Anne Morales, Author at SymTrain

Precision in Agent Assessment: The Key to a Winning Team

Selecting the right individuals to join a contact center team is a critical undertaking, essential for delivering exceptional customer service and maintaining operational efficiency. However, the process of assessing and hiring agents for these roles is not without its inherent challenges.

Contact centers, often at the frontline of customer interactions, require individuals who possess a unique blend of skills, including communication abilities, problem-solving acumen, and the capacity to remain composed in demanding situations. Navigating this intricate hiring process is fraught with complexities.

From evaluating technical proficiencies to gauging soft skills and cultural fit, contact center assessments must be comprehensive and rigorous.

The Balance Between Technical Skills and Soft Skills

While it’s essential to ensure that candidates possess the technical proficiency to navigate complex systems and processes, it’s equally crucial to gauge their soft skills, such as communication, empathy, problem-solving, and adaptability.

The challenge lies in finding individuals who not only meet the technical requirements but also align with the organization’s culture and can excel in the demanding and often high-stress environment of a contact center. Additionally, accurately predicting how well a candidate will handle real-life customer interactions is a complex task, as it requires a holistic evaluation encompassing both their hard and soft skills. Striking this balance and conducting assessments that provide a comprehensive view of a candidate’s suitability is an ongoing challenge that contact centers strive to address.

The significance of efficient and systematic assessment for high-performing agents is underscored by a pressing challenge that plagues contemporary contact centers: employee attrition. According to a study by Quality Assurance & Training Connection (QATC), the average turnover rate for call center agents typically falls within the range of 30% to 45%.

This attrition not only exerts a detrimental impact on the workforce but also precipitates a cascade of issues, such as prolonged call queues, decreased AHT, and ultimately, a decline in CSAT levels. This scenario is, in part, a reflection of the difficulties in accurately assessing and selecting the right agents, necessitating a more effective approach to address this ongoing challenge.

SymTrain’s Streamlines the Assessment of Potential Candidates

SymTrain customizes learning paths by taking into account an individual’s progress and pinpointed areas in need of enhancement, proving crucial for coaching. This adaptability guarantees a tailored and effective learning experience, enabling the swift implementation of new procedures and the resolution of communication obstacles in a matter of hours. Ultimately, this approach expedites the achievement of proficiency.

Furthermore, when it comes to assessing the right candidates, SymTrain’s GenAI feature aligns seamlessly with the assessment needs of companies, enabling them to design scenarios to evaluate potential agents’ capabilities effectively. This facilitates the process of creating training content, enabling users to input their specific instructions and instantly generate scripts for various industries and interactions.

“The insights we get from SymTrain reports are incredibly valuable. They allow us to look into individual agents and teams, making it easy to pinpoint the areas where our agents excel the most.” – Angie Salto, Training Director at The Call Gurus.

From an assessment perspective, this means companies can effortlessly generate “Syms” to gauge the future performance of agents, whether they are destined for a particular industry, line of business, or a specific communication channel, be it through audio simulations or chat interactions. These diverse scenarios serve as a comprehensive evaluation tool.

Consequently, as agents engage with these assessments, they receive scores that guide them toward roles that best match their demonstrated skills and proficiency. For instance, based on their scores, an agent may be identified as ideal for supporting voice customers in the financial services sector, signifying that they have successfully navigated a series of simulations tailored to the specific requirements of that role. The use of SymTrain’s GenAI feature in assessments offers significant advantages, making it an essential component in this critical domain.

With the implementation of SymTrain’s features, clients report new hires have achieved a remarkable 50% reduction in the time it takes to reach proficiency, allowing trainers and SMEs to dedicate more of their time to client-facing delivery.

SymTrain has thus proven itself as an invaluable asset in optimizing agent assessment and onboarding to achieve top performance and therefore elevating client satisfaction.

December 6, 2023 Anne Morales Insights No comments yet

High Agent Performance for Consumer Products Calls

Success in the consumer product contact center industry is very influenced by the customer service workforce, since they serve as the frontline interface between brands and their lifetime customers.

In the middle of such pressure to excel, businesses continually strive to enhance customer experiences and operational efficiency, and agents constantly find themselves at the forefront of numerous hurdles. According to a Customer Contact Council study, customers expect a swift resolution to their issues every time. The study found that 56% of customers who experienced a problem with a product expected it to be resolved within one single interaction.

What Agents Can Expect in The Consumer Products Industry

Contact center agents who work in consumer encounter various obstacles in their daily routines, which impact their performance and the overall customer experience. Some of these hurdles include:

1. Elevated Expectations: Customers today have heightened expectations, seeking quick and efficient resolutions to their issues regarding consumer products. Contact center agents must consistently meet these elevated expectations, which can be demanding and stressful.

2. Diverse Consumer Needs: Contact centers in the consumer product industry handle a wide range of customer inquiries, from technical support for electronic gadgets to warranty information for home appliances. Agents must be well-versed in handling diverse consumer product-related issues, which can be a considerable hurdle.

3. Continuous Learning: As consumer products evolve and new models are introduced, agents need to stay updated on the latest information, requiring ongoing training and development to address new product features and functionalities.

