Comments on: The Trouble With Outsourced Call Centers http://research.outsourcing.org/outsourcing/the-trouble-with-outsourced-call-centers/ Outsourcing Research Center Mon, 01 Dec 2008 13:42:42 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.1.2 By: Alastair Grant http://research.outsourcing.org/outsourcing/the-trouble-with-outsourced-call-centers/#comment-32 Alastair Grant Thu, 17 May 2007 10:36:17 +0000 http://research.outsourcing.org/outsourcing/the-trouble-with-outsourced-call-centers/#comment-32 I agrre, I'v e worked in both outsourced and inhouse. Its all the same, new guys/girls get the grease, and learns how to use the mute so as they can speak with the customer, and the person trying to train them...stressful by times. Anyways its the only way it seems to work, it would take thousands more to train each agent, and turnover rates are too high to support it, so everyone says ok customer service is number one... looks the other way, says ok get them on the phones...some shit happens...but it never matters in the end, and the job gets done and everyone gets paid...but as you say peaple are getting tired of awkward phone calls and anoying delays. I agrre, I’v e worked in both outsourced and inhouse. Its all the same, new guys/girls get the grease, and learns how to use the mute so as they can speak with the customer, and the person trying to train them…stressful by times. Anyways its the only way it seems to work, it would take thousands more to train each agent, and turnover rates are too high to support it, so everyone says ok customer service is number one… looks the other way, says ok get them on the phones…some shit happens…but it never matters in the end, and the job gets done and everyone gets paid…but as you say peaple are getting tired of awkward phone calls and anoying delays.

]]> By: Kristen Alley http://research.outsourcing.org/outsourcing/the-trouble-with-outsourced-call-centers/#comment-126 Kristen Alley Mon, 25 Jun 2007 11:09:32 +0000 http://research.outsourcing.org/outsourcing/the-trouble-with-outsourced-call-centers/#comment-126 The performance issues that we repeatedly see in our outsourced call centers are rooted throughout the implementation and training processes and materials that are typically used to get work offshore. The implementation process has become a virtual assembly line in which customer service reps are hired, trained and released to the production floor in a blindingly short period of time. The new reps on the floor and their management team have little context and no experience in their new jobs. Though perhaps not a panacea, improved training may significantly improve the performance of a new customer service rep. The customer service reps that we have hired offshore have college-level educations, which implies solid inferential and problem solving skills. The training we provide, however, is geared to the learning skills of secondary education, and is based on program or product details rather than fundamentals. As a result, the new reps emerge with a vast number of facts (reinforced by scripts) that have absolutely no context. The reps can answer any question that has been directly addressed in training, but do not have the fundamental understanding to apply their knowledge to questions that were not specifically addressed in training. A revamped approach to training, though only a part of the overall solution, should be an integral part of any new implementation. The focus of the training should be on concepts rather than facts and details. The training should be geared to college-level learning styles to challenge and engage the trainees. The new reps should emerge from the training with enough of a knowledge base to confidently reason through the issues of the caller without referring to a script or other 'canned' information. The performance issues that we repeatedly see in our outsourced call centers are rooted throughout the implementation and training processes and materials that are typically used to get work offshore. The implementation process has become a virtual assembly line in which customer service reps are hired, trained and released to the production floor in a blindingly short period of time. The new reps on the floor and their management team have little context and no experience in their new jobs.

Though perhaps not a panacea, improved training may significantly improve the performance of a new customer service rep. The customer service reps that we have hired offshore have college-level educations, which implies solid inferential and problem solving skills. The training we provide, however, is geared to the learning skills of secondary education, and is based on program or product details rather than fundamentals. As a result, the new reps emerge with a vast number of facts (reinforced by scripts) that have absolutely no context. The reps can answer any question that has been directly addressed in training, but do not have the fundamental understanding to apply their knowledge to questions that were not specifically addressed in training.

A revamped approach to training, though only a part of the overall solution, should be an integral part of any new implementation. The focus of the training should be on concepts rather than facts and details. The training should be geared to college-level learning styles to challenge and engage the trainees. The new reps should emerge from the training with enough of a knowledge base to confidently reason through the issues of the caller without referring to a script or other ‘canned’ information.

]]>