Pricing and costs of call center education and training pay for themselves with better informed employees who treat your customers with respect and dignity. You will retain more customers and increase sales when your employees get this needed training.

Determine costs to train new employees but do not stop there. Ongoing training is crucial to your business as well as specialized training for special programs you may be offering. Your trainers and QA staff need training also to keep the training programs lively and informative. Programs can run from as little as $150 to several thousand dollars. Check the following when determining pricing and costs of call center education and training:

1. Determine costs of call center training material for new employees.

2. Evaluate costs for advanced call center online training.

3. Estimate ongoing costs for call center seminars for training the trainer.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Produce a call center training program for new employees

New employees need guidance in your way of doing things as well as specific training in call handling and professionalism. Use training programs in conjunction with live trainers for best results.

I recommend: The Phone Coach offers telephone etiquette skills training available on DVD, CD or VHS for your convenience. These programs cost from $149 to $259 depending on which format you choose. They offer a free two-minute preview to listen to before you buy. Service Skills offers a training course for up to 25 users starting at $1725.00 for the 25. This takes your employees through 22 modules, dealing with how to treat your calling customers. The course comes complete with quizzes and answers to help you gauge where your employees are and make sure they are on track and stay that way.

Choose ongoing call center agent training for new or special projects

Ongoing training provides refreshers so your employees do not go stale on your customers. When you introduce a new project or campaign, it is best to provide training to all employees who will work on that campaign.

I recommend: Business by Phone offers a training course for telephone sales representatives. The cost including some meals starts at $895 for the first person and around $800 for each additional person from the same firm for the same program. Give your sales employees the edge with this insightful course into telephone sales. VoIP Fusion offers ongoing online training that saves you money by using VoIP technology to deliver the lessons. Call or email them for a quote for your training project.

Train the trainer with call center management training classes to improve delivery

Trainers and QA staff alike benefit from seminars and courses in how to train employees. Provide your staff with the latest in call center training to promote the best training possible for your employees.

I recommend: The College of Call Center Excellence offers courses for trainers and quality control personnel starting at about $290. Take this online course on demand, at your own pace. They even offer a tutorial on how to take the course. ICMI offers a membership starting at around $300 per year. Additional colleagues from the same organization may join for a discounted rate of $125. This membership includes training reports and access to call center training resources on the site. Members also receive a discount for all of their training seminars. Ready Go will build call center training courses for you, or you can build your own, or make a combination effort. Courses cost from $500 to $2,000 depending on your needs.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Call center training programs are well worth the expense, as they will positively influence your bottom line. However, since call centers can be different, ask for a trial evaluation of any program before you buy, to make sure it is the correct fit for your company.

Call center training creates a successful call center environment. It's important to have properly trained agents who value customers and know how to respond and take control of situations involving unhappy callers. Proper education arms call center representatives with the skills and confidence to establish customer trust and the ability to resolve any issues to their clients' and their company's satisfaction.

Call center training material helps agents reference the important skills learned during contact center training. Many training seminars also provide training to help supervisors and management evaluate and further educate call center representatives.

Call centers considering training seminars should:

1. Provide call center seminars to sharpen existing employees' skills and develop those of new team members.

2. Boost profits by locating call center training seminars that include intensive sales training.

3. Call in the experts to give your team the skills they need to ensure customer satisfaction.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Schedule call center seminars to provide agents with basic call center training

Call center seminars can be a helpful way to train new call center agents and provide refresher courses to maintain existing employees' interest and morale. Some seminars may also offer call center management training to prepare supervisors for tasks such as conflict resolution and monitoring and evaluating calls.

I recommend: Call Center Training provides call center education seminars for professionals all over the world. Their training ranges from customer satisfaction to outbound telesales. The Call Center School's webinars provide online call center training and, once training is complete, the webinars are recorded and archived for on-demand replay.

Provide call center sales training to arm agents with sales conversion techniques

A well-rounded call center training program can help agents convert calls to sales through a series of exercises and call center resource material. Call center seminar training programs that include sales training discuss techniques like voice pitch, listening to the caller and establishing trust.

I recommend: The Florida Corporate Training Center offers a program known as the Sales Mastery Workshop, a proven system for inbound and outbound sales training. Call Center Review, Inc. provides education to help call center representatives clarify their sales goals and custom create a conversion program that works for them.

Include call center customer service training to sharpen agents' communication skills

Call center agents with excellent customer service skills make customers feel important. Experts say that more customers recall negative experiences with customer service agents than positive interactions. Call center education, therefore, should include customer service training to equip agents with the skills needed to control difficult calls with irate callers.

I recommend: Phone Pro offers both onsite and call center online training through webinars. They specialize in teaching phone etiquette skills so call center agents can handle calls more efficiently. Phone Pro's training programs energize employees, helping them enjoy and take pride in their work. Customer Focus, Inc. not only offers call center training for agents, they provide management training as well to help management inspire employee morale and provide effective feedback.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Call center agent training should be continuous. After training, agents should have access to periodic refresher seminars and call center training material to help them consistently reevaluate their customer service and sales skills.

