Contact Centre Training

8/9/2019 Contact Centre Training

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The Critical Importance of Voice Tone

Wanted: Bored,

Disinterested Call

Center Professional

Imagine perusing the Sunday paper for job opportunities and running across this ad:

Seeking call center professional that is tired, bored, unenthusiastic, apathetic andconveys an overall disinterest during the greater part of the day.

It is unlikely that you would open the classifieds and see this type of want ad, yet you will often

experience this type of person in a professional setting. Whether its in a customer servicesituation, with a fellow co-worker or perhaps you have even caught yourself with thesecharacteristics on occasion.

We have all heard the old adage You are what you eat; well lets take it one step further andconsider thisYou are what you think! Travel to any bookstore or library and you will discover aplethora of books on the power of positive thinking and how our thoughts, be they negative orpositive, contribute to our behavior. Part of that behavior is Voice Tone. It goes without sayingthat using a negative voice tone with a customer is a major no-no. There aren't many managersthat are going to tolerate or excuse an employee that consistently yells, attacks or demonstratesan aggressive or frustrated voice tone with a customer. Yet there does seem to be a level oftolerance and acceptance when it comes to a neutral voice tone. That is not to say thatmanagement encourages a neutral voice tone; certainly a positive voice tone is the preferred anddesirable choice just like the negative voice tone is the wrong and unacceptable choice. Besides,maintaining a positive voice tone, call after call, 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, 50 weeks a year isasking an awful lot of someone - isn't it?

Anyway, whats so bad about a Neutral voice tone? It just means they aren't positive..right?When neutral is used as an adjective to describe a color, as in one that is able to blend withmany; or as a means to describe ones position as it relates to refraining from interference in acontest by not taking part in either side, then the word neutral poses no problem. But when itcomes to describing a tone of voice, then NEUTRAL actually becomes a NEGATIVE.

According to a recent study conducted by AMDOCS (see amdocs.com for additional information)80% of todays consumers would rather go to the dentist, sit in a traffic jam or pay their taxesrather than deal with an UNhelpful customer service rep. The unhelpful rep might be onethat is:

Boredyou are the 51st caller they have had today and they have heard your issuebefore.

Tiredit has been a long day and their shift ends in 55 minutes.

Indifferentyou think you have got problems, this is nothing compared to the last guythey just talked to.

Detachedyeah, yeah, whateveryou are the 17th person today alone that has called inwith this concern.


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Unenthusiasticthey only have 2 more months on the phones and then they can postout and get promoted to another department within the company.

The above are all characteristics of the unhelpful rep and obviously the list could go on and onand even though in these instances the voice tone could borderline on negative, the reality andthe danger is that when one of these characteristics dominates the moment, the likely voice tone

for the moment is going to be neutral. So in todays competitive market place is that anacceptable and tolerable tone for the moment? I guess it depends on who you ask; according torecent surveys, the customer considers it neither tolerable nor acceptable.

Thus, when these moments/characteristics present themselves, it is time for the rep to changethe thought cycle. Going back to the principles centered around the power of positive thinking andif we really are what we think; then changing our behavior is really as simple as our changingthoughts. We can choose to remain in a negative and/or destructive thought pattern or we canchoose to change and begin to introduce positive thoughts. Therein lies the positive behaviorwhich opens the door to positive voice tone. Is it an easy choice to make? Not alwaysbut intodays competitive market place it is the only acceptable choice to make.

Seeking call center professional who is energetic, creative, enthusiastic, and is

consistently able to convey a desire and willingness to help our customers.

Heres a quick way to determine if a call centers primary focus is quantity" customer

service:

Is a sigh of relief heard because the 90% call handling objective was achieved

for that day?

At the end of the day, is someone scurrying up and down the aisle announcing the

various call handling percentages for each team? Does panic set in at the end of the day, as various departments or teams realize the

90% call handling objective was not met?

Are there inconsistencies in the proper way to solve a common type of problemor handle a common customer complaint, yet everyone is very clear on their call

objectives as it relates to their stats?

Are your weekly team meetings a thing of the past simply because we are justtoo busy?

Is an award given to the agent who handled the most calls or complaints?

Is "soft skills" training cancelled or taking a back seat because call volumesdictate everyone must stay on the phone?

If you answered yes to any of the above it could indicate that your call center culturepromotes quantity customer service rather than quality customer service.

Use the word quality all you want, but as the saying goes, actions speak louder thanwords and the above bullet points speak of quantity" customer service.


