Posts tagged as:

contact center

bwells

Let’s Talk… New Employee Training at Incept

Most companies focus their efforts on teaching specific job details and responsibilities when training a new employee. At Incept, we approach training with a focus on welcoming new team members into our company culture. By creating an open and comfortable atmosphere we empower each new Conversational Marketing Expert (CME) to be at their best from their first day on the job.

Once our new team members know they’re a part of the team we focus on learning step by step how to have productive conversations by using techniques like role-playing in the classroom. From there it’s a short, natural (although sometimes uneasy) step to having conversations with real donors and customers on the phone.

YouTube Preview Image

Because our employees come from a variety of sources (many of them are referred by current members of the Incept team) we think it’s critical to make them feel welcome to our culture. An employee who feels like they’re on the outside looking in is a lot more likely to go looking for work elsewhere than one who feels like they belong.

Interested in becoming a part of our team?
Interested in putting the Incept Team to work for you?

If so, visit our website and Let’s Talk…Results.

Let's talk... results

{ 0 comments }

Dave

What Does Your Employee Referral Program Say About Your Culture?

Employee referral programs or incentives are a common theme these days.

Some are successful, and others are not. Few people ever dig deep enough into them, though, to truly understand why their program is successful or not. Typically, if the program is successful, the company just enjoys the successful recruitment avenue. If they are not successful, most companies either throw more money at them or just abandon the program altogether. Either way, it’s critical to understand why a referral program is working or not, as the story tends to tell quite a bit about the organization at the ground level.

At Incept, we have found employee referrals are critical to our growth and recruitment success. This is true for several reasons. Referred employees are typically higher performers, have better attendance, and stay with the company longer – thus reducing our cost per graduating employee. In addition, employee referrals have a positive impact on morale. As documented in multiple polls conducted by Gallup, having a best friend at work increases employee satisfaction and morale.

We all know increased satisfaction and morale lead to increased productivity, and increased productivity leads to increased profits. Sounds like a winning combination right? At Incept, we have found employee referrals to be the most cost-effective channel for recruitment. Despite the large payout that a current employee receives for bringing a friend to Incept, this channel still remains one of the lowest cost per acquisition methods we use.

The referred candidate already knows about the company and the job, but the best part is they know about it and understand it from the perspective a person that is in the same role they will soon be in. They get the unfiltered story about our management team, our Conversational Marketing Experts (CMEs), our policies, the type of work that will be expected each day, the way they can expect to be treated, and how they will feel each day when their shift is over. For us, at Incept, these things are awesome motivators for a new candidate to choose Incept over one of the many competitive contact centers in our area!

I can go on and on about the benefits of an employee referral program, but if you are having success with one you likely already know about most of them. What you really need to know is this: if your program is NOT working, then why?

As much as we would all love to believe that it’s all about the money, the simple fact of the matter is it’s not all about the money. If you are attempting to build a full staff of productive employees and your only hook is compensation, you will likely end up paying a lot of money per hour to people for very short periods of time! Instead of investing all of that money in signing bonuses and higher-than-standard wages, invest some of those dollars in a basic health check on your current staff.

Find out if they are happy. Do they enjoy the work they do each day? Does it make them feel fulfilled? Do they feel like they are part of something bigger than themselves? Do they understand what your company’s mission is? Do they know why their job is important? How do they feel about their managers? Do they feel as if they have all the tools necessary to do a good job every day? Do they feel like anyone at your company cares about them as a person? Do they feel like there is room for advancement or any benefit to achieving their maximum potential in their current position? The questions could go on and on, but the point is simple: if your organization is not healthy, no matter what you do with your employee referral program, it will never show the success you need from it.

Once you have done your health check, spent the necessary time to make the adjustments you find are necessary, and invested in your current staff, you will find that your employee referral program begins to work. You will also find that you can likely spend less money on your referral program and net even better results from it. When your employees are happy and believe in your company, they are eager to recruit new employees for you. After all, who doesn’t want to help out a friend with a great job? Now it’s up to you to turn your company into a place that is considered great.

Image Credit: ClickMail Marketing

Let's talk... results

{ 6 comments }

Dave

One Message Does Not Fit All

Using conversation to recruit a blood donor for an appointment is more of an art than a science. You cannot just assume that you have found the method most effective to recruit donors and then stick with it for all donor types.

Just as it is critical for a blood center to know the type of blood they need, it’s critical for a donor recruitment professional to understand the type of donor they are speaking with and cater the conversation to that donor and their situation. There are parts of a recruitment conversation that are consistent regardless of the type of donor you are speaking with, like your intro and your closing statement for an appointment, but all of that conversation that occurs between the intro and the confirmation should be tailored to your specific donor type.

