Coaching: Plan Your Work and Work Your Plan!

“Plan your work and work your plan.”

Never have truer words been spoken for the effectiveness of your supervisors or others doing Agent skills coaching. If there isn’t a good plan for coaching, your Coaches will be just going through the motions, missing needed sessions with agents or looking at coaching as just an interruption in their busy day.

Many supervisors have every intention of working with their agents on skills, but find that the week or even a month has gone by with just minimal Coaching done. Feeling rushed, their weak Coaching substitute of “telling the agent what to work on” happens instead of an interactive and focused coaching that brings results.

Effective coaching isn’t a once and done effort. Your Coaches need to plan for skills activities time with their agents and the motivation needed to encourage continuous improvement.

Many supervisors tell me that they are buried under reports and meetings scheduled by their manager. In order to help them be successful, we need to be clear on our expectations for coaching and remove any obstacles that our Coaches have.  We can demonstrate our interest in helping them succeed by our own planning and review of theirs.

Here are some questions to help in your process:

NOT PLANNING WASTES TIME

What are my Coaching mission and goals?  Are they based on a number of coaching sessions completed or focused on results?

Many supervisors are doing a lot of coaching but with minimal results. We must make sure that our supervisors aren’t just going through a coaching checklist to meet coaching “metrics”, but instead are doing what brings results in terms of agent skills development and increased customer satisfaction.

Some Coaches tell me that they see their goal as the completion of X number of sessions.  They make sure that they do the minimum required in order to stay in the manager’s good graces. Others say that they often feel that they are spinning their wheels and making no progress. They work with the same poor performing Agents each month, telling them the same things that are needed for improvement. These coaches are frustrated by the lack of results. Their manager just repeats the mantra “more coaching” without giving direction and working hands on with them to assist in developing a good coaching plan for each agent.

The goals for Customer Experience and development of agents must be clear for your Coaches and you must also provide them with the tools to reach those goals in terms of training and working side by side with them for success.

COOKIE CUTTER COACHING WASTES TIME:

 Am I holding my Coaches responsible for completion of certain results-based activities related to successful Coaching? Are they personalizing the coaching method based on the agent’s skills, experience and learning type?

Responsibility for results, not just actions is a big key to their success. Agent skills differ, length of time on the job varies and so the time that must be spent with each agent varies as well as the type of coaching done.

Instead, many newer Coaches make the mistake of coaching everyone just once a month, using the same coaching method with every agent.  They miss the opportunity to see results from those average or struggling agents who need a boost from increased coaching or approaching the skill needs using more personalized approaches. They will tell me they don’t have the time to Coach more.  Often it isn’t more coaching that’s needed but the right kind of coaching to help the agent change skill behaviors.

Managers need to make sure that the Coaches are not just “tellers” but coaching “doers”, rolling up their sleeves and working with their agents.  Initially more intensive coaching such as role-play, side-by-side call handling while the agent observes them handling calls may be needed.  Once results are seen, the Coach will be able to work on more of a “maintenance” coaching schedule requiring less time with agents who have improved.

NOT SCHEDULING COACHING WASTES TIME

Are they scheduling Coaching activities on their Calendar?

If we are working with our supervisor Coaches on how they communicate with the agent about skills, we may not realize the importance of working with them on their time management for coaching.  I find that if it isn’t on the Coach’s calendar or schedule, it isn’t going to have priority. If your supervisor is a Myers-Briggs type “P” (http://www.myersbriggs.org/) who may like to keep plans to a minimum, keeping a calendar with Coaching and alert reminders for it may not come naturally for them.

Recently, I walked a Coach through his calendar to demonstrate how the amount of coaching needed for effectiveness could be possible.  We discussed the need to be flexible in case an urgent situation conflicts with the time and how to deal with that.

It was interesting to watch his expression when he realized that scheduling blocks of time for his formal and side-by-side coaching sessions for the month made it seem less daunting a task.

NON-ESSENTIAL TASKS WASTE TIME

Do I help them find the time to Coach?

Holding a supervisor or quality coach responsible for results but not giving them the time to do it is a recipe for disaster. I’ve had Coaches tell me that they have the desire to do more Coaching but their manager always assigns them other activities.

Your goal should be to review how they spend their time, then find ways to free them from non-essential activities so they can spend 50 to 60% of their time Coaching.

We attend a great deal of meetings and often pull the supervisors in to tell them what happened or even have them attend some meetings with us.  While communication of information is a key to the success of our business, we should decide which meetings are crucial for the Coach to attend, and which can be summarized in an email you or another attendee sends out to share key information.

