A Call Center Training Plan | A White Paper by Intulogy

Is Your Training Plan Keeping Pace With New Technology?

Opening Statement

Your call center is an integral part of your customer relationship management. Your representatives are ambassadors, and every time one of your customers contacts your organization, it is a moment of truth-a chance for your organization to shine. Call centers have a huge impact on customer retention, and in the end analysis, your revenue and profit. Delivering consistent, quality service is not accomplished by accident.

We know that it takes a great deal of training and preparation to succeed. The situation is complicated because customers now contact you via e-mail, the web, mail, and by telephone. Customers expect you to deliver seamless, integrated service regardless of the method of contact. This is a huge challenge whether you are implementing a new software solution, increasing the number of call center representatives, starting a new company, or offering new products and services. It is proven that a well-trained and supported representative is less likely to leave your organization. Decreased turnover equals reduced costs and a better bottom line.

Revenue vs. Training Expenditures

Is there any ratio or formula that should be applied regarding sales revenue to training expenditures?

Lonnie Harmon - There is really no single ratio or formula that can be applied. It depends upon the size of your organization, obviously, and the types of business processes you have. A common ratio in the industry is that training amounts to 2% of payroll costs.

Reseller Organizations

We work with reseller organizations. What do you see as the best way to train them? They are independent and have typically frowned on us having them set aside time to train them.

Lonnie Harmon - If time is the problem, then work around the time issue. Some ways to do that are:

Self-study programs that they can do on their own
Asynchronous training programs that can be completed independently and do not require everyone to be together in a group to complete

Make sure you have some type of validation or verification that they have completed their training with a certification plan or testing evaluation.

Web Based Training

How does web based training compare with face to face training?

Jon Campbell - My experience with web based training is that it is like other technology based delivery platforms. It can be an extremely effective method, or it can accomplish little knowledge transfer. Web based training should be considered along with instructor-led or other technology delivery platforms, during a needs analysis and design. Its effectiveness will be determined by the audience, the learning objectives, and other criteria.

Transitioning

We are just changing from a call center to a contact center where our agents will respond to email, fax, web, and phone. In what ways will training be different? What do I need to prepare for?

Lonnie Harmon - You need to identify what your business processes are. That will give you a good starting point. You will need a needs analysis, and you will need to chart the work/paper flow communications through your office. Once the business processes are identified and documented, the training should be customized to meet the needs of your specific industry.

Some communications methods such as email, fax, and the web, don't necessarily create an immediate interaction with the customer. Therefore, your employees will need to be trained on how to respond through these different mediums. They will need to know how to respond when an immediate response is not required. Written communication is very different than oral communication and has to be handled much more carefully. As an example, voice inflection, humor, and insinuations should be avoided in writing, whereas on the phone they might be readily accepted.

CRM Issues

How has the emphasis on CRM affected training issues?

Jon Campbell - The emphasis on CRM has changed training in a number of ways. One way is that there may be new CRM software to learn, along with possible interfaces to back-office applications. Another is that call center agents are an integral part of managing the customer relationship. They are the touch point with the customer and may require additional training in soft skills, a variety of response tools and new software.

Effectiveness of Training

What are the best ways of evaluating the effectiveness of agent training?

Lonnie Harmon - The answer is simple, but the application is not. The question is, can they do their job. Ways you can judge this are:

Simulation
Customer feedback
Call monitoring
For outbound, are they hitting their numbers?
Increase in productivity
How independent are your employees? Once your people are trained, how often do they come back to their supervisor for help? If happens continually, there would seem to be a learning or training problem.

Q/A Measurements for Web Based Reps

How do you measure quality assurance levels with web inquires? How can you track this and are there any tools to facilitate this process?

Lonnie Harmon - What are you trying to Q/A? Are you trying to track your customer satisfaction? If so, you could have a form for that information. Are you trying to track your agents' responses? You could periodically review the e-mail logs and responses issued by your employees.

Points of Contact

With the use of different contact points (ie. web, phone, email), how do you measure the effectiveness of your overall contact center?

Lonnie Harmon - Are all the incoming inquiries being responded to? Is there a backlog? Are you measuring customer satisfaction with the way you are responding? It is effective if the job is getting done, whether it is sales or service. If everyone is getting a response in a timely matter, the effectiveness is there. If your customers are not satisfied, then it is not effective. Your training program should emphasize solid customer service training. Train your employees to respond quickly, professionally and efficiently. Once they have these skills, they can apply them in any medium or method. A complete training package would include both the tools and the customer service to ensure complete satisfaction for your customers and employees.

Best Delivery Mechanism

What do you feel is the best method of training delivery for my agents? Am I better off with self paced, face to face, or web based?

Jon Campbell - The best method of training delivery can only be determined by conducting a thorough needs analysis. Sound instructional design requires you to analyze:

Your training audience
The learning objectives
The skill level of the audience
The difficulty of the subject matter

In most call center environments, a combination of delivery platforms is probably essential. Instructor-led training is often best for new hire, or more difficult topics. Self-paced or technology solutions are generally better for less difficult topics, increasing knowledge of a current skill, or subjects that can be broken into smaller modules.

Change Management

Do you propose training for change management? Who is usually trained?

Lonnie Harmon - We don't train for change management, training is part of change management. A comprehensive change management plan would include:

Change management communications to prepare all personnel for the upcoming change. Ensuring employee “buy-in” is a key factor
Needs analysis to determine which business processes are changing and how it will affect people's jobs
Documentation of those business processes to standardize and give everyone a common vision
Training on the new business processes.

Change management is not an event, it is a process. Even after the formal change is completed, there needs to be continuing support.

Agent Reinforcement

What is a good reinforcement program for agents?

Lonnie Harmon - giving the employee their goals and objectives, then help them to meet those goals through training and positive feedback.

High Turnover Rate

We are a call center. Our turnover rate is 60% and we are constantly spending money on training. Is there any way of lowering our training costs?

Lonnie Harmon - I see three ways to potentially reduce your training costs:

Costs of hiring trainers: Do you spend a lot of time training employees about your business process? If your business process is static and there is a long-term demand, you should consider CBT or self study methods. These delivery methods can help you reduce the need for trainers.

Costs of high turnover: A focus on employee satisfaction is an important part of an overall training program, and it should decrease your turnover rate.

Costs of productivity: To reduce downtime caused by training, you can implement self-paced training. These modular programs can be completed during downtime or slow periods. This type of training allows you to keep employees on the job during high activity times while also recapturing the value of low productivity downtime. Employees can actually maximize their productivity while they are learning.