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Gold Stars are Free!

Recognition is a

Powerful MotivatorWhen you were little, remember the teacher saying, Good Job! And remember how

you felt when your test came back with a BIG GOLD STAR? WOW!

Recognition! Its one of the most powerful motivators we have.

Your employees may have certificates, trophies, and plaques all over their desks andwalls. But why does it seem that it is typically the same group who win all

the awards?

What about employees who arent top performers? Why are there are people with nogoodies hanging on their walls? Is it because they dont like clutter? Not likely! Or isit because they rarely - if ever - win recognition? Some employees may want to be

successful but are struggling, and others may have struggled so long they havesimply given up. Still others may be so discouraged and unhappy that theyve

turned into troublemakers - with these employees, recognition programs may evenhave backfired and are de-motivating.

You say, But wait a minute, the reason they have no awards is because they arent

doing well. Im not going to recognize someone for that! Plus, that wouldnt be fair tothe top performers.Of course its important to recognize the top 10%, but isnt it

the other 90% who really need the most motivating? Finding a recognition

program that will motivate everyone can unlock huge potential inemployees, and make a difference not only in your organization, but also in the

lives of the employees.

I learned a lot about the power of recognition from my High School English teacher.

One day she was passing back our graded essays when she held up one studentspaper. She told the class that if we wanted to read an excellent essay, we should

read this paper. The teacher went on to tell this student that she should seriouslyconsider a career in writing. Now that is powerful! An authority figure like a

teacher can move mountains in a persons life by recognizing them in frontof their peers. I know - that student was a friend of mine and that experience was

a pivotal moment, starting her toward a successful writing career. (Perhaps youveread Harry Potterjust kidding!)

There are people in your organization that rarely get positive feedback regardingtheir work they never get to enjoy the spotlight! If youre in management, you are

in a position, just like my English Teacher, to motivate people by finding something

anything - that they do well and publicly recognizing them for it. For some of yourstaff, this may be challenging and it may take a while, but if you look hard and long

enough, even the weakest performer or biggest troublemaker has somethingthey did well.


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No matter that it may have been something fairly small. It was a call well-handled, an intra-department thing that got smoothed over, a small task

they took on voluntarily and with a good attitude of team work. Lift it up! Besincere in your recognition and thanks! Let your lips form those golden words of

praise and gratitude and recognition! Be a generous boss!

This type of recognition doesnt cost a thing. There are no planning meetings, bigbudgets, executive presentations, or record keeping. This is simply you and yourown creativity at work! Give yourself a timeline and a goal to recognize everyone on

your team within that timeline. If your words and actions are sincere and believablethen your public recognition of their good efforts will be a powerful motivator and

can move mountains in your employees lives and in your organization. (Pssst! Wanta good deal on Gold Stars?)

Impressive First Impressions

Sometimes the Simplest

Things Can Mean the

Most

Customers are full of unknowns. When they call a company because of some type ofdissatisfaction, they may be on the fence. Its likely they havent decided which side of the fencethey will land on -- the nice, calm, rational manner garden or the downright nasty, upset andemotional landfill side.

The side of the fence the customer chooses is influenced by what we say and how we say it

when we answer their call.

Whoever answers the telephone -- it could be the receptionist, switchboard operator, customerservice specialist, technical support engineer, or manager -- is actually the company gatekeeperand sets the tone for the entire conversation during the first 3-5 seconds of the call! And betweengarden and landfill, its easy to imagine the mudslinging choice because of a greeting that soundsrude, monotone, rushed and abrupt versus a greeting that is confident, positive, friendly andprofessional.

And if calls are backing up in the queue, the gatekeeper role begins with the recorded messagethe callers hear while they wait. The situation can actually be aggravated when hold times areused as an opportunity for a commercial or advertisement. For callers who are alreadydissatisfied with the experience they are having with a company, these recorded commercials

may actually provoke them to think Im calling because Im unhappy and having a badexperience with your company, why are you trying to promote even more of your products andservices to me?.

Aside from an opportunity to pave the way for satisfying the unsatisfied, there is also theopportunity to impress First Time Callers who have not yet had an experience with calling.

Carefully consider what your companys standard greeting is and ensure it is concise, helpful andfriendly. Avoid falling into the trap of thinking Its only a few seconds of the conversation, its


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really not that important. Customers should feel welcome and comfortable as they walk in thefront door of your company - even if it is via a telephone call. And the gatekeepers play a hugerole in this.

