Training Games: Fun and Engaging Provides Excellent Knowledge Transfer

by Tamara Schroer on May 15, 2013

After hiring the best agents, how do you guarantee that the training methods you have in place are going to in effectively imparting knowledge? The trick is to ensure that the agents receive the best information in the most effective way. If you are looking for a way to spice up your virtual training, consider gaming your training!

So how do you utilize games while confirming a positive end result? Consider the following:

1) Highlight important metrics - One of the most important things to consider when recruiting and training agents is how the agents will be evaluated. This means focusing on your metrics and deciding what is most important to your customers. Now, remember it’s not all about metrics, but setting guidelines upfront so that agents fully understand expectations ensure better understanding as you walk through each training module.

2) Use “gamification”- Defined as the use of game design elements in non-game contexts, gamification has become a hot topic, particularly in the training world. Not only does the use of games naturally employ our competitive nature, it also ensures we really absorb the learning. It provides an opportunity to re-enact real world examples in a safe environment giving agents an advance look at certain experiences.

3) Make training exercises “fun and games” – Training can be fun and exciting to agents if they feel connected. Make the webinars or training/coaching sessions more fun by offering door prizes, having contests for the best company slogan, a poetry contest, and more. This type of activity is fun and connects agents to each other as a community. In addition, if they are having fun, they will get more out of the training sessions and the result will be more positive.

4) Use peer coaching in training. By using more seasoned agents to coach and mentor the new agents, you develop a bond between more seasoned agents and newer ones, while increasing a sense of community. Develop a system where the agents with more experience can train new agents, and reward them when they meet certain metrics in the training. Likewise, reward the new agents for attending the sessions with the agents.

Bottom line – training should be fun and engaging! We learn more if we are laughing, enjoying ourselves and feeling connected as a group. Utilizing these four tips will provide good results and still keep the primary training goals in tact – to ensure solid knowledge transfer to the agents.

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Customer Engagement Requires Understanding Emerging Channels

by Kim Houlne on May 10, 2013

With new and better ways to communicate with customers, it is important that contact center management understand the new channels continually appearing in order to meet the needs of clients. Social media and mobile technology have become some of the primary ways clients communicate with businesses, so we have to be equipped to meet those changes in an efficient manner. The challenge is building the same rapport as is possible with a phone call.

When call centers only encompassed the voice on the phone, it was fairly easy to establish and maintain rapport.  By engaging active listening skills, agents could tell if the customer was happy with the service, or if needs were being met. Likewise, supervisors could listen to a play back of the phone conversations, and measure agent effectiveness based on quality of the conversation, how well agents followed the script, and their level of positive customer service skills.

With the other new mediums, this is a bit harder to do. Now we must engage a more conscientious approach to ensure that agents are taking care of the needs of customers, given the new avenues of communication.

According to a study by Execs in the Know, most CEOs and call center executives do not feel they are fully prepared to meet the needs of the changing customer access methods. Regarding social customer care, 49% of executives reported responding to customer comments via social media channels. Some 21% are listening and responding to direct inquiries, 9% listen alone, and around 22% are still determining the approach they need to use to be effective.

These figures show a need to focus on exactly how the new channels will be used and more effective strategic implementation.

Get Ready for New Channels

Here are 5 things you can do to ensure that you are ready to meet the challenges of the utilizing new channels:

1) Integration with Social Channels- consider meeting customers where they already are and integrating the most popular social media into your customer service plan through instant messaging, Facebook and Twitter integration and other social platforms.

2) Expanding Participation-If your business already has a plan for integrating social platforms, have a goal to expand to more sites. Offering more options to allow customer interaction on a variety of platforms increases the flexibility in delivery and allows for better communication.

3) Hire more social care agents-Finding quality people with expertise in these new channels and social media will increase productivity and quality. Also, develop a way to encourage high quality customer care through the new channels and award top-achieving agents.

4) Expand hours for social care agents-Another thing that is helpful in making your call center more available is to expand the hours of operation that allow for social customer care. By being more available to customers at times when others are not gives your business an edge.

5) Focus on mobile technologies – With a move toward more mobile technologies, it is important that your call center is equipped to handle customer service via mobile devices.

With the emergence of multiple channels, including social media platforms, such as Twitter and Facebook, as well as mobile technologies such as the smart phone and tablet, it is important that businesses desiring high levels of customer service adapt. The more available your customer service agents are to customers on their preferred platform, the higher your customer satisfaction scores will be.

