Hiring Experienced CSRs

October 27, 2009

Should you hire experienced CSRs or hire no experience?

There’s great debate among agents over this. You’ll find agents on both sides of the fence, and most who just don’t know.

From my perspective – for many reasons I won’t get into here – hiring no experience is the way to go. However, I also know that sometimes you just have to hire an experienced CSR.

When you do, don’t just throw that person into their role thinking they require no training.

This is the main reason experienced CSRs end up causing problems. They bring somebody else’s business philosophy with them … and potentially lots of bad habits.

So, here’s a little training program for your newly hired, experienced CSR to adopt “your way” of doing business. Do this first and they’ll be much more effective in their CSR role.

Start the new person out as the receptionist or admin assistant – just for a week. Here they’ll see your systems in action at their simplest level.

They’ll work from an Accountability Checklist and refer to procedures that explain how to do tasks.

They’ll learn your phone and visitor management systems. They’ll learn your tools and software by actually doing simple tasks.

Bonus: you’ll quickly identify a hiring mistake without disrupting your service team or client relationships. How?

If your new hire can’t function within your simplest of systems, they’re going to resist everything you do and try to do everything their way. Cut ‘em loose and try again.

After a week, move them into an assistant’s role for another week. Here they’ll get deeper into your organized processes and procedures and learn more tools, checklists and software.

At this level they’re learning how you separate duties and delegate work. They’re learning all the things they will NOT do as a CSR.

After a week (or two) as an assistant, they’re ready to move into their permanent CSR position. They know your tools and systems. They know your way of doing business – your policies and procedures. They know what the assistants do and what to delegate to them.

Now they can focus on client relationships … and do things “your way”. 

Think this through and develop your training program. Trust me, it’s worth the small effort!

© Copyright, 2009 by Sweet Spot Marketing, Inc. and Joseph J. Hagan, Jr. All rights reserved.

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Posted by Joe Hagan

Free Yourself From Service Calls

October 20, 2009

If you’re trying to remove yourself from the day-to-day service calls at your agency, you know it can be a little tricky.

You want to focus your time on marketing and business development.  But clients ask for you even though you have a capable team to help them.

You have two chances to “train” your clients on the best way for them to receive great service – when they call or stop in, and when they are first sold

Both times require effective systems to create the culture you want and to free yourself.

I recently covered how to handle service calls and visits. Check the July 2009 Archives on my blog at www.FreedomThroughSystems.com. The title is “Key Phrases for Service Calls”.

Now, here are some tips for training your clients at the point of sale.

If you do this right new clients will never get into the habit of asking for you for service in the first place!

First, design your closing process – in-person or remotely – to include a specific time when you explain how to get great service. I suggest this be done at the very end of an appointment.

Second, write a script you follow each and every time. Explain how your service system works without apology. Explain how it’s best for your client.

Don’t mince words here. You can be clear without being rude. Always consider what’s best of the client and present it that way. You have to sell your service model just like anything else.

Here’s a simple example …

“Now, Charlie, when you have questions or need to make changes you won’t talk to me. I have a dedicated team of 5 people out there who have one purpose … to help you. (Etc.)”

Notice I came right out and said ‘you won’t talk to me’. No doubts. No maybe. No apology. You pay people to provide great service. You just have to tell your clients how it works.

Third, use written materials. Give your new client a service model document with your team’s names, contact numbers, what they do perhaps. And include their pictures.

Fourth, if possible assign the new client to a specific CSR. Let the client know that person is responsible for their satisfaction with your agency – AND the entire team is there to jump in when needed.

Five, make an introduction if you can. Bring the CSR in to say hello and welcome the new client aboard.

Obviously, you must tailor your explanation to how your agency is actually set up.

Set your agency up to provide great service. Then explain to your clients how it works. And stop them from calling you. You just need a system.

© Copyright, 2009 by Sweet Spot Marketing, Inc. and Joseph J. Hagan, Jr. All rights reserved.

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Posted by Joe Hagan

When Systems Save The Day

October 13, 2009

The unexpected departure of an employee is a major hassle. I don’t think I’ve ever met an agency owner who said, “I just love the hiring process and training new people.” Not in this lifetime.

