Inbound Call Centre Agent Duties and Responsibilities

Inbound call centre agents are on the frontline of your business – and it’s hard to overstate their importance.

As the first point of contact for your customers, they have an enormous impact on how your business is perceived. A skilled call centre agent can help keep your customers satisfied and boost their long-term loyalty to your business. 

In this post, we’ll explore the key duties and responsibilities of an inbound call centre agent and show how you can set your agents up for success.

Inbound Call Centre Agent Job Description

An inbound call centre agent is responsible for answering incoming calls from your customers. These customers may be looking to make a purchase, seek support with a product, or find out more about your services.

Regardless of your customers’ goals, an inbound call centre agent aims to deal with their enquiries in a friendly, efficient and proactive way. This will usually involve:

• Answering calls promptly
• Listening to the customer’s requirements
• Following the appropriate script
• Documenting the call
• Triggering necessary follow-ups
• Escalating any issues

By providing this essential service, call centre agents ensure your customers feel supported and valued, regardless of their needs.

Inbound Call Centre Agents: Key Duties and Responsibilities

Inbound call centre agents have an extremely demanding role. Call centre environments are often fast-paced and busy, and the range of tasks agents must tackle is extensive. It includes:

• Answering incoming calls. The agent will be expected to answer calls from customers promptly and greet them in a polite and professional manner. They may also be required to respond to messages on other channels, such as web chat or email.

• Processing orders. Many inbound call centres have a sales function, with agents required to input customers’ order details and process transactions.
  
  
• Upselling or cross-selling. Agents may be expected to make customers aware of additional products or services that are available and highlight their benefits. 

• Troubleshooting issues. If customers need support with a product or service, the agent may be expected to offer some initial guidance or ask relevant questions to help identify the issue.

• Logging complaints. If customers are dissatisfied with the service they’ve received, call centre agents will usually be required to register their complaints using a dedicated internal system.

• Following scripts. In most cases, inbound call centres provide scripts for agents to follow when resolving common queries. Agents must adhere to these as far as possible to ensure a consistent service.

• Updating your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. Agents may be required to amend customers’ details on the company’s CRM system – for instance, if they want to register a change of address.

• Navigating technical systems. In all the duties outlined above, agents will need to navigate your business’s inbound call centre software effectively and make appropriate use of its various functions.

• Meeting Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). Most inbound call centres will use a range of metrics to measure agent performance, including average handle time (AHT) and Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) scores.

• Attending training sessions. Continuous learning is essential in a fast-paced call centre environment, especially as new AI-powered tools become widespread.

As you can see, the range of duties and responsibilities undertaken by a call centre agent is extensive. Flourishing in this demanding role can be a serious challenge, and below we’ll outline some of the key skills that your agents will need. 

But first, let’s look at the benefits to your business of finding the right person for the role.

How Inbound Call Centre Agents Benefit Your Business

Australians have the highest expectations for customer service in the APAC region, with more than two-thirds agreeing that a company is only as good as the service they provide. That means you can’t afford to cut corners when it comes to delivering a top-quality call centre experience.

If you invest in hiring effective call centre agents (and supporting them appropriately!), you’ll secure a range of benefits, including:

• Improving your customer experience (CX). Your call centre is the first point of contact for your customers, and that means delivering a smooth, satisfying call centre experience is fundamental to maintaining a great CX.

• Boosting your NPS and CSAT scores. Your Net Promoter Score (NPS) and Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) score give distinct but equally valuable insights into how customers see your business. You can improve both by ensuring your inbound call centre agents are up to the task.

• Protecting your reputation. Your customers won’t settle for frustrating call centre interactions. And they won’t just take their business elsewhere – they may also share negative reviews or post about their experiences on social media. This can have a long-lasting impact on your reputation and turn away prospective customers.

• Increasing your average Customer Lifetime Value (CLV). CLV measures the total monetary value of a customer to your business. A customer who remains loyal for the long term and continues to buy new products and services will have a higher CLV – and an effective call centre experience can help encourage this kind of customer behaviour.

Taken together, these various benefits can have a significant impact on your bottom line. As a result, investing in the performance of your inbound call centre agents will often provide a significant return over the long term.

But what skills does an inbound call centre agent need to deliver this kind of boost to your business?

Key Skills of an Inbound Call Centre Agent

Given the range of duties and responsibilities outlined above, you won’t be surprised to learn that an inbound agent needs a range of skills to be effective in their role. This includes:

• Communication skills. Your agents need to be able to speak clearly, confidently and concisely to your customers. They may be required to explain complex issues in terms that are easy to understand or guide customers through a multi-step troubleshooting process.

• Empathy and patience. Your customers want to feel listened to and understood – especially if they are dealing with a product failure or a loss of service. Your agents must be able to listen with care and develop a clear sense of your customers’ needs and expectations.

