What is call whisper? Navigating a win-win feature for companies, call agents, and clients

For any customer-facing team, whether they’re in customer service, sales, or telemarketing, agents will get tripped up from time to time by tricky questions from customers.

This is an especially big issue for contact center teams with high turnover—often, new agents are getting pushed on the phones when they may not be fully ready or trained, which can lead to inconsistent responses, increased errors, and decreased customer satisfaction. 

In these environments, the call whisper feature can provide crucial, real-time support to guide these less experienced agents through challenging interactions, helping them handle customer questions more effectively and maintain high service standards.

In this blog, I’ll walk you through what call whisper is, how it works, and different use cases. We'll also look at how call whisper compares to other call management systems and tools, and how to pair it with complementary call center features.

What is call whisper?

Call whisper is a feature in many telephony and contact center systems that allows supervisors or managers to help agents in real-time during an active call by essentially whispering in their ear.

Unlike traditional call monitoring, where the supervisor listens to the entire conversation, call whisper lets the supervisor speak directly to the agent without the customer hearing. This means the agent can get tips, information, or corrective instructions to handle the call more effectively or steer it back in the right direction.

Call whispering use cases

Now, let’s look at a range of different call whisper use cases that show how it can be leveraged to address different challenges, support agents in diverse situations, and ultimately drive better outcomes for both your customers and your business:

• Sales training and guidance - New or less experienced sales reps can receive real-time advice and strategies from experienced managers to handle objections, position products, or close deals effectively.
  
  Atmosphere’s sales team uses call whisper specifically to help them close more deals. “If sales reps are freezing up or getting nervous on a call, our managers will get in their ear to help push the sales across the finish line,” says Jordan Wagner, Vice President of Revenue Operations at Atmosphere. “Dialpad’s call whisper feature makes our sales reps better closers. It also helps our managers coach better.”

• Customer support troubleshooting - Support agents can get immediate help with complex technical issues and provide accurate answers to customers.

• Upselling and cross-selling tips - Reps can be guided on how to introduce additional products or services relevant to the customer’s current needs without disrupting the conversation flow.

• Crisis management - In high-stress or sensitive situations, supervisors can provide guidance on de-escalation techniques and proper handling procedures.

• General performance improvement - Supervisors can offer real-time feedback on call handling skills, helping agents improve their performance and adhere to best practices.

• Compliance adherence - Agents can receive guidance on compliance-related issues, ensuring they stick to company policies and legal requirements during calls. (For example, Medicare sales call regulations have changed recently, which all agents should be aware of.)

What is a call whisper message?

A call whisper message is a brief communication from a supervisor to an agent during a call that’s meant to provide instant support or guidance. It typically includes these elements:

• Contextual information: Relevant details about the customer or the current issue to help them tailor their interaction more effectively

• Suggested phrases or responses: Specific product language or responses that the agent can use to handle the conversation more effectively or describe offers more accurately

• Actionable tips: Practical advice on next steps or strategies to address the client’s needs, handle objections, or close a sale

• Compliance reminders: Alerts for the agent to make sure they’re following legal or company policies during the call

Benefits of a call whisper service

Call whispering is a very useful feature, not just for sales and support agents but also for managers and coaches. It enables real-time, on-the-job coaching, and helps agents get instant guidance as they handle customer calls, which helps them refine their skills and grow their confidence without disrupting the customer experience. 

On top of that, it also provides managers with first-hand insights into agent performance and opportunities for improvement Here’s a deeper breakdown of the benefits for both:

Benefits for management and coaching

• Real-time coaching: Makes it easier for supervisors to help agents in real time during calls

• Improved call quality: Leads to better overall call handling and resolution metrics

• Higher customer satisfaction: Contributes to more positive customer experiences overall in the contact center

• Performance monitoring: Managers can listen in and identify performance issues and areas for improvement, which lets them take immediate corrective actions and achieve better training outcomes

• Better team adherence: Ensures agents follow compliance guidelines and other company policies

• More consistent application of best practices: Helps remind agents of proven techniques or strategies during calls

Benefits for sales and support teams

• Tips and help in real time: Agents get the support they need, without interrupting the customer experience

• Faster skill development: On-the-spot coaching helps agents refine their sales techniques or customer service skills, accelerating their development

• Higher conversion rates: Helps reps close sales and achieve targets more consistently 

• More personalized customer experience: Helps agents provide more tailored interactions

• Faster issue resolution: Agents can address problems as they arise and not need to escalate as many calls

How does call whisper work? The 5-step process

Typically, the call whisper process can be broken down into five steps:

• Step 1: Call initiation - A customer starts a call, which is routed to an available agent.

