Why Aren’t

They
Coaching in
the Call
Center?
Highlights from
Coachpalooza ’05:
A Call Center Focus
Group Series

A White Paper from Knowlagent

Authored by: Debbie Qaqish & Dwight Lucas
Fall 2005
 Knowlagent® is a registered trademark of Knowlagent, Inc. Value-Driven Coaching Model for
the Call Center™ and Value-Driven Coaching Model™ are trademarks of Knowlagent, Inc. All
other trademarks used in this document are the property of their respective owners.
The information contained in this document is proprietary to Knowlagent, Inc. Unless you are
the intended recipient (or authorized to receive for the intended recipient), you may not read,
print, retain, use, copy, distribute or disclose any information contained in this document.

Copyright© 2005, Knowlagent, Inc.

All Rights Reserved

Knowlagent® Inc.

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Table of Contents

Overview .................................................................................................. 4
Coaching Inhibitors and the Parallel to Customer Relationship
Management (CRM) .................................................................................. 5

I. Time................................................................................................. 6

II. Information ...................................................................................... 9

III. Process......................................................................................... 12

IV. People........................................................................................... 14
The Value-Driven Coaching Model™........................................................ 17

I. Time............................................................................................... 19

II. Information .................................................................................... 19

III. Process......................................................................................... 19

IV. People........................................................................................... 19
Conclusion .............................................................................................. 20

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Overview
“We recognize the value of coaching…we just don’t have time to do it.”
- Coachpalooza ’05 participant

Coaching is one of the highest impact, yet overlooked, ways to achieve

company goals in the call center. The best centers know this and are
attempting to develop coaching models, tools and initiatives to drive
coaching, yet even the best are struggling with how to deliver enough quality
coaching in the unique call center environment.

This paper discusses the primary inhibitors to successful call center coaching
as discovered by Knowlagent during Coachpalooza ’05, a series of Supervisor
Focus Groups held with seven large call centers. This paper also provides
both a set of recommended best practices and a suggested model – The
Value-Driven Coaching Model™ - to address these “inhibitors.” A full
report of findings, including all item survey results and the distinct Key
Findings, is available in the Coachpalooza ’05 Summary Report at
www.knowlagent.com.

What is Coachpalooza ’05?

To better understand the call center coaching environment, Knowlagent

conducted Coachpalooza ’05, a focus group series with seven large call
center groups that included 53 supervisor and manager level participants.
This strategic initiative allowed us to better understand:

• the attitudes towards and the perceived value of coaching

• how coaching is conducted and measured
• what gets coached
• the challenges to coaching in the dynamic call center environment

Participants in the focus group series included leading Fortune 1000

companies from a variety of industries, including financial services,
insurance, retail, telecom and travel, with agent populations ranging from
450 to 12,000.

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Coaching Inhibitors and the Parallel to Customer

Relationship Management (CRM)
Several recurring themes emerged that became the basis for this white paper
and the separate Coachpalooza ’05 Summary Report. Further, these themes
suggested an interesting parallel between the state of today’s call center
coaching and the early days of CRM. In both cases, businesses faced a
number of unexpected inhibitors to success. And, in both cases, success
means taking a multi-dimensional approach that addresses all the inhibitors.

Early adopters of CRM, then called Sales Force Automation (SFA), looked to
improve the productivity of sales reps and often failed because they assumed
a one-dimensional approach to solving the problem. For these companies, it
was all about the technology. Similarly, most call centers that we observed
are taking a one-dimensional approach to solving the coaching issue. It is not
enough to simply tell the supervisors they need to coach more and assume
they can make it happen. By taking this one-dimensional approach to a
multi-dimensional problem, we believe call centers are either set up for
coaching failure or under-achievement of goals, just like CRM in its early
incarnations.

We observed four key themes, or inhibitors, as part of our coaching research.

They are:

• Time

• Information

• Process

• People

The following section explores each of these themes and Key Findings via the
CRM analogy and presents recommended Best Practices for each. For
additional detail, please see the Coachpalooza ’05 Summary Report,
available at www.knowlagent.com.

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I. Time

I have sufficient time to coach each day

(Supervisor Responses)

4%

20%
32%

Strongly Disagree
Disagree
5%
No Opinion
Agree
Strongly Agree

39%

71% of participating supervisors felt they did not have sufficient time
to coach each day, with the vast majority (80%) spending a total of
less than two hours a day on all coaching activity.