Reports are another time eater for many front line supervisors who coach.  Once again, prioritizing with your help is key. Can reports be handled by an agent who has potential for moving into a lead or supervisor’s role in the future?

MOTIVATE COACHES TO SPEND TIME WISELY

What am I doing to motivate my coaches to spend the time needed and get results?

Much as our Agents need motivation, our Coaches need to be rewarded for their efforts and results.  You get the behavior you reward so you need to make sure that you are aware of their daily coaching activities and observe them in action.  If you hear an agent showing improvement when you monitor or if customers give kudos to an agent, it’s a great opportunity to not only praise the agent, but the coach who has been working with them.

Verbal and written praise goes a long way to encourage your Coaches to keep working towards the goals for improved Customer Experience.  Monetary incentives if tied to actual improvements and not just activities can be great motivators as well.

You cannot wait to notice and give positive feedback a month or two later when you review quality reports.  Take an active role in observing and rewarding good efforts and results on a daily basis.

REPEAT COACHING WITHOUT IMPROVEMENT WASTES TIME

Are any Coaches wasting time Coaching the unwilling or unable? Have I given the Coach the tools needed to be successful?

If your supervisor is coaching the same agent without results, is it because the Agent is unable or unwilling, or does your Coach need coaching themselves to learn some new techniques?

Observe the coaching sessions and coaching activities each supervisor does and then meet with them to discuss.  Do they need some coaching skills training?

If your coach is doing all the right things to drive skills improvement and motivating the agent, you need to assess whether that agent really wants to improve or is unable to show further improvement.  Your coach needs to know that you will support them and make a decision to change a coaching situation into a disciplinary one if warranted.

Originally published in Contact Center Pipeline in October 2012

Helping Burned Out Agents Improve or Move

It’s easy to Coach and work with our top Agents who are interested in improving, being the best and love opportunities to learn new skills and new information to make them the best.  It’s certainly challenging to work with Agents who are at the “bottom” in terms of performance metrics and quality and it’s clear what we need to do if improvement isn’t made.

The most challenging of all are the Agents suffering from job “burn out”.

We’ve all met them or worked with them. The Agent who shows up for work as scheduled, logs in on time and leaves at the end of their shift.  They aren’t rude or overbearing with customers.  They don’t cause problems.  They show minimal empathy with customers. Their tone is polite but flat and they miss opportunities to provide the Customer with above and beyond Moments of Truth. They have been on your team for several years and have tremendous knowledge about your products and processes.  You don’t want to lose them but it’s becoming obvious that they no longer enjoy their job.

These Agents are often seen by upper management as the experts, the valued employees with the technical knowledge needed. Unfortunately, they sound like robots…going through the motions of Customer Service without any feeling.

We need to answer some tough questions:

How do I justify letting them be flat with customers while my Quality expectation is for them to create a wonderful Customer Experience?

Am I using them to mentor with New Hires?  How are they demonstrating what you need to happen with Customers?

Have I discussed the possibility of “burn-out” with them or just buried my head in the sand?

What have I offered to do to help them regain their enthusiasm for the Customers and their job?

When I discussed this with them, what are they willing and able to do to improve?

How much time will I devote to Coaching them on this and how long will I wait for improvement?

Instead of making excuses for the Agent, this is the time to do see if you are able to turn them around or perhaps help them realize that they need to move on to a different role where they will be happy and productive.  Unfortunately this may mean a role outside of your Center or even outside of your company.  But, sometimes, turnover can be a good thing for everyone involved.

Coaching the Coach

Much of our focus with our Contact Center and Customer Service teams is on the performance and quality of our Agents.  We set goals, coach with them, monitor their customer interactions and reward for improvements or goals reached.

So how are we coaching our Supervisors?

Coaching for many of them is simply training, which often takes the  route of “canned” programs offered by Employee Development people who may never worked in a Contact Center and use modules which focus on skills used by every other department in the company such as Disciplinary Documentation or Dealing with Difficult People. Important skills to learn but missing many of the specific Contact Center skills needed.

Some Supervisors are sent to conferences or trainings offsite which offer presentations related to Customer Service or Contact Centers.  They learn a myriad of new ideas and are excited about what they’ve learned…for a week maybe…and then everyone goes back to business as usual for a variety of reasons (but frequently due to lack of follow-up by the Manager).

