Call Reps' Preferred Conflict Handling Styles Affect Customer Satisfaction. a major telecommunications provider. The company agreed to participate in a study undertaken as part of a doctoral dissertation to investigate the relationship between customer satisfaction and preferred conflict management styles. CHALLENGE: Call center managers face many challenges, two of which are addressed by this study: meeting customer satisfaction. objectives and get the most out of training programs for call center representatives. The company's average customer satisfaction rating was 80 percent across all of its other call centers, but this unit only reached 77 percent. Previous research by Goetzmann and Moumtzidis, 2006. "* found that an increase in customer satisfaction through effective problem solving could lead to a 3-6% increase in annual revenue. SOLUTION: Using the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument to assess conflict mode preferences for customers 97 inbound call center representatives working in the unit correlated this data with customer perception and satisfaction data. (CPS) for each rep. This correlation was used to determine if there was a relationship between reps' preferred conflict management mode and higher CPS scores. RESULTS: By correlating the TKI scores of the reps. 'calls with their CPS scores, the study found a strong association between higher customer satisfaction scores and conflict management styles coupled with accommodation and collaboration. These findings suggest that there is a need to provide training on effective conflict management, including how to choose the most effective conflict management. Styles using the TKI assessment for newly hired and established call center representatives could result in higher customer satisfaction rates. Ask inbound call center managers what their number one measure of success is, and most will say customer satisfaction. In fact, customer satisfaction plays a vital role in not only retaining customers but also attracting new ones through positive word-of-mouth recommendations. For call centers, keeping customers happy means not only responding to orders, billing requests, and new account inquiries, but also resolving issues. and complaints quickly and efficiently. According to a study by Stone, 1999*, almost three-quarters of customers say they will return if their complaints are resolved quickly. Call centers spend millions of dollars each year on technical and soft skills training. They also face challenges recruiting and retaining high-quality call center representatives in this highly competitive field. Over the past few years, the call center industry has seen dramatic growth. For many consumer-facing businesses, it has become one of the primary channels for customer service activities. As a result, call center managers are always looking for new ways to increase rep efficiency to meet customer satisfaction performance goals, while keeping reps satisfied with their jobs. . Randall Wade, chair of business technology at RogueCommunity College in Grants Pass, Ore., recently examined the customer-to-customer relationship-