4. Burnout: The constant pressure and repetitive nature of tasks, especially during product recall situations or product launch events, can lead to agent burnout, impacting both job satisfaction and performance.

An article by Talkdesk cited that call center agents experience higher stress levels than most professions, with burnout rates estimated at around 30% higher than other jobs. This high-stress environment can lead to agent burnout.

5. High Attrition: Recent research conducted by the SQM Group, a significant 47% of managers have identified high agent turnover as the most prominent challenges in effectively managing a call center.

Attrition rates in the consumer product contact center industry tend to be high due to the aforementioned hurdles. This leads to increased recruitment and training costs for businesses, which can be particularly burdensome in this highly competitive industry.

Meeting the Hurdles with The Right Tool

Addressing these obstacles requires a multifaceted approach. Operations managers and trainers play a crucial role in equipping their agents with the skills and tools they need to succeed in the consumer product accounts. This is where SymTrain’s AI-powered training and coaching platform steps in.

“This makes trainers’ life way easier, and leaves the practice to SymTrain. I love how it easily gives overall insights and data to our strong and weak performers to be able to help uplevel their performance on where they specifically struggle. As a trainer this is gold, and I can already tell it’s going to free up more than 50% of my time”, Trainer, Global BPO.

SymTrain offers several key features that empower contact center agents:

Advanced Proficiency in Complex Scenarios: SymTrain elevates agent performance by 7-9% through advanced training simulations. These simulations allow agents to practice complex consumer product-related scenarios, increasing their readiness to handle challenging customer inquiries, such as troubleshooting a malfunctioning electronic device.

This results in improved first-call resolution (FCR) rates, minimizing escalations and ultimately boosting customer satisfaction.

Effective Practice of Call Situations: SymTrain provides agents with the ideal platform to practice call situations repeatedly, which is invaluable when dealing with a wide range of consumer product inquiries. This leads to a secure 3-8% reduction in Average Handling Time (AHT), contributing to more efficient call handling and reduced customer wait times.

Instantaneous Automated Feedback: SymTrain’s real-time feedback system gauges agent competence, confidence, and energy levels when addressing consumer product-related issues. By providing agents with immediate insights into their performance, SymTrain helps them identify areas for improvement and adapt in real-time.

SymTrain is already impacting the consumer product contact centers, enabling agents to excel in their roles 50% faster and rise above the hurdles they encounter. With its focus on simulations, SymTrain increases the number of A and B agents by enhancing the skills and delivery of B and C players, resulting in a more consistent and high-performing team.

Operations managers and trainers can start to leverage SymTrain’s capabilities to foster a culture of continuous improvement, which is especially critical when addressing diverse consumer needs and the ever-evolving product landscape.

Smart contact center leaders should consider SymTrain as an essential tool in their quest to exceed customer expectations in their business.

December 5, 2023 Anne Morales Consumer Products No comments yet

Reduce Agent Attrition in Consumer Banking

Employee attrition is a pressing concern for contact center leaders in the banking industry, and its repercussions permeate the very core of their operations. A recent report from Contact Center Pipeline sheds light on a concerning statistic: more than 25% of contact centers struggle with 30-45% attrition rates.

A Root Cause of contact center agent first 30 days attrition is often Job Shock, that is lacking confidence and competence to deal with the pressures of being an agent which leads to an employee’s voluntary resignation. Implementing AI solutions that quickly convey adequate knowledge while developing confidence and competence in a few days has proven to address the initial attrition rates. Compounding attrition in production are suboptimal production agent coaching.

This is aggravated by the constant influx of new hires striving to fill the vacancies left by departing agents. The urgency to expedite these recruits’ journey to proficiency is undeniable, yet the absence of a streamlined and effective training mechanism leaves these freshly onboarded agents to grapple with their initial customer or prospect interactions, armed with only a limited understanding of the contact center’s unique protocols and processes.

The pervasive employee turnover not only strains the resources of banking institutions, but also disrupts the consistency and caliber of customer interactions. Customer Experience KPIs such as CSAT, NPS and Customer Effort are low. While scores for Compliance, Monday morning Exception Rates, and AHT climb. Frustrated callers who shout and even confront agents who are poorly equipped is often a result of training and coaching that needs to be refreshed. Add in a new, young population in the agent pool who aren’t learning from legacy methods, which creates a dilemna.

It’s clear that conventional methods no longer strike a chord with the younger cohort. Traditional forms of instruction are giving way to more dynamic approaches, with today’s agents displaying a stronger affinity for situational learning and immersive role-playing.

All of this makes the relentless cycle of agent attrition disruptive for the continuity of service and undermines the cultivation of enduring customer relationships. As banking institutions pursue the delivery of seamless and dependable customer experiences, the knowledge gaps induced by attrition stand as formidable obstacles to their progress.

To confront this pivotal challenge head-on, banking institutions must prioritize the development of robust training programs designed to expeditiously bridge the knowledge chasm for new agents. A structured and efficient training framework can furnish these recruits with the requisite skills and insights needed to confidently navigate the intricacies of their roles. In doing so, institutions can mitigate the repercussions of employee attrition and ensure that each agent is exceptionally well-prepared to deliver exemplary customer service right from their very first interaction.

