Years ago, when I was a call center agent, I went through intensive sales and service training sessions. These sessions were ongoing and continued to build upon each other. Once I proved myself, I was promoted to a Manager of my own team of 15 agents and was provided no training or coaching on how to be a great Manager. Luckily, I had been coaching successfully for years, but I know I would have been a more effective leader of a much more successful team, if I had been trained in coaching.
Coaching agents is a vital part of the overall quality in call centers. Companies like BPA Quality can provide you with the unbiased, transparent reviews of calls, but how your managers and supervisors deliver these results can either help or hinder their agents’ professional development.
Every supervisor/manager knows the benefits of effective coaching and, in general, some form of coaching takes place in most contact centers across the country.
Most coaches set out to do a great job, but often times they are simply “winging it” and hoping for the best. The coaching may lack focus, or just the opposite: focus on areas that may not necessarily make an impact on the customer or the quality of the telephone interaction.
It is essential for the coach to have a clear focus/goal and the coach needs to be using techniques that help motivate the agent to want to do his/her best for the customer.
With a clear focus and use of motivational techniques the coaching session will not only be beneficial to the agent and customer, but to the goals of the organization as well.
Due to the philosophies at BPA Quality, we believe that not only should we offer call monitoring, but we must also offer positive training techniques to your contact center leaders. This provides our clients a full 360-degree view of the health and quality of their call centers.
By: Yvette Renda, Director of People Development & Karyn Dupree, Senior Sales & Social Media Manager
A great point. Continuing education for all of us is important. If we want to grow, we need to learn.