The information on this page was contributed by Paula Davis-Donalds, a Cafe member who wanted to share some contests that have worked well at her company, Broadwing.  Thank you, Paula for your contributions!

Contests in Call Centers	Oscar & Academy Award Quality Contest
Key Guidelines for Running Contests	Another Contest Idea
Quality Football Contest Explained	Football Quality Contest Teams
	Football Contest GLOSSARY
Please email staff@callcentercafe.com if you would like MS WORD versions of any of these documents.

Contests In Call Centers

By Paula Davis-Donald

The groups I assist with Quality Support consist of repair technicians who were at one time only working/resolving trouble tickets that were queued to them by a customer support team.  The customer support team had the job of communicating with the customer status of ticket, and resolution based upon the notes provided by the repair technicians. However, to provide better service to our customers our company, a one stop shop if you will, decided to allow the Customer Care group to only handle billing issues, and have the repair technicians not only work trouble tickets, but also take the initial call from the customer, and provide them with status updates, resolution, etc. These technicians are unique in that they are required to master two very distinct skills sets. Not only do they need technical expertise in the products we support, but they also need to know and understand the fine art of customer service.

Most of the technicians had the mindset that the “soft” skills of customer service are secondary to technical knowledge, and that if they sounded “too nice” customers would think they were not smart. So I had some work to do with helping them to understand that you can sound both smart and nice, and that technical support is more than just offering technical solutions.

So we solicited the teams to help with providing their input, participation, and feedback in creating a “Communications Template,” or a Call Flow, we trained the supervisors how to coach and provide feedback, and we worked to continue to improve and sustain tech motivation. One thing that we did that truly made a difference in getting the technicians pumped was to make Quality fun. The group consisted of mostly men so I had to figure out a way to appeal to them with something they were interested in. So what man does not like sports? I come up with a Quality Football Contest.

Contests can be a powerful energizer in the workplace. They give employees a break from the everyday routine, they rally them around a common goal, and they introduce some good-natured competition to jump-start productivity.

Some key guidelines for running contests:

Make it relevant. Make sure contests are appreciated and embraced by your employees. No amount of cheerleading on the part of a manager will get people to do something they just can’t relate to. An irrelevant contest will also send the message that management isn’t really in touch with the employees and the daily operations of the workplace.

Keep it simple. If employees have to work too hard just to understand a contest, they’ve most likely lost at least some of the willingness to embrace it. Keep the contest as simple and clear as you can.

Make the rules and expectations clear. For contests to be successful, they must be set up correctly. Among other things, this means making the rules and expectations clear from the beginning. Once you’ve kicked off the contest, post the guidelines in a place where employees can easily refer to them.

Make it visual. Create some visual reminder to track the team’s progress—for example, a large thermometer drawn on a poster board or a person climbing a mountain—for employees to see as they work toward the goal of the contest.

Avoid overzealous competition. Be careful not to allow the atmosphere to become overly competitive. Some good-natured rivalry is OK, but if it becomes excessive, it will detract from the sense of teamwork and may create strife and acrimony among employees. At the same time, don’t pretend that employees don’t have at least some measure of pride and competitiveness. It’s good for people to want to win. The key is to create a balance so that the contest works for the whole group rather than just for a few key people (who, by the way, may have been winning things all their lives). Another way to make sure your contests don’t create havoc for the team is to keep them positive. Avoid aggressive contests such as ones in which employees “eliminate” each other.

Adjust as necessary. Once a contest is underway, if you notice it needs tweaking, then by all means tweak it. Changing the game midcourse may elicit some groans from the team, but it’s far better than letting the project fail. When rolling out a new contest, make it clear to agents that you reserve the right to adjust the rules as necessary along the way.

Quality Football Contest Explained

Football Contest GLOSSARY

Football Quality Contest Teams

I likened Quality to Football. The teams chose team names, the supervisors were the coaching staff. I and other planning members were the referees. Our Communication Template was the Play book; Our Quality Football season had playoffs, and ended with the Super Bowl. During the Quality Football season, to keep the momentum going we had tailgate parties (technicians could come in wearing the favorite football jersey and hat) where management would bring in hotdogs, popcorn, wings etc. We had a little sideline action, contest to have the technicians Create a Quality Football Glossary substituting football terms/definitions with Call Quality terms and definitions. The player with the most creative terms won a $60.00 gift certificate to the Finish Line where they could purchase their very own pick of sports attire. Our Glossary was a success, we had terms such as:

• Holding-when a player (technician) does not demonstrate the proper hold as defined in our Quality Football Rulebook. (Cheat Sheet)
• 2 point conversion-when a customer expresses their appreciation w/a statement for a players (technicians) assistance at the end of a call (thanks for all of your help, I appreciate your assistance etc) a player receives 2 bonus points to their overall score.
• Illegal substitution-a player substitutes phrases not inline with the Quality Football Playbook. (ex. Broadwing Enterprise Maintenance Center verses Management Center)
• Dead Call-When a player is on a call with a customer it’s a "live call." When a player hangs up with a customer, it is now a "dead call."

I would send the teams emails that were meant to pump them up, see an example below:

The momentum has shifted.....Junkyard Dogs is feeling it folks, they played an awesome game last week. If this keeps up it could be any ones game.

Let’s hear it for the following players who scored touchdowns (100% Quality) last week:

I would send the supervisors emails encouraging them to coach and provide feedback consistently. See example below:

Let’s talk sports – Is there a monitor?

Absolutely!

The monitor is in the press box filming the game, and on the morning after the game the team gathers to view the evidence! Yes, the evidence of how successful your coaching sessions were – who implemented or who didn’t implement the agreed upon changes, and at another level, how good the coaches are doing their job!

Monitoring does exactly what the name implies – it monitors what has happened and provides a quality assurance and quality control check on the “players.”

Think sports again-Is there a coach?

YOU BET!!!!!

Where is the coach in football, basketball, swimming or golf? On the field, court, pool or of course with the player. Sometimes the coach stands next to a particular player, giving input on how best to handle the task at hand. Only the actual game itself forces the coach to the sidelines, but the coach is still there. In fact, most coaches have an entire language of signs developed to continue the 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 next call.

So get out there, on the repair field, and coach your teams to victory!

Our Super Bowl champions won tickets to Six Flags Fiesta Texas, management took them out there on a Saturday, and a trophy. Our Playoff championship team members also won a trophy, and movie passes. We had a huge party for both, and a end of the season bash.