1. © Copyright 2002 Trostle & Associates, LTD. All Rights Reserved. Top Gun Web Agents: Find ‘em, Get’em, Keep’em Presented by

2. © Copyright 2002 Trostle & Associates, LTD. All Rights Reserved. Top Gun Web Agents: Find ‘em, Get’em, Keep’em  Find ‘em How to recognize “Top Gun” Talent  Get ‘em How to recruit them for your Contact Center  Keep ‘em Tools and programs to help you hold onto your Top Guns

3. © Copyright 2002 Trostle & Associates, LTD. All Rights Reserved. Top Gun Web Agents: Find ‘em, Get’em, Keep’em  What is a web agent?  What makes a web agent a Top Gun?  Where do you find them?  Practice what we teach! Web-based Candidate Assessments  More practice… Tools and methods to leverage costs?

4. © Copyright 2002 Trostle & Associates, LTD. All Rights Reserved. Top Gun Web Agents: Find ‘em, Get’em, Keep’em  Soft Skill Selection Strategy  Benchmarking Top Guns  Web Agent vs. Call Center Agent  Web-Based Candidate Assessment  Interview Tips & Tools

5. © Copyright 2002 Trostle & Associates, LTD. All Rights Reserved. Competencies for Web Agents  Are they a good fit?  Are they "service” minded?  Skills & abilities?  Time to train or hit the ground running?

6. © Copyright 2002 Trostle & Associates, LTD. All Rights Reserved. Competencies for Web Agents “…the fact is the requisite skill set of the online service/support rep is vastly different from that of a phone based agent.” eCustomer Interaction Channels: Phone, E-mail, Web Chat Source: Training for the eService Triathlon, Jay Gautheir, Customer Support Management, July 2001

7. © Copyright 2002 Trostle & Associates, LTD. All Rights Reserved. First Step: Definition  Skills required  Goals  Ideal candidate personality profile  Blended services: Phone, Email, Chat

8. © Copyright 2002 Trostle & Associates, LTD. All Rights Reserved. What is a Web Enabled Contact Center?  “50% of North American population will use email by the end of 2001” – Forrester Research  Tight budgets  Web-based communication channels

9. © Copyright 2002 Trostle & Associates, LTD. All Rights Reserved. Contact Center Hiring Matrix Agent/Candidate SkillsPhoneChatE-mail Verbal communicationX ListeningX Friendly, helpful dispositionXXX Professional etiquetteXXX Above average patienceXX Handles stressXX Types quickly & accuratelyXX Few spelling, punctuation, or grammatical errorsXX Above-average composition skillsXX Confident with computer systems, Internet, browser & basic softwareXX Discern/interpret customer needs (read between the lines)XX

10. © Copyright 2002 Trostle & Associates, LTD. All Rights Reserved. Process Steps  1.Job Description  2.Recruit  3.Interview & Select  4.Job Review  5.Coach  6.Guidance/Discipline  7.Reward and Recognize

11. © Copyright 2002 Trostle & Associates, LTD. All Rights Reserved. Job Description  Spell Out expectations  Define each competency  Measurement criteria  Ideal candidate examples: education, experience, skills

12. © Copyright 2002 Trostle & Associates, LTD. All Rights Reserved. Recruiting  Emphasize competencies  Define clearly  Begin with the ad!  Best Places to find Talent

13. © Copyright 2002 Trostle & Associates, LTD. All Rights Reserved. Interview  Design questions around competencies  Talk through in behavioral style  Engage in dialog.  What they have done in the past?

14. © Copyright 2002 Trostle & Associates, LTD. All Rights Reserved. Reviews & Appraisals  Regular reviews  Clear definitions  Observe, measure and coach  Provide examples

15. © Copyright 2002 Trostle & Associates, LTD. All Rights Reserved. Coach  The Coach Approach  Winning Game Plans  Championship Seasons

16. © Copyright 2002 Trostle & Associates, LTD. All Rights Reserved. Guide / Discipline  Stay on track  Effective tools  Measures of Success

17. © Copyright 2002 Trostle & Associates, LTD. All Rights Reserved. Reward & Recognize  Reward Best Practices  Create Your Own Program  Tool Kits

18. © Copyright 2002 Trostle & Associates, LTD. All Rights Reserved. Agent Competencies Summary Competency #1Communications: Phone, E-mail, Chat Competency #2Interpersonal Competency #3Customer Service Competency #4Knowledge Competency #5Computer Skills Competency #6Performance Standards Competency #7Work Habits (Behavioral Background/ 3 weeks of training…) Competency #8Flexibility Competency #9Problem Solving Competency #10Personal Growth Competency #11Innovation Competency #12Stress Management

19. © Copyright 2002 Trostle & Associates, LTD. All Rights Reserved. Agent Competency #1 Communication  Communication Skills  Phone  Email & Chat

20. © Copyright 2002 Trostle & Associates, LTD. All Rights Reserved. Agent Competency #2 Interpersonal  Personality  Positive attitudes  Gets along with others  Helpers at Heart

21. © Copyright 2002 Trostle & Associates, LTD. All Rights Reserved. Agent Competency #3 Customer Service  The importance of the customer  Balance!  Knowledge  Customer satisfaction

22. © Copyright 2002 Trostle & Associates, LTD. All Rights Reserved. Agent Competency #4 Knowledge  Previous experience  Training time & budgets  Knowledge data base  Agent tools

23. © Copyright 2002 Trostle & Associates, LTD. All Rights Reserved. Agent Competency #5 Computer Skills  Word processing  Spreadsheets  Databases  Order entry  Other software

24. © Copyright 2002 Trostle & Associates, LTD. All Rights Reserved. Agent Competency #6 Performance Standards  Quality & Quantity  How many errors?  How many complaints?  How many calls, emails, or chats?  Set standards and track them regularly  Accountability

25. © Copyright 2002 Trostle & Associates, LTD. All Rights Reserved. Agent Competency #7 Work Habits  Attendance expectations  Timely task completion  New work assignments

26. © Copyright 2002 Trostle & Associates, LTD. All Rights Reserved. Agent Competency #8 Flexibility  Varied schedules  Task variety  Homeward Bound  Stay a little longer

27. © Copyright 2002 Trostle & Associates, LTD. All Rights Reserved. Agent Competency #9 Problem Solving  Problem solvers  Escalating an issue  Resolving issue  Solution driven?  Customer negotiation

28. © Copyright 2002 Trostle & Associates, LTD. All Rights Reserved. Agent Competency #10 Personal Growth  Personal development  Initiative?  Do they take classes / volunteer?

29. © Copyright 2002 Trostle & Associates, LTD. All Rights Reserved. Agent Competency #11 Innovation  Process improvements  Innovative ideas  Acknowledge and reward innovation

30. © Copyright 2002 Trostle & Associates, LTD. All Rights Reserved. Agent Competency #12 Stress Management  Stress management  Environment  Other factors

31. © Copyright 2002 Trostle & Associates, LTD. All Rights Reserved. Top Gun Web Agents: Find ‘em, Get’em, Keep’em  Let’s Get To Work  Practical Tools and Programs  Summary