How Can I Implement Ongoing Training with My Agents?

Picture this: you’re coaching a basketball team, and they’re playing their state championship game. There are three seconds left on the clock. Your star player has the ball. This is the exact scenario you’ve imagined in your mind: all the other players are lined up perfectly for the ball to be passed to the open player just under the hoop, who will shoot the ball and score the winning point. 

But your star player doesn’t see the open player, so he throws a Hail Mary shot and misses. You lose the game.

Your team failed to complete the simple play because you didn’t teach it to your team. Because you only had those expectations in your mind, your team simply didn’t know what steps they needed to take to score the winning point. 

Neglecting ongoing training leaves agents blind to improvement opportunities, which can have a negative impact on your customer service. In this blog, you will learn exactly how to successfully implement ongoing training in your call center.

Step one: create impactful training

The most effective way to effectively train your agents is to focus on the areas where you are falling short. TCN’s Workforce Optimization and Voice Analytics solutions empower you to determine which areas need extra attention and track your progress. 

With Workforce Optimization, use real-time insight into agent activities, including breaks between calls, and data regarding Key Performance Indicators to reveal areas that are lacking and see improvements as they are made. As a result, your call center will reach maximum productivity.

It’s vital to understand what your customers have to say about what you can improve within your business. With end-of-call surveys implemented through TCN’s Voice Analytics solution, receive training ideas directly from your customers’ mouths. Additionally, utilizing call recordings can be an excellent way to create pieces of training based on real customer experiences.

Supplement training with customizable agent scorecards to ensure agents are consistently in line with goals and understand how they are measuring up. 

As you set goals, track your progress and then train on the areas where you are falling short with TCN’s Workforce Optimization and Voice Analytics solutions, you will always know exactly what to focus on to take your call center where you want it to be.

Step two: create self-reliant agents

Having a call center full of self-reliant agents means they will proactively make the improvements you are looking for. But you must empower them to be self-reliant. TCN’s Workforce Management solution makes insights available to agents so they can more efficiently self-manage based on what they are taught in training.

By tapping into historical trends and utilizing a user-definable data selection, you can fine-tune your training and improve your efficiency. When you create your trainings in this way, you will never run out of training material and you will never stop seeing improvements. In addition, you won’t even need as many formal training sessions because you are creating agents who know how to focus on key areas independently.

Making top-performing agents available for training is another great way to make your trainings more effective and provide a tangible example of the ideal agent your call center is looking for. 

Bridging the gap

If you’re wondering how you can implement all of these principles with agents that work from home, you can with ease! With TCN’s Room303, you can coach both old and new agents remotely, and facilitate constant internal chat and collaboration so agents always have the help they need and are aligned with their managers.

Not buying it yet? Use Manager Whisper capabilities to guide agents through conversations and monitor or escalate calls when needed – from anywhere. This will help you ensure concepts from training are being applied and provide one-on-one help. 

Ultimately, the key to implementing ongoing training with your agents is being in the know about what training is needed. This will help you build ongoing training procedures that help fine-tune agent skills. Leverage the insights made available to you, and don’t be afraid to do one-on-one training in addition to group training.

Lastly, don’t forget to show your call center agents you care! Provide incentives for sales or the quality of service they provide. This will help them feel valued and motivated while reinforcing the type of behavior you are looking for. Request a demo to learn more about how to implement ongoing training with your agents today.