How much time do you devote to coaching your agents at your contact center?

Important question Annie
In both contact center management roles I've had I've used a program like
First 2 days, intensive systems and process training with senior team member. By the end of 2nd day they are doing some thing.
Day 3 - role plays, scenario awareness, call listening and revision test
Day 4-5 - Buddy up with experienced team member and share calls/tag team
Week 2 - Buddy up with different team members to learn different aspects of role and refine practice and consistency
As the manager I tried to keep away from the actual training and just test the person after a few days and at the end of week 2 to check for bad habits or weak points in training program

Hope that helps

Coaching our employees begins the day they finish their on boarding. Our staff recurve coaching through our internal quality program where 4 calls and/or chats are monitored and scored per month then reviewed with the rep. This is a great opportunity to provide near real-time reinforcement on the basic call handling skills.

In addition to that, each manager holds a monthly one hour 1 on 1 session with each rep on the team. These sessions provide the manager and employee to explore coaching toward softer competency-based skills that serve both the call handling technique and their career advancement aspirations. We know that most people use the call center as a stepping stone into roles of greater responsibility and use our coaching time to help guide them toward their long-term goals.

Our commitment to coaching is one of the reasons we continuously score high on employee satisfaction surveys!

The amount of time a Contact Center devotes to coaching/retraining is directly related to the quality of Agent hired to begin with. After all - even if you deliver the world’s best coaching/training program to the wrong employees – you will still wind up with a poorly performing, dysfunctional Call Center.

Hiring the wrong Call Center Agent to begin with is the Root Cause of most Contact Center Performance Issues. It’s also a significant drain on your Budget & Bottom Line and on Customer Satisfaction. Every failed hire represents wasted dollars down the drain. Not to mention the Lowered Productivity, Poor Morale, Higher Absences/Increase in Sick Days, and Attrition associated with a Poor Job Fit.

While most everyone can use a telephone - not everyone is cut out to work in a Call Center environment. While someone may have “The Right Stuff” to deliver great Customer Service & Support – it doesn’t necessarily follow that the same individual is also a good fit for the more demanding & sales-oriented requirements of Up-Sell/Cross-Sell/Customer Win-Back – let alone Inside Sales or Outbound TeleSales.

Typically there are 3 grades of Agents found in a Contact Center: (Above Average), (Average), and (Below Average).

(Above Average) Agents seem to have “The Right Stuff” that pushes them to succeed & a natural compatibility with the duties of the position. They work hard - exceed expectations - do more than asked - achieve high-quality consistent results - deliver great Customer Service & Support - can always be counted upon - need little direction & work extremely well with everyone.

(Average) Agents perform their duties adequately enough “to get by” - but no better. They are the partially competent. Generally they’re strong from a Skills standpoint but missing a key ingredient or two from a Job Fit and Customer Service orientation standpoint.

(Below Average) Agents are the people who just don’t fit somehow. Sometimes they’re good people in the wrong jobs. They need extra coaching & supervision just to achieve average results. Often they cause unnecessary conflict. (Below Average) Agents have Lower Training Pass Rates - Higher Levels of Absenteeism - Lower Levels of Productivity - Poorer Performance & Customer Satisfaction Ratings - and they generally have a Negative Impact on Team Morale.

(Below Average) Agents represent the real problems in a Contact Center workforce. While (Average) & (Below Average) Agents may seem fully qualified at the Interview Stage – they’re a Poor Job Fit – the cost of hiring them is enormous – with little value add to an organization– and a negative impact on Service Levels, Customer Satisfaction, Sales Results and Brand Reputation.

There is an ROI to be had when investing in coaching/training for (Above Average) and (Average) Agents. However – coaching/training for (Below Average) Agents only results in higher recruiting/hiring/training costs – higher turnover - lowered productivity - and a decrease in Service Levels, Customer Satisfaction and Brand Reputation.

Taking someone who's lacking in the Personality/Job-Fit/Communications/Soft Skills - and investing in coaching/training for them - in an attempt to make them into a professional & reliable Call Center Agent - is just investing dollars chasing dimes – and not a wise long-term business or customer care strategy.

Top performing Contact Centers drive their Revenue & Performance through superior hiring tactics. We help employers gain better insight & more accurate predictions as to which applicants from a pool of Candidates would perform up to, or beyond their established standards. You can find out about a Free Trial of SPAS Call Center Agent Pre-Employment Screening Software at http://www.telesoftsystems.ca/64201.html

When I was a unit manager in a contact center, 60% of my time was devoted to coaching my agents. I would do side by sides with them on a monthly basis so that I could listen to their phone calls. Afterwards, we would go back to my office and discuss the customer contact.

I would also have discussions on performance improvement. Each day, I would distribute KPI's and I would meet with my agents 1 on 1 to go over their stats. We would discuss process improvements, what worked, what didn't work, etc.

In order for a call center to be successful, it starts with the reps on the phones. They are the first line in servicing customers. If they do not have a direction, or if they do not know their jobs, then they can't perform. In the end, it's the customers that suffer. However, if you interact with your agents on a daily basis, encourage them to perform, keep an "open door" policy, then everyone wins!