13 Responses to “Training in Call Centers >> Measuring ROI”

1. Subrata Banerjee says:

   August 6, 2009 at 7:29 pm

   If you are trying to use e-learning for behavioral training in a call center, I don’t think that works well – I say this from personal experience. ILTs work much better for that. For other kinds of subject areas (technical. procedural etc.) e-learning is quite effective.
2. Brom Kim says:

   August 6, 2009 at 7:31 pm

   I ran the instructional design and development team in a Fortune 300 with 12,000 agents, for five years. I can’t show examples, but here are some conclusions we evolved:

   + Taking calls, beyond the most basic, scripted level, is a synergistic, creative activity (top of Bloom’s taxonomy) requiring a very solid foundation of basic skills and knowledge.

   + Instruction focused on the middle cognitive levels, i.e. understanding, lecure, chalk and talk, that neglects memorization of basic facts, models and steps at lower levels, and synergistic application and combination of these at the higher levels, doesn’t perform. Learners must be prepared to apply skills dynamically, with real people and situations, not pass a written test.

   + To build a strong foundation of basics, trainees need to learn phone systems, software, steps, and facts like Marines learning to clean their rifles blindfolded. That is, the basics have got to be wired in order to decrease cognitive load, or when folks hit real calls, they panic.

   + Ever forget simple things under pressure? It happens. It’s cognitive psych 101. Basic skills learned in isolation do not equate with combining these dynamically and synergistically, on the fly, under pressure.

   + To prepare for higher order tasks, combining foundational material on the fly, learners need to practice before they take real calls, in low-risk, but realistic environments.

   Here’s my prescription for Call Center ID based on the above:

   - Cut lectures to the essentials. Unless you have generous time, most ice breaker and fu fu stuff needs to go. Learners will be grateful later.

   - Use flash cards and simple learning interactions to rapidly train basic facts and skills. Memorization is not a bad thing when folks are headed into high-pressure situations.

   - Role plays are overrated. If you haven’t taken real calls yet, how do you act one out? RPs should generally be supported with robust scripts, performance support cheatsheets summarizing the RP task, visual organizers, and checklists, and may be best done in threes with two players, and an observer/evaluator.

   - Use a/v simulations and/or written case studies to support higher-order thinking without pressure.

   - Have learners speak and listen realistically as often as possible, from day one. Pay attention to the level of realism. They need to say and hear things, not read and write them.

   - While entry-level agents may not need to analyze or evaluate the perfomance of other agents on calls until they are promoted to QA or coach, activities at higher levels may help refine their skills at the application level. Listening to calls and critiquing them is useful, if you have time. If you don’t, focus on application.

   Bottom line:

   Asking people to start using abstract information from lectures, rather than locked in procedures and systems, when they hit the phones is like trying to teach someone to drive standard transmission, or ride a bike based on a lecture.

   Best,

   Brom Kim
3. Linda Watson says:

   August 6, 2009 at 7:35 pm

   Samantha,

   I developed training for a call center a few years ago. I cannot show you any examples, but I can tell you the process we followed.

   You state you have to change behaviors. Have you identified them? Once you have identified the behaviors that need to be changed, you can then create a design to help change them.

   The training that I designed was for a technical team working software support. One of the big issues was not being able to correct a problem fast enough. We were able to determine that the reason the support personnel took so long was because the software was very complicated.

   We were able to design an on-line simulator that taught the solutions for the ten most frequent calls. Amount of time spent on each call was reduced after the training was implemented.

   ~Linda
4. Mary Jo Baker says:

   August 6, 2009 at 7:36 pm

   You need to do a needs assessment. It’s possible that job aids hung up in cubes would do the trick.
5. Shauna Bona says:

   August 6, 2009 at 7:38 pm

   One of the most effective solutions I ever saw in the call center was a blended solution. Very simple e-learning up-front (at the desktop) to walk employees through the basics of a new system (why the change was being made, how it would benefit/impact them, what the new screens/procedures looked like, and how they worked). After going through the e-course, the employees were tested for basic understanding. This “level set” them before they attended a brief classroom session with peers (a controlled number in each group) to ask and answer questions and walk through scenarios. After the classroom session, the e-learning course remained accessible from the desktop as a refresher. (This was important because employees cycled through the classroom session in groups and so some received training several weeks before the “go” date on the new system.) In the days immediately before, everyone could double-check their readiness with the e-course. On the actual day (and in the days that followed), it served as a job tool.
6. Sue Schnorr says:

   August 6, 2009 at 7:39 pm

   I’ve designed several training programs for call centers but don’t have permission to share samples for any of the clients. I can give you some ideas. The client needed procedural training, and for that we did self-study and an OJT – program, pairing new hires with a senior person. They also needed to change behaviors, so for the soft skills, we had several modules, customer service, problem solving, telephone skills. We designed the training to be interactive with plenty of practice and examples and feedback, ie. simulations (so they would FEEL what it felt like when they didn’t get what they wanted as a customer) demo’s (we’d call 800 numbers of service organizations, like car rentals and airlines and rate the rep’s customer service skills and telephone skills based on the models we taught).

