Make Compensation Planning Work For Inside Sales

Your inside sales agents are your engine; your managers are their coaches; and your senior directors and leaders are supervising the empire.  Get compensation right the first time – because compensation will drive performance from all levels of your team.

In particular, it is critical to identify the key elements that power performance within your inside sales group.  We encourage clients to “weight” the top 3-5 elements of compensation, and hold your team members accountable based on those 3-5 elements. For most companies that are smaller in size and rely on the top line to power revenue, the top line is where the majority of your compensation lives. Profit is great if you have top-line revenue to gain profit from.  But, without the top-line, it doesn’t really matter.  Front line agents think top line, it is what they understand and care about.  So, we always look at top-line as a driver for the heaviest weight of the comp plan.  If you ask power hitters to hit home runs, and reward them to hit home runs, they usually will hit home runs.

It is also equally important to keep all groups together.  If you want to commission your front line agents on conversion of data, then your managers and leaders should be in the same boat. If the managers have the same motivation to encourage conversion of data, it becomes a serious attribute.  However, if the manager is being compensated in part on the letter “W”, and the agent in part on the letter “F”, then this disconnect causes lots of troubles.

Your organization probably has many choices in compiling an inside sales compensation plan.  In review, we encourage you to weight all the important characteristics. We hope you will focus on top-line as a driver for agents.  And, we believe you should have all team members aligned to better keep focus and intensity in the right place.

For more information, visit us at www.CallCenterToday.com or email MyCallCenter@CallCenterToday.com.

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The Magic Of Tactical Customer Service Training

Call Center Today recently hosted a five hour web based marathon focused on customer service.  Several dozen companies registered and attended.  We did something different with this on-line customer service conference.  We focused on five simple tactics and spent an hour exploring how to practically make each tactic succeed in the customer service contact center.

Click here to see all 5 powerpoint presentations, and all 5 audio sessions.  You can order on-line as well.

The tactics of customer service can be broken into two venues. One, of course, is the people on the phone.  That usually focused on customer service phone skills, in particular delighting the customer and establishing the brand.  This session Call Center Today hosted was an on-line customer service conference about the supervisors, directors and leaders.  These are the folks that craft the operation and set the expectations for performance.

All the sessions were terrific because we spent 25-40 minutes on teaching, and 20-35 minutes on open question and answer brainstorming.  Those questions and answers were captured on the audio part of the workshop and available for all customers who buy the program to hear.  The practical and tactical approach to customer service management is what we teach, at Call Center Today. We focus on what works in the contact center to compel customer service to be successful.  It is our belief that the programs should not be complicated, and in fact the programs should not be overly detailed.  Just a logical approach to great customer service–followed by spectacular execution of the customer service approach- is required.  When you implement/execute in spectacular fashion, and you implement/execute the programs as they are deigned to work, then your agents, customers and manager team will be rewarded with wins.

We taught the five areas that most affect the customer service call center in a very practical and organized approach. And we spent a multitude of time during the on-line customer service conference teaching how to execute/implement these practical programs to make customer service become successful in your center.

Customer service training takes all shapes and forms.  And, sometimes it simply doesn’t do much for your team members. It may be the correct thing to do – teach your people exceptional service phone skills and supervisory strategies – but if it doesn’t lead to ROI and results in your center, it is basically not a realistic process to undertake. I feel very strongly that Call Center Today mastered the practical, realistic and powerful way to train customer service managers in the customer service call centers.

For more information visit www.CallCenterToday.com or email MyCallCenterToday.com.  Or call us direct at 888-835-5326 x111.

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Call Center Training Was Missing A Link: Practice

Call Center Today spends so much time conducting call center training in the classroom and on the web, so it is no surprise that we fingered a missing link to the entire training process.  That link?  Practice!

From classroom and web training for call center phone agents to on the telephone sales and service, the training process consisted of those two steps:  training and on the phone.  Sure, there are always elements or gimmics, such as quizzes and side by side, but those were secondary to the key components of training and hit the phones.