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A Customer-Focused Strategy Means Never Having to Say You’re Sorry

by Tim Houlne on May 7, 2013

JC Penney recently released new ads apologizing to their customers. While work reportedly began on this advertisement campaign before the departure of Ron Johnson, it is no accident that it was aired after the return of former CEO Mike Ullman. The ad acknowledges missteps, asks customers to return to the stores and conveys a simple but important message – JCP listens. They have even made the phrase their new Twitter hashtag.

Timing is everything. Now the question is- has J.C. Penney’s board made the right moves at the right time? The media is split – although most believe Johnson’s departure is a good thing. With the retailer reportedly losing approximately $13 billion and a large number of previously loyal customers, it makes you wonder why they made the move in the first place.

Customers Are King

The trick to implementing any new strategy is first to ensure it is the right one for your customers, your organization and your shareholders. Second, make sure the timing is right. In Johnson’s case he made extensive changes to the J.C. Penney’s sales strategy based on his former success at Apple. While fresh approaches are often positive, remembering to engage existing customers in that new approach is critical.

Johnson chose to abandon coupons and sale events along with a change to the overall brand experience. In addition to changing the logo, the stores were in the process of refitting to house brands that would entice a younger audience.  It’s actually not a bad plan. The problem was execution.

According to a NY Times article, Johnson chose to roll out changes on a massive scale rather than perform small-scale testing. He chose to ignore the concerns of senior management and employees regarding the changes.

Bottom line – choosing to ignore existing customers, trusted team members and internal experts cost J.C. Penney’s large sums of money, a falling stock price and a major change at the helm.

There are some that believe Johnson was not given enough time for his plan to come to fruition. Unfortunately, we will never know if it would have worked.

Strategic Execution Starts with Listening

Mr. Johnson chose to forge ahead without listening. He chose to ignore concerns and did not ask the existing client base what they thought of all the changes. It was only recently that a survey of customers was performed that uncovered the dissatisfaction with new pricing structures. Turns out the loyal J.C. Penney customer really enjoys sales and coupons.

Customers were not the only ones impacted by the changes. According to a Huffington Post article, employees were seen crying from excitement and joy at the news of Johnson’s departure. The continued changes in pricing structure created considerable work for the employees, who had to tag, and re-tag millions of items on a regular basis. Coupled with the continued exodus of customers, employee morale took a dive. No one was listening to these vital front line people.

Good strategic planning is important to creating a solid roadmap. Execution of the strategy is just as critical. However, timing is everything. Even the best strategy attempted at the wrong time can fail. It is absolutely necessary to consider the environment, listen carefully to existing and potential customers, and then take the right steps in the right order. Otherwise, you may end up having to apologize to your customers!

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Truly Successful Virtualization Strategies Start with This!

by Terri Maxwell on May 2, 2013

It’s no secret that, in spite of recent moves by Yahoo! and Best Buy, we are firmly in the camp of supporting virtual workers. Working Solutions has hundreds of thousands of virtualpreneurs™ performing to very high standards every day. And yet to hear these other big organizations talk about it, you cannot be successful without physically sitting in the same contact center.

Not true! We understand there is a new world of work – one in which top tier talent, particularly millennial professionals, value a new currency – freedom. These people are less motivated by compensation, and are more inspired by independence. The opportunity to work on projects they enjoy; and the flexibility to work where and in many cases, when they want.

Unfortunately, many CEOS (who are Baby Boomers) struggle with this currency shift. As a group that values hard work and has chased success by climbing the corporate ladder, creating a system based on the reward of freedom is counter-intuitive.

The truth is the dot-com bust has changed the corporate landscape forever. Gone are the days of sticking with a company through to retirement, along with a huge chunk of 401Ks and other retirement benefits. With too much at stake, entrepreneurs began their own ventures so they could be in control of their own futures rather than passing them off to a faceless corporate brand.

This changed the way many think about their futures and a truth was revealed – freedom is the new currency. Savvy professionals will compete for work based on the quality and type of work, rather than time spent. Now there is a bigger question for executives and entrepreneurs to answer.

How do I create a culture that supports virtualpreneurs?

Major corporations are building successful brands using a virtual talent strategy. But the corporate culture is based on performance; and rewards that are tied to performance.

Arguably, some cultures like Zappos are so customer-centric that a virtual strategy might indeed impede success. The entire company is built around the customer in such a way that even multiple locations create barriers to communication.

