Yammer just put out a press release announcing that they hit the 1 million user milestone.  This news bring up an interesting question:

What techniques are call centers using to effectively communicate internally?

The question is interesting because, while call centers are often “experts” at communicating with customers, it is also often true that call centers are lacking in internal communications.

Yammer is an interesting product. It is essentially Twitter for internal corporate communications.  It allows companies to communicate internally in a quick and informal way.

Here are 3 ways call centers could benefit from using Yammer:

1. Knowledge base: Often call center managers need the ability to update a script or provide client specific instruction on the fly. Yammer allows for the creation of a knowledge base that is searchable and readily available to all agents.
2. Social Network: Call center can be fairly anti-social due to the transient nature of the workforce, but being open to internal communication can help raise moral. An internal social network can allow employees to get to know their co-workers, helping build a better sense of team.
3. Team communication: Yammer would allow for easy team by team communication. Contests, up to the minute KPI information and other mission critical data could be shared for all to see.

Often, call center communication is a top-down only affair – with the call center manager dictating to the supervisors who carry out the instructions with the staff.  It could be very beneficial in many cases to open up the lines of communication so that the managers can get direct feedback from the agents as to what is working, etc.

So, the question remains – what techniques does your call center use to effectively communicate internally?

From the Harvard Business Review:

Next time you’re on the phone with a call center, listen carefully to what the rep says. Chances are you’ll hear your name several times, hear a tone of empathy, maybe an “I’m sorry.” It would be nice to think the rep really cares — but of course she’s probably just following a script. That can be a bad idea, we’ve found. In our recent HBR article “Stop Trying to Delight Your Customers“, we explored how customer service drives loyalty, including the role of managing the emotional side of customer interactions. Here’s some further insight about that delicate dance.

Most companies still suffer from the checklist mentality when it comes to managing how their reps engage with customers. Use the standard greeting…check…say the customer’s name three times…check…show empathy…check…ask if you’ve fully resolved the issue…check, check, and check.

Most companies will tell you it’s all about consistency. But, let’s face it, consistency breeds robotic interactions which fail to result in a tailored, low-effort customer experience.

We’ve seen companies move away from this “one-size-fits-all” approach and creatively teach their reps to use simple word choice — and in some cases, approaches founded on behavioral economics — to radically shape how a customer perceives an interaction.

Interesting article.  How has your call center utilized its script to drive customer experience?

As a new feature, we are going to go more in depth on certain job listing describing the characteristics of the listing, the opportunity, and other potential useful information.

Our latest featured job listing is for a call center tech support – tier 1 in Denver, CO.  In this role, our agents will be handling inbound customer service and support calls for a dynamic, growing tech company.

This job pays very well and is hiring for the 3rd quarter.

Our client is aggressively growing and looking for smart, articulate people with the desire to work hard.

Follow this link if you are interested in applying for this job.

Some great advice for job seekers in the internet age (from WorkAwesome):

Resumes and Cover Letters Still Matter

Yes, these two pieces of paper are still important (check out CallMe!’s our previous advice here).  Maybe they’re attachments to your e-mail. But you need to give the hiring managers something to print and read.

While you’re at it, make sure you use proper grammar and spelling. One HR professional says she cuts and pastes all the cover letters she receives into Word so the spell check can tell her who gets it wrong.

Use Social Networks

College students are ignoring Twitter but the people who want to hire them are on it. Get in front of the people who are looking for your talents. Network in their circles.

Don’t Abuse Social Networks

Take a look at your Facebook account. How many times do the words “drunk,” “wasted” and “PARRRR-TAY” appear on pages? That doesn’t cut it with most employers. Sure they did it when they were your age. But not they’re responsible adults who want to hire people who know how to pretend they’re responsible adults.

Don’t put anything in a tweet or update that you wouldn’t say in a job interview.

• Bonus Tip: Change your Facebook privacy settings so that the only photos of you that can be tagged with your name are ones you tag. So all those beer pong photos don’t show on your wall.

Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile

LinkedIn can be a valuable tool for finding a job. Make sure your public profile looks as good as your resume.

Clean up Your Email Address

Do you know how many people in your industry want to hire someone with the email address party_girl69 at hotmail.com? Unless it’s more than 90%, you’d better create a new job search email address. Any clean variation of your name will work fine – unless you’re John Smith.

Also, employers are searching social networks for candidates’ e-mail addresses. So give them one that’s not attached to your MySpace page.

Get Creative

Of course creative is a relative term. You don’t want to be seen as avant garde when you’re looking for a job in accounting, insurance or banking. But you want to stand out in a good way and show you know how your industry works.

Consider Alex Brownstein. The copywriter identified five creative directors he admired and started using Google Adwords campaigns for their names. When the directors Googled themselves, they saw this ad at the top of the search page:

“Hey, [creative director's name]: Goooogling [sic] yourself is a lot of fun. Hiring me is fun, too”

You’ll never guess who got his dream job.

Related articles by Zemanta

• HOW TO: Land Your Dream Job Using Google AdWords (mashable.com)
• Job Search and Social Networking (gautamblogs.com)
• Social Media for Job Seeker Customers (slideshare.net)
• You: Ways to Use Social Networking to Land Your Next Job (washingtonpost.com)

As a new feature, we are going to go more in depth on certain job listing describing the characteristics of the listing, the opportunity, and other potential useful information.

Our latest featured job listing is for a bilingual telemarketing and sales call center job in San Diego, California.  In this role, our agents will be working on outbound B2B and B2C telemarketing and sales campaigns.

Some key features of this job include:

• $9-11 DOE.
• Bonus plan.
• Access to CallMe! benefits – immediate access, no wait period.
• Paid training!

Our client is aggressively growing and looking for smart, articulate people with the desire to work hard.

Follow this link if you are interested in applying for this job.