Now, there is practice.  Through Call Center Today’s Assault Role Play Simulator, agents can practice what they learned in training – in a safe and secure environment. Call Center Training becomes spectacular because the practice allows management to certify the agent is ready. And, it allows agents to become confident, comfortable and secure; they can handle all objections, obstacles and questions from customers or prospects. This is brilliant call center training!

Practice makes perfect.  Call Center training was missing a link:  Practice.  But not anymore.  With Call Center Today’s Assault Role Play Simulator, training and learning organizations can validate classroom and web training worked before sending agents to the main floor and on the phone against your customers and data. THAT IS MAGICAL.  The ability to create practice sessions so you can certify an agent is ready for live calling.

The Assault Role Play Simulator is a real-life call center training tool.  Literally, agents call a robot or take a call from the robot, and agents sell or service against the simulator.  Many times, agents forget they are talking to a call center robot.  Many times, agents find it literally the same, virtual reality, as presenting live. 

Most important the Assault Role Play Simulator is all about the call center agent, not the simulator itself.  By and large, it is not so important how the simulator works.  What is important?  How the agent handles an objection, question or comment or obstacle from the customer.  How the agent communicates his transition phrases; questions; engagement features; value propositions.  When the Assault Role Play Simulator provides an objection, question, comment or obstacle, it is management’s job to certify how the agents handle it: With warmth, patience, confidence, etc.  Certify the agent, and be ready to ensure the agent is ready to hit the phones, live against your customers or data.

Call Center Today has changed the art of telephone training.  Now, there is a middle step between call center training and on the phone live:  It is the time to practice, gain skills, gain confidence, and prepare for being on the phone live.

For more information on Call Center Today and the Assault Role Play Simulator please email Training@CallCenterToday.com or call 888-835-5326 x111. Visit us at www.CallCenterToday.com.

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Register For The On-Line Customer Service Training Conference

Join Call Center Today and our team of experts as we host a 5 hour online customer service training conference focused on improvement for call center management and trainers.

Thursday, March 24, 2011 from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm EST.

For 5 straight hours, Call Center Today’s consulting team will lead participants from across the globe in 5 unique customer service training sessions. At the top of each hour a new 30 minute training session will begin, followed by 30 minutes of questions and answers with Call Center Today team experts.

Do not miss this deeply inventive and practical on-line learning conference focused entirely on customer service skill sets for managers in the call center.

An entire company can attend with one registration.

Just for registering your team members will receive 5 special customer service training sessions, even if they can’t attend the event.

The sessions will also be made available for 24 days after the event, so any team members who cannot attend sessions can download presentations anytime.

PLUS, everyone that registers will receive a FREE e-book titled “101 Lessons for GREAT Call Center Management”, absolutely complimentary just for registering.

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A Look Into Call Center Compensation

Instituting a new compensation agreement is one of the great emotional challenges for call center management.  It’s like playing with matches, lighter fluid, and gasoline in a forest of trees. The wrong agreement can destroy an entire call center culture.  The wrong plan usually leads to another wrong plan, which leads to another plan.  In a matter of weeks or months, the revolving plans take any steam right out of the job.  Agents become distrustful.  They don’t have the passion they once had for the job.  They simply lose their focus.  Management must create a new compensation plan once, and it must be very good;  one that can last for the short term, and for the long term.  Management must make a strong effort to consider the emotions of their agents in creating the new agreement.  A compensation plan is not only a set of numbers that determine pay.  It is an emotional pact between management and agent that shapes a culture, identifies the values of a corporation, builds relationships, and constructs the foundation for the future success of the call center.

Perhaps management forgets that they need to develop a compensation plan that works for the call center while also creating a plan that works for the agents. Management may understand they need to look out for their agents. But realistically, they are in management to incorporate the best plan as a whole, and agents can very often come out on the short end of the stick.  On the other hand, agents see one point of view regarding compensation plans -  theirs!  Yet management has a multitude of scenarios they must take into account. If the compensation plan doesn’t motivate agents to do well, the company suffers and the plan becomes an albatross.  The entire environment becomes one of complaints, bickering, and attrition.  Emotions rage because management has tinkered with the agents’ most prized possession.  If the compensation plan compensates agents too well, the company can also suffer, and the plan becomes an “agent vs. management” issue.  All of a sudden, management is paying above budget for performance, and bottom lines become affected.  Management then takes steps to correct their first error, and raging emotions become prevalent again.