Call center training is crucial to your business. Your employees talk to your customers and make sales for you or drive your customers to your competitors. Training them correctly the first time is vital to your business and keeping up with their ongoing education will put your business in the black.

New employees need to train but it does not end there. Offer ongoing refresher courses on a regular basis to keep them sharp and on point. Provide special training when you introduce a new product. Pick your best employees and train them to delve deeper with your customers to get ever-higher sales. Consider the following about call center education and training basics:

1. Provide new employees with a call center training program that prepares them well.

2. Announce continuing call center online training for all employees on a regular basis.

3. Go to call center seminars and bring this information back to your trainers.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Select call center agent training for every new employee

Not only should your new employees be educated and trained on your products but also this training must be meaningful to them. Ask for feedback before, during and after training and make changes accordingly to make sure employees are grasping your concepts.

I recommend: Aprenda offers training for customer service representatives as well as sales training for a variety of industries. They will customize the course for your specific call center needs. Phone Pro offers on-site training programs for new employees on sales and customer service. They will provide one-on-one coaching if you deem it necessary.

Choose mandatory regular sessions to review call center training material

Make it a requirement for all employees to attend a training meeting weekly, monthly or at the interval you choose. This will keep everyone sharp and fresh on old procedures. Introduce new procedures at this time as well and offer an additional class to anyone needing more help with it.

I recommend: Quality Assurance and Training Connection provides ongoing tips and tricks to trainers and QC personnel through their newsletters, forums and access to their website. Find out how to provide the ongoing training your employees need to retain your customer base. Technology Skills offers several courses focused on sales calls both inbound and outbound. Provide your sales employees with key tips and training so they close that sale more often.

Visit call center management training sessions and make this mandatory for your trainers

Trainers need to be trained not only to present information to employees but also in how to present it so that the employees grasp and retain it. If class is boring, more snoring than learning will be going on. Interactive classes provide hands-on learning experience for the class as well as providing a gauge to the trainer on how well everyone is catching on to the course material.

I recommend: The Call Center School offers their "train the trainer" course program, which guarantees a successful delivery by a second or third party. Some of the course materials included are power point slides and student handouts. They offer ongoing support via phone and email for an additional fee. Velsoft offers various programs for training the trainer. Learn how to make training fun while maintaining professionalism or learn how to develop your own training program. Train your employees correctly and keep your customers satisfied.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  The cost of call center education and training basics will pay for itself with customer retention and increased sales. Budget enough money for this worthwhile expense and your bottom line will see the difference.

A call center is often the main connection point between a business and its customers. The way that a call center agent paces a call, explains a product or responds to an angry caller can mean the difference between retaining or losing customers. This is why it is so important to provide the best possible education and training for call center agents. Keeping agents' skills sharp with ongoing training should be regarded as an investment in customer retention.

The key terms below can help you evaluate initial and ongoing call center training options for your company.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Assessment audit

An assessment audit is an evaluation of how call center agents are performing. Outside auditors sit with agents and listen in on customer calls to assess agents' skills and effectiveness. This process helps identify and remedy problems.

I recommend: To learn more about what takes place in an assessment audit, visit the Vida Management Consultants website.

Call center metrics training

Call center metrics are key performance indicators that help reveal the effectiveness of a call center. Call center metrics include 'average speed of answer' (ASA) and abandon rate (a caller's decision to hang up before an agent has answered). Call center metrics help establish operational and staffing goals.

I recommend: The International Customer Management Institute website offers call center metrics training.

Coaching

Coaching helps call center agents improve their service. Call center managers, supervisors and team leaders may all be involved in coaching agents. There are many seminars, workshops and software programs that train call center leaders how to be effective, motivating coaches.

I recommend: Impact Learning Systems offers a coaching training program.

Call Center Industry Advisory Council (CIAC) Certification

The Call Center Industry Advisory Council (CIAC) offers certification for call center professionals. CIAC certification is recognized around the world. The CIAC certification designations are: strategic leadership, operations management, management apprentice and management consultant.

I recommend: Visit the CIAC website to learn more about certifications.

Call Center Six Sigma Black Belt certification

The rigorous Six Sigma business methodology for quality assurance can be applied to call centers. The Six Sigma Black Belt certification is high level training that helps minimize call center costs and maximize customer satisfaction by improving quality and best practices. The training is recommended for those responsible for call center operations, reporting and improving performance.

I recommend: Learn more about Call Center Six Sigma Black Belt certification at The Resource Center for Customer Service Professionals.

Vocal techniques

One of a call center agent's key service tools is his or her own voice. Agents can utilize vocal techniques such as tone of voice, inflection and volume to more effectively serve customers over the phone. These skills can be acquired through training.

I recommend: Call Center Learning Solutions offers a web seminar on vocal techniques for call center agents.