>>What's
the best way to coach call center agent calls?
Do
you have any recommendations or even a script for
coaching call center agents when their phone calls are
monitored?
Myra's
answer to What's
the best way to coach call center agent calls?
The
call record method is, in my opinion, one of the best
approaches to coaching
agent phone calls and ensuring quality. Here’s a
9-step plan for effectively coaching call center agent
phone calls:
-
Randomly
record 2 –3 telephone calls.
Random recording is important. Do not record 3 calls
back to back or on the same day, as your employee
may be having a bad day and this may be reflected in
all of one afternoon’s calls, but is not
necessarily reflective of their typical performance.
-
Review
the calls and note strengths and opportunities. Before
meeting with your employee, listen to the calls and
note what they did well and identify 1 –2
opportunities for performance improvement.
-
Play
one tape and let your employee listen.
During the playing of the tape, you do not need to
respond.
-
Have
your employee respond to the tape.
After the tape is played, ask your employee to
respond. Most employees will be overly
self-critical. Your employee will likely note many
opportunities for improvement and struggle to
articulate what they’ve done well.
-
Coach
the call. Use the “sandwich” approach. Tell
your employee what s/he did well, followed by
constructive feedback, and then end with positive
feedback. When
offering constructive feedback, share only one
opportunity for improvement. The employee has likely
observed and stated several improvement
opportunities so there is no need to bring these up
again Try to mention one thin
g
the employee did not bring up and offer this as your
constructive feedback.
-
Gain
commitment for performance improvement.
Ask the employee, “What specific steps
will you take over the next 5 days to improve in
this area?” Write down what the employee
states and repeat it to her. Summarize the session
by reiterating strengths and offering a vote of
confidence that she can improve in the identified
area.
-
Repeat
steps 2 – 6 with a second and perhaps third tape
if necessary.
The point of numerous recording is that an employee
may respond defensively stating that was just a
“bad” call. If that is the response, you may
choose to review a second or third tape.
-
Follow-up
before the next agent coaching session.
Check with your employee in between coaching
sessions to keep the commitment top of mind. You can
touch base with your employee via email or a
personal conversation.
-
Discuss
improvement in next coaching session.
Before listening to calls in the next
coaching session, ask your employee how she’s
progressing toward the
goal of the last session. Look for improvement on
calls reviewed in this session.
This
9-step call center agent coaching model is simple, clear
and it both praises employees and offers support for
improvement opportunities.
When
you follow this 9-step process, you will set clear
performance expectations, coach effectively and
consistently and at the same time you will be motivating
your employees.
See
also: The
answer to How do we get call center agents to buy-in to
a quality call monitoring program?
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was very pleased with Myra' presentation, but even more
so, I was left with a sense of new energy and desire to
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can't wait for Monday!
Tim
O'Laughlin
The
Coca-Cola Company
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