Tip of the Week – Quality Assurance and Training Connection

Consider environmental fit when making a hiring decision.

October 29 - In addition to defining the knowledge, skills, and attributes that make up the ideal call center employee, another important consideration in assessing the job is to define the unique working environment of your call center. In particular, you’ll want to identify aspects of the job and the environment that may be less than desirable and assess candidates’ motivation to accept these conditions. Some examples include the following: Confined space. Is the workstation space in your call center limited? Some people will feel uncomfortably confined in a small cubicle workspace. Repetitive tasks. Is there variety in the type of work your agents do, or are the tasks fairly repetitive in nature? While some people like the predictability of call center work, others need more variety and challenge on an ongoing basis. Solo work. Will the employee get to interact with others in the center? While you may be looking [...]

sitemanager2018-11-02T17:35:30+00:00October 29th, 2018|

Tips on Data and Numbers – Opportunity, Creation and Sharing. (Part 2)

January 15 - This series of tips are related to Data and Numbers. Last week, we talked about the Opportunity to present Data and Numbers. This week, we will discuss Creation. The Creation of a report or presentation sharing data and numbers requires that you reflect about what you are going to share, where the attention of result should be, and understand what will be done once the reviewers see the presented information. When faced with creating your presentation, I would share that there are three considerations: Your presentation is like a clean sheet of paper and you get to create the design. This is great if you are a creative person and love the ability to control the message. Create a focal point versus getting lost in a detailed spreadsheet. Instead of having a crazy detailed Excel spreadsheet (that has so much data – but no one can read [...]

sitemanager2018-01-17T00:02:14+00:00January 15th, 2018|

The “PGFC” of customer service.

November 20 - Last week’s tip focused on identifying the “why” of performance problems before coaching begins. The tip included information about agents perhaps not performing because they might feel pressured to meet handle time numbers. “It is natural to assume that if someone has not performed and followed through on a call-handling technique that they must need more training. However, the person may actually know how to do the technique, but is being influenced by pressure to meet handle time numbers and therefore skipping through some of the call steps. It’s crucial to identify the reason for the gap before beginning the coaching process.” I hear this a lot on calls as I listen to agents. Some agents have his/her own pace and they simply may seem like they are rushing the call and missing minor targets on the form. I would suggest that you encourage the agents to “Pace” [...]

sitemanager2017-12-06T13:34:21+00:00November 20th, 2017|

Creating passion for the job from your team members (part 2).

October 2 - Last week’s tip started the conversation about how to help your employees find the work they love to do. Here are three examples of how an employee’s passion was put to work in the call center: One employee had taken classes on desktop publishing. Her supervisor suggested she put those skills to use and create a team newsletter. The newsletter was a big success and became a regular monthly publication. Another agent that had an interest in photography offered to take pictures around the center and the newsletter added photos of team events and awards and served as a nice keepsake. Other teams joined in and the newsletter spread to be a call center-wide project, with many different agents sharing their talents and skills at poetry, cartoons, and interviews. One call center had a problem with scheduling for weekend coverage. The supervisor noted that several of the staff [...]

sitemanager2017-10-02T21:46:21+00:00October 2nd, 2017|

How the phone is answered is an important first impression.

July 31 - When was the last time you called your business? I recently spoke at a conference. After the speech, the client gave me a gift: the list of everyone in the audience with their contact information. She suggested I pick up the phone and let everyone know they should hire me to speak at their next meeting. (Now, that’s a nice gift!) So, a week later our team picked up the phones and started “smiling and dialing.” We connected with a good number of the people who responded positively to our calls, but that’s not what this is about. It’s about how a company’s phones are answered – and you can probably guess, this is more rant than rave. The number of companies that messed up their first impression was ridiculously high. About a third of the way into the calls I realized we should have done a formal [...]

sitemanager2017-08-03T14:39:48+00:00July 31st, 2017|

It takes WILL as well as SKILL and KNOWLEDGE.

June 12 - In attending a professional training seminar recently, I learned that the critical success factors in selling are like a pyramid. At the base of the pyramid is WILL. The characteristics of WILL are: persistence, resilience, positive attitude, being a team player, confidence, and the motivation behind what you are doing. In a nutshell, how hard do I want to work on a particular project, task, job, or training? It is the level of determination I possess. The second part of the pyramid is KNOWLEDGE: the product or technical information we have, our customers, the market we serve, those we are in competition with, and the selling processes. Over time all of this can be taught, learned, and even mastered. The other side of the pyramid is SKILL: our tone, rapport, presence, relating, questioning, listening, positioning, and checking. Having superior skills is not only necessary, but it is very [...]

sitemanager2017-06-14T11:36:49+00:00June 12th, 2017|

How to conduct a calibration session.

March 13 - Last week’s tip started our conversation on calibration with a discussion on why calibration is important and the benefits of calibration. This week we will look at some how to conduct a calibration session. The following basic steps are prerequisites to consistent calibration: Every employee responsible for monitoring and scoring contacts should have an excellent working knowledge of the contact center’s services. Those doing the monitoring must understand how the standards are administered. Those doing the monitoring should be given formal training in the program, as well as relevant documentation on criteria and definitions. The following describes some tips for a successful calibration session: Schedule at least one hour of uninterruptible time. Choose a facilitator. The role of the facilitator is to direct discussions, take notes and keep the team focused. Observe a contact and have all participants use your monitoring form to make notes and score the [...]

sitemanager2017-03-14T20:33:49+00:00March 13th, 2017|