As often happens with Agent coaching, Managers will tell or give feedback but not interactively coach with their front line leaders. Meetings are held with the leadership team as a group to share information or discuss issues. Some Managers tell me that they “save time” by having these group meetings and don’t often have one-to-one Supervisor coaching times.

While there certainly is value in group sharing of issues and brainstorming, it doesn’t replace the opportunity for us to interact with and coach our front line leaders as individuals.

What are some ways we can coach our Coaches?

• Monitor calls together.  What is their game plan for improving skills of the Agents on their team?  What do they recommend?
• Observe them while they are coaching with an Agent. Coach with them privately afterwards discussing what they did well, find out why they coached things are certain way, suggest ways to improve coaching
• Conduct a coaching session while they observe you and discuss skills afterwards.  Some learn by observing rather than reading about “how to” or listening to you or speakers discuss.
• Ask instead of telling:   ask them what they think should be done to improve metrics, turn-over, skills, Customer Experience
• Set goals and follow-up date to meet with them again to check progress made
• Hold them accountable to meet deadlines and provide you with feedback on their coaching. They may not always be able to get coaching results with the “unable” or “unwilling” but you should set the expectation that they follow good coaching processes and provide you with reasons and data if coaching needs to become disciplinary action instead.

Many of the coaching skills and activities we use with Agents to help them improve can be adapted for our coaching with our Supervisors.

Accepting Excuses for Failure: Accountability

When I work with Contact Center and Retail Customer Service Managers, I always review job descriptions, expectations, goals and any tracking done related to front-line Supervisor/Team Lead performance.  I then observe what they actually do “on the floor” working with Reps and Customers.  Many times the job descriptions are several years old and don’t truly reflect which skills and expectations are needed for success with Customers or for the success of the Company.  Some are very accurate.  But comparing descriptions to activities is just one piece of the puzzle.

Hopefully we hire our Supervisors and Team Leads based on their skills and experience, and mentor them to be the best.  Unfortunately, some Managers are not holding Front-line Leaders truly accountable for the success of their teams. These Managers accept excuses or avoid changing the status quo.  They themselves are not being accountable for results.  This is a top down problem that affects employees, the company’s success and ultimately our Customers.

Here are some examples of  Managers’ comments to me when discussing poor team or individual performance:

“(On Supervisor not performing) She’s been a Supervisor here for 10 years. I inherited her and I’m stuck with her. She won’t change.”

“His team is the evening shift and you know how THOSE night people are.  They come from other jobs.  They’re tired.  He can’t do much with them.”

“Some of my Team Leads aren’t really interested in their jobs.  I’m not sure what they are doing out there all day”.

It’s clear from their comments that these Managers weren’t coaching and holding the Supervisors/Leads, or themselves as Managers, accountable for results. The last comment shows a Manager out of touch with what was happening in their own Center.

How can Managers take action to ensure expectations and accountability are understood and acted upon by both themselves and their Front-line teams:

1. Review their job descriptions, expectations and compare to the actual work being done.  Ask the Supervisors/Leads to give you feedback on what they spend their time on.  Sit with them and observe what they do. Update the Job Descriptions. Are expectations for them based on results needed for Customers and company success or just activities on a to-do list.  I know changing Job Descriptions is a pain, has to be sent to HR and out somewhere, etc.  but stop talking about it, take action and start the process now!

2. Make sure each of your Supervisors/Leads understand what is expected for best Customer Experience, Team performance and their own performance and support their accountability.   Reassure your Supervisors that if they demonstrate that they are truly coaching with a Rep and that Rep does not or will not improve, you will support their recommendation to place the Rep on a Performance Improvement Plan or other action plan.  Some Supervisors tell me that they try to do this but their Manager won’t approve it, despite good documentation on file.  These same Managers allow the Supervisor to coach and coach a problem Rep without results.  Sometimes this goes on for months and even years.  How does that affect a Supervisor’s attitude and that of the other Reps pulling the weight for the under performing ones?

3. Stop making excuses for poor performing Supervisors/Leads who aren’t coaching, motivating, meeting goals, not interested in their jobs.  What have you done to Coach with these leaders?  Are you avoiding conflict or acting as an enabler?  Just because a Supervisor has worked there 10 years or has a challenging team doesn’t mean they should be treated differently in respect to expectations and accountability. “Entitled” Supervisors will have a negative affect on their team and the other Supervisors.