Which brings me to an important point about a virtualization strategy: it doesn’t have to be all or nothing. In many cases using virtual talent to augment a high performance management team, locally organized, is the best strategy.

Spend the New Currency with Better Management

Progressive companies attract creative, productive talent with the way they “manage people,” which truthfully is not to manage people at all. Rather than buy into the “productivity can only be seen” modes of thinking, companies that embrace the virtualization of work product attract the always sought-after motivated self-starter.

To capitalize on a virtual work strategy, companies must:

  • Manage the process and outcome, not the people.
  • Utilize more peer-to-peer management to encourage collaboration.
  • Invest in cloud technology to manage projects.
  • Understand virtual collaboration both from a technology and communication standpoint in order to get the best ideas.

Physical presence does not improve creativity. Creative people engaged in the idea and committed to a solid outcome do. Now executives and entrepreneurs simply need to embrace the new currency of freedom, and build a culture that supports virtual work. Then sit back and reap the rewards!

 

Find out more by checking out our new book, The New World of Work: From Cube to the Cloud. Visit www.newworldofwork.com.

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Size Does Matter – Class Size That Is!

by Tamara Schroer on April 25, 2013

Class size is a matter of significant importance for organizations looking to maximize the value of virtual agent training and development programs. Failure to take this into account has the potential to lessen agent comprehension of vital information. This could result in both decreased company efficiency, and lower levels of service for clients. To ensure virtual training of agents occurs smoothly with maximum knowledge transfer, take these three parameters into account:

Consider the Nature of your Training Program

The first step required when deciding upon the best class size for a training program is to assess the nature of the content you wish to teach, and the style in which it might best be delivered. Some of the most important factors for consideration include:

  • Level of technical expertise that will be required of your agents.
  • Level of direct interaction that an agent will have with customers.
  • Scope of the issues that an agent must be able to resolve by the end of the training.

For example, if you’ll be putting your agents in charge of support requests that require a high degree of technical knowledge, it may be best to consider doing some of the instruction in a small group environment. This can easily be accomplished provided that the training software you’re using includes some sort of live-chat functionality. Ideally, the software should also allow instructors to set up simulated customer support scenarios.

The combination of a group chat system with simulation software will yield a number of crucial benefits. First, instructors will have the tools to assess an agent’s ability to handle support situations firsthand. Having a good method of assessment is vital when any form of instruction is undertaken. In addition, group members will be able to offer valuable feedback to one another, and receive performance feedback from instructors.

Methods of Instruction

Now that it has been established that the nature and content of a training program are important considerations when determining program size, it’s time to consider the different methods of instruction that can be put in place. When it comes to training virtual agents, certain class sizes logically lend themselves to certain styles of instruction.

If you’re going to be working with a larger class, a direct instruction style of teaching generally works best. Due to the fact that effective group work is more difficult with a higher number of students, having material presented to agents by a single lecturer is more efficient. Using webinar software, instructors could easily present information to a larger group, and address any questions about the material.

If you’re training a smaller group of agents, a system of guided practices can be highly effective. In a guided practice situation instructors will teach the required material to program participants, and then provide them with the opportunity to practice the techniques and concepts that they’ve learned.

The ideal implementation of small group training for virtual agents has already been discussed in an earlier example. In short, you’ll want to make sure that instructors have the tools and software necessary to implement job specific simulations. You’ll also want a system that allows for the easy exchange of performance related feedback between instructors and agents.

Finally, if you’ll only be working with a few agents, you can use a more individualized system of training and evaluation. Generally, this would involve using software that allows agents to complete job tasks on their own as a means of internalizing their training. Combining this with a system that utilizes further skill testing and task simulations can significantly increase an agent’s confidence and proficiency level.

Choose a Mixed Approach

Ideally, your organization will employ all three of the above learning methods as part of your overall training program. For example, you may wish to teach in larger groups when training agents to address company policy queries. This information is easily conveyed, and instruction can be accomplished with simple live-chat software.

Guided practice can be used to train groups of agents to perform more technically demanding tasks. The smaller group size will make task simulations more feasible, and allow for a more open exchange of feedback with instructors and other students.

Finally, implementing individualized training exercises at the end of your program will help agents cement their understanding of everything they’ve been taught. Using the proper software platform, they’ll be able to hone their skills on their own, before actually interacting with a customer, ensuring customer satisfaction is at its highest as soon as agents are available to handle transactions.

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