Installing new, improved technology in your call center can greatly boost efficiency — provided your workers understand how to use it correctly. State-of-the-art systems and software will do your company no good if a lack of training leaves your employees confused.
The first step to successful training, says Tom Guschke, managing principal at Cleveland-based logistics/management firm Keogh Consulting, is to include the end users in the installation process. “Our preferred, and proven, approach is to involve a few key individuals one on one early in the installation and testing of the technology, actually working side by side with the installers,” Guschke explains. “By doing so they become familiar with the technology, and the testing process gives them insights on how the technology works and interfaces with other technologies.”
Hunt Valley, MD-based Tessco Technologies, a manufacturer/marketer of wireless communications products, includes its workers in the testing phase of installation and makes changes to its implementation based on their feedback, says consumer sales leader Elizabeth Cook. Five years ago, when Tessco installed the Symposium call routing software from Ontario-based NorTel Networks Corp. in its Hunt Valley and Reno, NV, contact centers, 10 or so reps were taken on a “field trip” to meet with the software’s developers at a NorTel training center in New Jersey. “It takes the mystery out of new technology when you can bond with the people who actually created it,” Cook says.
The inclusion of workers in the testing phase also allowed Tessco to pinpoint early on the need to help reps adapt to the faster speed at which they would take calls once the software was installed. The software meant that workers would now be taking calls back to back rather than within three rings, as they were used to. So whereas before reps could make notes on each account between calls, once the software was installed the reps had to do more multitasking. To solve the problem, says Cook, call center managers worked with reps who were having trouble adapting, showing them how they could manage their time more effectively, such as by taking notes during lulls in the conversation.
More important, according to Cook, the company helped the reps through their discomfort by explaining how the increased speed of calls would help Tessco better serve its customers, which in turn would lead to increased sales. “We reasoned with them from a how and why perspective that the three rings translated into wasted time that could have been used to help sell, service, and deal with customer needs,” says vice president of marketing and communication Steve Lehukey, who worked with Cook during the installation of the software.
A conversation that explains the larger strategic picture is important, agrees Liz Kislik, president of Rockville Centre, NY-based call center and customer service consultancy Liz Kislik Associates. Don’t underestimate how stressful and disruptive new technology and procedures can be to workers. “That’s why reinforcement of goals is so important,” Kislik says. “The trainer or manager needs to explain why the new technology will be better for me, the worker, once I learn it. It may be hard in the meantime, but it will help me take better care of customers, make me more efficient, and save the company money.”
Kislik also recommends providing more-tangible incentives. For instance, you could award $10 gift certificates to the workers who make it through practice sessions using the new technology with the fewest mistakes.
An ongoing effort
When new technology is installed in one of the three call centers operated by Home Depot, the Atlanta-based firm schedules special training sessions.
The home repair and maintenance supplies cataloger/retailer works the necessary instruction for new systems and updates into its ongoing quality assurance training. Home Depot’s training includes continous employee technology education, says Shelley Nandkeolyar, vice president of interactive marketing and e-marketing.
“We go through a training module of what’s new and what customer interactions to expect,” says Nandkeolyar. If no technological changes have been made during the previous quarter, workers are given the opportunity for a refresher.
About four months ago, when Home Depot was preparing for the October launch of its America’s Tool Box microsite to accompany its new Tool Book catalog, reps were given a demonstration and practice session on the microsite before it went live. The site had new interactive features that, while designed to be user-friendly, were unfamiliar to many customers and reps. “We wanted our reps to become the resident experts,” Nandkeolyar says.
Training began with a tutorial accessed through the company’s intranet, where reps could find all the available resources on the new microsite. For example, reps were provided with instructions on using the intranet on the Tool Box’s live demonstration of products with voice-over Internet protocol technology.
Despite the detailed information available to reps through the intranet, workers also participated in live demonstrations before the site was opened to the public. Such practice sessions, Nandkeolyar stresses, are invaluable. “We want them to try to use it as much as possible as a real, live thing so that they don’t have to guess what’s really going to happen.”