9 Responses

1. Some practical recommedations
   Hi Mark,

   I have done this myself (in a previous job so have no documentation to share, sorry) and would recommend including established practice and guidelines that will ground your presentation and show that there is a professional foundation to your training strategy. I presume you know about the Call Centre Association which is the professional body for call and contact centres. What you may not know is that they produce high quality information on best practice and I have found them helpful in an advisory capacity on a range of different subjects. They have a lot more info than their website suggests so trying contacting them if you don’t find what you need.

   http://www.cca.org.uk/

   The are three other points I will briefly mention.

   I recommend that your strategy should include a consultation process with the business to establish what the training needs are and also an evaluation mechanism to ensure that you can measure and review your progress. I also suggest that you think of putting something in your presentation about how you will promote your strategy to the business. After all, the more people that know about training available for them, the better.

   Good luck, hope your presentation goes well.

2. What do they want to know ?
   Hi Mark
   my suggestions surround the presentation itself and designing the message to answer the audience’s questions. So at the moment you are thinking about what you should include ….. but is this the same as what the audience want to know ? If it is great ..if not make it so. The impact of a presentation is primarily how you say (verbally and bosy language) …not so much what you say …..

   Don’t know if this helps you at all but good luck all the same

3. multi-channel strategy
   Hi Mark

   You may wish to consider multi-channel communications (depending on the call centre’s current and future capability) (if you haven’t thought of that already!). Of course you will cover off voice communication but should also think about including email, instant messenger and of course SMS/mobile. Mobile marketing is becoming increasingly important and SMS is a great method of allowing customers to make initial contact.

   Good luck with the training anyway.

   Kind regards
   Helen Keegan

4. More info?
   Hello Mark,
   I’d like to give you some input, however I’m not sure what you mean by a ‘contact centre environment’. Could you expand please? Alternatively, feel free to contact me at The Potential Centre (see directory) and I’d be happy to give you my thoughts over the phone.

5. Creating a Dev strategy.
   Hi Mark

   I used to be Training & Dev Manager at a large Financial Services org. A Call Centre is a completely different environment to a normal “office” so good luck!

   One of the things that we found useful was to put all our Team Leader/Managers through the Certificate for Call Centre Management. I’d be happy to talk this through with you and explain the rationale – however some of the positives was that as it is Call Centre specific, it helps everyone understand why certain approaches must be taken, how to develop a call script or a call guide, the levers that can affect efficiency and abandon call rate etc etc.

   This approach had a remarkable effect on the whole team.

   We also had a Competency framework in which everyone was trained and then coached to achieve. Each level had to show consistent competency practice at the appropriate competency level e.g. Managers were Level 3.

   please feel free to give me a call on 020 7864 8715.

   Thanks and Good luck.

   Linda Pickers

6. Ensure the CC Strategy is understood first
   The Contact Centre is a difficult animal ! Not one of them is the same and when designing a course it is absolutely crucial that you understand the business strategy for the Contact Centre first. If you achieve this, the course content and material will be reasonably easy to put together and the course will pay dividends ! Please feel free to contact me if you want some support !

   And good luck

7. Consider required competences in contact centre
   Hi Tony
   I suggest you look at the competences required by the business – for many contact centres they are changing from being passive to pro-active at agent level, requiring a greater degree of diagnostic and other skills. I’ve recruited for and designed training for many centres so happy to chat with you.
   I can be reached on 01506 464422 or by email

8. Train against demand
   I suggest you focus on training against demand, i.e. why customer call in from their point of view. And I recommend you avoid the Call Centre Association materials as they inculcate the wrong philosophy (targets, standards, procedures, inspection and all that stuff that makes a call centre a sweat shop).

9. Contact Centre Training Strategy
   Hi Mark
   In considering your strategy the business objectives should first of all be linked to the staff development learning needs. You should think about how each employee receives their development from induction throughout any career progression. As Call Centres have a sweatshop image maybe you could consider including a mentoring scheme? This could add value for existing employees and new employees would have a support mechanism.