Managing Service-To-Sales Conversions in Call Centers: Training

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"Managing Service-To-Sales Conversions in Call Centers: Training"

Study Overview:

As inbound and outbound call center executives and managers transform their call centers into service and sales channels, they must design and implement cross-channel training curricula and programs that integrate the skills and behaviors required by both channels. Training is among the most critical variables that drive service-to-sales transformations.

To rapidly and productively transform service centers into value-adding sales-and-service centers, this research can help companies develop sales skills and capabilities in their managers, frontline supervisors, performance coaches and their customer service representatives. Veteran call center leaders underscore that the management task is more than just purchasing off-the-shelf sales training. Companies face a mix of training challenges during the service-to-sales transformation:

· Obtaining new training,
· Preparing incumbent service employees and new employees.
· Preparing senior leadership and middle management to lead the change.
· Implementing new training, which represents a cultural change for how many call centers see their core function.

“The key is to put into practice training which makes sales behaviors habitual. Without ongoing training and coaching, representatives struggle to make the change,” one call center manager said.

Key Topic Areas:

· Structure and implementation of curriculum
· Design of curriculum content
· Converting incumbent employees into successful sales representatives

Sample Key Findings

· Position all sales training initiatives as an opportunity for improvement.
· Training Content: Balance product knowledge, sales skills and soft skills to create an effective service-to-sales training curriculum.
· Consider utilizing outside expertise to supplement existing sales training resources and to accelerate the service-to-sales deployment process.

Sample Slides:

· Training Content: Balance product knowledge, sales skills and soft skills to create an effective service-to-sales training curriculum.

Benchmark partners observed that sales-related soft skills are vital to empower representatives to sell effectively. Frequently they allocate more training time to these skills than they do to sales tactics and techniques. Soft skills include fact-finding and probing, relationship building, stress tolerance and assertiveness.

Industries Profiled:
Computer Software; Medical Device; Financial Services; Telecommunications; Retail; Manufacturing; Professional Services; Computer Hardware; Service; Banking; Internet; Electronics; Chemical; Computers; Consumer Products; High Tech; Insurance


Companies Profiled:
Intuit; Fleet Bank; Vodafone; UMB; Wachovia; Littlewoods Ltd.; Yokogama America; Amerix Corporation; Medtronic; Embarq (formerly Sprint); NCR; Amylum Iberica SA; People's Bank; GE Money (formerly GE Consumer Finance); Royal Bank of Canada; AOL; SouthEast Telephone; Aliant Telecom; Tata Johnson Controls; AT&T; Texas Instruments; Wells Fargo; Travelocity; Bank of America; American Express; Bank One; Carlson Leisure; BASF Corporation; Bell South; Citigroup; Dell Computer; Dow Chemical; Eastman Kodak; Eaton Corp; EDS; Fidelity Investments; IBM; Lands' End

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