It’s a huge interruption to what you’re “supposed” to be doing. And the time and effort it takes to train a new person sets you back even further – especially when you have no systems!

Right now one of my coaching clients is going through this very issue, but there’s great news.

As we look forward to hiring and training a new person, he’s breathing an uncommon sigh of relief. Why?

First, because we ALREADY documented the best way to perform the majority of the departing person’s work. The systems are already in place!

And, second, because we’re systemizing his hiring and training processes, as well.

Here’s what’s going to happen –

The day the new person starts she (for convenience I’ll say she) will quickly and efficiently execute all necessary hiring documents.

The agency principal has a New Hire Checklist to make sure this nuisance paperwork is done fast and nothing gets missed.

Then she’ll receive a brief but thorough orientation to the agency – all planned out on an orientation agenda. It will be fast, efficient and yet thorough … because of the systems.

She’ll then receive critical customer service training on the core responsibilities of managing the phones and managing visitors. Because it’s part of the documented systems, she’ll be taught to do things “our way” with greeting scripts, call-routing plans, proper etiquette, etc.

How long will all that take? Less than a day! Why? Because it’s all a system – organized and repeatable.

(Side note on your training systems: We all make hiring mistakes. Your training system should be designed to identify bad hires within 48 hours – maximum. Not after weeks or months of being vaguely unhappy with someone.)

Then, she’ll be trained live on the tasks she’s responsible for. We have Accountability Checklists for her duties and documented procedures for each task.

On her THIRD DAY she’ll be entirely on her own for 75% of her responsibilities. How? The systems are the answer.

Plus she’ll immediately be trained on how to update and create the systems documentation. One more task delegated to someone perfectly capable of handling it and freeing up the principal to build the agency.

What would normally be a huge disruption in the agency’s operations will be but a small hiccup – because of good systems in place.

Are you putting your systems in place? Or will your next hire – unexpected or otherwise – be a major disruption (again)?

© Copyright, 2009 by Sweet Spot Marketing, Inc. and Joseph J. Hagan, Jr. All rights reserved.

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Posted by Joe Hagan

Doing Things the Best Way

October 6, 2009

When you systemize a process you decide on the best way to do it. And once the process is defined you want everybody to do it that way.

After all, there are reasons for the “best way”.

Your process is designed to achieve certain objectives … an excellent customer experience, maximum efficiency and productivity, delegation, etc.

It makes no sense to do the hard work of designing your systems to then have them ignored by your team!

If someone decides to do it “their way”, even though they get it done, they may not be achieving your goals. You want it done the BEST way.

This is where a Process Checklist comes into play.

A Process Checklist is an interactive tool. It’s a list of specific action items to perform and/or a list of options that require attention for a given process.

The checklist doesn’t explain how to perform the steps/tasks on the checklist.  It simply guides the user through the process.

Why use them?

  1. It ensures everyone who performs that process will now do things the same way … the best way by design!
  2. Accountability. It eliminates the “I forgot” excuse.
  3. When you separate your duties among skill levels, the process checklist keeps track of what’s been done by each person – making the process smooth and efficient.
  4. It makes training new people a breeze.

A Process Checklist isn’t appropriate for all processes. But use them wherever you can.

Oh … and here’s an advanced tip for making your Process Checklists effective.

Total clarity is required. If your checklist allows the user to leave an item blank, how can you know what blank really means?

Does it mean the item was not required in this case, or does it mean the user missed that step?

You can’t know what’s truly been done, and hold your people accountable, if your checklists allow this kind of confusion.

What’s the fix?

Simple. Each item on your checklist must reflect reality. What are the true options the user has for each item?

For example, if an item on your checklist isn’t required for every case, the options might be “Done” and “Not applicable” (or n/a), or “Done” and “None”.

If this step had only one checkbox, the user would have to leave it blank sometimes. And you couldn’t tell if blank was intentional or the user just missed that step!

But with “Done” and “None” the user must check one or the other. The step can never be left blank, can never be skipped. Total clarity.

© Copyright, 2009 by Sweet Spot Marketing, Inc. and Joseph J. Hagan, Jr. All rights reserved.

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Posted by Joe Hagan