Automated Role-Play: A Robust and Efficient Training Method

Utilizing dynamic learning methods such as simulation and Automated Role-Play training can bring a transformative impact on the employee experience, cultivating high-performing agents who are more likely to experience job security and job satisfaction. This metamorphosis is a direct result of hands-on, practical training that not only accelerates agents’ learning curves but also significantly enhances their ability to retain critical information, making them confident.

Simulation training is an established and effective approach for equipping individuals with new skills. With its power, contact center agents can refine their customer interaction skills, encompassing care, empathy, and active listening, all while mitigating the risk of customer dissatisfaction stemming from subpar interactions.

SymTrain’s Simulations to Build Confidence and Competence

SymTrain, an AI-powered platform meticulously designed to train and coach contact center agents, not only complements but significantly enhances existing training methodologies in the industry. Its unmatched efficacy consistently outperforms traditional training methods, making it an invaluable addition to the contact center’s toolkit.

What sets SymTrain apart is its ability to seamlessly integrate at various stages of an agent’s learning journey, offering solutions from initial onboarding to ongoing skill development, thereby affording contact centers the flexibility to rectify any shortcomings in their training and coaching programs, and making agents confident enough to stay on the job.

With SymTrain’s automated role-play feature, contact centers unlock many advantages:

Identify Talent with Essential Skills: By leveraging automated role-play, contact centers can efficiently screen and identify top candidates possessing the critical skills required to excel as customer service agents. This transformative tool streamlines the recruitment process, pinpointing individuals with innate abilities crucial for success.

Establish a Measurable Benchmark: SymTrain’s automated role-play not only identifies talent but also assists in setting a tangible minimum proficiency level for new hires. This benchmark ensures a consistent standard of performance and quality right from the outset of an agent’s career, elevating the overall customer experience.

Measure Learning and Coaching Program Success: SymTrain’s automated role-play provides a reliable mechanism for gauging the effectiveness and success of continuous learning and coaching initiatives. This data-driven approach empowers contact centers to fine-tune their training strategies for optimum results, yielding 4% performance improvements within just six weeks.

“This makes trainers’ life way easier, and leaves the practice to SymTrain. I love how it easily gives overall insights and data to our strong and weak performers to be able to help uplevel their performance on where they specifically struggle. As a trainer this is gold, and I can already tell it’s going to free up more than 50% of my time”, Trainer, Global BPO.

This invaluable tool allows agents to hone their skills in a controlled environment before engaging in live customer interactions. Furthermore, it serves as a powerful coaching mechanism, aiding even the most seasoned agents in refining their performance.

By embracing SymTrain’s capabilities, contact center operations achieve a rapid time to value in just 3 to 4 weeks. This timely implementation ensures that the platform’s transformative power becomes evident swiftly, leading to a future characterized by higher efficiency, improved customer satisfaction, and a highly confident workforce, all while reducing the cost to serve by 4 to 7% in a mere 6 to 8 weeks.

SymTrain is the cornerstone for success in the dynamic landscape of contact center operations.

December 5, 2023 Anne Morales Banking No comments yet

Achieve Tech Support Expert Agents in 50% The Usual Time

The consumer technology, B2B IT and the communications industries are largely supported by tech support agents, which face a myriad of challenges in their everyday roles. From staying up-to-date with rapidly advancing technology to providing top-notch customer service, these professionals navigate a complex environment. Combining soft and tech skills to achieve low customer effort and business objectives is stressful. Agents often navigate 10 or more screens while keeping the dialog going, discovering intent and matching the right solution. In the case of chat tech support agents can handle up to 5 customer inquiries simultaneously, and sometimes more at peak.

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According to Zendesk research, as consumers become more tech-savvy themselves, businesses must adapt to meet their evolving needs. This includes providing enhanced customer service experiences with well trained agents, people who really come across as experts in every call, as failing to do so could result in falling behind the competition.

Fortunately, AI-powered simulations are transforming the way tech support agents in the tech support space meet and overcome these challenges when starting a new position, or even when they have been some time on the job, ultimately enhancing their performance and job satisfaction to new levels.

The Tech Support Conundrum

Tech support agents play a pivotal role in bridging the gap between technology and end-users. The market size for Customer Technical Support Services in the United States is projected to hit $12.56 billion by the year 2028, according to a Mordor Intelligence report. Their role is therefore crucial. Agents in this vertical troubleshoot technical issues, resolve problems, and ensure that customers have a seamless experience with the products and services they rely on. However, this role comes with its fair share of challenges, such as:

Continuous Technological Advancements: Technology is perpetually advancing, which means that tech support agents must continually update their knowledge and skills. This can be overwhelming, especially when dealing with a diverse range of devices, software, and platforms.

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High Customer Expectations: Customers today expect quick and effective resolutions to their tech issues. Agents are often under pressure to provide immediate solutions while maintaining a high level of customer satisfaction.

Complex Problem Solving: Tech support agents encounter a wide range of technical problems, each requiring a unique approach. They must possess problem-solving skills to diagnose and resolve issues efficiently.

Communication Challenges: Explaining technical solutions to customers who may not be tech-savvy can be a challenge. Effective communication is crucial in ensuring customers understand and are satisfied with the solutions provided.

