Telecom companies need to ensure day-to-day metric consistency is maintained, as their level of performance is often closely scrutinized during levels of high customer inquiry volume – especially for an event like the Olympics. Constantly evaluating and tracking service metrics helps ensure the right support is being delivered to the customers. If companies fail to accurately track these measurements, they will be unable to identify what they need to improve upon in advance of the next event that leads to high call volumes.

Properly prepare your people

Well-established telecoms are aware of the important role call center support agents play in customer satisfaction and overall business success. One of the keys to guaranteeing high-quality calls, resolved requests and consistent performance is for employees to participate in training. This training needs to be consistent and not only take place when agents are hired but throughout their employment to ensure they have up-to-date knowledge of the company’s offerings and service options. If working with a third-party provider, telecom companies need to ensure this same level of training takes place among the outsourced staff. In preparing for a large scale event such as the Olympics, added training programs should be put in place for coaching call center agents such as conducting mock scenario programs. This type of training presents agents with a rundown of questions and hands-on situations they may encounter with customers either on the ground in Brazil or in the midst of traveling to the games.

If the agents supporting the telecom companies are ill-prepared and unable to efficiently escalate issues and empathize with customers in the wake of a major event, the company may be left with dissatisfied customers. To ward off unhappy clients and lost business, proper training is key to customer support offerings.

Expand without sacrificing quality

In anticipation of the major increase in customer support call volume during major events including the Olympics, telecommunications companies also need to scale their services and staff to handle the overflow. This can include adding talent that can handle a wider range of languages or perhaps specialize in international telecom technology support. Working with an outsourcing partner is a great way to meet these needs as they often have widespread call center teams with a breadth of skills and specialties that the telecom company requires. But extending the team should not affect the quality of customer service provided. Companies should ensure extra agents from their outsource partner are armed with the same training and skills as their full-time support team to ensure customer satisfaction.

When it comes down to it, the level of a company’s customer support performance is only as good as its customer-facing employees. The smallest detail of a customer’s interaction with a brand representative over the phone or via an online chat may be the reason they decide to continue using the service or, alternatively, unsubscribe. Rather than read from a script, agents need to be flexible and develop interpersonal skills that enable them to handle a situation, good or bad, while making each interaction personalized and enjoyable. And making the extended support feel part of the everyday team is essential to maintaining consistency in this service delivery.

Power and protect operations with technology

In today’s digital world, a crucial element for any customer support company is its use of the right technology. One technology that benefits telecommunications companies in particular is remote monitoring and maintenance (RMM) software. RMM ensures a company’s IT systems are up and running with no unexpected system downtime, which may cause lapses in service to customers and ultimately lost revenue.

As the athletes enter the final stretch of preparing for the Olympics, so must the companies and providers that support the event and its attendees. Telecommunication services will face immense scrutiny as their customers prepare to travel internationally and look to maintain the daily communication capabilities to which they are accustom. But by recognizing what they need to do in preparation of increased customer demands, these companies can successfully manage the influx while ensuring seamless and exceptional service delivery.