Last Updated on January 31, 2019
Remember the story about William Tell shooting the apple off his son’s head?
Imagine if he’d done that with a blindfold on. It could have been very bad for his poor son. Not to mention that social services would have put Mr. Tell away, confiscated his quiver and arrows and the classic William Tell Overture would have never been written.
Thankfully, managing a call center isn’t a matter of life and death, but it’s still not a place to play “blind archery.” You have numbers to hit. You have customers to retain, to wow and to resell on why they should keep doing business with you instead of leaving you for your competitors. You’re responsible for delivering these results, but who do you depend on to make it happen?
That’s right, you depend on your call center reps. They’re the ones with the quivers and the arrows. And you, well, you’re the one with the apple on your head. Ultimately, you’re responsible for sales, retention and for how customer service issues are handled. If you want your reps to make you look good, you have to take off the blind fold and find out what’s really happening on the phone.
Here’s why…
Outta Sight, Outta Mind?
If you aren’t already using call recording software, it might be easy to dismiss this as another shameless promotion of our call recording technology. But that would overlook a core fundamental of good business. A fundamental that’s so essential to getting results, it’s almost impossible to oversell the value of it.
I’m talking about accountability.
You already know that people are more likely to perform at their best if they KNOW that they’ll have to answer for their actions and for their results. Even Olympic competitors use coaches, and they’re some of the most self-motivated people on the planet. What you might not have thought about is whether you’re holding your reps accountable for what really matters.
Most likely, your call center reps are already accountable for results.
But what about the PROCESS they’re using to get those results?
If you’re just looking at their end results, you’re missing a big, BIG part of the picture. You’re missing the steps that led them there. This is like trying to judge who’s responsible for a car accident by examining ONLY the end result. Not talking to the people. Not calling witnesses. Just looking at the wrecked cars and trying to figure out what happened.
There’s a saying that goes, “If it’s not broken, don’t fix it.”
I prefer this instead…
If you don’t know where it’s broken, you CAN’T fix it. If this doesn’t apply to selling, it doesn’t apply to anything. Selling might be all about getting results, but results are the fruit of process. How can you expect to train someone to get new results if you have no idea where their current process is failing?
What Gets Measured Gets Done
This is another popular saying, but it’s easy to misapply it by measuring the wrong things. We’re obsessed with results, but again, results are only a small part of the picture. If you want to change them, you need a new process. You need to trouble shoot and measure the steps leading up to the end result. Otherwise, your reps will simply feel that you’re holding them accountable for something which you’re not adequately preparing them to produce.
Call recording software is the ONLY way to get an insight into what’s really happening on the phone. How are your reps talking to your customers? How are they handling objections? Are they listening? Are they making one tiny mistake that’s making a HUGE difference in your sales or retention rates? If you’re not hitting the bulls-eye with your customer service and selling goals, it’s probably because you don’t know the answers to these questions.
So, How Will You Hit Your Sales Targets?
I’m not saying you should pick up the phone and call one of our reps for a demo, but if you’re not clear on what’s happening with your customer service calls, you know you need to do something. The question is…what are you going to do? You can dump four or five figures into hiring a sales trainer, but how will you make sure your investment doesn’t go to waste?
You can set goals and expectations for your staff, but how will you help them reach those goals? What ongoing processes will you create and enforce. And most important, how will you monitor performance and make the changes you need in order to produce results?
If you’re ready to answer these questions, you need to pick up the phone right now and call us. You have nothing to lose by taking a look. But if you’re playing blind archery right now, you might be surprised to find out how much you’re already letting slip between the cracks.
Last Updated on January 31, 2019