The Role of SymTrain

SymTrain addresses these challenges by providing tech support agents with the tools and resources they need to excel in their roles. Here’s how SymTrain empowers these agents:

Discovery Enhancement: SymTrain sharpens agents’ investigative skills and questioning techniques through immersive automated role-play scenarios designed to elevate their ability to uncover critical information.

Navigation in Complex Systems: Agents develop confidence in navigating intricate systems as teh engage in risk-free environments, utilizing automated role-play simulations to foster familiarity and proficiency in handling complex processes.

De-escalation Mastery: Agents learn by immersing in automated scenarios that provide them with valuable practice in responding effectively to tense situations.

Empathy Cultivation: SymTrain can teach how to build rapport by exposing agents to diverse situations and encouraging a more understanding and sensitive approach to customer interactions.

Tailored Learning: SymTrain offers personalized training modules tailored to the specific needs of tech support agents. Whether it’s mastering a new operating system or resolving common software issues, agents can access training that matches their skill gaps.

Simulation-Based Learning: SymTrain employs AI-driven simulations that create real-life scenarios. Tech support agents can practice problem-solving and troubleshooting in a safe environment, enhancing their skills and boosting confidence.

Continuous Learning: With technology constantly evolving, continuous learning is vital. SymTrain ensures that tech support agents can access updated training materials to stay current with the latest developments.

Efficient Training: Traditional training methods can be time-consuming and costly. SymTrain streamlines the training process, reducing the time required for onboarding new agents and keeping existing agents updated.

Effective Communication: SymTrain includes modules on effective communication skills, helping tech support agents explain technical solutions in a clear and understandable manner, improving customer satisfaction.

Performance Analytics: SymTrain provides real-time performance analytics, allowing agents to track their progress and identify areas for improvement. This data-driven approach enables tech support agents to enhance their performance continually.

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Symtrain has been amazing! We aren’t just using it for training but also new hire recruiting. Performance has improved on all fronts. We have also told our clients about the tool and it’s helped close deals. We are super appreciative for all of the help and willingness to partner together to find solutions that enhance our business. The SymTrain team is fantastic to work with! Travis Prouty, Chief Executive Officer at The Call Gurus.

The Results: Enhanced Performance and Job Satisfaction

The impact of SymTrain on tech support agents is substantial. By addressing their unique challenges, it equips them with the skills and knowledge necessary for delivering top-tier tech support. This transformation leads to enhanced performance and increased job satisfaction.

With SymTrain, tech support agents become well-prepared and confident, allowing them to provide quicker and more effective solutions to customers. This, in turn, results in significantly higher customer satisfaction. Moreover, the ability to continually update their skills ensures that tech support agents stay ahead of the technological curve, reducing stress and job-related burnout.

SymTrain doesn’t just stop at enhancing job satisfaction; it’s a catalyst for empowerment in the communications industry. By providing agents with the tools they need to excel in their roles, SymTrain revolutionizes the tech support landscape one successful customer interaction at a time. The results speak for themselves, including achieving “Speed to Green” in 30% less time during onboarding, accelerating hiring procedures by 22% through simplified applicant screening, and reducing onboarding time by an impressive 50-70%.

Additionally, agents reach peak productivity twice as fast, significantly boosting their confidence and overall job performance.

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December 5, 2023 Anne Morales Communications and Media No comments yet

Transforming Contact Centers with AI Coaching

The power of innovation continues to reshape our lives in unprecedented ways. Among the myriad of transformative possibilities, the integration of AI simulation software stands out as a game-changer, offering newfound efficiency in employee training and a heightened customer experience.

As indicated by G2, companies are progressively incorporating AI into their operations, with approximately 56% of businesses reporting the adoption of AI in at least one of their functions.

Here, we delve into the ways AI coaching programs, particularly AI simulation software, are poised to transform the contact center operations.

Understanding AI encompasses a diverse array of technologies capable of mimicking human thought processes, judgment, and intent, resulting in responses akin to human counterparts. This versatile tool reshapes data integration by analyzing vast datasets to enhance decision-making and problem-solving processes.

When applied across various business models, AI simulation software empowers people to make decisions that would traditionally require many attempts to master. In that way, when applied to learning situations, workers can anticipate problems, and proactively address emerging issues before they have to face them in real life. The intelligent, adaptive nature of AI programs holds the potential to enhance many facets of the learning process.

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The Impact of AI Coaching in the Contact Center

Focusing on the contact center industry, the incorporation of AI coaching facilitated by AI simulation software, offers four profound transformations for the better:

Enhanced Agent Performance

AI coaching, such as provided by SymTrain, has the capacity to significantly enhance agent performance by meticulously analyzing every interaction through AI simulation software. Coach Sym, an intuitive AI, delivers real-time, targeted feedback to agents following each learning experience.

Moreover, trainers and supervisors can leverage this AI-driven data to identify areas where individual agents may struggle, stepping in to offer tailored coaching and support. This dual approach not only boosts employee engagement but also ensures that agents are better equipped for their roles within the organization.

Improved Overall Efficiency

AI coaching can improve the overall efficiency of contact center operations. SymTrain has already done this: one of SymTrain’s clients reported substantial gains in practice time for their agents after incorporating it into their training program.

