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Bank scraps call centre scripts
4/ 1/2006
STAFF at Lloyds TSB call centres will no longer read from scripts when talking to customers, the high street bank announced today.
It decided to bin the scripts after research showed nine out of 10 of people got annoyed when they were talking to call centre workers who were obviously reading from a prompt, it said.
Six out of 10 people said they thought the use of a script led to staff failing to answer questions properly, while 55% said they thought it meant staff didn't listen to their question.
Half said they thought the scripts were "really impersonal", while the same proportion said using them meant the conversation with a call centre worker was a lot longer than necessary.
Scrapping scripts is supported by 86% of call centre workers, with many claiming it would help them to sort out queries faster.
Rapport
The group hopes that by ditching the scripts it will enable staff to build up a stronger rapport with customers.
Lloyds TSB currently handles around 70 million calls a year, employing 4,000 people in call centres in Glasgow, Sunderland, Newport, Bridgend, Swansea, the West Midlands and Solent, as well as 1,300 in Mumbai in India.
Before today's announcement, all staff in the company's UK call centres used scripts, although staff in India have never used them.
Martin Dodd, telephony operations director at Lloyds TSB, said: "By ditching the scripts in our call centres we are giving staff the freedom to treat every customer as an individual and build a much closer rapport with them.
"We hope that this will enable staff to solve queries more quickly and efficiently. It should also help to make their job that little bit easier."
* Ciao questioned 2,113 people and 85 call centre workers in the UK during October.
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I myself bank with Lloyds and get soooo annoyed with scripted conversations with them. Surely Lloyds have got the brains to recruit people that know how to give you a balance and tell you other key problems without the use of a script. personly i think it is insulting to the staff not to have the freedom to resolve problems without script. all we need now is to scrap the call centre in India and then hey presto. myself and the majority of Lloyds customers will be happy !! :)
6/01/2006 at 16:43
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