How much to spend on training and on which types is like figuring out how much to spend on call centers and for what tools. Both call centers and training are expensive and complicated to implement, maintain and upgrade.

There is an array of training tools, including technology-based training (TBT): computers, Web-based, packaged and hosted streaming videos. There is facilitator-led training (FLT), including classroom, videoconference and off-site. And there's blended training: technology-based training sessions followed by reviews and role-playing with instructors, coaches and supervisors.

These methods teach product knowledge; how to use call center tools; hard skills like sales, service and technical support; and soft skills like listening, understanding and empathy. TBT and FLT have unique strengths and weaknesses so more companies are adopting blended training.

Call centers, say experts, are boosting training across the board. But the top focus today among cutting-edge companies is on soft skills because these skills are key to customer acquisition and retention. It is no longer enough, as in tech support, to fix the problem. The customer must be treated well, too.

These call centers are increasingly offering task- or channel-specific training, like for e-mail handling. And they're establishing "expert agent" positions to better leverage and retain valued customer service/sales professionals.

The right training technique will hinge on what you need to satisfy, retain and attract your customers (based on what those customers are worth to you) and your budget.

To minimize training costs, the industry is exploring agent certification programs for general support skills that might be transferable among companies and industries. There is much debate on the value of such generalized certification, and on which skills should be certified.

ARE CALL CENTERS SPENDING ENOUGH?

Call center managers increasingly recognize the importance of agent training. According to a Yankee Group (Boston, MA; www.yankeegroup.com) survey on call center manager spending priorities, released January 2002, 62% of managers identified agent training as "highest" priority. And 25% identified training as one of the "biggest" challenges they face.

While respondents reported overall satisfaction with agent training, the report found that 41% were only "somewhat satisfied." One-third was dissatisfied with training (see chart).

The most satisfied respondents tended to be in small (ten to 20 agents) and single-facility call centers where the company can give more personalized training and better feedback to agents.

But the survey noted a gap between the desire for more agent training and spending on it. Forty eight percent of respondents, including 35% of large call centers, believe $50,000 per year is a reasonable budget.

According to the survey, "These low budget estimates indicate that even for large contact centers, training is not yet enough of a priority to command a large budget, and more education is needed regarding the realistic costs involved with implementing training solutions."

Training consultants such as Elizabeth Ahearn, president of The Radclyffe Group (Fairfield, NJ), say that training new hires costs $2,000 per agent per year. She pegs refresher training between $800 and $1,000.

"Being an agent is not like riding a bicycle where you learn once and will always remember how to do it," says Ahearn. "Agents need refresher training or else they lose those skills."

Companies have been spending much less than that on refresher training, to their detriment. Ahearn reports that many companies don't want to pay more than $250 to $500 per agent per year. Some companies pay much less - nothing at all.

"If agents do not receive adequate ongoing [refresher] training, they will begin to feel unchallenged intellectually and their skills will slip," she says. "Without that stimulation they will leave. Costs go up and customer satisfaction suffers."

Companies are often wary of overspending on agent training because they fear agents will leave them for their competition once they are trained, says Kathryn Jackson, an associate with Response Design Corporation (RDC; Ocean City, NJ). These firms ask: What is the point of making those investments?

But, notes Jackson, that viewpoint is shortsighted because trained agents will perform better and stay longer than those who are not. Also, what goes around comes around. Companies also gain agents who were trained at other call centers.

"Companies must understand what their break-even point is with their training investment," says Jackson. "They need to determine how much they should spend on employees who will leave in two to three years in order to gain the most results."

Some companies are getting the message that they need to spend more on training. According to RDC's LeapFrog! benchmarking, 13% more call centers in 2000-2001 than those reporting in 1997 to 1999 expect their training budget to increase substantially in the next fiscal year.

GETTING THE NUMBERS RIGHT

Are companies spending too much time on product and technology training and not enough on hard and soft skills training?

According to Ahearn, call centers typically spend 80% of new hire training time on product training, 10% on call center systems training and the remainder on hard and soft skills.

Instead, they should devote 50% on hard and soft skills training (Ahearn calls it "interaction training"), 35% on product and 15% on systems. Companies would generate greater customer and employee satisfaction and agent retention if they changed their priorities, she asserts.

Every customer satisfaction survey she's done cites speed of issue resolution at the top of the list. Product knowledge and technology training rank far down the list.

"Customers discount their importance because they expect agents to know the product and how to use their tools," explains Ahearn. "It is the interaction training that matters the most to customers, how agents communicate in delivering world class customer service."

Peter Gurney, managing partner with Kinesis (Seattle, WA), says companies pour millions into CRM packages, but spend little on hard and soft skills training.

"It is a mistake to spend $10 to $20 million on a CRM implementation and not spend adequate amounts to train agents to take advantage of the cross-selling and upselling prompts in the packages," he points out. "That creates clumsy, scripted and unimaginative responses that are unlikely to elicit sales and loyalty."

SOFT SKILLS ROI

Companies don't put enough money into soft skills, new hire and refresher training because many firms do not see return on investment (ROI) on training dollars.