Creating a new compensation agreement involves creating change.  From one plan to the next, agents must change their mindset and personal goals to meet new objectives.  Because change is considered by many to be unfriendly anyhow, change involving the way one gets paid accentuates agents’ concerns.  If the compensation plan penalizes agents in comparison to what they had before, they feel this is retribution, and turmoil ensues.  They want to know why the plan has penalized them.  They want to know why they should continue to perform at the same level, or even a higher level, when they are being paid less. They want to know how management developed this new plan, and during what timeline management may change it again.  The truth is that management almost never changes compensation plans to give their agents more money.  They may change a plan because goals have changed.  Or they may change a plan to reduce the level of income attainable.  But agents and management recognize that changing compensation plans always has some sort of “dent” involved.  It may be a change in policy or a change in payment, or a reduction in money or a change in payable terms, etc.  When management makes changes, it is nearly always not to the benefit of their agents.

So, when beginning to look into call center compensation, what is the plan?  Here are three ideas:

The compensation plan must be centered around a company’s ability to pay

Every company is different when delegating a certain percentage of pay to its agents. Management must be cognizant of how much money and investment the company can make in the call center.  Traditionally, outbound telesales agents always earn more commission than inbound customer service agents, because it is believed that outbound telesales agents have the more difficult job of creating new business.  But have you noticed that, more and more, member service and retention has played a larger part in growing businesses?  Once a finite portion of the market has been reached in a sales campaign, the battle for business comes from achieving winback sales from competition, not creating new sales.  Therefore, the ability to retain a member through member service retention and customer service soft selling can become more valuable to a firm than generating new sales.  Businesses are beginning to spend a high percentage of their resources on maintaining client relationships so competitors can’t steal their clients away.  In many industries, maintaining relationships with current clients is more profitable than farming for new business. Therefore, I ask the question:  “Where does a business want to spend its money?  Why?  What exactly is a firm’s ability to pay?”

The compensation plan must be centered upon demand

Developing a compensation plan in the heart of a large city is quite different from coordinating a plan in the middle of a small town.  Simply put, part-time agents located in small college towns demand a different pay scale than full time employees in major cities.  What is the demand in your city for call center agents?  In addition, demand applies to more than the battle between part-time and full-time agents.  There is internal demand as well.  As a call center executive, I have seen top employees transfer to other departments, depleting my staff.  We were never disappointed if the agent left for better career opportunities.  We were always disappointed when they left to work in a department that paid more, even when we felt the value of their work in that department paled in relationship to the value of their work in our department.  My philosophy has always been that it is better to overpay an employee a little than to lose an employee of value because you paid too little.  When designing a plan, ask about the demand within the company for quality employees.  Observe the demand within your industry.  Weigh whether it is valid to pay a little too much, or a little under par, for your agents.

The compensation plan must be centered upon job requirements

The job duties for agents are completely different from project to project. No two call center jobs are the same.  Some duties involve answering incoming e-mails, others involve making outgoing telesales calls.  Just because an agent has “XYZ” job duties in one call center or in one project does not mean his job duties will be exactly the same on a different project or in a different call center.  A compensation plan must be centered on the objectives of each particular job.  Requirements to explore include:

“What skills does an agent utilize on a daily basis?” 

“How does this role differ from other roles in the organization?” 

“What type of candidates are we looking to attract?”

“Is the position inbound or outbound?”

“Is the position full time or part time?”

“What hours will the agents be working?”

“What are some of the key skill sets required?”

“How much of a factor does technology play in the role?”

“How critical is the role to the effectiveness of the organization?”

For more information on how Call Center Today can craft a compensation plan with your contact center please call us at 888-835-5326 x111 or email MyCallCenter@CallCenterToday.com.  Or visit us at www.CallCenterToday.com.

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Outsource or Inhouse The B-B Campaign

The question for your call center: Outsource or in-house?  The challenge:  B-B, not  B-C.

