Re-coaching Agents

Re-coaching agents is a phrase we hear quite too often. Call center leaders spend their days trying to motivate and coach their teams to handle rebuttals or solve issues in a very specific way.

Now you might not like what we’re about to say…

It’s time to stop re-coaching your agents! Let their personalities shine and give them the tools they need to succeed.

Sure, you can stop reading and be close-minded. But that puts you in the category of a manager, not a leader.

If you’re looking to improve your leadership skills, let’s take a step back and show you what we mean by “stop re-coaching your agents”.

What Agent Coaching Has Evolved To

Agent coaching has evolved with technology. As hopefully most of you know. There are so many tools that leaders can use to make their team better, but it has caused such a divide in the way call center leaders coach their teams.

You have the old school mentality:

• Role playing every week and making an agent try to handle a scripted rebuttal in front of the rest of the team.
• Trying to be on every call with their agents when they aren’t performing (just slightly micromanaging).
• Not constantly learning, solely focused on what I did as an agent instead.

What call center leaders can do now:

• Investigate new technology, questioning how they can continue to help their agents stay motivated and improve their performance.
• Involving agents on other calls to see what their initial reaction is.
• Utilizing real-time sales coaching software and post-call analytics to give agents constant feedback without having to micromanage.

Two very different ways of thinking are now causing a divide in the call center world.

There are so many options now when it comes to your tech stack, the worst part is most call center leaders don’t review the ROI to see if the software is making a difference.

If your team isn’t using the software or you haven’t seen an improvement in the first couple of months, it’s time to reflect and ask questions if this is a good use of your budget.

Onboarding vs. Re-Coaching Agents

There is a major difference between onboarding new agents and re-coaching existing agents.

In many cases, your deadlines and overall job obligations as a call center leader won’t magically disappear. But, as tough as this might sound, you need to power through these kinds of seemingly overwhelming stretches without skimping on your leadership efforts.

Onboarding new agents is tough. But if you create a process and plan, it will make things go smoothly. You need to break down the mechanics of cold calling and objection handling. They won’t feel micromanaged.

But if you treat “re-coaching” like you do onboarding, your turnover rate for agents won’t improve. Call center agents evolve and need to gain more responsibilities so agent coaching becomes more and more strategic as they grow with the company.

What You Should Be Doing Instead

We’ve been lucky enough to have plenty of customers share how their agent coaching journeys have changed over time as they find new tools that give their team the ability to book more meetings or close more opportunities.

Coaching is absolutely 100% needed, and always will be.

How to make improvements instead of “re-coaching your agents”

• Allow your agents to do self-evaluations of their performance. Then give them feedback on where they think they need it the most.
• Embrace peer-to-peer coaching. Partner up your agents and allow them to learn from each other.
• Show empathy. Handling a tough customer is never fun. Customer service and sales can wear on agents. Tell them stories of situations you were in, it allows them to connect without feeling micromanaged.
• Let your agents lead meetings and have them teach the team something.
• Continue to show their growth path and the different options they have to keep working towards.

Agent coaching might be one of the most fundamentally significant responsibilities call center leaders have. But you have to evolve as time goes on. You can’t be coaching your agents the same way you were five years ago.

Take those next steps as a call center leader and find ways to help your team grow.

Be Intentional

My last piece of advice for you is to be intentional with everything you do as a call center leader.

Just like your agents, customer service and sales are tough. The team rises and falls with you.

If you’re not sure where to go next, ask your call center community or find a mentor.

If you are intentional with everything you do, it will always benefit your team as you can be transparent with your goals and vision for the organization. This will trickle down from the best agents to any new agents.

Here are some great resources we’ve used for our team on agent coaching:

• 1-on-1 coaching template
• Cold Calling Guide
• The Contact Center KPI podcast – lots of golden nuggets!

If you’re looking for ways to make your life easier as a call center leader.

Check out Abstrakt. We will let you know immediately if you’re not a fit and even show you other products that might solve your solution.