Remember, we never get a second chance to make a good first impression!

Basic Courting Etiquette:

Greet with a warm, sincere smile

Be fun and interesting (remember, If youre bored, that may mean youre boring)

Manage expectations (and sincerely apologize if expectations are unmet)

Listen without interrupting

Respond with appropriate emotion (show enthusiasm or empathy)

Be polite and kind (genuine politeness is rare these days a well timed please or thank you goes a long way!)

Appreciate a persons time and respect it as valuable (Remember, it could be spent with a competitor!)

Make the other person feel smart, important and good (even if they make mistakes or ask silly questions)

Avoid being a parent (authoritative, condescending)

Be yourself (Remember, everyone else is al ready taken!)

Avoid rushing out of the door at the end of the date if you want to encourage them to go out with you again.

Call Center Rep Coaching / Part 1

Why It Matters!

The call center industry insists on interchanging the terms "coaching" and "monitoring." But theyare two separate and distinct activities that should be clearly set apart from each other. If youwant to know who has a handle on how different these activities are, ask the people involved management and the frontline. You will discover one question gets two different answers every

time.

The question, first put to management, is Do you coach?" The resounding answer is YES!"Take this question to the frontline and ask, Are you coached?" and the answer is, No. But weare monitored. The recipients of coaching and monitoring know very well the difference betweenthese two disciplines. Its management and the industry who are confused.

Before we get to the differences, I will admit that making this important distinction and sticking toit wont initially make life easier. Sorry, thats only on TV or Internet ads. Learning, accepting andthen implementing the difference between coaching and monitoring will likely tighten up yourschedule, demand further juggling of priorities, and result in increased interaction with staff. Inreturn, the promises dangled out in front of you include: a higher level of satisfaction for thecustomer; improved consistency between people and teams; personal growth and development

of each person; and even increasing job satisfaction and retention. Sound good? You bet!

Before you get too excited, a buyer beware warning. The world you live in, like mine, is amicrowave world and few people are willing to take the crockpot approach. Coaching iscrockpotting. Monitoring is microwaving.

Coaching takes time, energy and focus if not caring and mentoring.Monitoring takes a pen orpencil and a score sheet dropped off in a mailbox. The good monitoring programs at least have a


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counseling session where results are discussed, but I challenge the effectiveness of real changefrom that session.

Here are the quick, down and dirty, definitions for coaching and monitoring. Coaching is an out-in-the-open activity for the purpose of self-development. You may also know it as "side-by-sides" or"double-jacking." When you coach, feedback is given at the end of the call with the expectation of

change in the very next call.

Monitoring is a behind-the-scenes activity for the purpose of quality control or assurance. Whenyou monitor, feedback is given later, after-the-fact with the expectation of proving a change hasor has not occurred in overall success.

Think sports specifically.

Where is the coach in football, basketball, swimming or golf? On the field, court, pool or coursewith the player. Sometimes the coach stands next to a particular player, giving input on how bestto handle the task at hand. Only the actual game itself forces the coach to the sidelines, but thecoach is still there. In fact, most coaches have an entire language of signs developed to continuethe communication with players. Why? So that improvement, changes, and yes, even

encouragement for a job well done can happen NOW before the very next play, or the very nextcall.

Think sports specifically, again Is there a monitor?

Absolutely!

The monitor is in the press box filming the game, and on the morning after the game the teamgathers to view the evidence! Yes, the evidence of how successful your coaching sessions were

who implemented or who didnt implement the agreed upon changes, and at another level, howgood the coaches are doing their job!

Monitoring does exactly what the name implies it monitors what has happened and provides aquality assurance and quality control check on the players. How many players are covered inthis QC routine? Your frontline rep and their coach, of course. You can also include others whoimpact the results of the center, for example, your product and service training team. You maydecide that the coaches need calibration. Maybe training programs need updated, or maybe a repneeds more coaching session time.

The key is to remember that monitoring is historical. It looks back at what happened and reportson the outcome.

Coaching is NOW! Coaching is about developing the talents of the person being coached. Itconcerns itself with giving personal assistance in the present moment to affect change andprovides the person a partner and encourager who helps them facilitate the change.

So if Coaching is NOW, why is it a crockpot approach and not a microwave?

Because it takes humans lots of nows to add up to real change. Monitoring does not fosterchange. It is a report, and a report will never cause a developmental change. It might cause achange for adherence sake (which we too often accept as real change), but it is a short-termchange resulting in high turnover, but wait, retention is a subject for another time!


