Call Center Coaching Best Practices & Tips for 2023

What is Coaching in a Call Center? 

Call center coaching refers to the process of providing guidance, support, and training to call center agents in order to improve their performance and meet target metrics. It can involve one-on-one or group sessions between supervisors and agents, as well as independent work by agents. 

‍

During coaching sessions, the coach or supervisor works closely with the agent to identify areas for improvement and provide constructive feedback. They may review recorded calls, evaluate performance metrics, and assess the agent's adherence to company policies and procedures. The coach also helps agents understand their strengths and weaknesses, offering tailored strategies and techniques to enhance their skills.

‍

Coaching sessions can improve product or service knowledge, problem-solving techniques, the ability to handle difficult customers, and how to use call center software effectively. The coach may also help agents build up their “soft skills,” like active listening, empathy, tone of voice, and professional etiquette to ensure agents can engage with customers in a positive manner that leads to success. 

‍

Coaching can be proactive or reactive. Proactive coaching is done before a problem arises, where the coach works with the agent to develop their skills before interacting with customers. Reactive coaching is done after a performance issue is identified, where the coach works with the agent to identify the root cause of the issue and provides feedback on how to improve.

‍

Benefits of Call and Contact Center Coaching

‍

Employee Engagement

Regular coaching sessions create a platform for agents to voice their concerns, seek feedback, and actively participate in their professional development. When agents feel valued and empowered through coaching, they can become more invested in their work. This level of engagement leads to increased job satisfaction, higher morale, and reduced turnover rates. Engaged agents are also more likely to deliver exceptional customer service and demonstrate a strong commitment to their roles. 

‍

Based on the findings of Gallup's State of the American Workforce Report, businesses with a highly engaged workforce enjoy a 21% boost in profitability. Furthermore, companies that excel in customer experience witness a remarkable 60% increase in the number of engaged employees they have.

‍

Improved Metrics 

By identifying areas of improvement through performance analysis and evaluations, coaches can offer targeted strategies to enhance agent performance. Agents receive valuable feedback on their strengths and weaknesses, allowing them to refine their skills and address any performance gaps. 

‍

This focused approach leads to tangible improvements in key metrics such as call resolution time, first contact resolution rate, customer satisfaction scores, average handling time, and more. As agents become more proficient, the call center as a whole benefits from increased efficiency and productivity.

‍

Better Customer Experience 

Call and contact center coaching directly impacts the customer experience by equipping agents with the necessary skills and knowledge to handle customer interactions effectively. Customers experience smoother interactions, quicker issue resolution, and a higher level of personalized service, ultimately leading to improved customer retention and positive brand perception.

‍

Easier Management of a Remote Workforce

As remote work continues to gain popularity in call centers, it becomes crucial for call center managers to possess the ability to coach remote agents with the same level of effectiveness as in-person agents. To achieve this, call center supervisors can harness the power of call center technology. 

‍

Call center technology, such as Operative Intelligence, makes it easier to offer remote workers with data-centered, personalized training. This next-generation analytics platform enables organizations to provide coaching through objective data–which you can’t access via traditional means like surveys that have low sample sizes thanks to their 4-12% answer rate. 

‍

But by leveraging the contact center analytics that Operative Intelligence offers, your organization can implement tailored coaching strategies specifically designed for remote agents, ensure that Quality Assurance standards are consistently met, and quickly onboard new hires.

‍

Effective remote coaching contributes to the reduction of burnout and attrition rates and plays a crucial role in holding remote employees accountable while providing them with the necessary support.

‍

Call Center Coaching Methods

Coaching in a call center is a multifaceted process that requires various methods and techniques to effectively support and develop agents.

‍

1. Coach All Performance Levels

‍

Coaching holds value for every employee–even for those who are already excelling. Though high-performing agents may already meet the established metrics, there is always room for improvement and the opportunity to enhance their skills in new revenue-generating activities. 

‍

To foster engagement and learning among all employees, try pairing up low performers with high performers. This allows everyone to have a chance to collaborate and gain insights from one another.

‍

2. Use Actionable Agent Insights

‍

Despite the abundance of available data, it can be challenging to determine the precise actions required to address customer concerns. While metrics like customer effort scores can indicate the level of effort customers face in resolving issues, they don’t provide a comprehensive explanation for the reasons behind this effort or offer insights on how organizations can effectively reduce it.

‍

Actionable agent insights are practical, data-driven information collected by contact centers regarding their agents' performance. While standard data offers raw information on agent performance, actionable insights provide specific and practical recommendations on next steps.

‍

To gain these insights, businesses must often rely on skilled analysts who can identify connections among various data points and construct actionable business cases. However, this manual process of piecing together different data sources is complex, expensive, and time-consuming. Moreover, organizations must already possess a clear understanding of the specific issue they aim to address and the relevant data points to extract. This approach leaves little room for unexpected discoveries that may have a significant impact on both customer experience and revenue generation.