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Key Finding 1

CRM: Finding time to sell is a Coaching: Finding time to

foundational necessity
The early promise of CRM/Sales Force
Automation systems was that it would
“find time” for salespeople so they
could spend more time in front of
customers. This was, in effect, a pure
efficiency play but one that was
definitely the first step towards overall
sales effectiveness. Both early SFA
systems and the later CRM systems
produced large gains in sales
productivity, so much so, that they are
now standard parts of any professional
sales organization.
coach is a foundational
necessity
Every supervisor and executive
sponsor we interviewed during
Coachpalooza ’05 expressed a
strong desire to have more time to
coach their agents. When we
asked them if they could change
one thing about their coaching
environment, 100% of all
supervisor participants responded
“Find more time to coach!”
While it is harder to show the
direct correlation that coaching
has on call center performance, all
supervisors strongly believed that
by having more time to coach,
center performance against all key
performance indicators could be
drastically improved.

Recommended Best Practices:

9 Make time for supervisors to coach.

9 Make time for agents to receive coaching.

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“Sometimes it can take up to 1 week from the time we get information

until the time we can take action. Then the coaching session is all
about trying to “recreate” the event. That’s hard on everybody.”
- Coachpalooza ’05 Participant

Key Finding 2

CRM: Time delays in sales Coaching: Time delays in

activities are detrimental
Time delays can kill a sales cycle. The
rep waits too long to call back a lead
or takes too long to respond to an
RFP. In both cases, the urgency and
clarity of the situation is lost over
time, and the deal is threatened. CRM
helped address these time delays with
prompts and sharing of information in
such a way as to gain quick answers,
both for the sales person and across
the sales team.
delivering coaching are
detrimental
Time delays can kill coaching
effectiveness. Across all the
centers we visited, we frequently
heard this complaint from
supervisors. They told us that
when a coaching-warranted event
occurs, it is often that the
supervisor may not be aware of it
for 1 – 3 weeks or even more. So,
when the supervisor sits down to
coach the agent, the event may
not be fresh in the agent’s mind
which can drastically reduce the
impact of coaching.

Recommended Best Practice:

9 To optimize the coaching that does occur, deliver it as

close as possible to the “most coach-able moment.”

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II. Information

“There are 6 different documents, 6 different systems, 2 or more

reports, email, and Excel spreadsheets. It’s really time consuming.”
- Coachpalooza ‘05 Participant

Key Finding 1

CRM: Information gets in the Coaching: Information gets

way of sales
Companies bought CRM solutions
because they helped organize data
about prospects and sales in such a
way that it “freed up” the time
salespeople spent on “administrative
clutter.” The reasoning was that if
salespeople had more “time,” they
would be in front of more customers,
more often, and sales would increase.
in the way of coaching in
the call center
Today’s call center finds itself in a
similar scenario as we consider
coaching. During Coachpalooza ’05
we found that supervisors are
deluged with data from multiple
sources and find themselves
spending large amounts of time
compiling, massaging, preparing
and distributing key information
required to help them effectively
coach and manage their teams.
We heard many expressions of
frustration over the time wasted in
trying to “filter’ through
information in order to properly
prepare for a coaching interaction.

Recommended Best Practice:

9 Clean up the data clutter to free up more time for

coaching.

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“We don’t have any real visibility into how much coaching is happening
or how effective coaching is in our center.”
- Coachpalooza ‘05 Participant

Key Finding 2

CRM: What gets measured, gets Coaching: What gets

done
An additional impetus for CRM was
that management had no view into
key sales activities and no way to
measure or to assess sales efficiency
and/or effectiveness. To gain
information required to run the
business, salespeople were required to
spend hours manually preparing
weekly activity reports detailing
account updates and forecasts. It was
also difficult for a company to
understand or create a standard sales
process in the absence of key data.
measured, gets done
The same is true for coaching in
today’s call center. While it is
considered to be an extremely
valuable activity, there is no
forecasting of coaching events, no
tracking of coaching events, and
no direct tie-in or measurement of
the efficiency and effectiveness of
coaching. We found that senior
management had little to no view
into coaching -- what was being
coached, how much coaching was
taking place or the efficiency and
effectiveness of the coaching that
did occur. In the rare instance
where coaching is tracked and
measured, it is a cumbersome and
manual reporting process.

Recommended Best Practices:

9 What gets measured gets done. Implement a tracking and

monitoring program for coaching activities.