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And finally, just in case you are wondering if monitoring has just taken a fatal fall from grace, theanswer is no. Every call center needs the pair, coaching and monitoring for the very reasonsdefined above. One develops and the other checks on the success of that effort. Its a two-pronged approach to success.

What is Coachable?In Part One of this series we handled the bedrock concepts of coaching and monitoring, and how they differ from each other. Ifyou missed that article, click hereand youll be whisked away to Part One!

Its now time to go to the next topic and discover how a coach develops staff by giving feedbackon performance.

In order to give quality feedback we need to answer the question, So just what is coachable?"One of the top reasons coaches cite for not coaching is their lack of comfort in giving feedback toreps. The discomfort is usually a result of one of two conditions. The first is a lack of skills trainingon how to give feedback. Thats the easy one to solve and a future installment in the series! The

second is confusion on just what is coachable. Where do you draw the line on what is and isntfair game to comment on in a coaching session? This is the harder of the two to get a handle on,and its our focus in Part Two.

We all have preferences and biases that affect everything we do from the brand of clothes wewear to the restaurants we frequent to the friends and organizations we contribute our time,talents and money. Some like hot foods, some dont; some wear Tommy Hilfiger jeans, somedont; some join clubs, churches, sports teams, some dont. How likely is it that we take ourpersonal preferences and biases into our role as a coach? VERY! And thats where we begin toanswer the question of whats coachable?

If I asked you to give me a list of qualities that an ideal rep would possess, in no time flat youddescribe a super rep able to please customers and management with equal finesse. If next I

asked you to list the specific actions and behaviors that display each of these qualities, the taskgets a little more difficult because our personal bias begins to show. I like a rep to be warm andfriendly. Someone else says,Forget the warm and friendly jazz, just give me the answer. Thenext person chimes in and offers I think reps need to sound professional on the phone, to whichsomeone comments what do you mean by professional my accountant is a professional but hehas zero people skills. Heaven forbid hed be on the phone with our customers! When we getdown to brass tacks, calling out specific actions and behaviors is hard work and full of ourpreferences and biases.

Our very sense of how an interaction should be handled is a strong impulse for any coach tomanage when working with members of a rep team to help them develop their skills.

The goal then is to develop a clear guideline on what is and isnt fair game to comment on during

a coaching session and to be able to manage our preferences and biases in the coachingprocess. Three terms will help us with the task: standards, styles and ideas.

Standards and styles represent two different measures and ideas are not measurements at all buttools a coach can use to develop both standards and styles.

A standard is an objective measure that applies equally to everyone.

A style is a subjective measure that applies to just one person at a time.

An idea is something that works for someone else and might work for you.
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The reason for removing it is often well-meaning. If we fear that our staff will forget or not beskilled or caring enough to thank someone for calling, we make it a content-based standard, andwe deduct points (and maybe pay) when the standard isnt used. The reasoning is that its betterto thank 100% of the callers and risk it sounding or feeling awkward 5% of the time than havereps forget or be careless and miss thanking a larger percentage of callers they should indeedthank!

Clearly, the only time you can truly craft the content of a standard without regard to the caller, orthe callers need, is the call opening. Its the only place in the call where the rep singularly ownsthe time slot, and its an important time slot about 3 to 5 seconds. In that time by the words theyuse and how they say them, they will communicate to the caller everything the caller needs toknow about what the next 3 to 5 minutes will be like.

Fully scripted, content-based standards are limiting. When we decide ahead of time whatsomeone should say, we take away the possibility of making the best choice of what to say whenthe time comes to say it. Knowing this does not weaken the bedrock quality of standards at thecore of your program. It simply leads us to look at the properties of conceptual standards and howto use them.

Conceptual standards maintain the quality of structure that you get in content-based standardsand add the element of customization and style. That combination allows a rep and a caller to betruly dynamic in any moment and your rep still meets your standards and delights your customer.

A good example of a conceptual standard is the steps of placing a caller on hold. Here are 4straightforward steps:

1. Pose a question to the caller that includes an action step.2. Activate the hold with a courtesy word or phrase.

3. Recall the customer to the conversation by speaking their name putting a question markin your voice tone.

4. Add a courtesy phrase and resume the conversation.

Here are examples of each step so you can see how different content choices fit eachconceptual standard step.