When speaking with a current donor, acknowledging that they are a regular donor, using language that lets them know you know they are familiar with the process, and acknowledging past donations and loyalty programs (if the blood center offers them) are all important parts to strengthening the relationship. If you are speaking to a lapsed donor, it’s critical to try to understand why they are a lapsed donor. What caused them to stop donating? At one point, they were donating, and now they have stopped. But why? If you really want to have a true conversation with that lapsed donor, you must understand why they do not donate now, and attempt to overcome that hurdle before you just try to push them into an appointment. Asking the right questions, asking them the right way, and then responding appropriately are key components to having a productive conversation with a lapsed donor.

A conversation that will drive meaningful results and strengthen the relationship between that donor and the blood center is always the goal. When a lapsed donor knows you are truly interested in them as a person and truly interested in helping them, they tend to be more willing to listen to your pitch and more willing to roll their sleeve up and try donating again. After all, at some point in time, they understood the benefit of donating and believed in the cause.

With a staff of real Conversational Marketing Experts (CMEs) and extensive recruitment training, you cannot only keep recruiting your current donor base with success, but you can reactivate your lapsed donor base and begin immediately putting more blood onto the shelves.

Let's talk... results

{ 0 comments }

alegg

Several Coaching Tips

I wanted to take a moment to share several, quick coaching tips to help everyone in their calls this week. Hopefully you can implement them and see better results:

  1. Second Attempt: I understand that you may feel as if your coaches or supervisors sound like broken records with regard to second attempting, but it is for good reason. Second attempting is one change that will have the single biggest effect on your stats. Adam, one of our data analysts, found that those who second attempt consistently perform an average of 20% better than those who do not. I am sure many people would like to have their stats increased by 20%!
  2. Use empathy and understanding in your pitch. If you understand the donor and are conversational with them, rather than stilted or frustrated, you will see a better return from your efforts. Remember, the person on the other end of the phone is a human – just like you – and deserves treated with respect even if they are not treating you with respect. Rather than trying to force the donor to come in and give blood, try explaining the need and why their help is important!
  3. Use LAMA (Listen, Acknowledge, Make a statement, Ask). When you are stuck in a place where you are unsure of what to do, make sure you use LAMA. If you are not sure what to say, how to say it, or how to overcome an issue, start with the first step: Listen. What exactly is the donor saying? Then move on to the second step: Acknowledge. Acknowledge that you understand what the donor said. Try Making A Statment that starts with “I understand,” and agree with them. Next, you make a statement. This statement should explain how you can help them, what they can do, or contain a rebuttal for why they can still donate. Finally, follow up with Asking A Question. Ask a question to move the conversation forward such as: “What day is best for you?” or “Are you familiar with that?” Even if you are not rebutting, LAMA is an important way to move the conversation forward while letting the donor know that you hear and understand them.

Hopefully these tips help you in your calls, and if you have questions about anything, make sure to see a coach or supervisor!

Let's talk... results

{ 0 comments }

Jim

Learning Never Stops – Committee Update

A few years ago, I had the opportunity to hear Joe Gibbs (three Super Bowl titles, NASCAR Championship team owner, and two-time NHRA Pro Stock team owner) speak for an American Teleservices Association (ATA) conference where he talked about leadership. Coach Gibbs explained that three things were expected of leaders: communicate expectations, provide training, and hold people accountable. He took exception to the Peter Principle, saying that people don’t typically fail because they rise to a level that’s above them; it’s usually because leaders fail to provide adequate training.

Coincidentally, Incept undertook a branding initiative about a year ago with the objective of becoming a world-class organization. In setting that compass, Incept committed to a “listen before we lead” approach with both our clients and our employees. So, as part of this initiative, we asked our employees a series of questions aimed and defining our roadmap to become world-class in our service. Can you guess what they told us? Their feedback indicated a thirst for training, knowledge, and growth. No big surprise there, right?

In turning that feedback into something actionable, Incept’s Live The Brand oversight committee developed a service standard: “With education, constant improvement and growth are expected.” With every service standard, there should be a definition, so the committee went on to create the definition: “As we pursue our goal of becoming a world-class organization, we recognize that the continuous training and development of all employees is key.” And in order for us to truly live our brand, the committee created these actions:

  • Employee – Every day I will seek opportunities to better myself and my career.
  • Organization – We will provide tools and resources that help our employees accomplish their personal and professional goals.

