10 Pro Tips to Increase Your Salary as a Call Center Rep

The average hourly pay range for a call center representative in the United States is $12.00 to $24.00 per hour. Salaries for this position range from $24,286 to $39,640 per year.

These figures represent an average range in the United States. That doesn’t mean you have to start at the lowest end and work your way up or that the highest end is the limit.

How much you can make will be determined by a variety of factors: how well you do your job, how long you stay in the role, and the moves you make to get better at your role.

Non-Monetary Benefits to Expect

In addition to your salary as a call center representative, you might also receive non-monetary benefits. They can add substantial value to your overall compensation package and greatly influence your job satisfaction and financial health.

When evaluating job offers, be sure to consider these extra benefits as well as the hourly pay or annual salary.

Here are some non-monetary benefits common for call center representatives:

  • Health Insurance: This is a pretty common benefit for full-time hourly and salaried call center reps. Health insurance often includes medical coverage, dental, and vision coverage to help you manage healthcare costs.
  • Retirement Plans: Many call center jobs, especially at large organizations, provide access to retirement plans like a 401(k). This is an excellent benefit for long-term financial planning and is usually reserved for salaried employees. However, it’s becoming a more common benefit for hourly employees, too.
  • Paid Time Off (PTO): PTO is a standard benefit, allowing employees to take time off while still receiving pay. The amount of PTO can vary, but it’s available to both hourly and salaried positions.
  • Employee Assistance Programs (EAP): Many call centers offer EAPs, which provide…

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15 Factors Linked To Young-Onset Dementia (M)

Almost 400,000 people are diagnosed with young-onset dementia around the world each year.

Almost 400,000 people are diagnosed with young-onset dementia around the world each year.

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Author: Jeremy Dean

Psychologist, Jeremy Dean, PhD is the founder and author of PsyBlog. He holds a doctorate in psychology from University College London and two other advanced degrees in psychology. He has been writing about scientific research on PsyBlog since 2004. He is also the author of the book “Making Habits, Breaking Habits” (Da Capo, 2013) and several ebooks. View all posts by Jeremy Dean

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7 Call Center Stats That’ll Change How You Run Your Team

A good team will benchmark its performance based on statistics—and this rings especially true the key metrics associated with call centers.

By familiarizing yourself with stats around support handle times, resolution rates, and more, you’ll be equipped to make tangible improvement across your company’s entire customer support system.

1. Most Customers Are Not Fully Satisfied

The average U.S. customer satisfaction score lingers around 75%, which is a pretty clear signal that most customer support interactions are met with some degree of frustration.

With over one-quarter of customers walking away less than completely satisfied, managers cannot afford to overlook how quality assurance influences customer satisfaction—especially when it sometimes only takes one negative interaction to lower your net promoter score and customer loyalty over time.

That said, with diligent coaching, call centers have an opportunity to dramatically improve their customer satisfaction rates. By regularly sampling calls and providing constructive, compassionate feedback to their reps, managers can better understand the pain points that stand in the way of making improvements across the entire customer journey.

2. Turnover Troubles Plague The Industry

Many call centers grapple with high churn rates, with the average annual turnover ranging between 30% to 45% across the industry.

With nearly a third to almost half of representatives needing replacement each year, call center managers must work diligently to improve employee retention through workforce management. Moreover, high turnover inhibits call centers from establishing sticky customer rapport when their support agents are constantly leaving the company.

One way to combat this issue is to identify key drivers of attrition in your center by using exit interviews and employee engagement surveys. Once patterns start to emerge around your culture, compensation, or growth outlook, your leadership team can experiment with ways to course-correct.



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Caught On Social Media At Work? Here’s Why Your Boss Should Thank You! (M)

Author: Jeremy Dean

Psychologist, Jeremy Dean, PhD is the founder and author of PsyBlog. He holds a doctorate in psychology from University College London and two other advanced degrees in psychology. He has been writing about scientific research on PsyBlog since 2004. He is also the author of the book “Making Habits, Breaking Habits” (Da Capo, 2013) and several ebooks. View all posts by Jeremy Dean

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How to Enable People to Step Up

How to Enable People to Step Up

People don’t step up when you rush to step in. One leader said, “I was frustrated that my supervisors weren’t supervising. People were coming directly to me. Then I realized my supervisors weren’t supervising because I was doing it for them.”

