Training Design & Development

"I am not a fan of consultants, but we have been very pleased with Kramer & Associates and how well the call mapping drove efficiency into our training program."

Overview of Training Offerings

Call Centers require interactive dependencies of key performance factors within people, process, and technology. Call Centers are your front line contact with you customer- sometimes daily.

Our offerings include agent training for call/contact centers involved in order entry, customer service, technical support, Help Desks, and eBusiness operations.  Our Training Development and Delivery are not  stand alone processes. Process Mapping is an integral part of the Systems of Alignment™ Approach and the Training Program and Quality Development.  All of our training is conducted on-site by experienced senior staff.   

We offer customized training programs that we design, develop, and pilot for agent staff.

Example of Customized Training Design

The graph below illustrates a custom training design that involves various levels of agent skills, career pathing, and skills-based compensation:

Customer Service Skills Training - An Integrated Quality Systems Approach 

Our customer service skills training is an integrated quality systems approach, consisting of:

  • Quality Standards;
  • Monitoring Process; &
  • Agent Performance Evaluation Program.

Ours is a proven approach to ensure the transfer of customer service skills back to the job for the most effective customer contact. 

For more information about our quality assurance program, including customer contact standards and monitoring policies as well as coaching, feedback and calibration, click on Quality Assurance Program Development. 

Customer Service Skills Training Design - Hands-On & Experiential 

Our customer service training design is based on "hands-on" experiential learning theory.  Agents learn the skills required for effective customer contact through role-plays and practice.  Successful demonstration of skills is recommended for course completion.  This is a proven technique to ensure that agents develop the skills to deliver "superior" service. 

The foundation for our Customer Service Skills Training is the Customer Contact Quality Standards.  We use our proprietary Quality Standards Template and work with clients to develop and/or refine their Customer Contact Standards.  We collaborate with your team to "customize" the Quality Standards from the Template to build the agent training and call monitoring processes.  We conduct the initial training sessions on-site for your staff.  At the client's option this may include a "train-the-trainer" session so that your team can conduct the program themselves in the future.  

The customer service skills training includes: 

  • Facilitator Guide - Leader Guide, Role Plays, and Practice & Proficiency Exercises 
  • Trainee Guides - Notes, Helpful Hints, and Study Guides
  • Proficiency Exercises, and 
  • Agent Certification Exercises
  • Quality Standards & Monitoring Form.

Our customer service training methodology and content has been designed and perfected by 
Kramer & Associates in many different order entry, customer service, technical support, Help Desk, and telesales/TeleWeb environments and is being used successfully in a number of Fortune 100 companies today.         

Customer Service Skills Curriculum Example

An example of a typical customer service skills curriculum is shown below.  Approximately 8-12 agents can be trained at one time.  The exact content of the training program is dictated by the client's unique customer contact requirements and business needs. 

Module 1:          Basic Customer Service Skills & Quality Standards 
                         Typical includes 6-8 basic Quality Service Standards such as the                            Greeting, Courtesy, & Accuracy.            

  • Overview of Service Excellence
  • Quality Monitoring Program Synopsis
  • Basic Customer Service Standards & Proficiency Requirements
  • Putting It All Together: Using the Basic Verbiage Map
  • Practice & Role Plays
  • Proficiency Exercises: Basic Customer Service Skills
  • Module 1 Certification. 

Module 2:          Advanced Customer Service Skills & Quality Standards 
                         Typically includes 5-7 advanced Quality Service Standards such as Warm 
                         Transfer, Diffusing Anger, & Call Control.         

  • Introduction to Advanced Customer Service Skills & Quality Standards:
  • Proficiency Requirements
  • Putting It All Together - Practice & Role Plays 
  • Proficiency Exercises: Advanced Customer Service Skills
  • Module 2 Certification.
    •

How is Our Methodology Different?

Our methodology is different because it is based on the Customer Contact Quality Standards as
the basis for developing the customer service skills training.  Quality Standards are "behavioral statements," which define various aspects of customer interactions.  The Quality Standards form the foundation for customer contact monitoring, coaching and feedback.  As such, every time monitoring occurs, training is reinforced.  

Benefits of Our Approach

The benefits of this approach are several.  First, we use a template of "best practices" customer contact standards to design the skills needed by your agents to improve overall customer satisfaction.  Second, the training is reinforced by a call monitoring process that ensures agents receive coaching and feedback to reinforce the "best practices" service skills learned in training.  Finally, we tailor both the training and monitoring standards to your unique customer requirements based on our "best practices" skills template.  The result is a customer service skills training program designed to meet your business needs at a fraction of the cost of a training program developed from scratch.  

We take responsibility for getting everything together - all you need to do is make time for input and to review the final product.  We typically get that input via conference calls.  Additionally, we spend one or two days onsite in your center, prior to the actual training, we meet with your staff to finalize any details of the training design and/or program.  This may sound like it takes a lot of time and is expensive, but it is not.

Customized Training Design & Development 

We have the expertise to develop customized new hire and product training for your call/contact center.  Our methodology involves documenting and analyzing the business requirements and customer contacts handled by your center.  "As Is" call flows are mapped using our proprietary methodology.  We work with your team to design "To Be" processes as needed, then develop the required agent training and monitoring processes.  Some common examples when processes need to be redesigned include:

  • Adding eService/Web-enabled services to a center;
  • Consolidating centers resulting in centralized and/or expanded product and service offerings;
  • Systemizing new hire training for efficiency and consistency.    

Examples of How Customized Training is Designed & Developed 

Customized training includes the development of specific product training that includes customer information access, specialized help sources, and the appropriate "soft" skills.  Typically, customized training includes the design and development of the following:

  • Curriculum 
  • Quality Assurance Program:
    • Quality Standards
    • Monitoring Form
    • Coaching & Feedback Process
    • Linkage to the Center's Performance Evaluation Program
  • Facilitator Guide 
  • Trainee Guide 
  • Role plays
  • Skill Building Exercises 
  • Proficiency Exercises
  • Agent Certification Exercises. 

Project Steps Example 

Examples of the project steps required to design, develop, and/or refine a the agent training program are shown below:

  • Document the "as is" customer contact processes;
  • Conduct a detailed analyses of documented customer contact process;
  • Identify "best practices" process improvements and new business requirements;
  • Redesign customer contact processes for the "to be" environment;
  • Develop and/or refine the customer contact standards;
  • Define the monitoring process and agent performance/certification requirements;
  • Design the training curriculum; 
  • Develop training program:
    • Facilitator Guide, Resources, & Handouts
    • Trainee Guides & Study Aids
    • Role-Plays 
    • Navigation Exercises
    • Skill Building Exercises
    • Module Proficiency Exercises
    • Agent Certification Exercises
  • Define agent training performance standards and requirements;
  • Conduct "Train-the-Trainer" sessions for client staff on-site and coach.

We Welcome the Opportunity to Talk with You

      We welcome the opportunity to discuss your needs in complete confidence.    

      For more information about our other consulting offerings, click on Services & Expertise.

      To learn how we can help you, call for a complimentary consultation at 513-792-5700 or contact us at eservice@kramerandassociates.com.

      We look forward to hearing from you!

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