Providing the tools and resources is a significant undertaking. Consequently, we formed a subcommittee entitled: Learning Never Stops. Current Learning Never Stops subcommittee members include Incept’s CEO Sam Falletta, Conversational Marketing Expert Zev Rosenburg, Program Results Supervisor Allison Legg, Shift Supervisor Amber Nelson, and VP of New Client Results Jim Beuoy.

Again, we deployed our “listen before we lead” approach and asked the employees to provide specific subject matter for the courses. The interest was beyond our expectations. Employees quickly realized that by Incept investing in them, they would become better employees, become more engaged with the brand, and provide better service to our clients.

The Learning Never Stops subcommittee outlined a plan for ongoing education, determining which trainings are mandatory, which are optional and at what intervals they should be held. Topics vary, ranging from leadership to communication to personal well-being. Plans include training curriculum, performance management (formal and informal) and an advancement path for success both personally and professionally. The outcome is Incept University. It’s run like many universities in that there are requirements for acceptance, credits for successfully passing course assessments, and majors – which are career paths through various disciplines within the organization.

The concept of a corporate learning and development center, regardless of the title, isn’t something new. Even the concept of a corporate university has been around for awhile. So far, Incept’s appears to be a rousing success as employees frequently ask about timing of courses, how they can take corrective action on attendance and performance to become eligible, and other expressions of interest. Still, there could be challenges along the way. We’re interested in hearing from others about keys to success and potential pitfalls of corporate development.

What’s your experience been in launching and sustaining a “Learning Never Stops” initiative?

Let's talk... results

{ 0 comments }

skieffer

My Career at Incept

I wanted to take a couple minutes to talk about my start and growth here at Incept.

I started on the phones mainly making calls to current and potential blood donors for various blood centers across the nation. I was inspired by the work I did, and I took it very seriously. I am competitive by nature, so I was always looking for ways I could do better and produce at the rate that many of the veterans were at that time. Everyone from fellow Conversational Marketing Experts (CMEs) up to the CEO was very helpful in encouraging my development.

Within two months of my first day of employment, I was asked to become a Coach and assist on the floor with developing and improving other CMEs. This brought on more of a challenge, as I now had to continue making calls myself in addition to coaching people on how to make their phone calls better. This was an interesting transition – mainly because I was low on the totem pole – being that I was to work with CMEs who had been doing this job for much longer than me. Again, I was shown how great of a place Incept is to work for as these veterans accepted and welcomed my help graciously.

Shorty after this, I was given smaller blood center campaigns to run operationally. After learning the complexities of operations and reaching and exceeding goals for our blood centers, I was eventually moved to the position I am in today: Program Results Manager. Through the hard work of everyone on my team, and my constant dedication, I am managing our largest client at Incept. I set up operational strategies for reaching our units goal along with our Client Results Team and our Technology Results Team. These strategies include but are not limited to scripting, time-of-day calling, specific CMEs used for specific campaigns, testing new ideas, managing Supervisors and Coaches that work directly with CMEs, and developing new strategies with the actual client through meetings and various other forms of contact. Every day brings a new challenge, but the success of my responsibilities is worth all the hard work.

Let's talk... results

{ 0 comments }

skieffer

Saving Lives Every Day

Recruiting blood donors can be a very challenging job, but the rewards save hundreds of lives every day.

I often think of what I could be doing with my education, experience and skills as a manager, if I was not working at Incept. I imagine that I could be working for a company that produces some sort of consumable product or provides a specific service. The main driver behind these types of companies would most likely be based on making money. I imagine that I would feel successful through creating more revenue for that company. Essentially, making more widgets than yesterday would impact the company’s worth.

However, my work at Incept has been completely different. Success is defined by reaching blood unit goals with community blood centers across the nation. Without the work we do at Incept, community blood centers that we work with would fall short in their efforts to supply blood to their area hospitals. Yes, it is true that many blood donors go in to donate on their own, but we encourage many more to schedule appointments and commit to saving the lives of patients in their local area.

When I leave work every day, I know I made a difference.

Everyone at Incept needs to think about that when leaving work for the day and when you come in for your next shift. Having an ultimate purpose is one of the most rewarding qualities you can gain in life.

Photo Credit: TopNews

Let's talk... results

{ 1 comment }

Stephanie

Managing Morale With Motivation

Morale: (Adjective) The confidence, enthusiasm, and discipline of a person or group at a particular time.

Morale is a powerful thing. It’s a state of being you can feel as soon as you walk into a room; one strong enough to influence everyone in the area.

Dave Walter, Vice President of Incept

Good morale can drive a team to excellence, whereas bad morale can get them stuck in a rut from which it’s difficult to return. Maintaining good morale can be a tough job, but the coaches and supervisors here at Incept do amazingly well to make sure that everyone keeps a positive outlook, regardless of the challenges.