9 Make coaching a metric.

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“We work in a real time environment and have real time accountability
but we sometimes don’t have access to information for days or
weeks.”
- Coachpalooza ‘05 Participant

Key Finding 3

CRM: Good decisions require Coaching: Good decisions

timely and relevant information
As Sales Force Automation (SFA)
systems matured and the companies
that bought them matured in their use
of technology, the term Customer
Relationship Management (CRM) was
born. Using SFA as a core platform,
CRM solutions became strategic
drivers for businesses by incorporating
other types of data into the sales
system such as pricing, marketing and
support cases. The idea was if sales
reps had the right information at the
right time, they could make better
decisions, in a more timely fashion
that would have a direct and positive
impact on sales.
require timely and relevant
information
The role of coaching is key to call
center success, and it is a difficult
role given the number of metrics,
systems, and dynamic nature of
the call center environment. Just
as CRM systems began
consolidating and presenting data
in a way that helped salespeople
improve performance, call center
solutions need to take a similar
focus. This involves taking a role-
based perspective and
understanding what and when
information is needed for optimal
decision making to drive key
performance metrics.

Recommended Best Practices:

9 Provide call center coaches with timely and relevant

information that helps them make decisions that improve
performance.

9 If a metric is real time or almost real time, the information

required to coach that metric should be available real time.

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III. Process

Nearly 50% of supervisor participants answered that they did not have
a clearly defined coaching process in place.
- From the Coachpalooza ’05 Summary Report

Key Finding 1

CRM: A standardized Coaching: A standardized coaching

sales process is vital
to success
Many companies realized
that if they were going to
improve and sustain sales
performance, then they
needed a standardized
sales process – repeatable,
sustainable and relevant to
their culture. Companies
turned to CRM solutions to
help implement and
institutionalize these key
business processes.
process is vital to success
Our research clearly indicated that while call
centers are beginning to recognize the value
of coaching, they are struggling to convert
that belief into action. Most of the
participants in the research had developed
partial and/or inconsistent coaching practices.
In some centers, we observed strong and
consistent coaching processes around
adherence and attendance. In all other areas,
we saw wide variations and a “leave it up to
the individual supervisor to decide” process.
Additionally, we did not provide any of the
participants a definition of coaching – we let
them evolve their own. Our observation is
that the distinction between managing and
coaching is not clear in most call centers.

Recommended Best Practices:

9 Review all of your current coaching practices.

9 Look for what is formal and company mandated versus

informal and dependent upon the experience of the
individual supervisor.

9 Create, document and communicate a complete set of

coaching best practices.

9 Define the difference between managing and coaching.

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80% of Executive
Participants felt that Supervisors have all the right tools to be
supervisors do not have an effective coach
the right tools to be an (Executive Responses)
effective coach.
0%
- From Coachpalooza ’05 20% 20%
Strongly Disagree
Summary Report Disagree
0%
No Opinion
Agree
Strongly Agree
60%
Key Finding 2

CRM: Sales is a key process that Coaching: Coaching is a key

became institutionalized with
the help of software – CRM.
Prior to CRM, sales administration was a
labor intensive process. Managers had a
challenge in directing the business as
the information they used was only as
good as the latest manually prepared
sales forecast. They did not have a view
into the business. With technology that
“automated” many of these manual
processes, managers had more accurate
and timely information which allowed
them to make better decisions.
process that is not yet
technology enabled.
Coaching in the call center is still a
manual process. While the key
elements of coaching are people
intensive, there are other elements
of coaching that should look to CRM
for guidance. For example, we
observed that most managers have
little visibility into what is being
coached, how often, by whom and
with what effect. Automating this
kind of visibility was one of the
most fundamental issues
successfully addressed by CRM.

Recommended Best Practices:

9 Use technology to forecast, track and measure the impact of

coaching.

9 Use technology to help institutionalize coaching best

practices.

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IV. People

Supervisors have all the right skills to be an effective

coach

75%
60%

46%
50%
41%
Supervisor
Executive
20% 20%
25%

2% 5% 5%
0% 0%
0%
Strongly Disagree No Opinion Agree Strongly
Disagree Agree

While 87% of Supervisors felt they had the required skills to be an

effective coach, 80% of the participating Executives disagreed with
that assessment.
- From the Coachpalooza ’05 Summary Report

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Key Finding 1

CRM: Sales reps don’t think Coaching: Supervisors don’t think

they need sales training (but
their managers do)
Salespeople are by nature highly
confident in their skills and abilities.
For this reason, they were often
highly resistant to CRM projects that
required learning new sales
processes and training on how to
optimally execute those processes.
Ever tried to get a sales rep in sales
training?
they need coaching training (but
their managers do)
We found a similar attitude among
supervisors in the call center. As a group,
they are very confident in their skills and
abilities and do not feel the need for
training for themselves or coaching from
their managers on how to be more
effective coaches. A common Key Finding
in most of the call centers we visited was
that supervisors are comfortable coaching
on traditional call center metrics like AHT
and attendance, but are not comfortable
coaching on more complex issues like
revenue or career growth.

