Devoted to the call center industry, the agents on the phones, and their managers

I’ve seen it so many times - the need for Operations to meet the headcount on the floor due to attrition.  Forecasted calls are not being answered so they need the agents on the floor as soon as possible.

What do they usually recommend?  Cut training.  Thanks for the confidence that the trainers should be good enough to re-design the curriculum, but it isn’t good for the agents.

Any teacher knows that there are different learning styles and every batch is never the same.  Training is fluid and should be designed around the learners.  The time being spent to train an agent is critical to their success when they graduate.  Yes, there are assessments but a trainer’s job is to make sure they are all ready to go, if given the right time frame.

By cutting training, you risk overall quality and will get poor customer satisfaction scores.  Try listening to a call and you will definitely cringe.  You’ll be tempted to take the agent off the phone for further coaching.

The domino effect starts – agent starts on the floor, complaints increase, quality is affected, the supervisor will cite the agent for poor performance, and then you have attrition.  Poor agent!  If only training wasn’t compromised, then he could have succeeded.

So, think twice before recommending this action plan.  I would rather abandon calls than having an agent do damage to a customer.  I’ll get them in the training room and effectively teach them so that we can ensure excellent customer service.