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From NetSpeed Leader Volume 29, November 2006
This month's Trainer Tips are from Patsy
Svare,
a veteran Master Trainer and Certified NetSpeed
Leadership Consultant based in Chicago.
Everyone knows a training initiative goes better when
it has the support of senior management. But if you
don't already have it, how do you get management's
support? Here are three proven strategies that have
worked for me.
Show the Bottom-Line Impact of Training
When you're losing customer service reps at a steady
turnover clip of 30%, providing reps with marketable
skills can encourage retention. With turnover costs
typically costing 100% or more of salary, if you can
reduce turnover by 20%, you can show a
tremendous bottom-line impact. Blazing Service
can
inspire in your customer service team both the
personal qualities and the practical skills that make
them exceptional customer service providers.
The bottom line? Service reps see how their growing
skills help them advance their careers and you see
how more highly-skilled reps keep customers satisfied
and loyal.
Tie Your Training Initiative to a Strategic Business
Goal
Do you see growth in next year's plan? How will you
achieve that growth? If you need to bring on more
employees to support business expansion, your hiring
managers should be beefing up their ability to hire
and onboard new employees (take a look at Hiring
the Best Talent and Getting the Right Start).
Or is your company on a burn to develop new
products and markets? Better get people out of their
ruts and into creativity mode (take a look at Creating
an Inspiring Work Culture or Thinking to Break the
Box).
If you are unsure which modules are right for your
organization, use NetSpeed Leadership's free
Assessment Tool as your first
step.
Make Training Their Idea
You might get management support by suggesting
training to them, but you'll increase your odds of
success if training is their idea. Use your listening
skills to clue in on management concerns and then
plant the seeds for training.
Use questions like these to get management thinking
about training: "How can we get our managers to do
a better job of managing projects?" or "What are the
most important skills you think our employees need to
get through the business changes down the road?"
or "Have we ever trained employees in that skill set?"
Once you get management thinking of ways to build
employee skills, be prepared to collaborate on
training topics and logistics.
If you want to discuss how to apply these ideas in
your work setting, send me an email and I'll be
happy
to talk it over with you. |
A blended learning program for customer service providers |