   Since you mentioned a limited time, perhaps roll out the training in modules, and do the ones where the behaviors need to be improved asap. If you have would like more info., or have any questions, send me an email, sue@training-insights.com
7. Jackie Combs says:

   August 6, 2009 at 7:42 pm

   Call Centers is definitely a place where one size does not fit all. Needs assessment may help, but…. If you are doing ILT, you will have better luck if immediate supervisors deliver the training – strangers will not be listened to, The Boss will. Alignment in these places tends not to go any higher, either – head honchos are viewed with skepticism. Job aids are great reinforcement but lots of reinforcement is good – multiple tools, printed, online, rehashed at meetings, lunch and learn sessions. If it is technical or button pushing type content, you may want to pilot any process flow you develop – I remember vividly how my template was rejected with great force by one group, and I found myself rewriting using screen prints annotated with red circles! If this helps, I am between jobs and would love to give free advice.
8. Rick Benavides says:

   August 6, 2009 at 7:46 pm

   Samantha,

   This question is subjective and you may receive different responses; however ROI is purely mathematical based on customer responses and call center metrics. You asked if sides by sides are a good way to use your time, well that is subjective. You said the call center had about 600 CSR’s, but did you randomly seat yourself or where the CSR’s hand picked? Customers do not have this option so to gain a personal sense of time well spent is determined by who you sat with. With a call center you described I would sit in a conference room with a CSR, a QA/SME, at least one team supervisor, one production trainer and a floor manager to randomly monitor calls. There should be a QA checklist that measures standard metric requirements and based on the over all outcomes of the truly random monitors you will have a good prospective of your ROI. In addition since you had an individual of each department that makes the call center run, you can continue to brainstorm business practices to achieve the results you want on you ROI.
9. Staci Capitano - Little says:

   August 6, 2009 at 7:48 pm

   I have been HR Manager is several call centers over the years. The most productive way in my experience has been Calibrations in a conference room with a Team Supervisor, Product knowledge SME, and Program Manager. This way you do not effective productions and is more methodical way to ensure ROI. We would plug in and listen on conference phone to calls randomly and sometimes targeted. Everyone in the room had same checklist with points assigned for each item. As we listened we all graded the call and then would go around the room each person would have 2 minutes to give score and reason for score then we would move on to the next call. We usually did this for 2 hours weekly per call group and longer if Quality was down. If a bad quality score was given to an agent the Team Manager had to communicate to the agent.
10. Mark Hofmann says:

    August 6, 2009 at 9:07 pm

    Samantha,
    Is it even a training issue? One of the biggest mistakes in T&D is throwing training at a problem. A prof once told me, if you can hold a gun to trainees head and they do the job correctly, you have no training issue.
    You may want to look at OD alternatives. If you want your reps to come across cheerful, it may be as simple as having them looking into a mirror when talking to their customer. If they know smiling will help them come across as more considerate even over the phone, maybe they can monitor their own expressions while talking to the customer.
    Also you might want to confirm all the reps have been through training for customer service. A lot of times a person will change jobs within an organization and since they seem ok with co-workers it is assumed they will be ok with customers.
    You would be suprised how much just a simple plastic sign saying LISTEN First will help someone with customer relations.
    Also, sometimes the organization may be putting a premium on the rep to handle a call quickly. Well if you reward people for fast service calls, they may be fast but not all that effective. Maybe some facilitation about some real world issues with customers, and how to handle the call expeditiously, but not cutting corners in meeting the customers needs will help too.
11. Rob Franklin says:

    August 7, 2009 at 9:45 am

    “Changing behaviors” sets off alarms in my experience. Maybe the issues driving behaviors are not training related. If you are problem solving in a hurry, make sure the problem is one training can address. “People fail to do things for one of three, maybe four reasons…”

    Failure to identify root cause is the pitfall that most often wastes training dollars.
12. Laura Lingle says:

    August 10, 2009 at 8:05 am

    Far more likely this is a management and accountability issue than a training issue. Most of the issues I encountered in the call center environment had to do with communication, management and accountability — not the individual’s skills/knowledge.

    Ask the question – if you pointed a gun to their heads or offered a million dollars, could they do what they’re supposed to do?
13. admin says:

    September 1, 2009 at 9:26 pm

    UPDATE: 9/1/09 – Thank you everybody for your amazing responses. I received so many! Your feedback sent me back to the design table! I was inspired to create 8 modules based on customer satisfaction. It is important that we lower churn and increase c-sat scoring for the call centers. The falling call volume due to a shift in the call centers core product (home land line services) means that my reps need to make each call a quality call. Taking every call (aka ‘opportunity’) is the only option. My specialists now have Facilitator guides, training aids (job aids, side-by-side coaching cards, self-paced learning, etc) as well as a variety of application and presentation styles and activities focused on c-sat. One critical module that I would like to highlight, focused around the statement, “Nothing Happens Unless the Coach Makes It Happen.” I love this statement b/c it is my strategy to affect change in such a large environment. Recognition and responsibility motivational methods will now be in my Specialist’s front right pocket.

    The support from everyone who replied to this blog was truly moving.

    Samantha (9/1/09)

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