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Google's Fatal Flaw?
Speak with any contact center manager, and though many of their practices
and opinions may differ, most will agree that the biggest problem in any
contact center is agent retention and turnover, followed by customer
churn. Companies spend time and money training new agents, only to have
them leave once they are fully trained, which costs the company money in
two ways: the costs to replace the agent with a new employee, and the lost
costs of training the departing agent.
Customer churn costs a company
money, as we all know the often-quoted adage that it costs far more to
acquire a new customer than keep an existing one. This month, I decided to
look into two solutions that can help contact centers lower their
attrition rates by keeping both agents and customers happy and in touch
with the pulse of your company.
First, I recently spoke with Pathlore Software Corporation CEO Steve
Thomas. He provided me with a great example of a client using Pathlore's
software.
In Irving, Texas, Brink's Home Security is bundling technology to not only
boost on-the-job performance, but also to stem turnover. In the security
industry, turnover often pushes 50 percent for call center employees.
Earlier this year, Brink's installed a Web portal from Computer
Associates, and linked it to an online learning management system (LMS)
made by Columbus, Ohio-based Pathlore Software Corporation. Here's how it
works.
The Web portal sorts and tabs the huge amount of data that Brink's stores,
so employees can use their computers to keep up on the company's policies
and procedures as well as the latest news. Linked to the portal is the LMS,
which delivers, tracks and reports on corporate training over the
Internet.
To learn more, I posed some questions to Steve.
RT: What's the link between training and turnover?
ST: Simply put, more training spells less turnover. Harris Interactive's
study of 1,000 U.S. employees found that 61 percent of workers who receive
training, education or mentoring are very likely to stay in their jobs for
the next five years.
RT: How does the learning management system work?
ST: Call center workers ' or others at Brink's ' can log onto the Brink's
LMS through the portal from a computer to learn about alarm systems, for
example. The LMS serves up a course on the topic, and can test know-how at
the end. To close the loop, the LMS records the worker's score and stores
a record for that person's manager. Employees take the training in an
e-learning lab that is outfitted with computers.
RT: In general, what does a system like this cost?
ST: An LMS costs anywhere from $75,000 to $150,000, plus integration
services. Brink's also purchased a Web portal from Computer Associates and
educational content from NETg and Vivid Learning Systems.
RT: What's been the reception from Brink's workforce
and executive team?
ST: We recently hosted a few of Brink's managers at our global users
conference in San Diego. They said the portal and LMS have gained support
from the top down and the bottom up. From what we see, employees are using
the tools, and this includes people who work the third shift who found it
hard to attend training classes scheduled during the day.
RT: How can other call centers take advantage of
this technology?
ST: The Web portal and LMS are a method of getting training where it's
needed at a fraction of the cost of classroom training. I suppose any call
center that wants to do that might benefit from this technology.
If your business is faced with new regulations, then an LMS is one way to
get a lot of people up to speed quickly on the basics of those rules. And
if someone wants to refresh his or her memory about a regulation, it's
easy to pull up a class on the topic via the LMS, and brush up on the
finer points.
RT: What kind of results can Brink's show for its
efforts to date?
ST: Since implementing the LMS this year, Brink's says employee retention
has increased. Again, a lot of factors have contributed to improving
morale and retention, but the LMS has helped them make that improvement.
The Web portal and LMS have played a part in helping in other ways, too.
Brink's has increased its customer base by at least six percent over
fiscal year 2002. Additionally, Brink's increased alarm installs by more
than 10 percent versus last year's numbers, which is almost double the
industry's growth rate.
RT: What's next for Brink's?
ST: They're looking to build even more interest in their online learning
system by creating new opportunities for their employees to access
training. There's no doubt the portal and LMS will give them more
flexibility and choices for doing that.
Relationships + Humor = More Sales
Relationships are the most powerful sales tool any company can possess,
whether the relationship is with the Web site or individuals within an
organization. In my experience, humor has always been an integral part of
relationship building. The best salespeople I have met have always been
funny. Many teleservices outsourcers have told me over the years that
their best agents are aspiring comedians. So it should come as no surprise
that bringing humor to the masses through the Internet can boost employee
and customer relationships and thus increase sales.
Ray Hansel and Marysue Lucci, the founders of RMH Teleservices, a
leading teleservices outsourcer that went public in 1996, decided that
their next venture would be Marastar Communications, a company that helps
get messages across by adding humor to virtually any concept.
The company uses animated characters in mini-cartoons to communicate
messages. I have successfully used these characters to get coworkers and
even potential customers to laugh and respond quickly to my
correspondence. There are many uses for these animated messages, and aside
from a variety of sales-related animations called Salezmail (www.salezmail.com),
there is also a product called Toon Up Your Call Center that focuses on
motivating and training agents to be polite, effective and follow through
on issues, among other activities a company would expect from its agents.
The animated characters in these skits deliver useful information in a
non-threatening way. An example is an animation that can be sent to
customers if you want to gently remind them to get back to you. It
consists of two elephants facing each other. One elephant is thinking out
loud and trying, but failing, to remember an important detail. The caption
at the end reads, 'Even an elephant can forget sometimes.' At this point,
you add a custom message requesting that your client contact you.
The animations are Flash-based and can be sent as links in an e-mail or
as an icon of the animation, which can then be clicked on. The animations
can also be printed in a mini-poster size or added to PowerPoint
presentations. Toon Up Your Call Center allows managers to see how many
times agents access each of the animations. I have viewed close to 80 of
the animations that Marastar has produced and they are all excellent in
quality, have sound and get the required message across.
The sheer volume of e-mail, coupled with an ever-increasing Spam
problem, make it necessary for all of us to look for new ways to
communicate with one another in a way that people will remember. I truly
believe that animated messages are a new way to disseminate information
and drive home important messages. I suggest you give it a try yourself.
Visit www.marastar.com to demo the animations.
Sincerely,
Rich Tehrani
Group Publisher,
Group Editor-in-Chief
[email protected]
Google's Fatal Flaw?
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