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Training for Call Center Profitability
January 29, 2010
By Sarah Boehle
From the Training Top 125 e-newsletter
When Technology Credit Union of San Jose, CA, set its sights on making its customer call center an engine of business growth for the company, it fell to Assistant VP of Training and Career Development Michelle Greear and Training Coordinator Philip Perry to make sure new call center personnel hired to support the initiative were equipped to deliver bottom-line results.
"Our call center reps no longer are solely focused on troubleshooting," says Greear. "What we're now asking them to do is to work consultatively—as trusted advisors —with the credit union's members to educate them about our products and services each time our members contact us."
To support this shift, the company tripled its call center headcount in recognition of the new role and additional responsibilities reps were being asked to assume.
"Given the change in mission and a growing number of call center reps, we knew we needed to focus on the initial training new hires receive when they first join us," says Greear. In fact, Greear notes, revamping the credit union's onboarding training for call center reps has proven key to realizing Technology Credit Union's goal of turning the call center into a true profit center.
So how did they do it?
According to Perry, initial training takes place over a period of approximately two weeks. "During the onboarding process, new hires are immersed in exercises—conducted within a simulated environment—that closely mimic the tasks and activities they'll be performing after they finish training," he says. "The simulations go a long way toward helping new hires get up to speed rapidly on our products and services."
Interested in retooling your onboarding program for call center or customer service reps to create new revenue opportunities for your organization? Greear and Perry point to the following tips for doing just that:
• Put them in customers' shoes. "During onboarding, our call center reps interact with all of the credit union's products and services as though they were customers themselves," says Perry. "Learning exactly how our offerings work and what customer needs they address—from the customer's perspective—makes it that much easier for reps to assume an advisory role with their customers." By walking a mile in their customers' shoes during training, "newly onboarded call center personnel are better equipped to anticipate customer concerns, neutralize objections, and close more sales," says Greear.
• Shadow experienced personnel. "This is a great way to see how reps who are already online in the call center are doing their jobs," says Perry. At Technology Credit Union, new hires are provided with multiple opportunities to shadow experienced reps throughout the onboarding experience.
• Select mentors. "The mentor relationship is critical," says Greear. "That one-on-one time with an experienced rep serves as the new hire's primary resource for answers to questions that crop up both during the onboarding process and later on, when they assume their duties on the call center floor."
• Practice. Using a combination of role-play scenarios, products and services exercises, and an offline version of the call center's software interface, new hires build a "day-in-the-life-of-a-call-center-rep" appreciation for the job role they will assume, says Greear. "Practice during training may not make perfect, per se," she says. "But it's an important first step in developing the skills and poise necessary to work with our members to formulate solutions that truly address their financial needs."
Technology Credit Union is based in San Jose, CA. In 2009, the company placed 120th on Training magazine's Top 125 list, an annual ranking of organizations that excel at human capital development.
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