Clients ask Call Center Today all the time about the in-house versus outsource approach.  We strongly push for the in-house approach in a B-B environment where testing and on-going management of the campaign is deeply critical.  Of course, outsourcing has its place, and we refer to the third party option quite a bit.  However, more so, we see B-B projects, incorporating complex marketing touch programs to support the sales efforts, and we recommend the in-house approach.  Here are three reasons why:

1)  More control:  Easier to manage full time staff members who enjoy melding with the culture of your organization

2.  B-B is more sophisticated than B-B:  The need for on-going following up is very important.  Taking incoming calls and providing emails, and webinars, and on-line videos, in a sales cycle process, is equally important.  If you are going to outsource these functions to a third party than be certain you have a third party that is focused on your best interests

3.  Training:  The agents in a third party, today, may not be the agents, tomorrow, representing your business.  Turnover can kill you, especially with a mature, sophisticated product.  The agents work for the third party, not you.  And the third party will always be focused on the client who is the biggest, pays the most and screams the loudest.  Those three elements can hurt your campaign, especially if your B-B project is smaller.  Fortunately, when you perform the tasks in-house, you control the agents, the agents work for you, and you are both client and provider. You can scream and pay as much or as little as you wish and your agents will always pay attention to either.

Call Center Today helps organizations select the right strategy – either in-house or outsource.  Call Center Today helps your company build the package from A-Z, from analysis and roadmap to ascertain budget and results, all the way to hiring, scripting, training, management, quality assurance, and performance development.  We help in-house clients identify the in-house or outsource approach, for B-B and B-C campaigns.

For more information, visit us at www.CallCenterToday.com.  Email us at MyCallCenter@CallCenterToday.com.  Call us at 888-835-5326 x111.

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How Call Center Training Departments Are Using The Assault Role Play Phone Simulator

As more call centers embrace and use the Assault Role Play Phone Simulator, they are finding unique and deeply impactful ways to make the simulator successful for their call center agents and their training department.  Call Center Today powers the proprietary Assault Role Play Phone Simulator, and it is truly driving better training and performance for call center agents.

What makes the Assault Role Play Phone Simulator pop for call center training departments and their agents?  And why is the simulator so successful in teaching agents how to sell and service more effectively on the phone?  Here are ways that Call Center Today clients use the Assault Role Play Phone Simulator to power performance in their call center:

1.  Agents who are medicore or not performing train on the Assault Role Play Phone Simulator to practice, first learning the skills and then practicing the skills they need to utilize to  become better.  Agents practice against the simulator in extremely realistic role play scenarios- not against live customers or prospects - so your mediocre agents are not wasting your data or impacting your customers. With the simulator, agents can practice forever, and every customer response is realistic and consistent so your agents get powerful practice.

2.  Managers and trainers listen to the role play phone simulator calls, and then let the agents listen.  From there, they help teach agents to sell and service better by going over the presentation.  And, the agents hear themselves and learn what they are doing right and wrong.

3.  All the real scenarios are programmed into the simulator – the objections, questions, obstacles and real flow that occurs on the calls are accurately duplicated on the simulator, so it is truly realistic.  This way, your agents face exactly the scenarios they will face live on the phone.

4.  Veteran agents who want to practice and can’t get rhythm with live customers and prospects can practice using the Assault Role Play Phone Simulator.  This allows them to refine their transition phrases; open questions; value statements; features and benefits; and closing skills as they battle against the Assault Role Play Phone Simulator.

5.  Call Centers are using the role play phone simulator for their new hire training class.  Instead of throwing the class on the phones and hoping for the best, trainers are certifying the performance of new hires before they are allowed to sell or service on the phone.  This allows the new hire class to really feel, and hear, what they will be facing live, the real scenarios and challenges.  And, it allows the new hire class to use over and over and over again the skills they learned in class, such as the questions, phrases and benefits until they are comfortable and very good at presenting.

6.  Hiring departments are having applicants go home and role play a sample script using the role play phone simulator.  From there, they listen to the calls and certify which agents sound spectacular and seem to embody the right phone communication and skills.  Those agents who sound great against the simulator are ready for the next interview.

