Why are poor performing agents like a kidney stone? Both are a pain in the side. I am a big fan of dad jokes and this one was told to me by a coworker after I had recently experienced the passing of a painful kidney stone.
A couple days after my experience, I saw an article in my LinkedIn feed about the Artificial Intelligence vs Human debate that is so popular these days. A machine would never feel the physical pain associated with something like a kidney stone. Neither would it experience human empathy, which in my opinion is one of the most important, yet most ignored emotions in business and life, especially in today’s environment.
At AnswerOn, we host Round Table sessions with the best human “intervenors” at the various call centers that we have the privilege to work with. These people take the output of AnswerOn’s machine learning technology and deliver a unique human-to-human touchpoint designed to reengage agents that are trending towards the dreaded “No Call No Show.” These Team Leaders and Managers are the “best of the best” and are sought out for their secrets of success in using the AnswerOn solution to engage their teams. We value them greatly for their willingness to share their experiences.
After every session and hearing their stories, the key ingredients for success can almost always be summarized down to a couple things: A human connection made possible through advanced machine learning and the human attributes of empathy and relatability.
Accurate predictive analytics and humans that have capacity to feel pain (hopefully not kidney stone pain!) and exhibit empathy are a key combination for changing culture and improving attrition and performance.
