When customer service schedules become tricky and the pace of the job demanding, training too often becomes an afterthought leading to lower levels of customer satisfaction.
New hires can most definitely be a great addition for any business. And in the world of call centers, agent training is perhaps the most critical aspect in the business seeing as call center outsourcing are recognized to be spot on and fast paced. Training your new agents should also be the exactly that – speedy, engaging and at the same time empowering.
But how can you speed up your training process for your new employees if you are put in a scenario that implemented a time constraint? Given that call centers have tricky schedules and the job comes with a high demand of your attention, it is rather difficult to have a long schedule dedicated just for training. But despite that, here are ten ways you can train your employees faster and efficiently.
Focus on better on-boarding
It can take some time for a person to adjust in a new environment and introduction helps speed up the adjustment process. Introduce your new employees to the team and workforce as this will let them identify the nature of the business and working environment.
Assign veteran agents as mentors
Involving your top agents in the training course will immensely help speed up the training session. Your top agents can give the new employees tips and tricks and some advice on how things are done in your line of work which also demonstrates a dignified mentoring solution.
Make training hands on
Given the time constriction, you will have to make sure that the training is hands on. Learning is different for everybody and one thing you can do is by putting them in role-play scenarios. This is a practical training session. Your new hires can learn through listening, watching and responding to the scenarios.
Document everything agents need
Trainers should have a log which consists of notes on the training and the progress of the new hires’ and their performance. Taking down notes in detail will help you determine the strengths and weak points of each individual in the training session.
When you have the statistics of their performance level, it will help you grasp a particular concept of what their different skill sets can brought to light and help your company. Aside from that, you also have an idea what set of skills they need to work on and in turn, help them how to improve on that aspect.
Publish successful examples of service cases
You can help demonstrate a variety of customer interactions. These set of examples will give them a better perspective on how to respond to them. It would be much better if you can set up a demonstration with your top agents on how to interact with callers. That way, new employees get to see it first hand on how to do it the right way.
Teach agents to get to the right answer
Agents should be accommodating when a caller has a lot of question. Train them how to provide helpful information and how to deliver the instructions that the caller can easily understand. They should be trained to listen patiently and that they know the importance of not interrupting a caller in midst of their query.
Teach agents to anticipate customer questions
It helps to throw them key questions and see how each of your trainees can answer those as best as they can. Most times there is a difference between questions that can only be answered by one statement from ones that can be answered by several other statements.
Teach agents how to listen more effectively
Of course listening to their answers will help you determine if it is still lacking on certain aspects or they got it. This will relatively show the progress they are making over the course of the whole training.
Enable social leadning
Based on the training observation log, you can take note if there are still some details that they are missing. You can give them some pointers and acknowledge the characteristics on what makes them a strong candidate for the job; plus, you can encourage them by viewing their own performance so that they are aware of it and analyze themselves on what they should adjust basing from the input you’ve given them as well as their own.
Make training an on-going process
This is true for most companies; training is not a one time thing. Business and technology grow constantly and you do not want to fall behind on what’s trending and all the latest news in your industry; which is why conducting refresher courses and workshops can ensure that you and your employees are on top of the game.
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