Automated Role-Play using SymTrain allowed agents to complete 10-15 different scenarios within a mere 30 minutes, compared to just 1 or 2 scenarios using traditional methods. This expansion in practice opportunities equips agents to navigate common challenges they’ll encounter when dealing with real customers.

Through AI analysis, agents can fine-tune their problem-solving approaches, leading to quicker resolution of customer issues. The ability to practice and adapt to diverse situations streamlines training, reducing it from weeks to mere days. Agents, bolstered by their preparedness, exhibit increased confidence in tackling complex problems, reducing AHT while simultaneously elevating FCR rates.

Cost-Efficient Training

The incorporation of AI simulation software also yields substantial cost savings for businesses. SymTrain has led to a reduction in cost-to-serve by 4-7% within a span of 6 to 8 weeks. Coach Sym’s targeted feedback empowers trainers to identify areas where agents require additional support, enabling more effective training interventions. Addressing these issues during training minimizes the occurrence of repeat interactions and escalations, leading to significant cost savings.

A Solid Customer Experience

Perhaps one of the most crucial impacts of SymTrain lies in bringing an enhanced customer experience. When agents are well-prepared to handle any situation, they naturally deliver more positive interactions. AI technology serves as an invaluable tool for agents to access the information they need.

In addition to Automated Role-Play, SymTrain offers real-time coaching and support during challenging situations. The inclusion of intuitive AI coaching programs in your digital toolbox invariably leads to greater customer satisfaction and increased brand loyalty.

With Coach Sym and the capability to create customized simulations, contact centers can now pinpoint individual agent performance, ultimately delivering superior customer service and achieving peak productivity twice as fast.

November 29, 2023 Anne Morales Insights No comments yet

How AI Coaching Assist in Achieving Levels 3 and 4 of the Kirkpatrick Model

The Kirkpatrick Model is a widely-used framework for evaluating training and development programs. It consists of four levels, each representing a higher level of evaluation than the previous one. Level 3 and 4 of the Kirkpatrick Model require measuring the transfer of learning and the impact of training on the organization. One effective way to achieve these levels is through AI Coaching which leverage automated role-plays.

Automated role-plays are a type of simulation that allows learners to practice and apply their skills in a safe and controlled environment. These simulations can be delivered through a variety of platforms, including online training programs, virtual reality, or even physical simulations.

Here’s how automated role-plays can help organizations achieve level 3 and 4 of the Kirkpatrick Model:

Level 3: Transfer of Learning

At level 3, the focus is on measuring the extent to which learners apply what they’ve learned in the training program to their job. This is important because the ultimate goal of any training program is to improve job performance and productivity.

Automated role-plays can help achieve level 3 by allowing learners to practice their skills in a realistic scenario that closely mirrors their job. This provides learners with an opportunity to apply their knowledge and skills to real-world situations, which helps to reinforce their learning and increase their confidence.

By measuring the performance of learners in these simulations, organizations can determine the extent to which learners are transferring their learning to their job. This information can be used to identify areas where additional support or training may be needed.

Level 4: Impact on the Organization

At level 4, the focus is on measuring the impact of the training program on the organization as a whole. This includes measuring the ROI of the training program and determining the extent to which it has improved organizational performance. AI Coaching is yielding a monthly return on investment of $600 per agent in service scenarios.

Automated role-plays can help achieve level 4 by providing organizations with data on the performance of learners before and after the training program. This data can be used to measure the impact of the training program on key performance indicators (KPIs), such as productivity, quality, or customer satisfaction.

In addition, by providing learners with the opportunity to practice their skills in a safe and controlled environment, organizations can reduce the risk of errors or mistakes in the workplace. This can lead to improved efficiency, reduced costs, and increased revenue.

AI Coaching is a powerful tool for achieving level 3 and 4 of the Kirkpatrick Model. By allowing learners to practice their skills in a safe and controlled environment, organizations can measure the transfer of learning and the impact of the training program on the organization as a whole.

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November 27, 2023 Anne Morales Insights No comments yet

Enhancing Agent Performance for Healthcare Providers

The raising demand for top quality healthcare services has led to an increased focus on customer attention and satisfaction within the contact center industry. Contact centers like patient access, pharmacy, and related entry points are an intense focus for leaders striving to provide a high level of service economically. services have emerged as a viable solution for healthcare providers looking to optimize their operations and enhance the overall customer experience. There are critical moments in admissions, patient access and follow-up that need specialized attention.

In fact, according to a healthcare survey conducted by Avtex, “71% of all consumers prefer to talk to someone about their healthcare”. By pinpointing these critical conversations with competent and confident staff, healthcare providers can effectively satisfy that need. Making these functions far more efficient allows for allocating more resources towards delivering quality patient care.

Business Wire claims that the global healthcare industry is projected to exceed $468 billion by 2026. This provides a unique opportunity for contact centers in the healthcare sector. But on the other hand, the surge in healthcare attention and the subsequent rise in demand for contact center services present several challenges for some companies operating in the healthcare industry.

The rising demand for personalized and patient-centric care in the healthcare industry has placed a significant emphasis on the need for well-prepared and empathetic call center agents within companies. According to a study by Genesys, 32% of patients say they have a relationship with their provider because they understand and know who they are. While only 30% feel that they are provided the right information.

