Call recording and call monitoring systems provider Coordinated Systems has put together a terrifically useful white paper listing 10 ways quality monitoring creates better-trained agents, and the Top 10 Tips for implementing a quality monitoring product in your call.

We can’t do justice to 20 tips here, so we’ll give you the top few. Hit the link for the full article.

How quality or call monitoring creates better-trained agents:

It provides the ability for agents to hear themselves speak. Even the best agents make mistakes. Most don’t even realize when they’re making them. Playing back recorded interactions will enlighten them. When an agent first hears themselves going “Uhmmmm...,” you can see the funny look on their face as they think, “that’s what I sound like?”

Screen capture functionality allows for greater understanding of how agents use their applications. It isn’t only for nabbing solitaire players or web surfers during business hours – it can also be used to watch an agent navigate through CRM.

Evaluation functionalities speed up the learning curve. Before the evaluation process was automated, supervisors had to sit side-by-side with employees, take notes, fill out spreadsheets, develop training material and provide feedback to employees and compile reports for management. If this process took three hours, the automated process takes three minutes.

Reports make it easy to identify employee strengths and weaknesses, and to identify where agents need training. CSI’s product, Virtual Observer, “comes pre-loaded with agent performance reports that can identify where employees are struggling, even where entire groups falter across the board.”

Got that? Good. Now for the tips for implementing a quality monitoring product:

Call centers traditionally use some degree of agent monitoring to identify weaknesses and improve customer service strengths. Preparing for agent reaction to the implementation of automated call recording systems is an important part of the entire process.

Write a clear outline of the reasons behind bringing a call recording system into your call center’s work flow, including benefits to agents, benefits to customers and the benefits to company.

Introduce the concept of quality monitoring well in advance and initiate tasks to empower agents to participate in the process. The purpose of call quality monitoring is not to catch employees slacking off, but to help improve customer service and meet overall performance metrics.

Reiterate company customer service goals. Customers are the ones who actually pay salaries and wages, and it is often much easier to retain customers than get new ones. The most successful companies in the world are the ones with the strongest customer service beliefs, unless of course, you count organized crime.

Create a “team” atmosphere for your agents. Set up a team recognition and rewards program, highlight stellar service examples via internal emails and newsletter articles and photos.

Hit the link for the rest.