4. Know how your Supervisors/Leads are performing by observing and working side-by-side with them out in the Center: You need to hold yourself accountable for their results.  Ask for input and give them feedback more frequently so you can support them and take actions needed on a more timely basis. If they are coaching monthly with Reps, are you Coaching monthly with each Supervisor/Lead so they can improve or just waiting for the Quarterly or Annual Review?

Accountability starts with you!

Can You Ever Coach Too Much?

Today’s post is about those who suffer from what I call “Overkill Coaching”.   Too much Coaching without results or effectiveness.  

It’s out of balance.

Overkill Coaching can be approached by a Supervisor from either a positive or negative manner.  And this type of Coaching is frequently accompanied by repetitious Rewards and Motivation. It’s important to coach with every Agent according to their level of skill needs and motivation rather than having a cookie cutter program for one and all.

When too much Monitoring and Coaching is done with top Agents, even if positively done, it may trigger negative reactions in those Agents.

Your most productive and high quality reps may feel that the Supervisor doesn’t trust them to do their job well. They sometimes say to me, “Why is he listening to my calls every single day?” or  “Is she hoping to find something wrong?”

The poor quality Agent has their own take on too much Coaching.

If you are coaching with a low performing Agent day in and day out with no visible progress and this same Agent sees no action is taken by you to turn Coaching into a more serious performance plan including possible removal from their job, your Coaching becomes meaningless despite the amount being done.  They might be unable or unwilling but your Coaching is getting the same results either way.

It all revolves around Coaching for results.

• How much Coaching does each Agent need?
• How much do best Agents need versus those struggling?
• And, when do you decide that the Coaching isn’t working and next steps are required?

Coaching for results must have great planning, implementation and follow-up, not just a series of activities.  Change your monitoring, coaching and motivation activities to personalize your approach with Agents and keep your Coaching interesting.

Guest Post: My Coaching Interview with Assistly

I was thrilled when Alyson at Assistly (http://www.assistly.com/) contacted me for an interview about my Skills Coaching work with my clients.  If you aren’t familiar with Assistly, they designed and market a Customer Care software tool that improves Agent workflow and support ticket management. Their enthusiasm for Customer Service and the Teams that offer Customer Support is evident in their blog posts and in the development of their technology for Contact Centers.  Needless to say, an interview request from a fellow Customer Service advocate was greatly appreciated.

The entire interview post is below.  Hope you enjoy! ~ Melissa

Customer Service Solutions: Coaching in the Call Center

Posted on June 8, 2011 by Alyson

Melissa Kovacevic

Editor’s Note: Melissa Kovacevic (company website: www.mkcallcenterimprovement.com) is a coach with 27 years of consulting experience working with contact centers and frontline retail teams to help them improve process, procedures, strategy, and skills.  She designs and presents customized training programs that help management, supervisors, and agents refocus on the customer as the central character in the support environment. Her role is a complex blend of teacher, diplomat, cheerleader, and psychologist.

The philosophy of exceptional customer service has been receiving renewed attention, and Melissa’s strategies and process working with all the members of an organization illustrate the way companies are aiming at a world-class customer experience. This recent interview with Melissa lets readers glimpse the issues facing contact centers.

What is the gating factor for a customer care consultant? Why would an organization bring in a coach?

Companies may recognize that they have talented people and also some who have not “gotten it,” or who can’t make the transition from book knowledge to applying that knowledge on the job. They may recognize a need for one-on-one training with any or all of the agents, or just with the supervisor. Some are seeing a decline in customer satisfaction or are having complaints from agents about how a supervisor is coaching them.

What kinds of things get in the way of a call center’s success?

One common practice is that management sets metrics for coaching to be done by the supervisors. It might be to monitor (listen in) to a certain number of calls a month, or fill out a skill rating form. Sometimes this is complicated by complex scoring, etc.

So, as a result, supervisors can spend most of their time trying to meet these metrics—thinking only in terms of those demands, and it’s a rush to the finish every month, rather than really seeing these tasks as an integral part of their everyday job. Coaching by the supervisor shouldn’t be performed to a checklist but rather to results.

This goes back to the maxim: “You get the behavior you reward.” If your reward to the supervisor is about meeting the numbers, that’s what they’ll give you. If you reward for quality improvement, forward motion, you will see a different path to meet the goals.

How exactly does the process play out as you conduct coaching?

The supervisor might single out agents who are responsive to coaching, with good attitudes. Then I ask for a few more challenging agents. The supervisor and I listen to the agent’s calls together and discuss how they handle skills such as empathy, asking appropriate questions, being proactive and other skills related to the customer’s experience on the call.