Therefore, agents in this industry are require mastering:

In-depth knowledge of medical terminology, procedures, and regulations to provide accurate and reliable support.
Exceptional communication skills, especially empathy and patience, which are crucial attributes for call center agents when addressing sensitive healthcare-related inquiries.

And to get there, they need to acquire:

Comprehensive training that lets them have access to up-to-date information and the right skills.

That’s why meeting the demands of healthcare attention and customer satisfaction requires contact centers to prioritize the preparation and ongoing development of their agents.

A Major Challenge on The Way

The rapid preparation of contact center agents for call-surge-related events, such as open enrollment periods and flu seasons, poses a significant challenge in the healthcare industry.

These events often result in a sudden influx of calls, requiring agents to quickly adapt and handle the increased volume of inquiries effectively. Contact centers face the test of efficiently and rapidly onboarding and training agents to ensure they are adequately equipped with the knowledge and skills to handle the surge in call demands.

In the middle of a context where companies in the sector report a 390% increase in member calls during enrollment and still suffering the derived demand consequences of the wake of the global Covid-19 pandemic, companies face patient expectations regarding the delivery of exceptional healthcare experiences, compelling healthcare providers to prioritize customer service across all channels.

Streamlining training programs becomes essential to overcome this and maintain the quality of healthcare attention provided during critical periods. Failure to address this can lead to increased customer frustration, decreased satisfaction, and potential revenue loss for healthcare organizations.

As a result, healthcare contact centers face an ongoing struggle to operate with heightened efficiency and speed, providing top-quality assistance to members and patients. The significance of health as a central topic requires contact centers to adapt and deliver service excellence in this evolving landscape.

According to TechTarget, 35% of businesses encounter challenges in finding contact center agent candidates who possess the needed skills. And a study conducted by JD Power also showed that more than a third of people report waiting on hold as their biggest frustration when seeking support from a company.

This occurs due to sudden increases in call volume and insufficient staffing levels within contact centers.

From this context is possible to draw three service issues that companies have to deal with on a daily basis:

Agent shortage
Sudden volume spikes
Long wait times for callers

However, it is possible to mitigate the significant impact of these variables on customers if you have the ability to choose the right solution.

Fortunately, industry leaders such as Call Gurus and NTG are already forging a new path by embracing cutting-edge innovations such as automated role play for training and coaching. By harnessing the power of SymTrain, these organizations are overcoming traditional challenges and unlocking remarkable benefits.

Automated Role-Play to Improve Operational Efficiencies

According to TTEC one of the ways for contact center agents in the health sector to better engage with patients when there are call surges or agent shortage is to “Create a virtual environment where your associates can thrive” before handling real calls. This means training them faster for real life situations and being able to provide immediate feedback.

It is beneficial to design scenarios specifically tailored to new hires’ work environment. For recently hired staff, a simulated learning method that mirrors a real-time setting is preferable. Ideally, training materials should be used for upskilling as well, offering self-paced modules of automated coaching that offer instant feedback and coaching tips.

When choosing automated agent coaching solutions, SymTrain positions itself as the perfect fix for healthcare agents, since it offers to:

Customize to train for empathy in less time: You can reduce training time and resource costs by over 40% with automation. Contact centers can quickly generate real call scenarios that closely replicate authentic customer interactions. This enables agents to practice and refine their empathetic skills efficiently.

Prepare real call scenarios in less time: You can roll out new processes and resolve communication challenges within hours. Team leaders can easily create material and monitor agents’ empathetic behaviors to provide guidance as needed.
Provide ongoing empathy checkups to ensure agents continue to deliver over time: Achieve the right level of performance and increase your CSAT scores by 12-15%. Contact centers can streamline their training processes and reduce the time required to develop empathetic agents, all while maintaining the quality of training.

No matter if your contact center is struggling with low CSAT, high call abandonment rates, or seeking ways to optimize agent productivity, consider implementing automated role-play with SymTrain. This approach offers a valuable toolkit to address crucial performance drivers and boost agent proficiency.

Remember, to excel, you must be willing to embrace new strategies and adapt to the changing dynamics in the contact center industry.

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November 22, 2023 Anne Morales Healthcare No comments yet

Immersive Learning for CX Training and Coaching

Immersive learning is a time-tested technique that educators have employed for years to enhance students’ understanding of subject matter and improve knowledge retention. According to research conducted at the University of Maryland, individuals who engaged in immersive virtual environments for learning exhibited a remarkable 35% boost in their problem-solving and retention abilities when compared to their counterparts who relied on conventional educational methods.

When adapted to the professional sphere, immersive customer experience (CX) training and coaching equips new and existing employees with the skills needed to navigate real-world scenarios within a simulated environment. One such platform, SymTrain, offers immersive, experiential learning opportunities through hands-on practice, enabling individuals to tackle various scenarios repeatedly through a coaching simulation space.

This iterative approach has been proven to significantly enhance content comprehension. However, SymTrain takes it a step further by integrating guided practice and AI coaching into the learning process, facilitating skill mastery.

The Advantage of Immersive Learning

Immersive learning capitalizes on the principle of learning by doing. Research indicates that it not only enhances cognitive skills and comprehension but also bolsters memory and problem-solving abilities. As per research conducted by Accenture, the process of learning through experiential immersive means has the potential to enhance knowledge retention by an impressive 75%.