• Step 2: Call connection - The call is connected, and the supervisor is notified that the agent is handling an active call.

• Step 3: Supervisor listening - The supervisor can then choose to listen in on the call without the customer knowing.

• Step 4: Whispering to agent - If the supervisor thinks an agent needs help, they can hit the “Call whisper” button to start talking to the agent through a secure channel that the customer can’t hear.

• Step 5: Call monitoring and feedback - As the agent incorporates the supervisor’s feedback into their conversation with the customer, the supervisor can continue listening to see how it goes, and then provide feedback after the call has ended.

The Tennessee Community Services Agency (TNCSA), for example, uses call whisper to shorten their previously lengthy three-week agent training process. “We were losing precious time. Our training was spread thin over weeks, with many manual evaluations and eavesdropping sessions,” says Charles, one of the key supervisors at TNCSA.

“Now, we can actively listen in and provide real-time feedback to our staff. It’s not just about observing anymore. We can use call whispering and intervene when necessary, which accelerates the learning curve for our agents significantly.”

Call whisper vs. call tracking vs. call monitoring 

Call whisper, call tracking, and call monitoring all play distinct roles in customer interactions. But together, they give contact center leaders the tools to not only coach agents more effectively, but also ensure the contact center runs smoothly.

Here’s how each feature plays a role in this integrated approach to help with agent evaluation, customer satisfaction, and overall operations.

Call whisper vs. call tracking

Call whisper involves real-time, private communication between a supervisor and an agent during a call. 

Call tracking, on the other hand, refers to the collection and analysis of call data like call duration, frequency, and source to assess performance and ROI. 

Call whisper vs. call monitoring

As we just mentioned, call whisper allows supervisors to communicate with agents during a call without the customer knowing. 

Call monitoring involves supervisors listening to the entire call—either live or recorded—to assess performance or compliance.

The main difference here is that call monitoring is a one-way street. It doesn’t have the real-time interactive support element of call whispering. 

Enhancing call whisper with call center software

To really maximize the benefits of call whispering, you can integrate it with other call center software features like:

Call monitoring

Call monitoring lets supervisors listen to live or recorded calls, and this feature is almost always used together with call whispering, because the supervisor needs to be able to listen to, or monitor the call in order to whisper the directions.

Dialpad Ai Contact Center, for example, comes with both features conveniently integrated, so that a manager can easily click into a call, listen in (or monitor it), and then click again to start whispering instructions to the agent:

Call recordings

Call recordings are a great way to complement the use of the call whisper feature in a call center by providing valuable training data and insights that can inform real-time coaching. 

Whereas call whisper lets supervisors give agents tips during live calls without the customer hearing, call recordings are part of those supervisors’ “homework”—they should be analyzing recordings to identify common issues and skill gaps for their agents. 

By reviewing past calls, supervisors can develop more targeted coaching strategies and make sure that the feedback they’re providing via call whisper actually addresses specific areas where agents need improvement.

Another useful advantage of call recordings is they can form a knowledge base of common customer questions and challenges, which can be used to train new agents or improve the performance of the existing team. Supervisors can reference past recordings during call whisper sessions to provide real-world examples or highlight best practices.

In Dialpad Ai Contact Center, supervisors can even create call recording playlists that include the best (or worst) examples of how to handle certain customer questions or requests, so that agents can study them on their own time.

Call barging

Sometimes, an agent just might not be able to save the call for whatever reason. In these cases, a supervisor can use call barging to intervene directly and just take over the call. 

Unlike call whisper, where they’re providing discreet real-time coaching to agents during live calls, call barge lets them enter the conversation when the situation escalates or requires managerial involvement. 

Typically, this is because an agent is struggling to handle a difficult customer or a complex issue and the supervisor’s attempts to guide the agent through whispering didn’t work. Maybe the agent is ignoring their call scripting software and going wildly off-script in the call.

Essentially, call barge acts as a safety net and ensures there’s always the option to salvage the call.

Does your business need call whisper?

Call whispering is a valuable feature in any contact center that helps both new and experienced agents get the support they need in real-time when talking to customers.

By using call whisper to guide agents through tricky conversations, supervisors can make sure they’re maintaining the contact center’s performance, addressing issues promptly, and solving issues for customers as efficiently as possible. 

Learn how Dialpad Ai Contact Center integrates call whisper with call monitoring, call barge, and other call center tools to provide a comprehensive platform that’s designed to optimize call center operations!