• Company knowledge. If customers are calling for advice or guidance, agents should be able to offer them the support they need. To achieve this, they’ll need to have a strong understanding of the full range of services your company offers.

• Multitasking. In most cases, inbound call centre agents will need to take notes while they’re on a call, as well as look up any relevant information on the CRM system – all while continuing to listen and respond to questions appropriately.

• Problem solving. While many customer interactions will be straightforward, call centre agents will sometimes be confronted with unexpected situations or complex issues they’ve never encountered before. They need to be able to think on their feet to offer an effective solution.

• Conflict resolution. It’s an unfortunate reality that customers will sometimes be unhappy with your services. While call centre agents should not be expected to tolerate inappropriate behaviour, they may need to provide support to frustrated customers in a way that avoids escalation.

• Time management. Many key metrics for measuring call centre performance are time-based, including first response time (FRT) and agent utilisation rate. To help meet KPIs, agents must be attentive to how long their tasks are taking and adapt accordingly.

Finding agents with this wide range of skills won’t be easy – and simply hiring top-quality agents isn’t enough to secure the full benefits. Even the most skilled agents won’t be able to flourish if they don’t have the tools they need for the job. 

Read on below to find out how to support your call centre agents with the right technology once they arrive.

5 Essential Tools to Support Your Inbound Call Centre Agents

1. Advanced Scripting Software

To deliver consistent customer service, your agents need clear guidance. By providing them with scripts for common customer requests, they’ll be empowered to ask the right questions, gather the necessary information, and solve your customers’ problems with ease.

As part of MaxContact’s inbound call centre software solution, we provide user-friendly ways to build custom scripts that meet your business’s exact needs. You’ll be able to implement your own validations and branch logic to ensure your agents are never at a loss for the next step and minimise the risk of dissatisfied customers needing to call back.

2. Speech Analytics

The most effective call centre agents will always be looking for ways to improve their skills – and it’s imperative that your business supports them. To provide the guidance they need, you need a source of powerful insights into their on-call performance. And that’s exactly what speech analytics can offer.

MaxContact’s powerful speech analytics tool can automatically identify positive and negative words and phrases in your agents’ calls. This allows you to see how your agents are performing in a range of scenarios and highlight places where they may need further guidance. 

With this data on hand, you can offer your agents tailored support, identifying areas for improvement and reinforcing best practices.

3. Knowledge Management System

If your agents don’t have easy access to a full range of customer and business information, they will struggle to respond quickly and accurately to queries. Their AHT will increase as they try to find the data they need, while customers may become frustrated at unnecessary delays.

A robust and customisable knowledge management system (KMS) equips your agents with all the information they need at their fingertips. A global search function allows them to find the right answer without needing to wade through multiple documents, while dynamic branching logic helps them move through complex topics with ease.

An effective KMS won’t just help your agents deliver effective customer service – it’ll also help streamline their training process. With direct access to essential business knowledge, they will find it significantly easier to learn. Given that almost a third of call centre staff say they don’t receive enough training, this could be a significant competitive advantage.

4. Tech Stack Integration

As we mentioned above, your call centre agents need to be adept at navigating the various systems your business uses. On a given call, they might need to move from your call centre software to your CRM, and from there to your payment portal – all while speaking to the customer in an engaged and professional way.

Needless to say, if your tech stack is poorly integrated, you’ll be making their jobs that much harder. Whether they’re forced to re-enter a customer’s payment details or wait for cumbersome software to load, they’ll be facing unnecessary delays and struggling to keep the customer happy.

MaxContact’s call centre integrations can help your agents deliver a truly seamless customer experience. Our developers have extensive experience working with a full range of industry-leading platforms – and we can also offer custom integrations for your in-house software, too.

5. Omnichannel Support

Australia is now a global leader in delivering omnichannel customer experiences. As a result, customers are accustomed to being able to switch between channels with ease. 

If they start a query on web chat, follow it up on WhatsApp, and then make a phone call to provide further details, they expect your call centre agent will have the information they need on hand. If your systems don’t support omnichannel interactions, the customer will likely have to repeat themselves. This isn’t just highly frustrating for the customer – it also puts your agents in a difficult position.

To give your call centre agents the best chance of delivering the omnichannel experience customers expect, they need access to cutting-edge omnichannel software. With MaxContact’s omnichannel customer service solution, for instance, they can use a single communication platform across every channel. That means your customers can switch between channels at will, without the risk of your service quality dipping.

Empower Your Inbound Call Centre Agents with MaxContact

For most customers, your inbound call centre agents are the face of your company. They’re the people your customers first encounter when they want to make a purchase, solve an issue or seek information. If you don’t put your agents in a position to succeed, your customers will likely come away with a negative impression – and your business will suffer as a consequence.

At MaxContact, we provide industry-leading inbound call centre solutions. With an extensive range of cutting-edge features designed for maximum flexibility, you can provide your agents with the support they need to excel.

To learn more about our services and see our software in action, book a demo today.