Train to Trends, Coach to the Individual
So often we get caught up in the individual or the trends and neglect to realize the most important fact, that only by focusing on both are organizations successful.
A large hospitality client was looking to improve both their CSAT (Customer Satisfaction) and conversion rate. They decided to purchase a keyword and sentiment analytics quality platform. The purpose was to use the platform to eliminate the need for individual call reviews and coaching. They would gain more insight with less overhead management.
The platform provided great insights into the trends for CSAT and conversion, but it lacked the capacity to understand the specific nuances of each individual agent. Not long after, they decided it was good to use the platform to see overall trends, but they had to revisit their coaching program to focus on the individual.
This company realized one of the most important personal development ideas in contact centers. That is to train everyone to the trends, but coach to the individual needs.
Identify the Need
The first step in the coaching process is to identify the need. Never start a coaching session without knowing what you need to coach on. The worst possible scenario is going into a coaching session and asking the question, what do you think you need to work on. The best coached in the world prepare their teams through copious research of their opponents. They know what they need to prepare their players for competition. This not only applies to coaching, but also training.
Here are some of the ways you can identify the need.
- Evaluate performance metrics
- Listen to live or recorded calls
- Review CSAT, NPS, or other client surveys
- Use tools to analyze and track customer sentiment or keyword phrases
Create Training Programs Focused on Trends
A consumer finance client allowed their clients to pay for their service 5-15 days from the date of sign-up. Cancellation rates began increasing and lifetime value began decreasing. These are two important metrics for the profitability of the business.
They analyzed call recordings and cancellation data. The farther out the first payment date, the higher the cancellation rate. The contact center had gradually pushed payment dates farther and farther out. With this trend data, they were able to design training courses that addressed the issue and taught them how to overcome objections associated with payment dates.
Training programs are meant to be robust enough to engage each person in the training group but narrow enough to focus on one or two specific training topics.
Remember, a great training consists of not one learning method but multiple learning methods. Look to make the training a combination of visual, auditory, reading/writing, and kinesthetic methods. You can review each of the methods by reading about best learning methods.
Coach to the Individual
As shown earlier, creating training courses are designed for trends for a specific group. Coaching is designed to be specific to an individual. In the case of cancellations mentioned earlier you would spend additional time coaching time on this topic for those that are offenders.
The notion of treating each person different can be frowned upon, but for coaching it is necessary. The needs of each individual are different. The purpose of coaching is to give one on one time to help them with their areas of opportunity.
A way in which coaching can be individualized is through Quality Assurance programs. As part of this program, calls are monitored and graded for training purposes. If an agent received a perfect score, then forward feedback onto the agent, but there is no need for an exhaustive coaching session to say, “Great Job”.
If an agent received a poor score, then pull the agent aside for a coaching session focusing only on a primary and secondary coaching topic, even if there are more to coach on. Focus on one main item, perfect it, and then move on to the other.
Coaching requires you to review the individual’s performance, find the primary coaching topic, and then administer it in a way in which the agent changes their behavior. Take the time to create great coaching moments.
Use Correct Tools
Having both the correct training and coaching process is important, but having the correct tools is imperative to your success. FiveLumens has the features and capabilities managers need to not only be able to effectively track and coach their contact center agents, but also to provide effective training. FiveLumens performance enhancement software makes coaching and training easy and effective. To learn more, get a demo.