Coaching and Mentoring Techniques for Call Centre Managers

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Call centre employees have a tough job. It can take time, be stressful, and be hard on your feelings. As somebody who has been in their shoes, you know how hard it can be some days. Through a virtual phone number, calls come in all day from all over the world. As their boss, it's your job to help your workers be their best by mentoring and coaching them or implementing a program.

Agents do get customer service training, especially when they first start working, but these are usually group meetings where agents learn new skills or brush up on old ones, talk about call centre performance goals, and learn about new policies or promotions.

Once the training classes are over, you need to work with each agent one-on-one to help them learn how to use the new procedures and techniques.

An advanced call centre manager software should be your starting point, but good teaching can take you a long way. You can hold more successful call centre agent coaching and mentoring lessons in no time if you have the right information, use the new skills you learn, and make small changes to the skills you already have.

Let's look more closely at some of the best ways to coach people in a call centre. If you use some of these tried-and-true ways of coaching technique for call centre managers, you'll soon see they're more interested in their jobs, careers and the people they serve.

How to Coach and Mentor Your Call Centre Agents Efficiently

Coaching people in a call centre is critical for building a good team. Coaching works best when managed with care, consistently, and with the proper knowledge. This blog post talks about seven ways to coach and mentor people who work in a call centre. Using them regularly will make you one step closer to being a great teacher.

1. Get Ready for Coaching and Mentoring Sessions

Before you bring the coachee/mentee into your office for a one-on-one lesson, you must be ready to meet with them. This means having SMART goals, making a solid framework, adjusting your style with other managers, telling the executive team about your strategy, and telling agents what to expect and how to prepare for the sessions. Once you're ready for the lesson, the steps below will help you get more out of it.

2. Find Trends in Success Based on the Type of Call

It's not as helpful to know that your agent's performance is "average overall" as it is to see that they do well with returns but have trouble with calls that involve more advanced technology. Your agent performance data can be broken down by call type: customer service, outbound sales, inbound sales, returns, refunds, etc.

For a deeper look, you can use disposition codes, such as bugs, lost shipments, warranties, order inquiries, etc. By analysing this data, you'll better understand how performance changes over time, which will help you teach more effectively.

3. Find Performance Problems by Observing and Tracking Them in Real-Time

Seeing how your coachee/mentee deals with customers is the best way to determine their strengths and flaws. Listen in on live calls to see if there are any problems with performance, such as poor speaking skills, trouble sticking to the script, not following company policies and procedures, or issues with certain transactions.

Use software for your call centre that lets you listen in on live calls without the agent or caller knowing. This way, you can judge their work without their anxiety getting in the way. You should also watch workers at their desks to see if their work habits or how they use their time are causing their performance to drop.

Using the qualitative data you gathered from these findings, you can better understand the strengths and weaknesses of their performance and give them better feedback.

4. Evaluate a Few Calls to Receive More Reliable Data

When judging taped and live calls, it's best to look at a few calls instead of spending much time on just one. This will ensure that the study of the agent's performance is based on a representative sample and will give more reliable data.

By analysing a few calls, you can see patterns across calls, find problems that keep coming up, and find big red flags. This study's data shows the actual performance problems so that you can give your agents accurate information.

5. Let the Customers Do the Coaching Also

There are times when nothing is more powerful than hearing feedback from a customer. During your coaching/mentoring sessions, share statistics from post-call surveys and quotes from customer satisfaction surveys, customer emails, and call recordings. Make sure to include both positive and constructive comments. If you do this, your agents can learn straight from your customers.

6. Do Role Play

Role-playing is the best way to make sure your agent has a whole idea of how they can improve their performance. Start by choosing a recent contact with a customer that could have been better. Then, act out the situation with the agent playing the customer and you playing the agent.

Switch roles once the agent understands what you would say in that case. When they are playing the agent's part, give them helpful feedback so they can change their approach. This will allow the person to try out their newly acquired skill before they have to get back on the phone.

7. Work with the Coachee/Mentee to Devise a Plan of Action

Once you've found a place to improve, work with the person to devise a plan of action. If the coachee/mentee is involved in this process, it will be more likely that the goals set can be reached and that they will be driven to reach their goals.

It also makes sure that the person knows precisely what is expected of them, how they will be judged, and when they are supposed to make the suggested changes. Lastly, it gives them a chance to talk about problems and try to solve them before they happen.

Suppose the agent is involved in making the action plan. In that case, there will be less confusion because the agent will know precisely what is expected of them.

Closing Points

Coaching and mentoring are crucial approaches for call centre managers to use to help enhance the abilities and performance of their team members. By employing techniques, managers can establish a supportive and engaging work environment that supports continuous learning and progress.

Evaluating coaching style is essential for identifying strengths and places for growth, which may assist managers in refining their approach, matching their coaching style with the organisation's goals, and producing a more productive and motivated workforce.

Call centre managers can enhance their leadership abilities and establish a team of experienced and engaged customer service agents by investing in mentoring and coaching, resulting in enhanced client experiences and improved business performance.

FAQS

Q: What is the difference between coaching and mentoring?
A: Coaching and mentoring are both methods for assisting employees' development and advancement. Coaching often concerns performance enhancement and skill development, whereas mentoring concerns career growth and direction. Coaching is typically short-term, whereas mentoring is more long-term and relationship-based.

Q: What are some frequent call centre management coaching techniques?
A: Active listening, goal planning, role-playing, shadowing, information sharing, motivational coaching, feedback and recognition, and career development are all common coaching strategies for call centre managers. These approaches assist managers in developing the talents of their team members, increasing their confidence, and creating a supportive and engaged work environment.

Author Bio

Daniel Martin loves building winning content teams. Over the past few years, he has built high-performance teams that have produced engaging content enjoyed by millions of users. After working in the Aviation industry for ten years, today, Dani applies his international team-building experience at organiclinkbuilders.com to solving his client’s problems. Dani also enjoys photography and playing the carrom board. Find him here.