Rock Stars and Call Centers

If you are old enough to remember the band Foreigner, the story goes that the musicians wanted to be more of a hard rock band but the singer preferred ballads. This is typical of rock bands. The drummer, bass, and guitar players want to max out their instruments while the singer prefers to highlight their singing abilities.

Fortunately, I suppose for Foreigner, the singer got his way and became known as one of the best of his generation, the band made tens of millions of dollars and everyone theoretically lived happily ever after.

In music, musicians are a dime a dozen: most anyone can play bass, drums, or guitar. But professional-grade singers are rare. Vocals are what make bands rich and famous, and without a great singer, bands cannot make it professionally no matter how excellent the musicians may be.

But walk into any music store and the space is dominated by racks of guitars, basses, and drums. This is because musicians far outnumber singers and instruments are what sell. Nowhere in the store will you see much of anything related to singing, and if you didn't know any better you might conclude vocals are unimportant. But this does not change the fact that rock musicians will never make it professionally and rock bands will never be considered great without exceptional singing.

This same dynamic is reflected in the call center industry.

Flip through any call center magazine and one will find articles and advertisements about software and administrative concerns only. If one didn't know any better one might conclude software and administrative concerns are the only things that matter regarding call centers. These are a call center's drums, bass, and guitars.

But just like rock bands, a call center can never be considered great without exceptional vocals. These come from the mouths of agents and into the ears of their audience of patients/customers and their family members. Software and administrative concerns are important, but this does not change the fact that a call center will never be considered exceptional without exceptional vocals.

Such vocals are defined by word choice, phraseology, and specific phone manners. They each contribute to creating a vocal sound of professionalism, compassion, and sincerity. And like a great singer's voice, they are amazing and powerful.

The BCI training and performance management program teaches each agent we train how to master their audience with ease. This is what the future of call center training looks like.