The Reality of Contact Centres
Welcome to The Reality of Contact Centres, the essential podcast for advisors, agents, team leaders, managers, and directors in the contact centre industry.
Hosted by Bob Morrell & Jeremy Blake, experienced sales trainers and executive coaches, this podcast draws on decades of training thousands of contact centre professionals worldwide. If you're looking for expert advice, fresh strategies, and real-world insights to help your contact centre excel, evolve, and exceed expectations, you’re in the right place.
What You’ll Learn:
📞 How to boost customer engagement & satisfaction
📊 Proven strategies to improve contact centre performance
💬 Leadership & coaching techniques to develop high-performing teams
🔄 The latest innovations shaping the future of customer interactions
🎯 How to drive results in traditional, digital & hybrid contact centres
We challenge industry norms, explore the realities of leadership, and share actionable takeaways to help you adapt, improve, and lead your team to success. Whether you run a call centre, web chat team, or virtual operation, we’ll help you stay ahead in today’s fast-moving customer service landscape.
🎵 Original music by Charlie Morrell.
🔗 Learn more about Reality Training & how we help contact centres thrive: www.realitytraining.com
📣 Enjoying the show? Leave a rating & review - we’d love to hear from you!
🚀 Listen now & transform your contact centre!
Episodes
48 episodes
AI & Customer Experience: Why Human Skills Matter More Now
From our sister podcast, The Reality of Business, this episode is especially relevant for anyone working in contact centres, customer service or customer experience.Bob and Jeremy discuss how brands are using AI in customer experi...
Contact Centres: The Brand and Customer Lifetime Value
From our sister podcast - The Reality of Business, the Final Part of our Contact Centre Series we unpack how AI shifts the work mix in contact centres and why brands that compete on experience outperform on sales and retention. We share a pract...
Contact Centres: The Future Team Leader - CX & Performance Coach
We explore how team leaders in contact centres move from admin heavy oversight to true performance coaching while AI takes on the routine work. We share practical ways to build omni‑channel skills, manage hybrid teams, and use data to protect w...
Contact Centres: The Future - How AI is Reshaping and Elevating Human Skills
From our sister podcast The Reality of Business - the first of three episodes about the future of contact centres starting at the frontline with the operators changing role, How does AI remove repetitive work, why complex conversations now defi...
Ageism Bias in Contact Centres
Have you ever caught yourself jumping to conclusions about someone based on their age or financial status? Our latest episode peels back the layers of ageism and bias within customer service, highlighting a conversation that will c...
Empowering Your Teams – Free Up Time & Focus on Valuable Work
Are you constantly the go-to problem solver in your contact centre? It's time to break free from the chains of reactive problem-solving, and our latest episode is your key to unlocking a more proactive team. We delve into the persistent cycle o...
Stop Using Manager Controlled Offers!
How often do you have to ask a manager for permission to use an offer? In your call centre how often does it happen? Well, strap in because we're dissecting that dance of discounts and it's quite the cha-cha of consumer psychology ...
Checking With Your Manager – It’s Time to Stop!
Do you understand the frustration a customer feels when you say “I need to put you on hold and check with my manager"? This episode promises to unravel why this all-too-common practice is holding back the potential of call centres ...
Voice Tips for Contact Centres Part 2: Five More Key Tips!
If you have heard part one of this series you will know all about active listening, and utilising the best tone for your customers. Already you will be ahead of people who haven’t learnt these key skills – and here are 5 more! This jam-...
Voice Tips for Contact Centres Part 1: Five Key Tips to Improve
Why are some advisors effective and some less so? Let's unlock that mystery! In this episode Jeremy Blake and Bob Morrell show you how important and flexible the voice is – and how you should be using it. In the first part of our s...
Top Tips for 2024: Contact Centre Customer Experiences and Engagement
Top Tips for 2024! What is going to make the biggest difference this year? Ready to take your customer service to a new level? Call centres all over the world need key areas of focus to have a great year. We're talking about...
Team Leaders: Building Resilience in Your Contact Centre Teams
Team Leaders, is your contact centre team prepared for the challenges of peak seasons and ready to emerge stronger?Join us for a discussion on resilience – a crucial trait for thriving in the demanding environment of a contact centre. We...
Top Tips for Contact Centre Interviews: Strategies to Impress
Interview Skills and Tips: Ready to be the stand-out candidate at your next call centre job interview? Join us, Bob and Jeremy of Reality Training, where we promise to equip you with the exact insights and strategies you need to im...
Mastering Your Festive Contact Centre Party - Christmas Party Tips
Picture this: You're at your Contact Centre Christmas party, the music is playing, the drinks are flowing, and you're just about to photocopy your body parts as a fun party trick. Stop right there! We're here to guide you through t...
Redefining Customer Service: The Upselling Advantage – Service is Sales.
Are your customer service people salespeople? Brand Ambassadors? Efficient Administrators? This episode takes a deep dive into the fascinating world of customer service at 'Bob's Insurance', a company whose customer-centric approac...
Cost, Price, Offers, Discounts & Fixed Price Issues!
Do you work with special offers? Are your prices negotiable? Or do you sell a hybrid option? Some organisations are fixed price. This means the advisor has to sell what they’re selling purely on the value. Do you expect your adviso...
Support SELF-WORTH: How Do These DRIVES Improve Your Sense of Self-Worth?
What exactly is Self-worth, and when was the last time you truly assessed it? Join us for the culmination of our DRIVES principles series in Episode 6, where we focus on increasing self-worth in your contact centre.If you...
Create the best ENVIRONMENT: Nurture a Flourishing Workplace for Everyone
What defines a thriving working environment within a contact centre? How do you transform spaces into hubs that motivate your teams, encourage collaboration, and drive exceptional customer experiences?In Episode 5 of our DRIVES m...
Define Your VISION: How to Create, Deliver & Inspire a Vision of Success!
What lies at the core of your business vision?In Episode 4 of our DRIVES model, we unravel the mysteries of motivational visions.Have you ever wondered if your leadership’s visions are crafted with imaginatio...
Reward INTEGRITY: How Does Integrity Strengthen Your Offering?
How does integrity work in your contact centre? How does it help us to collaborate? If it is at the heart of what you do, then consistency is easy. If it isn’t, then collaboration becomes almost impossible. A lack of integrity t...
Understand ROLES: How Does Status Damage Your Contact Centre?
In the second of our 6-part DRIVES series, Bob & Jeremy explain the vital function of Roles and its impact on team dynamics within contact centres.Are you using your power and authority as a manager in the right wa...
Enable DISCRETION: Speed Up Your Service by Empowering Your Advisors to Decide
In the first of our 6-part DRIVES series, Bob and Jeremy explain the key drivers that increase staff engagement and collaboration, and improves your contact centre. How empowered are your people? How can they decide on what’s...
IVR (Interactive Voice Response): The Switch From Bot to Adviser and The Hurdles to Overcome
The frustrations customers face when interacting with automated systems can leave them with an incredibly negative customer journey experience. The challenges you, the advisor, then encounter to provide a seamless transition and make it so much...