7.  Unlimited scenarios can be programmed, as simple or complex as required.  And the Assault Role Play Phone Simulator is perfect for inbound, outbound, sales, service and help desk role play.  It can be used in many versatile and constructive ways. Some clients use the role play phone simulator to teach just transition phrases – so each time the simulator provides a question or objection to the agent it is the agent’s job to drive a transition phrase, over and over again, until it becomes a habit.

The Assault Role Play Phone Simulator is the most effective way to revolutionize training – have agents practice their presentations in a controlled and safe environment that accurately mimics real life telephone interaction.  To begin using the Assault Role Play Phone Simulator visit www.CallCenterToday.com or email MyCallCenter@CallCenterToday.com. Call 888-835-5326.

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Why The Assault Role Play Simulator Is Perfect For Pre-Employment Screening

Clients of Call Center Today are enjoying the benefits of the Assault Role Play Simulator, both for their veteran agents, their new hire team members, and even during the interview process to find the right new employees.

An ideal tool for pre-employment screening- the Assault Role Play Simulator can be utilized to ensure your applicants are qualifed! Simply have them go home or in your office, and have them role play your sample script against the simulator. All calls are recorded, and listen to the calls to see if the applicant is qualified to handle your questions, objections and obstacles. The best way to see if an agent is qualified is to hear them role play in a realistic environment against your real challenges, questions, objections and obstacles. It is the best employment tool available!

There are so many pre employment screening tools on the marketplace to identify the skills of a prospective applicant.  But, what pre-employment screening works absolutely the best of them all? 

The answer is clearly the Assault Role Play Simulator.  Powered by Call Center Today, the Assault Role Play Simulator identifies the skills of a prospective agent and allows the recruiter to completely recognize what type of skilled employee they will be hiring.  It’s simple:  The best way to know if an agent will be a success on the telephone is to listen to an agent on the telephone.  Forget tests or analysis or quizzes.  If you want to know if an agent can sell or service, listen to them selling or servicing.

The Assault Role Play Simulator allows you to hear prospective applicants sell or service your business using your script, as they battle the Assault Role Play Simulator over and over and over again. Simply give them a script, have them assault the simulator from their own home or your office, and then listen to their calls.  Your applicants will be role playing against your objections, challenges, obstacles, and questions.  If they have talent, you will hear it.  If they have skills, you will hear it.  And if they use transition phrases, tone, inflection, if they ask questions and handle objections in a warm and positive manner, you will hear it.  Their experience, or lack therof, will come through loud and clear. Now, that’s the best way to know if an applicant is good enough to represent your business on the telephone.

For more information on how the Assault Role Play Simulator can be used in your contact center, email us at MyCallCenter@CallCenterToday.com.  Or call 888-835-5326.

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The Benefits Of Role Play During Phone Training

Call Center Today’s best new technology solution is being rolled out to clients as we speak.  And, clients are deeply enjoying the rewards.  Now, when Call Center Today does telephone training, for script development and for sales effectiveness training, we incorporate inventive technology to help them learn.  This is a truly scalable phone role play simulator that we call Assault Role Play Simulator.  Phone training has never been stronger.  Role play to drive skills has never been more efficient.

Just this week, the Assault Role Play Simulator is teaching agents how to become better on the phone.  The students learn how to read the script; prepare to handle objections and obstacles; and learn how to communicate effectively during in class room and on-line training.  Then they practice, over and over again, against the phone role play simulator.  The phone role play simulator serves as customer, and the agents battle the simulator.  Best of all, the agents are battling REAL scenarios they will face live on the phone.  And they are practicing against the simulator, NOT customers.  And, every call is recorded, so after a series of practice sessions we all listen to the calls, grade them, and provide insights to the agent on how they can become better – implementing the skills we have taught them in class.

Agents are benefiting big time from the Assault Role Play Simulator. First, they are practicing new sales skills and new scripts over and over again, for hours at a time, so they actually become very proficient.  Second, they are not practicing against customers.  Third, we can hear the recordings and teach them further.  Fourth, they are practicing against the real scenarios, questions, objections and obstacles they will face on the phone.  It is totally realistic, and totally fun for the agents.  And for new hires, they benefit too.  Instead of being told what they will face, they can actually sell on the phone against what they will really face.  And, that is magical to prepare them deeply for being on the phone!