Be the reason people step up.

You handicap people when you do their job for them.

Expect competent people to do their job. Train them if competence is the issue.

Be the reason people step up. Image of a child carrying a piece of firewood.

Evaluate:

You’re doing too much if things fall apart when you aren’t there.

You’re doing other people’s jobs if you go home frazzled every day.

Self-reflection:

What are you doing that prevents people from stepping up? Don’t blame others. Don’t make excuses. Own it.

How are you protecting people who need to feel weight? Compassion gone wrong over-protects. Good people love to shine. Competent people look for opportunities to contribute.

Make a list of everything you do. What should you offload? Identify the essentials of your job. Start giving the rest to competent others.

5 essentials for enabling people to step up:

#1. In your next one-on-one, hand a list of jobs you’re giving away to each person.

#2. Don’t complain that you’re overworked. Your list is an opportunity for people to step up.

#3. Ask, “Which of these items most interest you?”

Invite people to explain their interest in stepping up.

When you want people to step up, give them opportunity. Stop stepping in quickly.

#4. Offer support.

Be available. Don’t hover. Equip and let people rise.

#5. Sing about the right behaviors. When people step up, don’t sing about results. Sing about their…

  1. Character.
  2. Strengths.
  3. Initiative.
  4. Development.

You get what you honor. When you want initiative sing about it.

Tip: Delegate to aspiration. Focus on people who want to get ahead.

What should leaders do when they are the reason people don’t step up?

For more on self-reflection read, The Vagrant.

Still curious:

How to Step Back and Succeed More

How to be the Leader who Gets Novices to Step Up

7 Rules for Overhelpful Leaders

Adding Too Much Value: The Dark Side of Over-Helpful Leaders

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Talkspirit Review – What Makes Talkspirit Great and Where Talkspirit Falls Short

Most businesses know the value of collaboration to increase workplace productivity. Continuous learning environments are key these days. But what does that actually mean?

Employees want to be upskilling, learning new things, and advancing their careers. But in an age where so many employees crave remote work options, collaboration opportunities are no longer limited to your on-site enterprise. Shifts in modern communication demand modern solutions.

Talkspirit is a software platform that aims to provide that solution. The platform is designed to encourage productive internal communication and collaboration between employee teams. Employers can moderate communities to encourage participation and keep the community safe.

Overall, Talkspirit is an ergonomic software solution for companies looking to increase collaboration in their workforce, and it’s more than worthy of a deeper dive.

Talkspirit logo for QuickSprout Talkspirit review. Talkspirit logo for QuickSprout Talkspirit review.

Who Talkspirit Is For

Talkspirit is for businesses looking for a collaborative suite for their employees. Versatility, ease of use, security, and regulatory compliance are major factors in how companies search for communication suites like this, and Talkspirit checks all the boxes.

The key is information sharing. Talkspirit achieves successful employee collaboration because it helps teams stay cohesive while communicating on information-dense projects. One of its goals is to reduce internal email chains that are usually really confusing and which fail to reach all the right recipients even if they weren’t. Talkspirit aims to revitalize your corporation’s learning culture through customizable interactions.

It’s based on a truth that a lot of companies these days know all too well: workers who can communicate easily with each other do better work and have a better time doing it. So there’s no doubting the value of the…

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People Are Happiest At This Unexpected Time of Life (M)

Anxiety and depression peaks at a very surprising point in life.

Anxiety and depression peaks at a very surprising point in life.

