The debt collection industry continues to strive towards excellence in areas of compliance and customer experience. Improving a collections agency’s performance hinges on proper call center training for all debt recovery agents. This training must include strict adherence to script requirements (including regulatory compliance and using the right language) and thorough knowledge of the company’s services. But this is also coupled with the collections agent’s ability to be both professional and empathetic with customers.
Because debt recovery is constantly evolving, collections call center training must evolve with it. Therefore, contact center managers must have a consistent and accurate snapshot of their agents’ performance. However, most managers who manually monitor their agents’ calls are capable of listening to only a handful of calls at a time. This method does not provide a full portrait of an agent’s capabilities.
This is why more and more collections agencies are choosing to implement a speech analytics and scorecard solution to help gain in-depth data from all phone conversations. They can then use that information to identify and improve call center training opportunities in several ways.
Call Center Training & Agent Performance
Without a comprehensive understanding of an agent’s overall performance in the contact center, managers cannot fully assess their agents’ strengths and weaknesses. For instance, an agent may demonstrate exceptional skills in most customer interactions. However, if a manager happens to listen to the rare call with a poor customer interaction, it could distort the manager’s overall perception of that agent.
With speech analytics, every single agent conversation is automatically scanned and categorized. Individual agent scorecards for each call score an agent’s performance based on specific metrics, such as script compliance, correct language, and more. This makes it possible for managers to easily assess an agent’s performance accurately and without bias, providing better insights for potential training opportunities.
Improve Agent Morale & Reduce Attrition
When agents believe they are not receiving sufficient training, or the tools they need to successfully handle a variety of situations, it can lead to frustration and ultimately agent turnover. This is especially true in debt recovery, where tensions between customers and agents can often run high. That’s why it’s critical for managers to identify any issues that may signify the need for extra training as they occur.
Speech analytics and scorecards help managers recognize specific agents who may be struggling in certain areas. Developing the appropriate training tools can help these agents improve their skills and boost their confidence in customer interactions. Providing agents with concrete data on their performance, along with useful feedback on how to improve, reduces attrition. This ultimately helps collections call centers maximize their ROI on hiring, onboarding, and improves call center training programs.
Debt collection agencies that implement a speech analytics and call scorecard solution gain a better understanding of their agents’ performance levels to help create more effective training strategies. Speech analytics software is a powerful and easy tool to ensure that all contact center agents are consistently demonstrating successful customer interaction skills.
