Different Types of Customer Service Agents

by Grant Gipe in , ,

Managing a highly effective call center requires the manager assume the role of leader, teacher, psychologist, mentor, adviser, and parent. You need to understand your team's different personality types and what motivates them.

How agents perceive the call center:

  • The Call Center must exceed the competition
  • Keep compensation steady
  • Offer an appealing communication culture
  • Offer steady management
  • Desire fair resolutions to disagreements
  • Offer extensive training 
  • Want a management team that is empathetic
  • Maintain a balance between discipline and flexibility
  • Have rules that are clear and easy to understand
  • Have rules in writing to maintain consistency
  • Have rules that are fairly enforced

A good manager and/or supervisor understands the different types of agent personalities:

1. High Maintenance

  • CSRs that always have issues, criticisms, questions and input regarding any imaginable topic. They bring any issue to the SCSR’s attention. They complain about the temperature, the computer, the customers, the computer screen emitting radiation, the challenges of the job, the chair, the compensation plan, the headset manufacturer, friends and enemies in the Service Center, and what those friends and enemies do in the telephone and at break.
  • We can’t live without high maintenance CSRs because they demonstrate accountability and caring with regard to their jobs. They take pride in their  work, and they work admirably. They are inquisitive by nature, and passionate about everything. They also tend to be sensitive and emotional.
  • When a high maintenance CSR comes to you for feedback, you must immediately recognize that you should react very slowly and thoughtfully because the way they feel can change so quickly that the way you respond is critical. 

2. Low Maintenance

  • CSRs that are the exact opposite of high maintenance CSRs. They tend to see the “big” picture in the Service Center. They have been through the mill, recognize how challenging the SCSR’s job can be, and recognize the value of their own job. They are extremely consistent in their communication habits, think before acting, and tend to portray the same disposition each day.
  • When CSR feedback takes place, the SCSR recognizes that he may be able to react and provide a fair solution to issues before those issues become a problem. Low maintenance CSRs are self-starters and tend to display a maturity that makes the SCSR job quite easy.

3. Attention Driven

  • This type of CSR is a sub-set of the high maintenance CSR. They want to be seen by everybody in the Service Center. They may contact the SCSR 4 or 5 times a day to ask a question that has no relevance. Sometimes, these CSRs will substitute involvement at work for a lack of involvement at home. They care about how they are perceived by their peers. They want to do the right things, and they want management to recognize they are doing the right things. They want their peers to commend them on their performance

4. Authority Pleasing

  • This type of CSR is a sub-set of the high-maintenance CSR. They want to be seen by their SCSR as often as possible. They may contact their SCSR 4 or 5 times in a day simply to ask questions that have no relevance, or to obtain simple answers the CSR may have been able to find on her own. They car about how they are perceived by those in power. They want to do the right things, and they want management to recognize they are doing the right things. 

5. Aloof

  • The aloof CSR is the introvert prefers anonymity. They care about doing the job well. They don’t want to be absorbed in the workings of the Service Center operations. They may participate in activities as a secondary figure, but they are more than likely to decline an invitation to join in events.

6. Paranoid

  • They believe that trouble is on the horizon and spend as much time as possible fretting about the gloom and doom of myths and realities. For example, paranoid CSRs tend to gossip and start rumors about potential layoffs, new bonus plans, management changes, tariff plan changes, etc. SCRS should take note that paranoid CSRs are the most fun to work with in the Service Center, because they are the easiest to manipulate!

7. Unhappy

  • The unhappy CSR should get another job elsewhere. They are almost always veteran CSRs. They may be unhappy about not advancing, about compensation, about the way they are supervised, etc., or they may be unhappy as a way of gaining attention. An unhappy CSR can destroy a culture. Usually, however, they bring most of their disappointments upon themselves.

8. Consistent Performer

  • This is the type of CSR every SCSR enjoys managing. This category is a sub-segment of the low maintenance CSR. They understand the foundation of their job; they recognize what their role is in the Service Center; they always meet and exceed company objectives; they rarely pose a problem to management without offering some sort of support or solution to the issue. They see the big picture and enjoy their jobs. 

9. Job Performance in Jeopardy

  • This category of CSR is on a performance development program. They may still need to be talked with, or perhaps they have been spoken to and are on a performance plan. In either case, they are the CSRs who can see that their careers may come to an end soon.

10. Why Did We Hire This Person

  • This type of CSR may not show up to work on time, or may be painfully non-qualified for the role. In the new hire training, this type of CSR may lack simple communication skills, or even fall asleep in class. On the floor, the CSR may contribute nothing, in any area, to the Service Center.

11. Authority Challenging

  • This is the SCSR’s worst nightmare. They are a sub-segment f the high maintenance CSR, however, the authority challenging CSR doesn’t like to take “no” for an answer. They always believe their actions or ideas are worthy of full implementation. They spend time pitting one SCSR against another, and one SCSR’s decisions against his boss’ decisions. They want to know why. They continually look for avenues to find a path to get their own way. They pit peers and management against one another for their own good. 

12. Super Achiever

  • This type of CSR is a spectacular employee who does everything well. These don’t come around very often.

13. Energizer

  • This CSR has a high energy level that contributes enormously to the culture of the Service Center. He is a doer who cares about his position and the position of the company. They are CSRs who tend to volunteer and they may spend hours after work designing programs to help the Service Center succeed.