1. Pose a question to the caller that includes an action step.

Can you hold while I check on that for you?Would you mind holding so I can look that up for you?May I place you on hold to find the information for you?

2. Activate the hold with a courtesy word or phrase.

Thank you.Thanks.Great; Ill be right back.

3. Recall the customer to the conversation by speaking their name putting a question mark inyour voice tone.

Mr. Jones?Sir?/ Maam?


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4. Add a courtesy phrase and resume the conversation.

Thank you for waiting; your application was receivedThanks for holding for me; your application was received

It takes training and a good nuance list to get the clarity you desire so conceptual standards work

for everyone. Are all conceptual standards easy? No, but that doesnt make it impossible or notworthwhile to work on it. For example, do you hear reps telling callers We cant do that until thefirst of the month; I dont have the information yet; I wont be able to get that document to youuntil tomorrow. Do you ask reps over and over to tell callers what they can do, do have, and willdo? Yes, of course you do. Have you made it a standard? You can. In fact its a perfectconceptual standard to create for any group. It takes an excellent nuance list to help set theguideline and remember, well deal with nuance lists yet in this series.

What is Coachable?

In Part One and Part Two of this series we handled the bedrock concepts of coaching and monitoring, and how they differ fromeach other, as well as the core element of all coaching programs: standards. If you missed these articles, please click on PartOneor PartTwo and youll be whisked away to Part One and Two! Now that we have standards fully discussed, its time tomove onto styles and ideas.

Its now time to go to the next topic and discover how a coach develops staff by giving feedbackon performance.

Remember that a standard is an objective measure that applies to everyone. On the other hand,a style is a subjective measure that applies to just one person at a time.

A good way to get these two clear in our mind is to compare them to something we understandvery well. Think about music and musicians. All sorts of music are written (same notes and words= standard) and the very same music is performed by artists who deliver it in many different ways(variety = style).

Over the recent holiday season just passed you probably heard your fair share of Jingle Bells.The tune and the words are standard. Theyve been around for years and no matter what artistdoes the song, the essential tune and the words remain. However, depending on what artist doesthe song, the style of the song is remarkably different. Think of Barbra Streisand singing thisfavorite carol. Her rendition, from an album she released in 1967, is famous. Next, think of WillieNelson. Now, think of Neil Diamond, Britney Spears, Pavarotti, Charlotte Church, Kenny G. andJohnny Mathis. We could list even more performers, and yet we would still conclude that whilethe music and words remain the same, the delivery of the song is very different. Some artistsversion you love and others you really dislike. Have you ever heard anyone butcher yourfavorite song? They do it all the time to our National Anthem! OW!

Without standards, we are lost in a world of style. This is why standards are the core, the rockbottom foundation of your coaching program. Its wiser to set the standard and then have thestyle flow from it. By the way, setting a standard and not allowing style to flow is not wise. Itsstifling; for the rep and for your customer. It is sometimes too easy to tell when the rep isnt theauthor of a word or phrase theyve just spoken.

Style gives communication life and personality. Everyone operates from their own base ofpersonal style preferences. Your style and your view of the world play a strong role in developingyour team. First remember that it is impossible to require or impose our style on others and when
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it comes to measuring style, we are on murky ground. Heres a real story that made this crystalclear to me.

I was coaching in a consumer goods call center that supported a line of very popular marketplaceproducts. The software used to capture the callers information was ordered in a linear sequencethat made perfect sense to the programmer. As you know, callers are completely unaware of

what order your program is in and for the most part, they tell stories with the data you needsprinkled throughout in absolutely no logical order at all.

In this call center there were 30+ reps and yet two reps in particular stood out. One reps stylewas preferred because he had an innate ability to hear the callers story, capture the informationneeded, and at the same time flip back and forth between screens and input the data where itwas requested and never lose control of the call. The other rep found it impossible to do anythingother than follow the linear layout of the program taking only the data each screen required.Knowing that, she carefully and skillfully guided each of her callers through the call in the order ofthe program and captured all the information she needed and still allowed the caller plenty ofstorytelling time.

The first style was impressive and preferred by management. I was asked to coach the linear

rep to be more like the other rep. I knew I was on shaky ground. First I asked if I could see thescores from coaching and monitoring sessions and then from customer satisfaction surveys. Bothreps scored in the highest possible ranges and within points of each other with the linear repscoring just under the other rep. Both reps nailed the standards perfectly. When compared witheach other, these two reps had very different styles. When ranked by the customer though, bothreps equally scored as excellent. This was purely a preference of style issue.

