How to Reduce a Telemarketing Company's Turnover and Absenteeism
October 7, 2008
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By Dave Powell
Absenteeism is the biggest problems faced by those who would manage a telemarketing company. Telemarketing is a high pressure and time-sensitive environment, which makes absenteeism a threat to the bottom line of your call centre - so how can you best handle the human resources of a telemarketing company?
Telemarketing managers know all too well the challenge presented to them by absenteeism. Due to the stressful nature of telemarketing work, absenteeism is far higher than in other sorts of workplaces and turnover is high because of the almost inevitable burnout. Workers compensation and disability claims form call centres include carpal tunnel, back and shoulder pain and stress related conditions; all of which are very common to call centre employees. In call centres, turnover averages around 40%. Since there is an ever increasing cost associated with recruiting and training new employees, managers have to find ways to reduce absenteeism and turnover.
Selecting new staff carefully, providing proper training and thoroughly informing them about what will be expected of them is crucial to keeping these figures low. Newly hired staff should always receive an intensive period of training and orientation to make them aware of the duties and responsibilities of their new position. All telemarketers at a top staff-orientated telemarketing business should be required to attend training sessions focused on stress relief, training in the technical aspects of their position and of course, quality customer service.
You will also need to reduce the physical stress of spending many hours chained to a desk and computer by having ergonomically sound chairs and other office furniture. Rather than limiting telesales staff to the standard two 15 minute breaks, instead give these employees ample opportunities to stand, stretch and walk around. Companies who have large telemarketing operations have begun instituting stress management seminars, stretching exercises and workstations which allow employees to vary their position throughout the workday.
Incentives should be used to improve morale, which can be monetary or be in some other form, to promote good job performance. While money is always nice, some non-financial incentives can be more tempting, such as extra days off or competitions. There are a lot of different ways to motivate your staff; telemarketing associates in particular are more in need of these incentive based programs than are employees in other industries.
Try to keep overtime low in your call centre. While it can seem like a great short term telemarketing staffing solution, it is likely to contribute to burnout. Instead, consider offering more flexibility in scheduling and give employees more choice in their schedules.
Offer additional training to your employees as needed and above all, communicate with them. Make sure that your employees understand that they are highly valued by management.
Keep on top of possible needs for additional training and schedule training sessions as necessary; don't wait to do this. Make certain that your telemarketing staff understands what is needed from them and why. By helping them to better understand the operations of the call centre, along with the reasoning behind them, they will have more commitment to these goals. Go over benefits and incentives with your staff regularly, this communicates that you are committed to them.
Telemarketing staffing is a challenging puzzle for even the most talented manager. Using the five techniques given above can help you to motivate and energize your telemarketers. This in turn will reduce turnover and absenteeism, leading to a more efficient and profitable telemarketing company.
Teach, Coach And Lead With Integrity
June 16, 2008
By: Louis Jordan
There is no one-thing that makes a sales leader great. But, there is definitely one thing that can make them poor - an inability to coach and develop their employees.
Tell a salesperson to go sell and he will struggle for a day, teach him how to sell and he will sell for life. Ok, so that is not exactly how the quote goes, but you get my point.
At one time sales management started and finished with "this is your desk, this is your phone, this is the yellow pages, go get 'em". This may have worked many years ago, but today customers are more sophisticated, markets are more competitive and expectations for ramping-up are shorter.
Simply telling your employees what to do is as redundant a form of leadership as "always be closing - and -
The essence of great coaching, in my opinion, is being able to get each member of your team to understand what does and does not work and most importantly, the reasons why something does and does not work. With a team of ten sales people you may have to find ten different illustrations, descriptions or analogies to see all ten light-bulbs go off.
To illustrate this point take a moment to think about the most successful coaches/managers in professional or College sports. How many of them were great athletes themselves? Conversely, how many average, but smart, or less than average players became great coaches/managers?
From Wooden to Lombardi, to Auerbach, to Bryant, to Shula, to Walsh….. And the list goes on. Those who are regarded as some of the greatest coaches/managers of all time had one thing in common - They were able to get every member of the team to understand what had to be done, why it had to be done and how to do it. - they were all great communicators.
Athletes and sales people who have been blessed with a natural ability to perform their tasks will often lead their peers in performance, and just as often struggle when given a chance to coach others. It is difficult to put into words what comes naturally. I have had dozens of conversations with managers who were great "natural" sales people. Often, the more natural talent they posses the more frustrated they become when their reps just "did not get it". Conversely, the sales people get frustrated that their manager can not explain how to get it done.
Your goal is to unlock understanding in each member of the team. Find a way to get your employees to understand why something works the way it does and why something else does not work. It is only after you have taught them how to perform a task that they can have any chance of repeating it on a regular basis.
Go to any driving range and you will see hackers whacking away at golf balls with their over-sized drivers. Nine out of ten drives will slice right or hook left, one out of ten will
go straight and look like a great shot. The secret is getting them to understand why the ball went long and straight, because without that knowledge there is not way they can repeat it.
Your job as a sales coach is to get your team to understand why that "perfect" telemarketing call, foot canvass, appointment, presentation, proposal or sale was perfect so they can give themselves a chance of repeating it, every time.
Good luck, and enjoy the process.
Our goal is to provide honest recommendations on all aspects of sales and leadership, including: interviewing, coaching, cold calling, telemarketing, attending appointments, vertical sales, recruiting, territory management and anything else our readers or contributors suggest. We would be honored to have you visit our site. http://www.integrity-sales-leadership.com
