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How do you make every agent sell to and serve your customers just like your very best agents?
How do you shorten the learning curve in the contact center and retain more agents when 91% of agents are likely to quit in 2021?
These are the questions that keep customer operations leaders up at night — especially as modern customers rely heavily on contact centers and expect more from each interaction.
Unfortunately, far too many contact centers are trying to fix these problems with training solutions that don’t put the agent at the center. That’s not just a mistake — it could be a downright disaster. Read on to learn why.
There’s no way around it: How contact centers currently train and onboard agents is completely messed up. Agents are forced to consume extensive repositories of knowledge in extremely short periods of time and try their best to retain relevant insights for just the right customer interaction. (Emphasis on “try.”)
The result? Management gets to feel like they’ve given agents the resources they need, while the reality on the ground looks a little more like this…
Did you know?of executives are considering a remote/hybrid workforce in 2021*
Plan to enable a truly digital workforce with end-to-end automation*
of call center knowledge base is still accessed manually*
Simply put, it’s just not practical to learn everything and become an expert right away.
Before we try to solve this problem, let’s explore how this is being addressed today.
Many contact centers recognize they have a problem. That doesn’t mean all of their solutions are created equal. From the agent-crushing fixes (like classroom training) to ones that put agents first — when done right — here are some of the most common ways contact centers handle training and onboarding.
Classroom training
Most agents go through classroom training when they’re hired. Many quit right away. This isn’t a surprise. From complex processes to extended training manuals, teaching agents everything at once — and then expecting them to solve problems quickly — just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Classroom training also doesn’t gel with the contact center of 2021, where many new agents will be working in a fully remote capacity.
E-Learning
This method takes the extensive information of the classroom and moves it into online education modules. While e-Learning makes more sense for today’s remote agents, it doesn’t solve the basic problems of the classroom.
Microlearning
Rather than throwing every piece of knowledge at agents at once, microlearning splits it up into more manageable segments. The problem, however, is in how microlearning is deployed. Too often, management treats these lessons as a “break” from calls — which, of course, they aren’t really. While far more manageable than a classroom approach, microlearning on its own is really just a Band-Aid to the onboarding problem.
While some of the above approaches work better than others, there’s a good chance your contact center has some work to do. Your agents are screaming for help. They want a different approach to the problem and fast.
Here’s one solution: U-Assist. U-Assist is a powerful tool that harnesses the power of AI and RPA to work FOR your agents. The program offers knowledge when, and only when, agents need it — reducing the amount that agents need to learn before taking calls (goodbye thousand-page manuals) and offering guidance all along the way. From scripting to guided flows, U-Assist makes learning while doing possible.
For more information about agile learning and the power of U-Assist, check out our eBook and get in touch today!
*HFS Research 2020
Agent assistance can put you on the right path. By giving your staff technology that works for, not against, them, you can…