The call center agents in training are super-enthusiastic about this type of training.  They are begging for more time with the phone role play simulator.  They want to keep practicing handling every objection and obstacle. The Assault Role Play Simulator is allowing them to practice transition phrases; open questions; warm rebuttals; and selling value proposition. They are using what they learned in a very real environment before they go onto the telephone.  And, the call center agents have champions:  their managers LOVE the Assault Role Play Simulator as much as the agents love it.  The managers see the improvement in phone skills through the phone role play simulator.

For more information on the Assault Role Play Simulator and how to add the phone role play simulator for your business please email MyCallCenter@CallCenterToday.com or call 888-835-5326 x111. Visit www.CallCenterToday.com.

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THE Assault Role Play Simulator

Call Center Today is pleased to announce the next level of training.  Our proprietary ASSAULT Role Play Simulator is a deep technology learning experience to drive performance from your inbound and outbound telephone representatives. With the ASSAULT Role Play Simulator  your phone agents can practice their telephone presentation against real-life obstacles, and they no longer have to practice against your customers or prospects! Literally, they can deliver their script over and over and over again and face all the hurdles, rebuttals, objections, questions, comments, and barriers that they will battle on the phone!

For more information, please email us at MyCallCenter@CallCenterToday.com or call 888-835-5326 x111. 

The most powerful enemy of any contact center is when a representative does not effectively execute on their telephone script, or effectively present a dynamite engaging presentation based on their script objectives. Your organization spends a ton of money training and coaching representatives to follow the script or to successfully achieve goals via the phone.  This may include building consultative, needs-based phone engagement; nurturing involved presentations that spark results; and involving the caller in the presentation all the while handling questions and objections, conducting transition phrases, and implementing closes.

How effective is your current training method? Are representatives getting enough practice time to fine tune their craft? Even if you are effective, do you have a method of compliance and training to ensure the agents are presenting correctly, using the tools you provided and require from them?

Practice makes perfect and the more the representatives practice their presentations, transition phrases, handling of obstacles, questions and objections, the better they will perform on the phone.

Traditional Call Monitoring is Obsolete – We have a better way to teach agents to become GREAT on the phone.

You can have your representatives improve their sales and service skills by having them practice versus the Assault Role Play Simulator as often as they like, while they are at home or in your offices. The Assault Role Play Simulator teaches representatives to correctly follow the script each time so they become experts.  Or, if your representatives have free expression on the phone, it teaches them to handle the very scenarios they will face live!  Best of all, it throws random, practical scenarios at the representatives, so they can practice transition phrases, questions, value propositions, trial closing, and more.

Each role play session is fully recorded so your team members can evaluate and grade the representatives, than provide coaching. Sessions are easy to store, forever, for historical training purposes. And, your representatives can listen to their calls, too, so they can practice, learn, and practice again, anytime.  Use the Assault Role Play Simulator to coach the representatives and improve performance. Calibrate their role play session and teach from it. Train your representatives, then ensure they practice, practice, practice! Best of all, they can practice against the simulator, not against your customers or prospects!

Customized role play allows representatives to perfect key techniques of phone communications. You can program unlimited scenarios, and you can program all scenarios to test certain skill sets.  For instance, do you want your representatives to practice answering questions?  Then simply program the simulator to ensure your representatives will receive questions.  All objections, questions and challenges are custom designed so your agents will face real world scenarios.

Please contact Call Center Today at 888-835-5326 x111 or email MyCallCenter@CallCenterToday.com to learn more.  Call Center Today provides a scalable package of consulting solutions to complement the Assault Role Play Simulator such as script writing, sales and service effectiveness training, and on-going call monitoring, grading, training and certification.  We help you identify how to use the Assault Role Play Simulator, and we handle all programming, maintenance, and on-going training programs to ensure your representatives benefit from the practice and improve their results using the Assault Role Play Simulator.

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