Dave Walter, our Vice President, was kind enough to take the time to help me gain some valuable insight on how to manage morale, not just in a conversational marketing firm but in any work place.

Steph: Do you find that it’s harder to keep good morale in a call center than in other work places?

Dave: I don’t think so. People are people, regardless of the type of work they do each day. People just want to be treated with dignity and respect. Positive energy and motivation goes a long way in any environment, especially in a contact center.

Steph: What are the biggest things that boost morale here at Incept?

Dave: Recognition and education. When we show positive recognition and also provide education to help people understand the “Why?” behind our decisions and policies, morale stays high.

Steph: What are the things that drag down morale most quickly?

Dave: Passing judgment without taking the time to ask for input from the Conversational Marketing Experts (CMEs); constant messages about everything that is being done wrong with nothing being said about what is right or good; and a poor relationship with the person’s direct supervisor, coach or manager.

Don't let bad morale spread like a virus!

Steph: How does one person with high morale affect the others around them?

Dave: It’s viral! I often say that good morale is contagious! The more happy people we have, the more happy people we are going to have.

Steph: How does one person with low morale affect others?

Dave: It can spread very quickly. It’s important to identify these issues quickly and address them. If the morale issue cannot be corrected, it’s sometimes best to relocate that person to an area of the center where they can’t drag as many others down.

Steph: What are the best ways you’ve found to boost morale on a challenging day?

Dave: Some public recognition of the things people are doing really well that day. Following that recognition, challenge them to improve even more. Roll up your sleeves and go to work with your people – take calls with them, help coach them through difficult calls and provide some encouraging coaching.

Steph: Does moral fluctuate rapidly, or does it take a while to turn?

Dave: It seems to have the ability to turn bad much faster than it turns good. Morale here is typically pretty high, and we have worked very hard to get it to this point. Accordingly, we are vigilant to keep it strong and not allow those negative viruses to infect us.

Steph: What is team morale like during challenging times of the year? (i.e., holidays, summer)

Dave: At Incept, it seems that the harder the challenge or the larger the obstacle, the more people show their heart and optimism. In short, I think morale is high during these times.

Steph: What is something you’ve tried before to boost morale that didn’t work as well as you had hoped?

Dave: Some of the policy changes. I had hoped and assumed that some of the recent policy changes would be bigger boosts to morale than they seem to be.

Steph: What are things the CMEs can do to help raise morale?

Dave: Encourage one another, support one another, celebrate successes with each other, and make others aware of them. Help each other with tips and tricks to increase performance. Share info with each other to help everyone understand things better. Smile and treat each other as family. Compliment a coworker on something you think they do really well. Create competition (friendly competition, of course) with one another, and have fun with it.

Steph: Is there anything else you’d like to say about morale improvement?

Dave: The larger the group of people committed to increasing morale (and keeping it high), the easier it is and faster the increase happens. High morale feels good to everyone. Please do your part to help keep Incept motivational and encouraging!  After all, we’re a family here!

Photo Credits:

Let's talk... results

{ 0 comments }

Stephanie

Company Culture: How Incept Builds a Successful-Friendly Environment

I promise, it's not the cookies and other sweets that make for happy employees, it's the people who are handing them out that matters!

No one wants to work somewhere that makes them miserable, and everyone knows that miserable employees can make succeeding very difficult.

Have you ever wondered why some companies just seem to have happier employees than anyone else? It all comes down to company culture. After all, a positive work environment leads to positive results!

If you ask around, a lot of people who work here will tell you that one of the best things about Incept is its company culture. What exactly do we do differently than other companies that makes Incept such a great place to work? It can be summed up into five key differentiators:

1.) Relationships matter. Something I noticed when I first joined the Incept crew was the people. I can’t count the number of people who welcomed me to the floor on my first day and made me feel at home. It didn’t matter if it was someone from the training class before mine or a supervisor who had been here for years, everyone I talked to was friendly and seemed to genuinely care about each other. The longer I’ve been here, the more I’ve seen that warmth firsthand. Having a staff that works well together goes a long way toward making a great company culture.

2.) Communication is key. This might seem like an obvious one, but you’d be surprised how many businesses don’t communicate well in-house. Your employees need to know what’s going on in order to give it their all. Whether you’re ahead of goal or you need them to pull together to meet a last-minute deadline, by keeping the lines of communication open both you and your staff can step it up to solve problems and reach goals. Plus, communication helps build stronger relationships.

