Identifying, training & retaining agents
Rather than displace the role of the contact center agent, the growing demand for self-service options and the continuing march of automation and AI through the core of CX has increased the value of human interaction. When it comes to resolving a critical issue, consumers prioritize the phone and speaking directly with an agent over all other channels.
This means that the modern contact center agent needs a very specific blend of soft and hard skills. This includes being empathetic and having emotional intelligence. And because of the growing use of technology in CX delivery, they should also be problem solvers, comfortable with using digital tools for gaining customer insights, and agile to customer and business needs. An agent needs to know when and how to upsell or cross-sell and which steps to take to retain a customer who is about to cut ties with a brand. This demands a robust, data-driven approach to identifying and recruiting the right talent supported with equally effective onboarding and training.
How to identify the agents you need
Human resources require proactive, effective management to balance costs against performance, starting with recruitment. One of the biggest human capital costs in the contact center environment is agent attrition. When agents decide to leave, the organization is understaffed and faced with the added expense of identifying, recruiting, onboarding and training new employees, all of which eat into productivity and budgets.
Even though an agent should start as a rough diamond who, through the right approach to training and coaching and surrounded by the right company culture, becomes a polished gem. Existing metrics, employee feedback and performance reviews will provide a valuable source of information in helping an organization to understand what exact characteristics and capabilities the best recruits have in common.
Train, onboard & provide a route to success
Initial training and onboarding are as much a process for helping employees decide if they want to commit to an organization as it is for the business to start getting an employee properly prepared for a role. Training and onboarding should be interactive and engaging and provide a dialogue between trainer and trainee.
The best approach is bite-sized multimedia that incorporates elements of gamification. However, training and onboarding don’t stop when an agent starts interacting with customers for the first time. Providing continued access to learning and development will ensure agents don’t stagnate and retain motivation as they see the contact environment as a career path rather than simply a job.
Focus on employee experience
The best working environments are supportive and inclusive. Achievements are recognized and celebrated, and employee feedback is not only welcomed but actively sought. As competition between organizations increases and as the available labor pool contracts, salaries are no longer enough to attract and retain the right caliber of individuals. Employees want flexibility and work-life balance. Therefore, taking a fair and balanced approach to things such as scheduling, to reduce the possibility of overloading agents with too many peak-hour or concurrent shifts, is a good place to start.
For the same reasons, it’s crucial to consider the relationship between workflow and demand. Use historical data to forecast peaks and troughs in contact volumes and adjust staffing levels accordingly so that wait times are optimized but agents are not overloaded. Alongside lifelong learning and professional development, coaching should be part of company culture. The most effective approach to proactive and genuinely effective coaching is through the proper deployment of real-time speech and text analytics. These digital tools can highlight best practice and areas of deficiency in the moment, meaning that coaches can provide on-the-spot support that could improve as soon as the next live customer interaction.
