CFO asks CEO: What happens if we spend money training our people and then they leave?
CEO: What happens if we don’t and they stay?

This is an age-old problem that every company struggles with, it is a question that strikes at the heart of an organisation and in the creation of a companies’ culture. In an industry that is plagued with high turnover rates, exceeding staff training targets without compromising service levels or overspending on unnecessary overtime is a win/win.

It’s a no brainer, the company that enjoys the most success has the better staff.

But how do they get the best staff? After all, companies hire from the same recruitment sites, in the same towns and in the same country.

1) Better trained staff

The more training programmes the contact centre agents can complete, the more prepared the call centre is to tackle challenges and seize opportunities. Keeping up to date with new products, company processes and changes in legislation ensures high levels customer service is maintained. More efficient customer service ensures Average Handling Times are kept low.

2) Higher rates of First Call Resolution

Educated and up-to-date agents are more able to maintain positive and productive interactions with every customer leading to fewer phone calls in the future.

3) Better sales conversions

Agents who feel they are more prepared for the challenges of their job will be empowered agents. If the above benefits of training were not enough, return in your investment can be guaranteed with happier staff. Happier staff leads to customers benefitting from more efficient service and more sales.

You can’t argue with the added benefits of training call centre staff. So why don’t you set yourself the goal this year of proactively identifying quiet times throughout the day and allocate training times to your staff now.

If you’re nervous about moving agents away from the phones because there might be a surge in demand that you weren’t expecting, think about using a new automated intraday tool, such as QStory’s Arti, linked with eLearning programmes. This will give you control during the day: not putting service levels at risk, optimising agent’s the idle time and keeping costs down whilst getting through your training programme. That’s a real win/win for everyone.