's call, how we can actually help them, if the other party continues to be more provocative, we will say to the other party, "Our The professional code hopes to put the customer first and serve you as much as possible, but if you are in your situation, we may follow up and contact you later, but we will not continue this conversation". We will give a formal response to end the call , Do not want to worsen the mood of the incident, and then store the bottom in the system, and then analyze whether these special cases have room for optimization."
She added that the probability of occurrence of such cases is less than 1%, but the relevant cases will later be cited to train colleagues: "Colleagues may not provide the most perfect service, or the customers themselves are more provocative, depending on different circumstances. Handling. But we will have sufficient training for frontline colleagues. If we encounter these situations, we will refer these cases to the team manager for review and follow-up.” She emphasized that the frontline usually receives soft skills training, including emotional handling. "When there is a big market gap, customers may not be in a good mood, and they may just want to find someone to vent when they enter. We will try to understand how small and small, and give customers more care and sympathy."
According to Peng, the most common types of enquiries received by the center are credit cards, such as spending transaction details, account balances, transfers, credit balances, digital channel information, etc., during weekdays at 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. when the stock market is more active. Peak service demand.
With the changing of customers' inquiry habits, the bank has also launched WhatsApp inquiry in recent months. Customers can contact the customer service officer through an additional channel.
HSBC launched a WhatsApp query channel in recent months.
Customer Care Center Many Career Routes
Under the epidemic, the center has experienced an extraordinary 30th year this year. Peng said that the center has implemented work-at-home arrangements in only two or three weeks since the peak of the epidemic. Frontline colleagues can listen to customer calls at home, which minimizes the operation of the center. In addition to the impact, it also protects the health of colleagues.
She pointed out that at the beginning of the establishment of the center 30 years ago, the establishment was only 5 employees. Today, it has 8 centers with a total of more than 2,600 employees. Some of them have 30 years of experience, and some have served banks for more than 40 years. The center has adopted graduates. , And some people with customer service experience, "We mainly hope to hire people who have a customer-centric mindset. The technical level can be taught, but the person’s caring and service mentality is very important. In terms of education, he has a diploma. People with the above qualifications will consider it."
The HSBC Telephone Customer Service Center has been established for 30 years. The Chief Executive Officer of HSBC Hong Kong, Shi Yingyin (front row, second from right) went to the center to "visit".
It may be difficult for outsiders to imagine the career development of a customer service center. However, Peng said that the career planning route of the center closely follows the personal growth of employees. "We have technology-based promotion (ladder). Multi-skills, such as insurance licenses and investment-related licenses, will have room for advancement. At present, there are more digital channels and chat services are needed. They are also new skills. If colleagues can master more skills, the chances of promotion will be greater." .
"Some of our colleagues come in and do it slowly, and become team manager (team manager). They manage more than a dozen people. If they are promoted, they may manage dozens of people and then over a hundred people. Other colleagues don't like managing people. , But like to try new things, I may propose to transfer from the sound department to the digital department... Several years ago, outsiders thought: With AI and digital (digital), then the customer service center is not a sunset industry? We hope our colleagues know, If colleagues keep abreast of the times, continue to learn and improve their skills, there must be room for development in the company."
The bank has partnered with Google in recent months to introduce the Automated Quality Management (AQM) system for the first time in the telephone customer service center, using AI and automation technology to monitor the quality of telephone banking services, saving 2,400 hours of work per month. manpower.
However, Peng Shuzhen pointed out that even if the system is updated, AI learning depends on people. "If you tell your colleagues this information, your colleagues will be very proud. They will not think that they are replaced by machines. Instead, they will think that I often say ——A "marriage between AI and human empathy" is equivalent to the future trend of the customer service center."
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