While some professions require ongoing training for recertification and licensing, such as pharmacy technicians, medical professionals, and accountants, it is truly beneficial for all industries to consider staff training and development as part of their mission. Why? The benefits seem to outweigh the drawbacks, and lead to positive outcomes for both employer and employees.

Here are just a few of the benefits to providing ongoing training and development:

•Staff Retention. Employees see the investment that their organization makes when they provide training opportunities. The employees feel that they can contribute to the organization by attending the training and learning about the ideas presented to them. Hiring new staff, and training them, is a much bigger investment to an organization, compared with a day (or even a week) of sending current employees to a training opportunity.

•Increase skills and productivity. When employees know more, they do more. And, they do it better. For example, providing excellent customer care can get a boost from learning new ways to handle customers and situations. Computer and technical skills can be polished and enhanced with training in the newest technologies and processes available.

•Less supervision. Employees who are confident in their job duties can be trusted to handle those responsibilities independently. This frees supervisors to focus on other areas.

•Increase morale and motivation. Happy employees are successful employees. In a study by the University of Warwick in the United Kingdom, researchers found that happy employees are 12% more productive than those who are not. When employees see the investment a company makes in the employee's career, this makes them feel valued and appreciated.

•Break from day-to-day duties. Taking time away from the daily grind also gives employees the chance to look at situations at work with fresh eyes. Sometimes when sitting in the same spot day after day, year after year, it can be difficult to step back and see the big picture. A day or two away from the workplace can make a huge difference.

Staff development and training could include:

Attending training as an individual, or with a team

Training at the workplace for a few hours, or an entire day

One staff member trains another

An online course

A webinar

These are just a few of the many training possibilities available. Is staff training and development a priority for your organization? Let us know on the Comments tab, above.

By Marcia Jenkins, Senior Operations Manager, Quality Contact Solutions

If you have ever been a sales agent in a seat making or taking calls for a telemarketing services company or an outsourced telemarketing company, you have a good idea of what the primary Do’s and Don’ts for Quality Monitoring are. Sales agents know first hand what helps or possibly hinders their improvement. A good frontline telemarketing sales agent wants nothing more than to succeed, so they thrive on that feedback to get better. Here is a list of Do’s and Don’ts for quality monitoring as compiled by the telemarketing sales agents themselves.

Do's

• Provide positive feedback. Find something great about their call whenever possible.
• Carve out time to listen to their call and other calls that display the technique you want them to improve on.
• Keep it simple. Find one or two things for them to focus on for improvement. Once the improvements are mastered, then go on to additional areas for improvement.
• Plan on role playing with them. This “Do” is essential in not only making sure they know what you want, but can actually display it on future calls. Ensure that they can “walk the talk."
• Follow up. Ensure the agent is implementing the new feedback and if not, have steps in place to redirect. When they are improving, provide Kudo’s! Find them doing the newly mastered technique or attempting and working through it.
• Remind them about why it’s vital to implement. For example, “It is a client expectation and it will help them build their sales revenue and commission.”

Don'ts

• Only send written feedback. Your frontline telemarketing sales agents need to be able to understand what you want from them and ask questions and listen to the call(s).
• Offer so many little things that need improved upon. Give them a couple of areas to work on and let them overcome those before adding more.
• Be negative. No one responds well to negativity. Keep it positive and upbeat! Try the sandwich technique, starting with a positive, something to work on, then a positive to wrap up the feedback!
• Rush. They know your time is valuable and what better way to show them they are a valuable member of the team then to spend some of your day “Getting on the same page?”

Telemarketing Services team members need to know that we are there to assist them and help them improve. We are all a team on the same page with the same goals.

Whether you are a Telemarketing Service provider or work with an Outsourced Telemarketing company, make sure your team members in the call monitoring role know these Do’s and Don’ts. You’ll find that both morale and productivity will be improved.

Marcia Jenkins is the Senior Operations Manager for Quality Contact Solutions. Prior to joining Quality Contact Solutions, Marcia was a sought-after 10-year call center veteran with the ability to manage and sell. Marcia is responsible for the day to day operations for the At Home Division. QCS At Home is a work-from-home telemarketing and call center solution focused on business to business outbound telemarketing, test-bed projects and special programs which are typically not well-suited for the traditional brick and mortar call center operation. Marcia can be reached at Marcia.jenkins@qualitycontactsolutions.com.