First, they observe me conducting an interactive coaching session and later, I will observe the supervisor conducting one. I teach supervisors how to uncover why those skills are lacking or are continuing issues for the agent and then how to be interactive with coaching activities related to those skills. I might suggest that the supervisor role play, and/or conduct side-by-side calls. Then we get back together to follow up and take a temperature check. It’s very much in the “teach a man to fish” philosophy. They learn by observing, doing themselves, and see the changes that occur.

How does management identify where to concentrate a coach’s expertise?

Often they want someone from the outside to assess and coach not only the supervisors, but also underperforming agents, including new hires or long-time agents with skills issues.

New hires sometimes need a training boost that a supervisor is unsure how to provide. Or the supervisor may realize that they were a bad hire but just continues to coach instead of realizing they are going nowhere.

And burnouts — well sometimes I work with agents who have been in the same phone position for 15 years. And they get stagnant, and the sad part is that the managers let them stay that way because they’re “legacy” agents who have been inherited during a merger or acquisition or from a previous manager . It sometimes becomes about keeping the legacy employee happy with the detriment to the customer. That type of agent may feel entitled to their job and forget that the customer needs to be the focus of their efforts. I help management look at these agents and decide if they are willing and able to improve or not.

How does burnout manifest itself?

Increased sick days, frequent absences, and “gaming the system”—finding ways to avoid working during times when they are permitted extra time to update records or other administrative duties. These techniques are all trackable by studying an employee’s availability at the desk and attendance.

But the biggest thing about this category of agent is that it seems more difficult for them to accept change and coaching. There’s an additional need to get them to change their attitude, and sometimes that is not possible. With these folks, it’s not about skills alone, it’s about a complete change of heart.

You really can’t train or coach attitude. You can train someone on people skills, what I call ‘soft skills’, but you can’t coach attitude. If a person is unwilling to change, that’s the hardest thing.

How long do you try to retrain someone in this state of mind?

If you coach the right way—and I mean interactive, helpful coaching—for 3 sessions, during a 4-8 weeks period to implement the ideas, you’ll be seeing an accurate picture of what that agent is able to do. We are not looking for perfection in a short window but if there is no improvement, management needs to move to the next step of disciplinary action.

Let’s talk about the role of management in this story.

Sometimes managers are hired for their bottom line skills and have no interpersonal skills. They have great operational skills. Or you can get the opposite—people who don’t have any operational skills but are excellent at the warm fuzzy stuff.

Organizations should look to promote not only based on seniority, but for skillset application. Do they know how to coach, motivate, and inspire a group of people? Ideally, you’ve got to end up with a blend of both operational and soft skills. As with the Agent coaching, sometimes you can teach people skills. Other people never get it.

Surprisingly, some managers don’t see the need for praise and support as part of their job. But it’s critically important to publicize good behavior all through the hierarchy. Some managers resist this. I’ll tell them, “You need to recognize the supervisor. They need praise and recognition. You need to pay attention to finding their strengths and tell them publicly how they are succeeding, or surprise them with something special.”

How important do you think it is to involve the C-suite in this process?

I think it’s very important. Top management understands the pain, but they’re not involved in the day to-day management. They may need to know that a supervisor or manager is in over their head—maybe they don’t have the education they need, or they’re just overwhelmed. At the mid level of management, people really need a supportive mentor. People who are promoted without that grounding influence may flounder.

Some of ideas I bring to coaching go back to my early career. I was lucky enough to have a mentor who taught me things that he had learned about motivation. I was taught on the job. Other people didn’t have the same time schedule as I did and didn’t have the benefit of that kind of mentoring. I owe a lot of my success to that lucky happenstance.

In what ways does coaching at this level change companies?

One thing, in a call center, sometimes there aren’t enough levels of duties and skills to inspire and encourage employees. For instance, I encourage my clients to let agents grow in different directions.

This isn’t that difficult to do, either. You can create skill combinations. Maybe people begin on the phone, graduate to phone and emails. Then they go to a combination of phone, chat, and emails, and so on. This creates a sort of job progression with opportunities for growth and promotion. I’ve seen companies create unofficial teams of employees responsible for outreach such as survey creation and ambassadorial roles.

You know, I just read something about this! Dr. Nicola J. Millard, Customer Experience Futurologist, has written a white paper titled, “Clouds, Crowds, and Customers: Doing Business as Unusual.” In the paper, Millard suggests that companies should match customers up with the most appropriate person within the organization—a kind of networked expertise. This idea is a lot like Assistly’s Whole Company Support doctrine. We think all customer care solutions and CRM tools should enable this kind of relationship building.

