Call Barging

What is call barging?

Call barging is a call center feature that enables supervisors to listen in on the live call that an agent is on and potentially provide guidance or intervene in the call as needed. This feature is commonly used in situations where a customer demands to speak to a supervisor or when a call center agent is struggling to find the right response to a customer.

However, when using barging, it’s important to set rules ahead of time. Not all calls an employee makes may be work-related, and some customers may not like the idea that there was another person secretly listening to their call.

How to get started with call barging?

Using the call barge feature is made easy with MightyCall’s supervisor dashboard. Here are a few easy steps to begin:

1. Open your MightyCall supervisor dashboard.
2. From there, select the call you want to monitor. There should be a list of ongoing calls from which to choose.
3. Click on the “Join the conversation” option to listen in and potentially participate in the call.

How does call barging work?

While it may be easy to understand the basics, how the system actually works may initially seem a little bit harder to grasp. But don’t worry – its details are likewise relatively straightforward.

1. Getting into the service: This is not just something where you pick up a phone, dial a number, and get plugged in. Call barging software is usually built into a larger online system which you have to access.
2. Picking the call you want to listen to: Once you are in, as a supervisor (or someone given permission to view ongoing calls) you can select from the ongoing calls you’d like in order to begin.
3. Listening in: Most systems will allow you to listen to a call without actually going into a call, so that you can just have an eye on what is going on (after all, when undergoing call monitoring, you shouldn’t have the goal in mind of needing to barge into every call).
4. Call center barging: But if the situation arises when you have to plunge in, modern call centers software provides you with modern solutions. Contact centers will allow their supervisors to intervene and turn it into a conference call.

When is the appropriate moment to barge a call?

As we mentioned, you do not want to be too overzealous. After all, a call barge is a sign that something is going wrong for your call center agent – and if you barge all the time, especially when it’s unnecessary, it could be interpreted by them as a negative report from their call center boss. This is not to say that there’s no right time – there can be lots of scenarios in which it’s the right move:

1. When an agent is making a serious mistake: Look, mistakes happen, and it is not the end of the world when they do – but there’s also nothing wrong with intervening when your agent is messing up in a way which could damage the company’s image or jeopardize a big sale.
2. When someone wants to talk to a manager: While monitoring contact center calls, you may hear “I want to talk to a manager” over the phone – meaning that for whatever reason, they want you. Don’t put your agent in an awkward position or make the customer wait – with call barging systems, you can jump in immediately.
3. When your agent is being abused: Contact center agents get all kinds of rude customers in the course of doing their jobs – but sometimes, people take it over the line. If it’s an established client, your agent may feel uncomfortable defending themselves; as a supervisor, you can do so.
4. When it’s scheduled: There may be a scheduled three-way call, which you can use the feature for. “Barge” may have an aggressive connotation, but it does not necessarily have to be!

What tasks can the call barging feature solve?

This call center feature can be used for various purposes. The call barging solution can be useful for problems like:

• Training: When you have a new agent who is still learning the ropes, a supervisor or trainer can listen in on a call to provide feedback to the agent on their performance and help them improve their skills.
• Quality assurance: As your agents are often the first introduction to your company for many clients, one of the advantages of call barging is that call center managers can monitor calls to ensure that agents are following company policies and providing a high level of customer service.
• Escalation: An highly useful aspect of this feature is that, if an agent is having difficulty resolving a customer’s issue, a supervisor or manager can join the call to provide additional support and help resolve the issue.
• Emergency situations: Sometimes, a call becomes contentious or threatening. At that point, you as a supervisor or manager can join the call to ensure the safety and well-being of the agent and the customer.
• Forgetfulness: If an agent is going to close a sale but is forgetting a key aspect, be it an ongoing discount (or they are charging a lower rate than they should be) and are not responding to a call whisper, you can simply jump on in.

Benefits of call barging

In case it is not already obvious by now, call barging can bring a ton of benefits to your small business. Here are just a couple ways that this feature can improve the functioning of your call center at every level, from the most experienced management to the newest agent:

Easy training

When your new agents start up, they may be nervous or simply not know what to do. That’s ok! With phone call barging, training them is a cinch. Think of it like training wheels: they can do their job safely without having to worry about something going catastrophically, because you can help them.

Avoiding drama

If a call is going to clearly become much worse – due to a negative customer or due to missteps from your agent – you can save yourself time, money, and potentially paperwork by stepping in and allowing cooler heads to prevail.

Easily analyze progress

Even after agents are all trained up on their phones, you can add to yearly progress reports by monitoring their calls and coming in as needed. If you need to do that consistently, it likely shows that they have room for improvement.

Create an open atmosphere

When people know that they can always be listened to while they work, they’ll be more likely to work harder and really give it their all.

Call barging in different industries

There are lots of industries which can take advantage of this VoIP feature:

1. Banking: Paying attention to the minutiae of finances is extremely important; if a supervisor notices an agent saying something wrong, this feature allows it to be quickly corrected.
2. Shipping services: Much like banking, the smallest error during a call can mess up an entire delivery and damage customer service. Live call barging can help make sure that does not happen.
3. Call centers: We’ve mentioned it before, but it’s worth making clear. A call center is what this feature is practically made for, with so many calls going on at once.
4. University aid programs: Universities are constantly needing money – and if a large donor may seem wobbly, a manager can hopefully smooth out the situation.
5. Political campaigns: If an agent on the line is potentially insulting a voter, a supervisor can quickly cut in to salvage the situation.

More advanced features

Call barging in a call center is just one of several advanced techniques that contact centers can use to improve their efficiency and productivity. Other options include:

1. Call listening: A supervisor listens in on a live call without interrupting and takes notes to provide feedback later.
2. Call recording: Calls are recorded and reviewed at a later time, without any real-time monitoring.
3. Call whispering: A supervisor can speak directly to an agent during a call without the customer’s knowledge, providing coaching or guidance as needed.
4. Call intercept: In this scenario, an agent is disconnected from a call, and the supervisor takes over the conversation directly with the customer.
5. Call flow designer: With easily customizable call routing, if you notice one agent is taking a lot of calls, you can quickly change routes and direct them elsewhere to lighten their workload.
6. Call transfer: Instead of you coming to them, your agents can send callers straight to you.

Ready to start using call barging?

With call barging capabilities, you’ll be giving your business a tool that just cannot be beat. You will easily be able to train your newbies while keeping an eye on things and ensuring that your agents provide only the best customer services.

Call barging is one of many crucial call features found within call center software. But only MightCall combines those crucial features with security that can’t be beat, a dedicated support staff, and world-class uptime.