3.) Give me a break! No matter how much you might enjoy your job, you’ll end up getting bored if that’s all you think about all day. Offer your employees a chance to unwind a little. By providing breaks throughout the day and comfortable break rooms, you’re giving them a chance to unwind and recharge their batteries. I promise, with just a couple short breaks during a hard day’s work, your employees will be refreshed and ready to do even better.

4.) All work and no play makes for a dull work day. Work is important, but so is play. By organizing company activities either at work or off the clock, you can give your staff a chance to mingle with one another and help alleviate some stress. Maybe you hand out word puzzles on the weekends or set up a great company party once a year! Either way, big or small, these activities will go a long way toward giving your crew something to look forward to and helping them make it through the work day more successfully.

5.) Recognize excellence. In the business world, it’s all too easy to slip into the pattern of only noticing the mistakes. Everyone needs to know that their contribution is valued and appreciated. Accordingly, by commending the achievements of your employees, you let them know that they’re valued highly. An even better idea is giving your staff a way to recognize each other. By making achievements and successes known, you can encourage even more excellence on the floor.

By installing the ideas above, you can start building a company culture that your employees will be proud of. They’ll feel happier about the work they do and the people they work with, and that will help them perform better than ever before!

What other ways can you think of to improve company culture?

Photo Credit:

Let's talk... results

{ 0 comments }

Stephanie

An In-depth Look at How Incept Handles Scripting

Have you ever noticed how well-informed and professional someone at a call center sounds on the phone? While it does take practice and confidence to be a good Conversational Marketing Expert, it also takes a good script to get the necessary information across quickly and clearly.

While I’m very familiar with using scripts daily as a Conversational Marketing Expert (or CME) here at Incept, I have a lot to learn about what goes into writing a successful script. Luckily for me, I was able to interview our President, Sam Falletta, to get a better look at scripting and gain insight on what goes into making a good script.

One of the first questions I asked Sam was, “Why do we use scripts?” Sam said that, more than anything, we use scripts to create an effective conversational guide. He said that Jim Beuoy put it best when he stated, “I’m not arrogant enough to think that I know the BEST way to say something, but we do know that some ways are better than others.” Basically, we use scripts to provide those guides to our employees.

Next, I asked Sam about the actual process we use when writing scripts. “It’s a very interactive process,” he said. “We typically start out by saying, ‘What would be the most important thing to the donor or customer?’ and ‘How do I explain that in the clearest way?’ Once we know that, we generally work on framing it with the best introduction and summary.”

In most cases, it’s usually Incept’s Client Results and Contact Center Results Managers who work together to develop a new script, although many times we also include members from our Conversational Quality and New Client Results departments. Many times our clients even contribute important information about their organization or product, as well. In this way, everyone’s point of view is thoroughly represented in building the best guideline(s).

When I asked Sam what the hardest part about writing a new script was, he mentioned that it was difficult ensuring that you leave out your preconceived notions about how a customer will respond to what you’re saying. “Oftentimes, before you even begin a project,” he said, “you have already decided what would make you respond to a conversation from Incept. It’s important to forget that and really listen to the customers, as opposed to coming to your own conclusion.”

The next phase in script writing is to test out a script’s effectiveness. The best way to do this is to start making calls, and see how donors or customers respond. It’s impossible to generate a perfect script solely by sitting down and writing it, so whatever we start with ends up changing once we begin making calls. The scriptwriting team generally makes calls with the new script for an hour or so, then gets off the phones for a debriefing, makes adjustments and hops back on for an hour or so. In most cases, after a few days of refining, we can get pretty close to having something to roll out.

I was also curious about how Sam and the team manage to find a balance between keeping a script brief while still making sure that all of the necessary information is included.

“It’s a challenge,” Sam said. “For this, we meet as a group and listen to the test calls and have the group try to identify specific points in time where you hear the customers ‘checking out.’ A lot of times you can pinpoint the times of disinterest on the other end of the phone, so we start removing those parts of the script. We do our best to ensure that the scripts are conversational enough by starting with brief interaction that always allows us to go into more depth if the customer or donor wants to, as opposed to starting out by trying to give them all the information all at once.”

Lastly, I asked Sam if he had any tips or suggestions that would help someone to write a good script. He noted, first off, that one needs to start by thinking about the customer first. Identify the one or two most important things in their mind. Next, test the script out, listening to how the customer or donor responds, and adjust accordingly. Lastly, always look for opportunities to improve!

By keeping these four things in mind, and remembering that everyone is a customer, we’re able to write effective scripts that help our Conversational Marketing Experts (CMEs) have productive conversations with donors and customers.

What are some other suggestions you might have on how we could improve our calls?

Photo Credit:

Let's talk... results

{ 0 comments }

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →