Call Center Management Featured Article
How to Raise Gifted Contact Center Agents
When you were figuring out how to read, did your teacher just point you toward the library? When wanted to learn to ride a bike, did your Mom simply open the garage door and send you on your way? When you were approaching driving age, did your Dad just throw you the car keys and say “good luck.”
I’m going to venture a guess and say no. And you shouldn’t do that with contact center agents either.
To be fair, most contact centers don’t just plop new agents in their jobs. They typically have quite detailed training for new hires. And often contact center managers offer them coaching once they’ve been onboarded.
But, to elevate a greater percentage of agents to be top performers, contact centers must carefully and continually work to recruit the best candidates, train and support them, and reward their good performance. Just like you would with your own family member.
You can’t pick your family, but you can choose your agents. So, start by seeking and selecting the candidates who exhibit the best communications skills and can-do attitudes, and have the best references.
Contact centers need to educate them, explaining the goals of the organization and specific campaigns, what tasks are key in meeting those goals, and what tools and processes are used to complete the tasks. In addition to telling agents what to do, contact center managers should show them. That’s what most of our folks did in teaching us how to ride a bike or drive a car. It’s how our Scout leaders taught us how to tie a knot. Demonstration is something that agents can benefit from too.
Driver simulation can be pretty helpful for new drivers and climbers too. Likewise, simulation is an excellent way for agents to demonstrate and test their skills, and for managers to offer feedback on how they can improve.
Once agents are prepared to face the real world of customer service, they still need to be supported. You wouldn’t completely cut your kid loose after you drop him off at college, right? Well, contact centers shouldn’t effectively abandon their agents once they’re on the job either. They need to continually coach them and offer them support. That way there’s a much greater likelihood that agents will grow into the good contact center citizens we all want and need.
Edited by Mandi Nowitz