Consequently, SymTrain has crafted a training platform that allows individuals to apply their knowledge and skills in lifelike workplace situations. Moreover, it affords learners the time and space necessary to build confidence and competence, expediting their journey toward proficiency. Step by step, SymTrain’s platform augments existing knowledge and skills. Once individuals assemble their Sym library, they gain ample opportunities for self-paced practice through these immersive learning simulations.

In that way, SymTrain starts impacting companies as early as the typically time-consuming onboarding process, reducing it by an impressive 50 to 70%. This means that new agents can reach their peak productivity levels in half the time, not only accelerating their performance but also instilling a remarkable boost in their confidence. Such efficiency in onboarding has the potential to revolutionize the way organizations bring their team members up to speed, ensuring a faster and more confident start for new hires.

SymTrain’s Approach to Immersive CX Training

SymTrain’s platform meticulously recreates real-world scenarios that customer service agents are likely to encounter during their interactions with live customers. Rather than subjecting them to on-the-job learning, carefully crafted Syms offer a secure environment for practice, allowing individuals to make mistakes and self-correct with the assistance of an intuitive AI Coach, a powerful coaching simulator. Through AI training and coaching, agents receive immediate, targeted feedback, recognizing their strengths and pinpointing areas that require improvement.

Additionally, they can repeat each lesson as many times as necessary until they feel confident with the content, ready to progress to the next skill. The level of guidance can be adjusted, empowering agents to become more self-sufficient until they can successfully navigate each scenario independently. By incorporating automated role-plays into your training curriculum, you can transform your training process and expedite agents’ skill mastery, creating an immersive CX training experience.

Immersive learning, coupled with AI training and coaching, redefines the way to approach education and professional development. It not only enhances learning efficiency but also builds confidence and competence, enabling individuals to excel in their roles, particularly in the dynamic field of customer experience.

Embracing immersive CX training is a strategic step towards fostering a skilled and confident workforce!

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November 10, 2023 Anne Morales Insights No comments yet

AI Coaching Your Agents with SymTrain

The pursuit of excellence is an ongoing journey fraught with multifaceted challenges. The contact center industry is no different. Within this context, there are key challenges that stand out as crucial considerations the companies need to consider. Addressing these challenges head-on not only ensures that contact centers stay at the forefront of the industry standards but also positions them to thrive in a very competitive landscape where service excellence is the top goal.

The Main Business Challenges for Coaching Today

Firstly, the absence of individualized coaching plans poses a significant obstacle to optimizing agent performance. The one-size-fits-all approach falls short in nurturing the unique strengths and weaknesses of each agent, hindering their growth potential.

Secondly, in an industry where excellence is the standard, contact center leaders must strive for higher levels of agent performance to maintain their competitive edge.

And lastly, key performance indicators like Average Handle Time (AHT) or First Call Resolution (FCR) have stagnated above desired levels, necessitating a strategic overhaul to regain efficiency and productivity.

Addressing these challenges is crucial for organizations looking to thrive and adapt in a rapidly evolving landscape. According to a McKinsey survey involving more than 50 senior executives, an overwhelming 94% anticipate a surge in skill demands placed on their contact center agents over the next five years.

This remarkable statistic sheds light on the escalating challenges facing the industry. It harmoniously aligns with the issues outlined, emphasizing the pressing need for individualized coaching plans and heightened agent performance levels

Maximize Performance with AI-Driven Coaching Approaches

AI-powered simulations have ushered in a transformative era for contact centers by offering a dynamic approach to training and coaching. With these advanced tools, contact centers now have the capability to construct, allocate, and disseminate coaching exercises meticulously tailored to real call results and invaluable insights derived from their Quality Assurance (QA) teams.

This means that coaching initiatives can be fine-tuned to address the specific needs and challenges identified in actual interactions, ensuring a highly relevant and effective training regimen for agents. By leveraging AI-driven simulations, contact centers can adapt swiftly to changing demands and industry trends, ultimately leading to an agile, responsive, and empowered workforce.

Innovative companies have quickly recognized the potential of AI-powered simulations to transform their training and coaching methodologies, and the results are nothing short of remarkable. By embracing this cutting-edge technology, they’ve shattered the traditional time constraints associated with skill development. Rather than waiting months or even years to witness meaningful progress, these forward-thinking organizations are witnessing substantial improvements within mere weeks.

This accelerated pace of improvement not only boosts agent performance but also enhances overall operational efficiency and customer satisfaction. It’s a testament to the power of AI-driven coaching, proving that agility and adaptability are essential components of success in contact centers.

SymTrain’s Tailored Coaching Solution

SymTrain stands at the forefront of tailored coaching solutions. Its approach incorporates advanced tools, including automated simulation creation, call recordings, and Quality Assurance (QA) data, ensuring that coaching is precise and actionable.

SymTrain’s use of generative AI conversation design and targeted individualized lessons enables supervisors to address specific behavior improvements effectively. Moreover, SymTrain’s solutions are remarkably easy to implement, taking just minutes to set up. By tagging coaching exercises to QA data and established call structures, the tool maintains a comprehensive view of performance metrics and sentiment analysis, facilitating data-driven coaching initiatives that drive results.