Absolutely. Another way to keep support agents vibrant in a call center environment is to assign opportunities to do something completely different in customer service—man the front desk, work the drive-through. Some contact centers are located in a retail branch location and that opens this opportunity for agents. This has the added benefit that supervisors see how people can handle themselves “under fire” when you have to work with people in person and balance the cash drawer at the same time.

At Assistly, we always say that it’s hard to have happy customers if your support agents are unhappy.

The best companies take a humanistic approach. They understand that they can’t let all the employees just do what they want, but they want to let them know that their focus is on both the customer and the employees. They make the employee aware that as long as it doesn’t compromise customer experience, they’ll work to make things easier and enjoyable for the team. An agent who is motivated and recognized for efforts—who is enjoying a customer-facing role—will definitely be a wonderful ambassador for a company.

Customer Service Skills Coaching Activity or Coaching Results?

A Quality Assurance Manager I once worked with had a great explanation for what was happening with some of the Coaching going on in their Call Center.  He said there was a lot of focus on Coaching “activity” and not on Coaching “results”.  He was right.

Some of the Supervisors and Quality Assurance folks were waiting until the end of month and then doing a mad dash to get the number of required calls monitored.  They also rushed through coaching sessions, just to check off as completed.  One even did long distance coaching where they simply placed the monitoring information in the Agent’s desk file and said “Let me know if you have any questions”.  The assumption of that Supervisor was that the long time Agent didn’t really need any coaching but could figure it out themselves!

Many were simply giving Agents feedback on what they needed to improve in, but not spending the time to actually analyze with the Agent why the skill was a problem, discuss how they could fix it and then practice the skill with them.  And for some, follow-up was non-existent…until the next month’s coaching activity was due.  Agents making improvement were receiving no encouragement in between formal coaching sessions.

Coaching should be a priority.  But unfortunately for many, it’s seen as a drudge. Something that needs to be done to meet a goal set by upper Management.  Supervisors often tell me how tired they are of coaching the same things over and over only to have the Agent show no improvement.  When I question further, I usually find it’s because the Coach knows how to do the Coaching activity, but not the kind of Coaching needed for results.

So how can you help your Supervisors and QA have the “right” Coaching attitude and get results. Just as they need to analyze why an Agent skill is an issue, you need to do some digging too:

1. How are your Supervisors spending their day?  Do some basic time/task observation and recording to find out what is really going on with their daily activities.
2. What are you doing as a Manager to free Supervisors from activities that aren’t productive or aren’t related to Customer Experience quality & Employee Development? Can you help them find more time to coach?
3. Are you leading by example?  How are you Coaching them on their own Customer Service skills and Leadership skills?  Are you the best Coach that you can be?
4. What type of training have your Supervisors been given in how to effectively monitor calls and coach for “results”?
5. Observe the Coaching sessions they conduct.  Are they lecture or interactive?  Does the Agent appear to understand the missed opportunities in the call? Does the Supervisor know how to deal with defensive Agents or those who make excuses. Or are they avoiding conflict? Is there enthusiasm for Coaching?
6. What expectations have you set for the Supervisor to work with the Agent after the Coaching session in order to help the Agent improve?  Have they committed to do side-by-side calls, call demos, role play or other “homework” to help the Agent.
7. What kind of Monitoring and Coaching reporting do you have in place?  How often are you meeting with each Supervisor to review calls, Agent progress, help them with challenging Coaching situations?
8. How are your Supervisors rewarded and motivated for the success they have in Coaching?  What kind of feedback are they getting from you regarding their Coaching skills?  How enthusiastic are you about Coaching?

I truly believe that as skill Coaches we need to Discuss with Them, Show Them (demo), Observe Them, and then Reward Them for any progress made. As their Manager, you need to practice the same great Coaching skills with them.

Dear Supervisor…Please Leave Your Cubicle Sometimes

My first job in a Call Center was with DialAmerica Marketing in the 1970′s.  Because they did Telemarketing and I had a sales background, I was quickly promoted to Supervisor.  In early days of Call Centers, many of us didn’t have computers.  In fact, we were paper driven…Reps stacking cards with Customer magazine renewals on their desk, dialing until the stack was gone and receiving another stack.  Tracking was done by making little piles of these cards on desks:  Sales, No Sales, Call Backs, Wrong Number/Disconnects   Very simple but effective back then.  When I told Greg Levin (@greg_levin) about our “primitive” Call Center, he said Lily Tomlin must’ve been our ACD (remember Laugh-In’s Operator, Ernestine…”One ringy-dingy…”?)   Pretty close.

