Improve Your Contact Center Through Agent Training and Development

Organizations that understand the real value of professional development, culture, innovation, and creativity, also recognize the importance of continuously educating their employees. These businesses are the ones that will be better positioned to adapt to the rapidly changing demands of today’s work environment. 

Incorporating professional development within the overall corporate strategy, with so many competing interests and tight budgets, is a challenge. But it should be done! Those companies that value employee development all have a few things in common:

• Commitment
• Resources
• Encouragement

These three things are the foundation for employee development. Without them, there is no chance for growth! But beyond that, how does a well-trained contact center impact customer experience? Well, the obvious answer that comes to mind is swift, accurate resolution. But that is only the tip of the iceberg.

Higher First Contact Resolution (FCR)

When your team is well trained, they can provide a resolution (when possible) on the first interaction. While there are occasions when FCR isn't possible, this should never be due to a lack of knowledge, understanding, or agent resources.  And let's face it; FCR has benefits that far surpass the satisfaction of your customer. There is a money involved with each interaction!

Improved quality and performance

When you train staff on a continual basis, you'll start to see them move the needle on quality and performance metrics such as customer satisfaction, quality assurance, or net promoter score. All of these metrics can point to customer loyalty, and indicate a likelihood for repeat business.

Better customer insight

Chances are, your staff can quickly place a customer's name to a persona. They are probably aware of the demanding customer, the understanding customer, and so on. With the right training, they can easily apply the best method of communication to those customers. When an agent understands their impact on the customer's journey and experience, and the value their interactions have on strengthening the relationship with the brand, they will become stakeholders in your company's success. They will feel more motivated to apply their wealth of knowledge concerning customer habits and attitudes to deliver more personalized service.

Improved morale

Numerous studies have shown employees who don't receive consistent training and development are not happy or efficient. They impact customer churn, reduce morale, and cost more money and time over the life of employment. So, if you want to recruit and retain effective agents, investing in ongoing development must be a priority.

How does your team create ongoing training opportunities? Share your advice in the comments!

This post originally appeared on the Call Center Weekly blog.