Coaching Advice

[mofo196]

As a new member of a Quality Assurance Team, I have run into a small snag. One of the agents I have been tasked to coach is very accurate with the knowledge part of being a rep on the phones. However, she lacks the people skills to come off as a "friendly" agent. She can be a little rough on the phones. How can this be coached effectively? One idea is to sit her with one of our friendlier agents, but how can I be sure she is learning what she needs to learn?

Any advice would be appreciated.

[williampan]

mofo196

Quality assurance would be categorized as Soft skill and Hard skill
hard skill means product knowledge and project procedure and so on.
soft skill comprise standard greeting and closure, vocal quality and call controlling etc.
from your case, we know this agents is not qualified in some attributes. if you arrange one agents sit aside him or her, it just waste one human resourse. which also will impact his/her working enthusiasm.

Why not pulling her off line and share her cases with you two.
meanwhile point out her weakness and share some good manner case with her.

tips: praise openly and blame privately.

Hope it would be useful


William pan

[Marc D]

I agree with the comments above, however it may prove beneficial to record some of the agents calls and then for both of you to review them together. I often find this has the desired outcome.

[ghorrocks]

Rather you are training a new employee or coaching and existing one there is several good ways to coach associates. One that I use on a regular basis is curbstone coaching. This is the most successful way to coach an individual. With the curbstone coaching module the associate will self identify the behavior with your assistance and with the self identify stage they are more likely to change or modify the behavior.

I have trained this module for many organizations and it is proven to be successful.

Good luck if you have any more question please feel free to email
ghorrocks@dakotaperformance.com

Gary Horrocks
Dakota Performance Solutions

[sharon douglas]

I had the same situation a while ago in our Call Centre. I think it is really important to have the rep listen to there calls and you can discuss together. Ask questions like, What did you like about this call, what could you change on this call. Try to make the session as positive as possible.
I do not agree sitting with another reps who has good telephone skills will help this rep.
Good luck

[CCPro]

Praise her for her Techincal Skills and their value to your company. Then explain the impact that HER Customer's Experience has on the bottom line success of your company. Customer Loyalty and Retention are key drivers in any Call Center's success. Try to make her understand how her behavior on the phone can have a negative impact on this. I would set the expectation right up front that if any employee has a negative impact on revenue generation they would be considered for termination as a potential consequence. Offer the advice that not all people are cut out for customer service work and that if she is one of them, that this may not be the right industry for her to be working in. It doesn't make her a bad person, just a poor job fit. Help her "see" how she can have a positive impact on HER company and then ask for her committment to work towards that goal. I think you will find this a successful technique. If not, then your choice should be easy as to how to end this negative customer experience issue.

One final thought,,before you even think about conselling her on her Customer Service Skills do a real "gut check" first. What message does she receive from her company about Customer Service? Is the message loud and consistent that it is a driving value of top leadership, or like so many Call Centers is it a "lip service" message lost in the priority message of Service Levels and AHT ruling the day over all else? If it is a lip service message,,,ask yourself - is she the one really at fault here?

food for thought....