We didn’t have cubicles either. Rows of desks lined up neatly in an open square room with one big Supervisor desk in the front like a teacher’s desk in a classroom.  A phone for monitoring was prominently located in the center. We had only one chair for two Supervisors, which meant only one of us could sit down at any time.  One monitored and tracked activities/performance up front while the other walked around the center to motivate, smile, offer assistance desk-side.  I had very tired feet at the end of my shift.

I’m sure you are wondering why I bring up all this Call Center nostalgia.

Sometimes I think all of the fabulous technology and all of the beautiful Call Center ergonomically correct furnishings and cubicles which greatly enhance our work today, unfortunately have also brought about the dreaded “Supervisor in Hiding” disease.

I love working with the front line Leaders, Supervisors and Team Leaders. Many suffer from the “Hiding” disease.  Sometimes, getting them to leave their cubicle is like asking them to let you take them for dental surgery. These cubicle driven Supervisors spend hours glued to their monitor, answering email, taking escalated calls, and then leave only to attend endless meetings requested by their Manager, HR, Training, etc., etc.  Hours are spent locked away in their cubicles or in meeting rooms away from the Center action.  Communication with Reps is via email or chat.  Some even email coaching feedback to Reps.

What Supervisors don’t do often enough is “walk the floor” to see and hear what is going on, to offer motivation and praise during these “walk-by” opportunities.  Too often, they monitor and Coach following a rigid process designed by QA or Management.  They check off their tasks as completed each month, putting coaching away until the next month it is due.  They miss the chances to “catch” a Rep doing something right, a Rep working on skills, and reward them for efforts made right then and there.  Stopping by to thank a Rep for their work or compliment them on improvements brings positive results and lot’s of smiles.  I practice this myself when I’m working with a client on-site doing skills coaching.

Sitting “side-by-side” with an established Rep, observing them on their calls and navigating the system is a wonderful opportunity to build rapport and coach on the job.  Handling calls while they observe shows you are willing to roll your sleeves up and do the job too. Many times, this type of on the job coaching is done only with New Hires.

DialAmerica may have been saving money on furniture by having only 1 chair for 2 Supervisors.  Or maybe they really understood the best way to get us to motivate and coach “on the floor”.

Struggling with Time Management?   I hope you’ll enjoy this article by Wendy Hearn,  Principal of Wendy Hearn Coaching, an international coaching company about work “time wasters” as much as I did: http://tinyurl.com/27926lu

Coaching the Perceived “UnCoachable” Skills

According to an SBA survey, Our Customers Leave because….
• 1% die or go out of business
• 3% move away
• 5% follow a friends recommendation to go elsewhere
• 9% leave for price – a common misconception is that customers are price sensitive
• 14% leave for product dissatisfaction
• 68% leave because they sense that you don’t care about them (attitude of indifference from Employee)

When I monitor and coach, my goal is always to think about the Customer at every “moment of truth” in that call.

I love to stop and start recordings and ask the rep what they are hearing from the customer in terms of words but also tone of voice.  Likewise, I’m hearing the choice or words and tone of the Representative at each moment of the call.  We know that the Customer is making decisions about us, about our company and that one poor word or perceived bad tone from the agent can mean a change in their own attitude.  One way to show interest is by having a positive, friendly, can-do tone which displays concern, interest in their needs and treats them as an individual rather than call number 5,260 this month.

Sometimes, I find that Managers accept skill issues as being inherent rather than “Coachable”.  They accept the skill “as is” because they think the Representative is incapable of changing their communication style. Tone is one of these.

My favorite Coach comment is:  “Well, that’s just the way Nancy talks”,  as if it is out of our control to coach or assist her and as if the Customer will just understand that’s how Nancy is.  My first thought is perhaps Nancy should not have been hired if she didn’t display a great speaking voice and tone.  However, you have her as an employee now, so how do you prevent having to remove her from a Customer contact role if the tone affects her interactions.

Tone is one of the tougher skills to coach, but also one of the most important for meeting Customer Expectation.  A Representative who can’t offer a tone of understanding, interest and friendliness is a real problem for Customers seeking this “connection” with them.  I work with the skill Coaches to find ways to overcome these challenging skill issues. Many times, we have great success.  One way to work is connecting the Rep’s challenging skill to their own life experiences.