‍

Operative Intelligence eliminates these manual or anecdotal methods of determining agent performance and provides objective insights into the behaviors of the best-performing agents. Call center coaches and agents can track crucial agent metrics and identify both top-performing and lowest-performing agents for each inquiry type. Everyone can access these insights on easy-to-read dashboards so agents can use objective data to improve.

‍

3. Coach in Private

One-on-one sessions are crucial during call center coaching. Coaches should create a safe and confidential environment where agents feel comfortable discussing their challenges, seeking guidance, and receiving feedback. 

‍

Private coaching sessions allow for open and honest conversations, enabling coaches to delve into sensitive topics and provide personalized support without compromising an agent's self-confidence. One-on-one coaching can lead to increased engagement, more personal awareness, improvement in specific skills, and an increased learning level.

‍

4. Include Positive and Negative Feedback

Positive and negative feedback enables coaches to provide a well-rounded assessment of agents' performance. Giving constructive feedback offers: 

• A Balanced Perspective: Coaches can acknowledge and reinforce the strengths and accomplishments of agents, while also identifying areas for improvement. 
• Motivation and Recognition: Positive feedback offers motivation and recognition for agents' hard work and exemplary performance. It reinforces positive behaviors, boosts agents' confidence, and encourages them to continue their great work. 
• Identification of Growth Areas: When provided constructively, negative feedback highlights specific behaviors or actions that need attention and offers guidance on how to rectify them. 
• Employee Engagement and Satisfaction: Feedback fosters a sense of value and appreciation among agents, leading to higher levels of engagement and job satisfaction. When agents feel acknowledged and supported, they are more likely to be invested in their work.

‍

5. Add Micro-Coaching Moments

Microcoaching involves providing feedback and guidance during or immediately after customer interactions and can have an immediate impact on agent performance. According to a study by Gallup, employees are 3.6 times more likely to strongly agree that they are motivated to do outstanding work when their manager provides daily (vs. annual) feedback. 

Coaches can use tools that allow them to listen to live or recorded calls, monitor chat conversations, or review email exchanges in real time. This allows th

e coaches to address performance issues promptly, provide on-the-spot guidance, and reinforce best practices while the interaction is fresh in the agent's mind.

6. Relay Clear Expectations and Targets

‍

‍

McKinsey reports that companies who prioritize the communication of growth and actively measure their KPIs are 2.4 times more likely to outperform others. Clear targets provide agents with a sense of direction and purpose, and coaches can work closely with them to develop actionable plans for meeting these targets. 

‍

Regularly revisiting and revising targets ensures agents remain focused and motivated to complete or even surpass their KPIs.

‍

7. Create Visibility for Agents

‍

Creating visibility for agents requires access to personalized insights about each agent that can be turned into targeted coaching plans–and then sharing the data with agents themselves.

‍

Sharing objective, actionable data with agents creates a transparent and constructive feedback environment empowering agents to take more ownership of their development. Objective, data-driven feedback can be more impactful than subjective feedback and help agents see exactly what steps they need to take to improve. 

‍

8. Coach Your Coaches

‍

Coaches should receive training and ongoing professional development to enhance their coaching skills and leadership abilities. They should be trained on: 

• How to identify various training needs for different agents' performance levels
• The latest call and contact center software
• Enhancing coaching methodologies and techniques
• Emotional intelligence and effective communication 

‍

9. Track Success & Adjust Goals

Defining and tracking individual goals for both agents and teams is an essential part of call center coaching–but it’s not a "one and done" type of process. Track the success of coaching initiatives by analyzing the impact of coaching interventions on KPIs, agent performance, and customer satisfaction. 

‍

You might suddenly see a huge reduction in average handle time–but what if customer satisfaction scores go down? It’s critical to ensure the customer experience isn’t negatively impacted by trying to quickly improve your agent metrics. 

‍

Call center analytics platforms can provide an objective view of your successes–and where you might need to adjust your strategy. 

‍

Improve Your Call Center Coaching

‍

Call center coaching plays a vital role in shaping the success of a call center. It helps empower agents to improve and deliver exceptional customer service. 

‍

Unlike conventional call center analytics tools, Operative Intelligence sets itself apart by automatically transforming an organization's existing contact center data into practical insights that can be applied in the real world. Powered by advanced AI technology, the platform excels at analyzing and quantifying opportunities for performance improvement throughout the entire contact center. 

‍

Using Operative Intelligence, your business will get immediate insights into agent performance like: 

• Factors contributing to increased handle time, allowing and associated costs
• Drivers of negative customer sentiment and satisfaction
• Agents and team effectiveness, considering resolution rates and customer satisfaction levels across all queries
• Top and lowest performing agents by inquiry type
• The top contact center automation opportunities and the ROI for each

‍

As well as insights into the entire contact center and organization: 

• The reasons behind customer support interactions at a large scale
• Inquiry drivers such as volume, cost, sentiment, satisfaction, and resolution drivers 
• The underlying causes of consumer complaints and their financial impact on the business 

‍

Ready to transform the efficacy of your entire call center? 

‍

‍Book a demo with Operative Intelligence.

‍