Modernize Your Call Center Training

While the century may be nearly two decades old, you might not know if from observing how some call centers are still training agents. Managers still communicate solely by roaming the floors, listening in through headsets. Companies still rely largely on classroom settings for training. Agents train isolated from one another, reliant entirely on supervisors and managers. While some of the old practices have value – seeing a manager walking the floors can give agents confidence and build good relationships – there is plenty of space for new technologies and new processes.

Customer support quality is more important than ever in 2019. In most surveys, nearly 100 percent of customers note that customer service is an important factor in their choice of loyalty to a brand, and that a significant percentage of customers would abandon a brand from a single poor experience. Following are some best practices that call centers can use to bring their agent training into the present.

Personalize the training. While classroom training still has a place, agents will have very different needs when it comes to training. Each individual has a different background and skillset. Some new agents may respond best by reading and listening to presentations, whereas others will learn the fastest in interactive training and simulations.

Use modern call recording. Whereas old-fashioned call recording was able to capture only a small percentage of calls, modern cloud-based quality monitoring can capture, sort, classify and search all calls, so managers can use individual agents’ calls to help them understand what they’re doing right and what they’re doing wrong.

Offer encouragement and support. Since more and more call center agents are likely to be younger – part of the so-called “Millennial” generation, barking orders like a drill sergeant isn’t likely to be effective on them (if it ever was). Younger workers respond better to encouragement and motivation to help them grow and perform better. Mark successes and improvements in a positive way.

Accept feedback. Ask your veteran agents what would have helped them the most during their training days. You can learn a lot from people who have been there. Ask new hires what they’re most uncertain about and coordinate your training program from there.

Consider gamified solutions. While no one expects you to turn your call center into a video game parlor, using training solutions that work a bit like video games – with the use of earned prizes, badges or levels – will raise a bit of competitiveness and make training a bit more lively.

Edited by Maurice Nagle