ICMI's Customer Management Insight - April 2008 - (Page 34)

S T R AT E G Y petency. The latter takes special care to identify because it involves talent, skill and knowledge. “Skills and knowledge can be taught, says Stanfill, “but talent has ” to be there. A candidate may have ” the skills for persuasive delivery, and even the skills and knowledge for persuasive content (not how you say something, but being able to change what you say). But if the candidate lacks the talent for conceptual delivery — picking up on cues from the customer and/or customer information to make the more targeted offer — he or she will likely never be a pro at both sales and service. To determine which agent candidates are capable of conceptualizing the customer’s needs and preferences, Stanfill recommends the TOP (telephone, onsite, prove it) process for screening. > TELEPHONE: You need to see how a candidate communicates over the phone. Have them leave a message. > ONSITE: If the telephone round is good, bring them into the office for an interview. > PROVE IT: Have the candidate sell you something. Create simulations — give them the “fries with that“ example, even throw in the health-minded customer, and see how they come across. Do they sound scripted or natural? TRAINING AND COACHING Only 8.1 percent of participants in the ICMI survey said that implementing selling in the service center had a major negative impact on agent retention, but that doesn’t mean that the agents who stayed were able to perform their best. Solid training and coaching strategies are key to retaining and enriching agents who can serve through sales. Reynolds says agent attrition has not been significant in the conicmi’s insight tact center that handles sales, but she expects that it may grow as the company increases sales goals. “Out of a team of about 30, we’ll probably lose 3-4 this year. In our first year, while we were creating the process and protocol, our goals were on the lighter side so we could ramp up and build the team. Few reps self-selected out, which was important as we built the system and the expectations. ” Reynolds tapped into the training and learning network that Prudential established for its faceto-face agents, but some of that training doesn’t apply to the service center and doesn’t work. So she brought in some outside help. “We brought on someone who built a similar sales culture at a direct telesales firm. Coupled with a strong operations leader from our retention team, they focused on training and created the right payfor-performance environment without shocking the system. ” Agents who cross-sell and upsell are often left dangling by companies that don’t invest in training, says Stanfill. Or, at least, the right kind of training for sales. While 68 percent of the respondents to the ICMI survey said they added cross-selling-specific training, he questions whether they’re really being taught to sell to customers while serving them. “Most managers just give reps performance evaluations as coaching, he says. “That’s not coaching. ” ” A better understanding of the best training practices will lead to better coaching, he says — and better performance. “Many operations try to drive efficiency into the process by asking the customer 10 questions at the beginning of the call to try to route the customer down a specific road — before the customer has even said why they’re calling. Your people can help to make the transition by understanding how to lead the customer. For instance, instead of asking, ‘How may I help you?’ they might say: ‘In order for me to do [what you’re asking], I’m going to ask you some questions and get some information, then I’ll be able to…’ “Once the customer knows the rep is leading and why, they’re onboard. We call that the ‘othercentered roadmap,’ and it works. ” Teaching reps to lead the customer builds and enhances the relationship, and it increases the rep’s influence with the customer. Stanfill says that it takes about two days to teach this in training sessions with managers and reps. In addition to training, technology can help reps to be more knowledgeable about customers and products, says Lamson, as well as what selling efforts have already been made with a customer. CRM systems can range from the simple — such as the pop-up prompts that Prudential uses at its service desktops—to the more complex, such as multilayer customer, marketing and product information screens. REWARDING RESULTS Contact centers practically wrote the book on incentives and rewards. A hand-written note of praise or public recognition can go a long way to boosting morale and performance. You never want to lose that personal touch when it comes to showing appreciation, but once sales is in the mix — with new cultures and pressures — standard methods may not be as effective. In the service-and-sales environment, suggested incentive programs run the gamut from small, fixed rewards to sales commissions. www.icmi.com | APRIL 2008 34 http://www.icmi.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of ICMI's Customer Management Insight - April 2008

ICMI's Customer Management Insight - April 2008 Operations: Small Call Centers, Big Potential Ad Index Contents Editor's Page Contact Center Spotlight People: Assessment Tools Recommended Reading Technology: Speech Recognition Special Feature: Best of Show Strategy: Service-to-Sales Success Expert's Angle - High Volume, High Stakes: A Better Strategy for Hiring Experts Angle - Secrets of Recruiting Success/Job Brands: Changing Applicant Reactions to Your Openings Experts Angle - Speech Analytics: Uncovering the Voice of the Customer

ICMI's Customer Management Insight - April 2008

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