Tip of the Week Archives - Quality Assurance and Training Connection

Is “Fix and Forget” the way you lead?

January 18 - Have you thought (or said) any of these statements in the past 30 days? I thought we had that problem handled. When will I have time to focus on what I need to get done? I should have seen this coming. WOW! That came out of nowhere. I can’t believe we are having to deal with this again. All people ever bring me are problems. If you said yes to at least three of these statements, you might be in danger of becoming a “Fix and Forget” type of leader. Characteristics of such a leader are: Spending all (or most) of their time on maintaining the status quo. Time resources are strained and it’s easier to go from crisis to crisis to fill their day. They fail to carve out time to look toward the future and determine how to best lead their team into it. Viewing the work [...]

sitemanager2021-01-19T15:11:10+00:00

Learn what’s sticking.

January 4 - Do you know what your agents are taking away from training sessions? Let’s find out! End every training session by asking each person to say something that they don’t want to forget by tomorrow – something new that they learned or a key takeaway that they had. Allow a dedicated amount of time for this closure and be sure to complement their feedback and reiterate key points of their statement. The responses will help you as the trainer identify what stuck and stood out from your session. In addition, the agents will often build off each other’s comments and engage in beneficial dialogue around the day’s topic. Remember – you want your training to be a sticky as possible, so the more avenues you use to drive your point home – the better!

sitemanager2021-01-19T15:11:48+00:00

Use projects to measure ROI for training.

November 23 - How effectively do you measure the ROI of your training efforts? Sure, most of us ask the students if they liked it and thought it was useful, but do we check to see if they actually apply that learning on the job? This is being asked of more and more training departments when they go to senior management for more money. One process that we have seen that helps to demonstrate the value is to have the students do projects at the end of training that apply what they have learned in the day-to-day operation. They can be individual or group projects but they need to be relevant and useful and the student’s manager needs to sign off on it to be sure she will be given the time needed to complete it. And the trainer needs to make time available to assist the students as they run [...]

sitemanager2020-11-23T15:32:20+00:00

10 Things to Look for In A Great Call Quality Analyst.

November 9 - Call center Quality Assurance is a job that many can do, but few can do consistently well. Not only does it involve a wide range of skills and disciplines, it also demands a certain attitude. With that in mind, a great call quality analyst may not necessarily be your top agent. Rather, your ideal call center QA analyst will have these 10 attributes at their beck and call: An Analytical Approach - The most obvious trait is baked right into the job title: they must be analytical. The analyst will be expected to mine information for trends or discrepancies and make recommendations based on their conclusions. Keen Perception - Related to a strong analytical approach, the call center QA analyst must be perceptive. Superior attention to detail is essential. Discernment - Discernment is an important subset of your call quality analyst’s strength in perception. It is important that [...]

sitemanager2020-11-09T15:48:50+00:00

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+00:00

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+00:00

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+00:00

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+00:00

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+00:00

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+00:00