What are the Contact Center Best Practices for Countering Misselling?

None of us like to be compelled into buying a product only to discover that it isn't what we paid for. 

And such episodes of misselling are critical to customer satisfaction ratings for any organization. 

As long as contact centers don't take any steps to curb misselling, there are many repercussions of misselling. 

Let's look at different ways to help call center agents avoid misselling. One of the best call center management practices is using call center software to fix problems like misselling 

But before we look at these methods, let's answer a much simpler question - What is misselling?

What is Misselling?

Misselling is a bad sales tactic where call center reps deliberately provide prospective customers with the wrong information. This increases sales and meets an agent's key performance indicators.

For example, when you call a gym to inquire about the different types of membership they offer, many gyms say that they've personal trainers as part of the membership. Some gyms lie about personal trainers'  and charge you extra for your first membership. 

This is one of the most common examples of misselling.

While this may help call center agents perform better and reach their targets faster, misselling hurts the organization’s brand reputation.

Take the first step to reduce misselling in your call center!

Let's look at the impact of misselling and why call center representatives should avoid it.

Why Should Call Center Agents Avoid Misselling?

Misselling has a direct impact on both existing and prospective customers. Here are some major problems associated with misselling.

1. Increase the number of compliance violations

Certain compliance regulations state that a call center agent can't lie to customers about their product. When agents frequently indulge in misselling, it can lead to a huge number of compliance violations.

2. Negatively affect product sentiment

When many customers voice that they faced a bad customer experience because of agents misinforming product features, it can drastically affect how the product is being viewed in the market.

This can affect your target demographic and force them to perceive your product as not worthy enough to invest in.

For example, a lot of parents lost their faith in Byjus after innumerable customers complained about being falsely promised extra months when purchasing the course.

3. Drop in customer satisfaction

When call center agents provide leads with the wrong information, these leads purchase the product or service with great expectations. When the product doesn't meet the customer expectation communicated during purchase, it can impact customer satisfaction.

If this happens repeatedly, the customer satisfaction score is bound to decrease, affecting other call center metrics.

Now that we've seen the impact of misselling let's answer the main question - What can be done to reduce misselling?

What are the Best Practices to Reduce Misselling?

1. Create a supportive environment for agents

One of the biggest reasons call center agents resort to misselling is because of the pressure on them to meet the call center metrics.

A supportive environment involves call center leaders using positive language to help agents feel that they aren't alone.

When each call center agent feels they will receive the right support, they will try to get more conversions without resorting to practices like misselling.

2. Conduct proper training sessions for agents

Call center training is a crucial part of a well-maintained contact center operation.

But the way you implement agent training can be a decisive factor in whether call center reps resort to misselling.

Blindly asking every agent to attend the same coaching session isn't the solution for this. Agents should be assigned personalized and automated coaching sessions.

This efficient training method helps agents improve their performance in a shorter time. Since every agent is taught how to improve their weak points, it can positively impact overall call center performance.

3. Track the right metrics

Instead of blindly tracking random customer satisfaction metrics, a call center manager should identify the right customer service metrics.

These metrics should be finalized depending on the kind of products your organization offers and the strategies followed in your call center.

4. Incentivize agent performance

When your call center team is put in a healthy work environment, it is possible to see continuous improvement. With such improvements in performance, incentivizing agents can help reduce misselling episodes.

When sales reps are incentivized to close for deals without misselling, it drives them to continue replicating such behavior.

Reduce Misselling in Your Call Center!

5. Use feedback to improve customer service

Once your customer service team has been active for some time, the best way to improve is by collecting feedback.

A call center manager can understand the drawbacks of the current call center customer experience strategy when they get the right feedback. This can be used to create an excellent customer service strategy.

Customer feedback can be collected via customer surveys and customer data. This can help understand what is missing from a customer's point of view.

Apart from customer feedback, feedback from customer service agents can help identify problems in the customer service process.

Did you know your agents can receive instant AI feedback? 

6. Update agents with the latest product knowledge base

Call center agents should be updated with product and service offerings changes.

If customer inquiries happen regarding the latest updates that aren't communicated to the agents, they might unknowingly misinform customers.

7. Implement the right software for your call center

There are many contact center tools available today. Investing in a call center software that is right for your call center can do wonders.

Investing in tools like Convin can help in the following ways:

• Offer real-time assistance during customer calls
• Create personalized coaching sessions for your agents
• Evaluate leads with lead scoring 

Thorough research must be done to identify the right call center software for your call center.

Best Call Center Software in 2023

8. Integrated call center technology

Most call center technology available today allows integration with your existing tech suite.

When call center tools are integrated with your CRM, agents can identify the right upselling opportunities without any chance of misselling.

Helping Agents Reduce Misselling Episodes

Effective call center management can implement these methods to reduce misselling episodes. When coupled with the right call center tools like Convin, controlling misselling and improving customer satisfaction becomes easier.

Do You Want to Counter Misselling Today?

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is call center compliance?

Call center compliance refers to adhering to a set of regulatory standards. These standards are aimed at protecting customer privacy across every customer interaction.

2. Is it misselling or mis-selling?

While both misselling and mis-selling are right, misselling is used more.

3. What is the best practice in a call center?

Some of the best call center scripting practices are leveraging the use of technology, and improving with the help of customer feedback. When it comes to call center training, the best practices involve personalized training sessions and immediate feedback with the help of AI.