Call Center Training Solutions

Call Center Training Solutions Blog

Archive for November, 2009

B2B Selling: What Do Small Businesses Think About All Day Long?

Monday, November 23rd, 2009

Recently, I was listening to client calls at their Inbound sales call center. They sell bank products like checks, endorsement stamps, deposit slips and other such items. They also sell promotional products like pens, shirts, notepads and other items their clients can purchase with their own logo nicely printed on the product. Many companies use some products like these to promote business.

After listening to a few dozen calls, I noticed something that each sales associate did on virtually every call. After the customer ordered their bank checks, the sales associate would make four additional product offers, one at a time, all centered around bank products.  And will you be needing an endorsement stamp today? Okay, how are you doing on deposit slips? Fine, and what about envelopes? And how is the check binder holding up? After four answers of  No (in most cases), the caller was tired of being on the phone and had absolutely no interest in hearing about the promotional products. Read More »

Strategies For Managing Difficult Agents

Sunday, November 15th, 2009

We have all had the experience of working with an employee that just doesn’t seem to care. Many of these employees cause cancers within the center that are far worse than they seem on the surface. Other associates start to side with the negative employee. The supervisor becomes more distant and doesn’t approach the employee. In the end, everyone loses.

Often, the key to success in dealing with negative people is in how the dynamics of the relationship are set up right from the beginning. In some cases, the supervisor was once a peer – and even a friend – of the negative employee before any problems began. Remember, the employee wasn’t always negative. Things occurred (were allowed to occur) over time for this problem to manifest. We will look at the Tips from several different relational points, beginning with a supervisor that adopts a team with problems. Read More »

Call Center Floor Management: Coaching Fundamentals

Thursday, November 5th, 2009

The following fundamentals come directly from our Call Center Floor Management workshop. Each one will help you with a different aspect of coaching on the call center floor. Please e-mail us when you have had success with any of the tips that follow.

Tip No. 1: Set specific, developmental objectives with agents.

The first step of coaching is setting a developmental objective with the employee. Setting objectives is essential for achieving results. Setting a goal or objective provides a target on which to focus our daily behaviors and activities. Objectives should be SMART – Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time Bound (set for a specific time period). Read More »