Voice Tone and Music link often helps:

The first step is making the employee aware of how they sound and why they sound that way. During a recent monitoring and coaching session with a Supervisor who had given up on the Representative’s Tone improvement months ago, I found that she had never made the Representative aware that her facial expression and narrowed mouth type of speech which was the major cause of her poor Tone.

Once I did some Tone exercises with the Rep, discovered she loved to sing with a church choir, and linked singing to her speaking tone, the light bulb moment happened. The Rep recalled her choir conductor explaining how to sing more open mouth to get the best musical note “tones”.  She now realized that she was keeping her face and mouth too rigid and small to have a great tone when speaking as well.  After further discussion she also saw the value of smiling more to get that open tone and thinking of the run of musical notes to fluctuate her pitch.  I gave her suggestions for “punching” certain words to vary her speech pattern.

In order for the voice tone to improve, the Supervisor needed to monitor within a few days and reward the Rep for making efforts to improve.  The monitoring and feedback should be done weekly for a while to provide encouragement and recognize improvement. The more she hears positive feedback and gets more in sync with caller’s need for the tone connection to feel “appreciated” and shown interest, the more the Rep will continue to improve.

I Was Hired to Be a Service Rep, Not a Sales Person

I’m sure you’ve met this person on the phone or face-to-face.

They are friendly but have no idea how to get you interested in the product or services they are trying to sell.  They were hired in a Customer Service focused role and now they have to sell.  So what is really going on?

1. They don’t really believe that the product or service is all that great.

They have no passion for what they are talking about. If face-to-face, you can see the lack of interest in their eyes and flat tone.  If on a call with a call center representative without visual, the disinterested tone is even worse.  If they have no passion for what they are selling, how can they get me excited?

2. They have been given a brochure with a list of features and that is their sales tool.

The Manager has read over the product information with them and asked if they had any questions.  They have no idea how to discuss the product in terms of how it will benefit a Customer personally, just the generic rundown of items listed.  My favorite experience happened at a financial institution I was working with on sales culture. I did a pre-consulting visit with a branch where they didn’t know me.  The Teller was very sweet and friendly but when I asked about the different checking accounts they had, she pulled out the brochure, turned it sideways so we could both view it and then pointed at each feature with her pen while reading to me out loud.  She had never been coached on how to find out what my needs and interests were before discussing features or benefits.  She simply read the list of 15 features for each while I watched in amazement that she could do so with barely a breath for air.  She asked no questions, just read and looked at me at the end to see if I showed any interest.  The Teller handed me the brochure and asked me to  let her know when I decided what I wanted.  She was a poster-child for Self-Service sales as I could have done as much online and opened an account via their website.

3. They hate sales.

Companies are moving high quality Customer Service Representatives into Sales roles that some Reps greatly dislike.  Many have told me this when I coached with them.  Some Reps change their mind about Sales once they improve skills and gain confidence.  Others will never make it in the dual service/sales role whether from fear, lack of ability or negative attitude.  Of course a company needs to decide if everyone will both sell and service and then hire for skills accordingly.  However, this doesn’t solve the initial problem of having a positive Customer focused employee now becoming resentful or disinterested in their job due to the sales requirement.  Some businesses build more dedicated sales and retention teams so the Service person becomes a “referer” rather than closing the sale.  But even in this scenario, the Service Rep still needs to “sell” the Prospect or Customer on talking with the sales rep.

So as a Manager or Business Owner, what can you do?

A combination of things. Revamp your hiring strategy including new job descriptions, skill expectations so you have the right people on board from the start. Try to save great Service Reps who can’t sell/dislike selling by looking at the structure and seeing if there are opportunities to have specialized service with little selling.  You’ve invested time and training in these employees so you want to do everything possible to retain them without losing sight of the revenue needed for the growth of my business and continued employment for other employees.  Reps who can create a great Customer Experience help make cross-selling, upselling and Loyalty building easier.

Make sure your Sales training  isn’t rote or impersonal but uses roleplay and on the job coaching after real life sales observations with your employees. Teach selling that is truly focused on Customers needs, wants and the continued customer experience. Ensure that dislike of Sales by the Rep isn’t because they don’t know how to sell or are lacking confidence in themselves or don’t believe in the products.  Find out what is really holding them back from selling.

There is no one perfect solution to the above issues, but in today’s competitive market, I think we can agree that every employee must be focused on best practice service, sales and helping your business be successful for the sake of everyone involved.