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The drive to operate more efficiently has call center managers looking at a host of new tools in such areas as training, dialing and even disaster planning. By Peter Lucas
CALL CENTER MANAGERS know their department is the central nervous system of any collection business, so they are always on the lookout for new tools that can help optimize agent performance, reduce operating costs and ensure operations in the event of a business-crippling disaster.
While most of the tools available to address these tasks are software applications, training also plays a vital role when it comes to improving agent productivity.
Historically, call managers either trained their agents using trial-byfire techniques or through role-playing in the classroom. In the case of the former, the productivity of the mentors often dropped during the training period as they focused their attention on teaching.
In the case of the latter, trainees learned how to follow a script and practiced under less-than-realistic conditions, because the trainers playing debtors rarely challenged the trainee as they would do on the job.
The result of these training methods is a high turnover among new employees - 80% of new agents quit within 60 days of completing their training - because they were not prepared for the job.
One resource to address this problem is the Atlanta-based International School of Debt Collections, founded earlier this year.
"If agents can be kept level-headed when a conflict with a debtor arises, they can focus on problem solving and avoid getting caught up in the moment and taking an action that draws a complaint against them," says Susan Bouchillon, director of the school.
Central to the training program, which costs $599 per trainee, are teaching sessions created from actual contacts with debtors in which agents encountered conflict. Trainees field these training calls, encountering more than a hundred scenarios to expose them to conflict and encourage them to think...