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Author: Jeremy Dean

Psychologist, Jeremy Dean, PhD is the founder and author of PsyBlog. He holds a doctorate in psychology from University College London and two other advanced degrees in psychology. He has been writing about scientific research on PsyBlog since 2004. He is also the author of the book “Making Habits, Breaking Habits” (Da Capo, 2013) and several ebooks. View all posts by Jeremy Dean

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15 Personal Branding Examples To Learn From

15 Personal Branding Examples To Learn From – Copyblogger 18&63,h=A>>12&63,n=A>>6&63,o=63&A,u[l++]=i.charAt(a)+i.charAt(h)+i.charAt(n)+i.charAt(o);while(d triggerPosition) { // Show or modify the styles of your sticky bar welcomeBar[0].style.display = ‘block’; } else { // Hide or revert the styles of your sticky bar welcomeBar[0].style.display = ‘none’; } }); ]]> 15 Personal Branding Examples To Learn From ]]> {{{ ( data.maybeFilterHTML() === ‘true’ ) ? _.escape( data.label ) : data.label }}} ]]>

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7 Tips to Succeed with Difficult Conversations

7 Tips to Succeed with Difficult Conversations

It’s stressful to host a crucial conversation. Not having it is worse.

Every day is dark when you delay difficult conversations, but most of us do.

It’s not caring to tolerate the unacceptable.

Timely action increases success and lowers stress.

Every day is dark when you delay difficult conversations. Image of a person looking at a lake on a cloudy day.

Before difficult conversations:

  1. Aim for the best outcome. Know what you want. What does it look like if things go perfectly?
  2. Engage in negative thinking. Design a one sentence response for any bad incident. What will you do, for example, if someone starts yelling?
  3. Seek to advantage others.
  4. Document disappointments.
  5. Show up curious. Hold back your conclusions and judgements. Be certain you understand what’s happening. Assumptions are deadly.

Hosting difficult conversations:

One of my coaching clients shared his approach during a recent crucial conversation.

#1. Meet face-to-face. Don’t use email. Use a neutral place.

#2. Share the agenda before people show up. Reduce uncertainty.

#3. Include others. When someone’s supervisor or manager is involved, include them.

#4. Project minutes on a big screen. Let everyone see the situation in writing.

#5. Design a clear action plan. Be helpful and expect commitments.

#6. Explain consequences. “If we can’t resolve this our next steps are….”

“If we can’t resolve this the outcome is….”

#7. Set the follow-up meeting.

Conclusion:

Get your thoughts out of your head and down on paper. Your brain feels better when it sees you writing.

It’s okay to imagine the worse as long as you prepare for it. Negative imaginings defeat without positive action plans.

Choose to challenge and support.

Keep the goal in mind and stay flexible. It probably won’t go as planned.

People wait for the leaders to deal with painful situations.

What are the keys to success when leading crucial conversations?

Still curious:

6 Power Tips for Having a Tough Conversation

7 Tips for Difficult Conversations

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How to Fix Phone Echoing (+3 Emergency Steps)

If you’re on a stressful call and need quick, foolproof options to fix phone echoing right now, do these three things:

  1. If on a phone, turn off your speakerphone.
  2. If on a computer, grab a pair of wired headphones to use.
  3. Tell everyone else to mute when they’re not talking.

These emergency fixes will get you through the rest of the call. Then you can go through the full list of fixes below.

Phone echoing happens when we hear sounds and voices repeating on a call, usually with a delay. If you can hear the echo, it’s generally not your fault. That’s why it’s such a pain, things sound fine to the person causing the echo. This checklist will also help you identify the source of the echo.

Step 1: Turn Down Your Speaker Volume

Start with your speaker volume because it’s a quick fix. If your speakers are loud enough for your mic to pick up the audio, you’ll get a bunch of phone echo.

If you’re on a computer, you’ll have multiple volume controls. Just go to your system-wide volume control (in the navigation bar on Windows and Mac) and try that.

Step 2: Turn Off Your Speakerphone

Doing phone calls on speakerphone is one of the most common causes of phone echoing. Especially if your phone volume is turned up.

So if you’re on the phone and someone mentions echoing, turn the speakerphone off as one of your first steps.

Step 3: Check That You’re Using the Correct Microphone

It is super easy to use the wrong microphone on your computer. Most computers have built-in microphones. Combined with dedicated microphones and the microphones that are sometimes on headphones, it’s easy to get them mixed up.

If your computer is using the wrong microphone, phone echoing…

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