How much to spend on training and on which types is like figuring out how much to spend on call centers and for what tools. Both call centers and training are expensive and complicated to implement, maintain and upgrade.

There is an array of training tools, including technology-based training (TBT): computers, Web-based, packaged and hosted streaming videos. There is facilitator-led training (FLT), including classroom, videoconference and off-site. And there's blended training: technology-based training sessions followed by reviews and role-playing with instructors, coaches and supervisors.

These methods teach product knowledge; how to use call center tools; hard skills like sales, service and technical support; and soft skills like listening, understanding and empathy. TBT and FLT have unique strengths and weaknesses so more companies are adopting blended training.

Call centers, say experts, are boosting training across the board. But the top focus today among cutting-edge companies is on soft skills because these skills are key to customer acquisition and retention. It is no longer enough, as in tech support, to fix the problem. The customer must be treated well, too.

These call centers are increasingly offering task- or channel-specific training, like for e-mail handling. And they're establishing "expert agent" positions to better leverage and retain valued customer service/sales professionals.

The right training technique will hinge on what you need to satisfy, retain and attract your customers (based on what those customers are worth to you) and your budget.

To minimize training costs, the industry is exploring agent certification programs for general support skills that might be transferable among companies and industries. There is much debate on the value of such generalized certification, and on which skills should be certified.

ARE CALL CENTERS SPENDING ENOUGH?

Call center managers increasingly recognize the importance of agent training. According to a Yankee Group (Boston, MA; www.yankeegroup.com) survey on call center manager spending priorities, released January 2002, 62% of managers identified agent training as "highest" priority. And 25% identified training as one of the "biggest" challenges they face.

While respondents reported overall satisfaction with agent training, the report found that 41% were only "somewhat satisfied." One-third was dissatisfied with training (see chart).

The most satisfied respondents tended to be in small (ten to 20 agents) and single-facility call centers where the company can give more personalized training and better feedback to agents.

But the survey noted a gap between the desire for more agent training and spending on it. Forty eight percent of respondents, including 35% of large call centers, believe $50,000 per year is a reasonable budget.

According to the survey, "These low budget estimates indicate that even for large contact centers, training is not yet enough of a priority to command a large budget, and more education is needed regarding the realistic costs involved with implementing training solutions."

Training consultants such as Elizabeth Ahearn, president of The Radclyffe Group (Fairfield, NJ), say that training new hires costs $2,000 per agent per year. She pegs refresher training between $800 and $1,000.

"Being an agent is not like riding a bicycle where you learn once and will always remember how to do it," says Ahearn. "Agents need refresher training or else they lose those skills."

Companies have been spending much less than that on refresher training, to their detriment. Ahearn reports that many companies don't want to pay more than $250 to $500 per agent per year. Some companies pay much less - nothing at all.

"If agents do not receive adequate ongoing refresher training, they will begin to feel unchallenged intellectually and their skills will slip," she says. "Without that stimulation they will leave. Costs go up and customer satisfaction suffers."

Companies are often wary of overspending on agent training because they fear agents will leave them for their competition once they are trained, says Kathryn Jackson, an associate with Response Design Corporation (RDC; Ocean City, NJ). These firms ask: What is the point of making those investments?

But, notes Jackson, that viewpoint is shortsighted because trained agents will perform better and stay longer than those who are not. Also, what goes around comes around. Companies also gain agents who were trained at other call centers.

"Companies must understand what their break-even point is with their training investment," says Jackson. "They need to determine how much they should spend on employees who will leave in two to three years in order to gain the most results."

Some companies are getting the message that they need to spend more on training. According to RDC's LeapFrog! benchmarking, 13% more call centers in 2000-2001 than those reporting in 1997 to 1999 expect their training budget to increase substantially in the next fiscal year.

GETTING THE NUMBERS RIGHT

Are companies spending too much time on product and technology training and not enough on hard and soft skills training?

According to Ahearn, call centers typically spend 80% of new hire training time on product training, 10% on call center systems training and the remainder on hard and soft skills.

Instead, they should devote 50% on hard and soft skills training (Ahearn calls it "interaction training"), 35% on product and 15% on systems. Companies would generate greater customer and employee satisfaction and agent retention if they changed their priorities, she asserts.

Every customer satisfaction survey she's done cites speed of issue resolution at the top of the list. Product knowledge and technology training rank far down the list.

"Customers discount their importance because they expect agents to know the product and how to use their tools," explains Ahearn. "It is the interaction training that matters the most to customers, how agents communicate in delivering world class customer service."

Peter Gurney, managing partner with Kinesis (Seattle, WA), says companies pour millions into CRM packages, but spend little on hard and soft skills training.

"It is a mistake to spend $10 to $20 million on a CRM implementation and not spend adequate amounts to train agents to take advantage of the cross-selling and upselling prompts in the packages," he points out. "That creates clumsy, scripted and unimaginative responses that are unlikely to elicit sales and loyalty."

SOFT SKILLS ROI

Companies don't put enough money into soft skills, new hire and refresher training because many firms do not see return on investment (ROI) on training dollars.