Absolutely no one, me included, knew how to reproduce and duplicate that innate skill in a waythat could be demonstrated and taught to someone, anyone, else. Heres the hard and fast truth unless you can personally demonstrate what it is that you want to standardize in such a way thatyou can teach it to someone, anyone, else and they can duplicate it, it is a style and not astandard.

Standards apply to everyone. Styles are personal. So whats a coach to do when faced with someof the day-to-day challenges of working with reps who are meeting standards but you know theyhave potential to develop further in their personal style.

Thats where an idea comes in. First, recall that the purpose of this is not to make someone intoanyone else but to give everyone the tools to make themselves better. Its taking their capabilityand with coaching, turning it into ability. No capability? Then no amount of coaching will give youability. Remember that.

The definition of an idea is something that works for someone else and it might work for you.Notice it doesnt say that its something that works for me and might work for you, but works forsomeone else and might work for you. Its the power of the third party. As a coach, monitor orsupervisor, you have a parent role, and by its nature that turns your advice into drivel. So the

strategy is to use the power of the third party to gain attention and willingness to try somethingnew.

Your best ideas will come by sharing what another rep, their peer, is doing. For example youmight say, I was only sitting with Carl this morning in a coaching session when he received a callvery much like the one you just took. When the caller asked him if we had any promotions comingup, he began to ask questions about what kind of promotions he liked and then went on to explainthat there arent any current promos running. It worked really well. Instead of the caller gettingupset that he didnt have a promotion to use right now, he felt as if he contributed to the creation


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of future ones. You might try Carls approach the next time a caller corners you about not havingenough promotions.

Like the music and the musicians, there is an element of standard and an element of style inevery call. Keeping a balance between the two is necessary and that balance can be found moreeasily when you set standards first.

Standards, Styles, Ideas. The three components of coaching frontline staff to excellentperformance and getting rave reviews from your customers. Next article well talk about the art ofgiving feedback to your staff so its accepted and acted on. Stay tuned

Now the scary part . . . actually giving feedback to your staff.

You might be fine with coaching and monitoring conceptually, but when the time comes toactually do it you can find yourself out-of-sorts. Suddenly you seem to have lots of other work thatyou really need to catch up on before you start coaching. Just as soon as thats finished you canbe ready to coach. If youre really good at this, you can establish getting ready to get readyactivities that serve to never get you out and coaching.

Why is coaching so scary and frightening? How do you tell someone else what to do? Worse,how do you tell them that what they are doing is wrong?

Theres the flaw that causes the fright: stage fright! Telling is all monologue and all the pressure ison you! Dont tell. Telling is not giving feedback. Ask. Asking begins a discussion that leads to aconversation which is dialogue. Thats giving feedback within our framework of coaching, which isthe activity of working one-on-one with an individual for the purpose of self-development (see PartOne of this series).

Think of a good coach back to sports we go! I remember taking golf lessons not necessarilya fond memory! The leader board at the LPGA has nothing to fear from me! Id take a swing, lookat the golf pro and hed ask, Where was your head Mary Beth? to which Id quickly reply, I dontknow. Where was it?

He rarely let me get away with that. Hed ask again, No, think about it. Review the swing. Wherewas your head? Wed do that with my elbow, my hip, my hand position, etc. Nothing was where itwas supposed to be, but the feedback he gave me wasnt telling, it was asking. What thestudent comes to know for herself is powerful learning. Masterful.

There are volumes on the subject of learning to give excellent feedback. Im quite certain you canfind articles with titles like The Eighteen Principles of Providing Feedback or The FourteenFundamentals of Cutting Edge Coaching and Feedback. Pardon me but after about 3 steps, Imlost and Im tired of putting the steps on the photocopier and reducing them to a wallet-sized,easy-to-carry and refer to copy! So heres your 4-Step Formula for Giving Feedback. (Yes, evenI added a step for a total of four but youll soon see how its actually just three just a little slight

of hand!)

4-Step Formula for Giving FeedbackStep One: Ask a question.Step Two: Listen to the answer.Step Three: Repeat steps One and Two (not really a new step)Step Four: Offer ideas as needed.


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If you meet with the sort of success we do, youll hardly ever be telling! You and your reptogether will be discussing, diagnosing and determining development opportunities. When you dotell, remember the concepts of standards, styles and ideas (see parts Two and Three of thisseries).

Contact Centre Training

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