20 Tips for Creating Super Agents

Our panel share their advice on how to turn agents into super agents.

1. If agents set their own goals they will work harder to achieve them

I have found that if my agents set their own goals, they will work effectively to achieve them.

If you guide agents though their goals and development with no buy-in, they will not succeed.

With thanks to Emily

2. Live customer feedback can be a great motivator

After listening to an agent’s call, I have called the customer and asked them 3 questions regarding their call with the agent. I then replay what they say to the agent.

This really helps to encourage an agent to do their best on every phone call.

With thanks to Yvonne

3. Let your agents help implement their own ideas for improvement

Allow agents who have highlighted issues with processes to work within a project group to see their ideas implemented or used.

This can help to assure agents that their opinion matters – and give them a sense of achievement when a new idea is successfully implemented.

With thanks to Yvonne

4. Share best-practice with “shout outs”

We regularly do spot checks for examples of great performance.

We then give “shout outs” to the agents responsible and share the specifics of their success with the rest of the contact centre, so everyone can see what great performance looks like.

With thanks to Yvonne

5. Evaluate and share your own performance

I occasionally handle a few calls alongside my team. I then make use of these call recordings in group coaching sessions.

By openly evaluating my own performance, I remind my team that I am not perfect either. This encourages them to be open and honest in these sessions – and make the best of the feedback.

With thanks to Sally

6. Pitch your best agents against managers to further boost performance

We pitch our super agents against the management team on the phones.

So many of our agents want the chance to compete with the manager that we find it pushes their overall performance forward.

With thanks to Emily

7. 360-degree feedback can help promote open and honest conversations

We have found that giving regular 360-degree feedback to agents promotes open and honest conversations between the individual and their team leader.

With thanks to Yvonne

8. Create an in-house best practice guide for all of your agents to use

We are in the process of developing an in-house best practice guide for our agents.

This will be continuously updated and will document all of our processes and new products.

This will then act as a single point of reference for any questions our agents may have during their shifts – and help all of our agents to be as knowledgeable as they possibly can!

With thanks to Yvonne

9. Set projects which will help agents to improve the customer experience

We regularly set our agents projects in order to serve our customers better.

For example, improving repeated call rate, acting as project owner, collecting information, listening to calls or giving ideas how to structure the scripts.

With thanks to Polly

10. Buddy up your agents for valuable side-by-side mentoring

We have seen success with a buddy system.

Through side-by-side mentoring – with both agents being able to listen to the calls through Y jack headphones – the agents can learn how to be better agents.

…But beware of buddying up agents who use short cuts!

Buddying can be tricky and largely unsuccessful if new agents (or lower performers) are paired up with old agents who consistently use short cuts and unapproved methods.

With thanks to Suzette and Kamalia

11. Flexible shifts can help to improve happiness and engagement

We’ve seen success with offering our agents more flexible working hours.

Our agents turn up for their shifts in a far better mood when they’ve selected hours that suit them.

With thanks to Emily

12. Give your agents ‘Customer Persona’ training

We give our agents ‘Customer Persona’ training to help them to be better at their jobs.

With thanks to Colin

13. Allow your agents to listen to their own conversations

We find it a worthwhile exercise to let agents listen to their own conservations.

It creates great awareness of what they are doing right and wrong.

With thanks to Miranda

14. Encourage excellence by linking your bonuses to agent capability

We encourage excellence by linking our bonuses to capability.

There are variety of levels agents can move through – and each step upwards is accompanied by an increase in the amount of commission they can earn.

With thanks to Adam

15. Empowerment can go a long way

Empowering your agents to make bigger decisions (such as offering refunds) can go a long way in improving employee engagement, as well as their ability to give great customer service.

With thanks to Lucy

16. Encourage your agents to share their ideas

We have an “ideas box”, in which our agents can share their ideas for improvement.

We then give the responsible agent £20 if we use their idea.

With thanks to Emily

17. Support your agents in achieving their personal goals

We give each of our agents the freedom to set a personal goal.

Our team managers then help them to reach this goal.

With thanks to Miranda

18. Appoint agents as “spokespeople”

We have an insight group that act as spokespeople for our contact centre.

The insight group contains one person from each team. This helps to ensure that we maintain clear communication across the business.

With thanks to Yvonne

19. Create opportunities for open discussion

Our management team regularly hosts informal meetings, in which each agent has the opportunity to openly (and directly) communicate any ideas or opinions they may have about the contact centre.

With thanks to Laura

20. Break calls down into what worked well and what could be improved

Every so often I hold team meetings where we break down calls and look at what was really good and what we could do better.

I find that it generates really good discussion – and that all of the agents take great feedback away with them which they then action after the session.

It works best if you ask your agents to voluntarily share their calls beforehand – and pre-listen to them to make sure there is nothing that would embarrass them.

With thanks to Sally

What have you done to turn your agents into super agents?