Incentives can go a long way in making agents feel valued and part of a winning team. Incentives come in many forms:

• Sales Incentives: Give your agents a commission for closing sales or achieving other business successes.

• Bonuses: Whether cash, gift cards or prizes, bonuses recognize agents who have reached a performance, attendance, job-anniversary date or other critical milestone.

• Contests: Sales organizations often use contests to reward individuals who meet specific performance goals. The approach works just as well in a call center.

• Intangible Rewards: Agents who meet minor performance goals can be rewarded with time for playing computer games, an extended lunch break or a preferred parking space.

• Promotions: A prestigious job title like “Senior Support Agent” costs nothing yet tells the individual that their experience and performance is valued by the organization.

• Career Guidance: Besides a better job title, top performers should be rewarded with career track incentives, such as additional training opportunities and work responsibilities. These actions will assure your highfliers that their productivity is leading them toward greater opportunities within the organization.

Incentives aren’t the only way of motivating agents, but they’re powerful tools that when carefully applied can be used to build a more productive work force.

The best way to know what agents want is to listen to what they have to say.

This can be accomplished through surveys and focus groups that enable agents to vent their complaints and express their needs.

Be sure to include a cross-section of all agents in your outreach initiatives: new hires, veterans, high-performers, laggards, the disgruntled and the jubilant.

What effect does call-center culture have on agent motivation?

Agents take their cues from call-center bosses. Managers and supervisors who appear tired, distracted, angry or bored are hardly great motivators.

Building agent enthusiasm requires a management team that’s involved, responsive, and ready to take on projects with energy and enthusiasm. Bosses should exude excitement over small success and acknowledge agents’ contributions.

Will better morale automatically lead to lower turnover?

Enhanced morale can reduce staff churn by increasing satisfaction. Few agents will leave a job simply because a competitor pays 25 or 50 cents more per hour.

On the other hand, low turnover isn’t necessarily indicative of a productive work force. Underachieving agents may feel perfectly happy in their work and not be tempted by greener pastures, particularly if they believe their jobs aren’t at risk.

Call-center managers must recognize the difference between agent satisfaction and complacency, and be willing to weed out low-scoring agents despite the potential negative impact on staff churn.

What is the best way to boost agent motivation?

There is no one “best way” to increase motivation. Morale plays a big role. The four basic areas that affect agent motivation are:

• Physical Environment:
  • Is the call center located in a safe neighborhood?
  • Is the facility clean and well organized?
  • Is it modern and attractive?
  • Is it sufficiently heated and cooled

• Working Environment:
  • Is the furniture and equipment in good working order?
  • Do the fixtures support the agents or work against them?

• Intellectual Environment:
  • Do the agents have the training and coaching they need to do their job?
  • Are call-center rules logical and well stated, or just a hodgepodge of decrees that have accumulated over the years?

• Emotional Environment:
  • Are supervisors responsive to agents’ questions?
  • Are they supportive in tough times?
  • Do they admit mistakes?
  • Are they flexible enough to bend the rules in extraordinary situations?

Trade and Industry Secretary Peter Favila, on the other hand reported to the President that the Philippines ’stood tall’ in front of top businessmen of the world who recognized the Arroyo administration’s efforts to bring back the positive momentum of the economy.

Secretary Favila said the international community, especially top businessmen, acknowledged the growing economy of the Philippines under the Arroyo administration.

As a result of this, Favila said the Kenneth Tachman, CEO of Teletech, a leading business process outsourcing company in the world, had the intentions to expand their business in the Philippines.

Teletech is planning to establish five new call centers in the country. DTI is eyeing Camarines Sur in Bicol, Valencia town in Negros Oriental, Dumaguete City and Davao as new locations for Teletech’s expansion program.

Teletech is also planning to buy an island in the country to be developed as a tourist resort after learning that tourism is one of the biggest income earners of the Philippines.

Aside from call centers, Favila told the President that Prakash Hinduja, who owns big businesses in India and is one of the top 1,000 corporations in the world, also expressed his strong intention to expand his call center operations and establish a manufacturing company in the country.

When writing an article many years ago about “Overcoming Objections,” it occurred to me that customers do not like salespeople who make them feel wrong or stupid. Agents are trained in pointing out how wrong customers are. What’s wrong with this picture?

Sadly, some salespeople think it is their job to point out the mistakes of the customer, declare the stupidity of what the customer is thinking and then when the agents don’t “win,” they lose their self-esteem and wonder why they can’t succeed in “overcoming” objections. As leaders, why don’t we fix this?

When salespeople lose confidence in themselves, they start making up reasons why customers don’t want to buy and managers pull their hair out .

Agents need to learn what works and what doesn’t work when the customer says “no” or “maybe.” Sometimes no means no.

Here are the Ten Things to Remember About Overcoming Objections:

1. Know the difference between a “no” and “I’m not sure.”

• Be sure your agents know if the customer has a different opinion or a serious money problem.
• You must fix the real issue, not just brag and “overcome” it with clever words.

2. Be prepared for the top-four objections.

• Money: The price is too high, the payments are not easy, the shipping is too expensive.
• Need: The customer has too much product or it doesn’t fit the customer’s needs.
• Time: The time isn’t right, later is better, sooner is worse.
• Person: The last encounter with an agent was not a happy one.

3. Give agents correct responses or “what to say” (scripts) to the top-four objections.
Write responses and read them, re-read them out loud and test them on others to be sure the responses don’t make the customer feel wrong or stupid in any way, not even in the slightest ways, i.e.: “Mr. C, wouldn’t you like to save 20 percent on our new service?” Mr. C: “No, I like to pay 20 percent more than anyone else because I’m stupid …” The question looks innocent … but … see what I mean?

4. Learn to acknowledge every objection.
Concerns of the customer are real! They are not just objections to be overcome…they are problems, issues and ideas that the customer needs to clarify before deciding what to do.

5. Use easy acknowledgments, the ones that are easiest to say.
“I got it!” “I understand.” “Money is so important.” “That’s a real issue we can address right now.”

6. Define all words used in teaching or training agents in these subjects.
Objections (What are they — a misunderstanding, concern?) (Acknowledgments — Consideration, letting the customer know you heard, you understand, you are concerned as well). Check the dictionary.

7. Change the word “overcome” to “handle” because overcome means to defeat.
You do not want to overcome, defeat, win-over, beat up your customer.

8. Always use the name of the customer.
Use it in any statement about money or anything that is difficult or could possibly cause any upset.

9. Anything you resist will persist!
So, that means give up your resistance to objections — consider them part of the job; help customers understand what’s in it for them, not you, and instead of making customers feel wrong or stupid, you will make them feel right and smart to do business with you.

10. Handle the objections – do not overcome them.
You can keep that customer for life.

By Judy McKee, www.TYCCPRO.com, McKee Consulting LLC, author of Maximizing Customer Contact, Script Writing for Effective Telemarketing, Sales Survival Guide, The Positive Coach Approach.

invites you to a free webinar on

The Economics of Customer Relationships

The great balancing act! Many companies are dealing with what appears to be conflicting issues. How do you determine the correct balance between the handling of customers effectively and maintaining appropriate services levels.

To effectively design your service level and customer experience, you need to understand the financial drivers behind your service level performance. It is imperative to understand what the value of each relationship is, as well as the costs of complaints. Serving different customers differently is another critical principle to maximizing your customers’ relationship value.

This session will focus on identifying the key financial drivers of customer relationships and how to apply them to design an optimal customer experience.  The webcast will include results from the latest CEM benchmark study regarding organizations understanding of the economics of relationship driving their business.

This webinar will be conducted by Lior Arussy. Lior is an author, visionary, consultant and creative catalyst in the areas of creating delightful customer experiences and executing profitable customer strategies. Mr. Arussy’s company, Strativity Group, advises both Global 2000 companies as well as emerging businesses around the world. Clients include Nokia, Computer Associates, SAP, American Management Association, Seagate Technology, Honeywell, Siemens, Dimension Data, FedEx, CATIC, Circle K, University of Pennsylvania, The Fund, Capital One, Jacada, Wyeth, Sage, Herbalife, Akibia, National, Lockheed Martin, Crown Plaza Hotels & Resorts and Nordea. For his thought leadership and contribution to the industry, Mr. Arussy received CRM Magazine’s “2003 Influential Leaders” award and served as a juror on Fast Company’s Customer First Awards 2005.

Mr. Arussy’s syndicated column Focus: Customer, reaches over 600,000 readers worldwide every month. He is also the author of four books including Passionate & Profitable: Why Customer Strategies Fail and 10 Steps to Do Them Right! (Wiley 2005). In addition, he has published over 50 articles in publications around the world including at the Harvard Business Review.

His accomplishments have been recognized by leading press and analysts such as ABC, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, The Times of London and Gartner. Mr. Arussy completed his undergraduate degree at Case Western Reserve University and received his MBA from the Weatherhead School of Management.

Register online for The Economics of Customer Relationships webinar.

Nice Systems

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How to make Effective Use of Customer Feedback Webinar

Most organizations understand the importance of obtaining feedback to gain a true perspective of how well they meet their customers’ expectations. However, interpreting survey results and using that knowledge effectively is often difficult. Doing this successfully requires a deeper understanding of the context in which a customer’s responses were given.

Using real-world examples this session examines how an integrated customer feedback/quality management system provides this insight, and how that can be used to affect real improvement.

In this session we explore:

• The pros and cons of different customer feedback solutions
• How to gain a fuller understanding of the fundamental reasons behind responses
• Methods to ensure agent performance aligns with customer expectations
• The ultimate source of customer feedback – call recordings

Register online for the How to make Effective Use of Customer Feedback webinar.

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How to Improve Your Agent Retention:

Effective Best Practices to Reduce Agent Turnover

There is no single reason for high turnover in contact centers. Common reasons include; schedule poor relationships between agents and supervisors, incorrect hiring decisions, lack of career path, poor skills development, and the list goes on. Some of these are just a contact center fact of life. Contact centers can be stressful places to work, and many of the agents are a flight risks to start with. Moreover, the sheer volume of hiring all but guarantees that a large percentage of bad hires will slip through the cracks.

But for the agents who want to be there—and who you most want to keep—there is a new approach that has proven effective in increasing agent satisfaction and reducing attrition in service organizations in the highest volume industries.

Join Enkata to hear an educational Webinar sharing the latest best practices for reducing agent turnover.

The speakers will cover:

• Building trusted and productive relationships between supervisor and agents
• Creating incentive for agents to stay
• Helping your agent understand their part in impacting their companies success

Register online for the How to Improve Your Agent Retention webinar.

First published in 1997, the Asian Contact Centre Industry Benchmarking Report has become the definitive Asian contact centre industry reference.

 

presents

How to Turn First Calls into a Relationship

FREE Live Webinar on Wednesday, March 12, 2008
11 AM PST (2 PM EST)

Speakers: Jim Dickie, CSO Insights
Kineon Walker, Citrix Online

One of the greatest challenges facing sales teams today is turning first calls into legitimate sales opportunities. How do you develop a relationship with new prospects and win their loyalty?

Join CSO Insights Managing Partner Jim Dickie for a free live webinar as he presents several key findings from a recent CSO Insights Sales Performance Optimization study.

Jim will highlight specific obstacles sales people must overcome in order to build relationships with new clients and will outline how sales teams can leverage processes, technology and knowledge to increase conversion rates and sales.

During this Webinar you will learn how to: 

• Increase cold call conversion rates by 33%
• Decrease new rep ramp-up times by 28%
• Reduce no decisions by 11%
• Use technology to reach out to prospects and demo products or services

Register online for the How to Turn First Calls into a Relationship webinar.