Even the best call center agent can always get better — which is why the most effective call center managers prioritize coaching initiatives. By committing to coaching sessions on a regular basis, managers can help their agents continuously improve while agents are given the peace of mind that comes with knowing their employers are committed to helping them succeed.
Keep reading to learn more about what call center coaching is and why today’s leading organizations are heavily invested in it.
What is call center coaching?
Call center coaching is a quality assurance initiative where managers and auditors analyze agent performance to identify gaps and examples of great service, delivering feedback to help agents become more effective.
While annual performance reviews are designed to assess an agent’s overall performance over the previous year, coaching sessions help agents improve their performance moving forward by learning best practices and further developing their skill sets.
Why does call center coaching matter?
According to HubSpot’s Annual State of Service in 2022 report, 90 percent of leaders agree that customer expectations are higher than ever before. Call center coaching can play a huge role in helping organizations meet these rising expectations due to the number of benefits it delivers.
Better service
Perhaps most importantly, call center coaching gives agents the tools, skills, and best practices they need to deliver the best possible service to customers. According to that same HubSpot report, nearly half of agents have a hard time managing difficult conversations. By coaching them on a regular basis, managers give agents the knowledge they need to navigate these complex interactions — and ultimately satisfy customers by the time the conversation wraps up.
Improving customer experiences
Today, the customer experience is a key differentiator, with customers routinely choosing to do business with brands that deliver the strongest experiences. How exactly can companies deliver those types of experiences? It starts with personalizing interactions as much as possible. After all, 73 percent of customers expect companies to understand their unique circumstances, according to Salesforce’s State of the Connected Customer report.
By making it a habit to coach agents routinely, managers and QA auditors can rest comfortably knowing that their agents have the knowledge and tools they need to personalize each interaction, no matter how challenging it might be. All of a sudden, meeting those rising expectations is much easier.
Winning the war for talent
Organizations across all industries are struggling to attract new employees. In fact, one recent report found that 52 percent of business owners say that it’s gotten harder to hire qualified individuals than it was a year ago.
Call center coaching can help organizations overcome these challenges by attracting workers who prioritize professional development. According to a report from Gallup, 87 percent of millennials agree that professional development is important at work, while 69 percent of all workers say the same. By committing to call center coaching, organizations can differentiate themselves from their peers that treat it like an afterthought.
Increasing agent retention
Attracting workers is one thing. Convincing them to stick around for the long haul is quite another. Historically, call center turnover has been a challenge for all organizations. A quick Google search reveals that the average turnover rate hovers somewhere between 30 and 40 percent.
Not only can call center coaching help organizations win the war for talent, it can also help them overcome employee turnover problems. In fact, according to McKinsey, teams led by coaches who spend over 60 percent of their time on the call center floor are twice as likely to retain agents.
Improving agent engagement and productivity
Today, just 36 percent of employees are engaged at work. By making a commitment to agent coaching and professional development, organizations prove that they support their employees and want to see them excel. This, in turn, makes agents more engaged at work. Since engaged employees get more done, agent productivity increases, too, enabling teams to resolve more tickets in less time
Ready to learn about call center coaching best practices?
Now that you have a better idea of some of the main reasons why organizations are increasingly investing in call center coaching, it’s time to learn about some best practices you can use to make the most out of your coaching initiatives.
When you’re ready to do that, download our free guide, The Ultimate Guide to Call Center Coaching.
Get a free demo today!
Your customers will thank you for it!