SymTrain’s commitment to performance improvement extends beyond customization, aiming to deliver tangible enhancements in key performance indicators (KPIs). This coaching approach is finely tuned to target behaviors and skills directly impacting performance metrics. With the ability to monitor and score sentiment and align coaching exercises with performance KPIs, SymTrain ensures a holistic approach to agent development.

SymTrain’s customers are reaping substantial financial rewards, with an average monthly savings of $600 per agent, far more in sales and collections. This impressive achievement is made possible through a dynamic synergy: the effective use of simulations to automate resource-intensive coaching, resulting in significant cost reductions, alongside a notable 3-8% reduction in Average Handle Time (AHT).

This powerful combination not only enhances operational efficiency but also directly impacts revenue generation. SymTrain’s innovative approach is proving to be a game-changer, demonstrating its ability to deliver tangible financial benefits while streamlining contact center operations for sustainable growth and success.

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November 9, 2023 Anne Morales Insights No comments yet

Agent Performance Improvement Through Automated Training

Do you struggle with agent performance without new processes and AI? Consider Automated Role-Playing for agents. Here’s why:

Coaching is skill that is hard to transfer to agents who become supervisors. A new paradigm has emerged that leading brands are using to great succes.

Agent performance is an unrelenting specter, an inescapable cornerstone that determines the very fate of success of most contact centers. The ability to dissect and understand the intricacies of how agents operate within the contact center environment is nothing short of crucial.

This analysis not only holds the potential to enhance customer experience, but also plays an important role in mitigating compliance risk and driving revenue while bolstering customer retention rates. Contact centers employ a diverse array of key performance indicators (KPIs) to meticulously improve agent performance, aiming for a comprehensive and all-encompassing evaluation.

According to a study by the Harvard Business Review, the predominant metric for evaluating and enhancing performance today is CSAT, employed by 80% of customer service organizations. However, contact centers employ a spectrum of complementary metrics to determine how well their agents are doing.

These traditional KPIs mainly encompass:

Time to Proficiency: This metric scrutinizes the duration it takes for a new agent to attain customer-ready status.

Average Handling Time (AHT): A crucial measure that calculates the average duration required to service a customer.

First Call Resolution (FCR): This KPI assesses the percentage of calls that are successfully resolved during the initial interaction.

Service Level: Service level represents the proportion of calls answered within a designated time window. It establishes caller expectations and mirrors the call center’s responsiveness.

Business outcomes such as Sales per Hour, Collections per Day are key baseline requirements for some customer journeys.

These meticulously chosen KPIs construct a granular and precise assessment of agent performance within the contact center environment.

How to leverage performance metrics to improve operations?

For harnessing the full potential of these performance metrics and propelling true enhancements to the operation, it’s advisable to adhere to a systematic approach:

Use them to uncover performance gaps: Begin by dissecting the agent’s scores to unearth performance gaps. These may manifest as soaring call abandonment rates, protracted average handle times, or a dwindling first-call resolution rate. Iy is key to direct the efforts towards rectifying these discrepancies, thereby augmenting operational efficiency and elevating customer contentment.

Use them to tailor agent training: Leverage the insights to pinpoint precise training requisites for agents. This will allow leadership to craft specialized training modules designed to amplify proficiencies in realms like active listening, adept conflict resolution, and comprehensive product knowledge. By doing so, agents are empowered to deliver superlative customer encounters.

Adopt technological solutions: By adopting new approaches such as AI-powered automated training, companies can provide scalable and consistent training experiences. This technology facilitates continuous learning, allowing for real-time updates and adaptations to training content. Additionally, AI ensures the delivery of personalized and efficient training programs, ultimately enhancing employee skills and performance across the board.

Achieve Top Performance Through Automated Training

When it comes to equipping contact center agents for enhanced performance, forward-thinking leaders rely not only on the traditional monitoring of metrics, but also prioritize the adoption of cutting-edge training methodologies and solutions.

Among these methods comes simulated training. According to a study published in Management Science, and focused on the impact of simulation in call center performance, simulation training is superior to classic role-play since it “replicates the jobcontext because the trainee receives calls, albeit simulated calls, as he or she would in a call center job”.

With automated training contact centers can enhance simulated training even further. Leaders and trainers can now harness the power of AI to craft specific simulations that have the power to refine the agent’s abilities in conversing with customers and prospects, fostering key attributes such as level of care, empathy, and active listening, all while minimizing the risk of customer dissatisfaction.

With automated training, contact center leaders can prepare new recruits extensively before they engage with their first live customer or prospect. Tenured agents can continually hone their skills and address any proficiency gaps. This approach proves particularly effective when companies introduce new products, services, or operational methodologies, surpassing outdated practices like team huddles or sole reliance on knowledge articles.

By leveraging AI-powered solutions, agents adopt a contemporary approach to practicing high-impact call scenarios in a free-form manner, without adhering to scripted interactions. Moreover, automated training aids in refining agent tone, soft skills, and offers invaluable feedback on best practices and requirements, boosting overall performance.

Agents gain two times the initial confidence as they practice, navigate new challenges, and learn from simulated, real-life scenarios.

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November 6, 2023 Anne Morales Insights No comments yet