Recommended Best Practices:

9 The managers are right…supervisors need training on how to

be a complete coach together with expanding their skills to
include coaching on less traditional metrics like revenue,
customer loyalty and career goals.

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“Sometimes reps don’t think they need to change but it is rewarding

when you coach them and then they see that they could and did
improve!”
- Coachpalooza ‘05 Participant

Key Finding 2

CRM: CRM creates shared Coaching: Coaching creates

accountability
As Sales Force Automation evolved
into Customer Relationship
Management, it became more about
people and changing the behavior of
all the people who interact with the
customer. By providing clear
guidelines and with monitoring of all
activities, CRM enabled shared
responsibility for the client across a
team of people.
shared accountability
We observed in every focus group
session we facilitated that call
center supervisors are passionate
about improving the performance
of their people and feel strongly
that their agents can and should
be accepting more responsibility
for their own performance. The
supervisors we interviewed felt
like the key benefits of setting up
a best practices coaching
environment are that it would
empower agents to improve
individual performance, foster a
shared sense of accountability
between coach and agent and
ultimately, have a huge positive
impact on the business.

Recommended Best Practice:

9 Supervisors believe that good coaching creates shared

accountability for agent performance. Create programs
that allow agents to take a more aggressive role in their
own performance improvement.

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The Value-Driven Coaching Model™

As this paper has indicated, there are a number of environmental, cultural
and technology driven inhibitors that reduce the amount and frequency of
coaching, as well as obscure its effectiveness when delivered. We generally
observed that coaching is an activity that falls squarely on the shoulders of
supervisors alone, with little regard to helping the supervisors juggle all the
day to day realities of their jobs. The following graphic illustrates this
situation.

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Based on our extensive research and findings from Coachpalooza ’05, a

model emerged that addresses these inadequacies and provides the structure
for a multi-dimensional approach to ensure coaching delivers the value
“promised” to the agent, the customer, and to the business.

We call it the Value-Driven Coaching Model for the Call Center™ - see
illustration below. Our research clearly indicates a strong belief in the value
of coaching and the strong impact it can make on the business. At the same
time, we saw little action behind the words. This model recognizes and
enables the value coaching can bring. Our expectation is that with the right
approach and structure, call centers can begin to put coaching into action to
its maximum effectiveness. Based on our Key Findings, this model addresses
four dimensions for creating coaching value.

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The following set of questions can be used to help you apply the model to
your coaching environment.

I. Time
9 Are you challenged with finding time to
deliver coaching?
9 Are you challenged with finding time for
agents to receive coaching?
9 Do you have too many time delays in
delivering coaching?
9 Does this impact the effectiveness of the
coaching that gets delivered?

II. Information
9 Are your supervisors on “information
overload”?
9 Is the information they work with timely and
relevant?
9 Have you established coaching metrics?
9 Are these coaching metrics tracked and
monitored?

III. Process
9 Do you have a clearly defined coaching process for all metrics – both
traditional (ex. AHT) and non-traditional (ex. revenue)?
9 Have you clearly defined the role of the coach in your center?
9 What other work processes will need to change based on a value-
driven coaching process?

IV. People

9 Are your supervisors prepared to coach?

9 Are your supervisors and agents ready for a new coaching
relationship?
9 Are your agents ready for a new level of accountability and
responsibility?
9 Are your supervisors ready for a new level of accountability and
responsibility?

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Conclusion
Our research indicates that most call center executives agree that coaching is
a high value activity, yet few agree that coaching is happening at the rate or
level of effectiveness they need for their business.

So, why isn’t coaching happening – as much or as effectively – as it should?

While the Knowlagent team did not begin Coachpalooza ’05 with the specific
intent of answering this question, it emerged as THE significant and
pervasive issue. During the course of all of our interviews and the follow up
with each company to present their Key Findings, this was the question
everyone wanted answered. At the most basic level, our research indicates
that many companies are addressing the complex, multi-dimensional issue of
coaching with a simple, one-dimensional approach and are achieving less
than desired results.

Just as with successful CRM initiatives, our experience suggests that multiple
dimensions must be addressed, aligned, and carefully monitored to create
and sustain a comprehensive, value-driven coaching dimension in the call
center. Unless supervisors are provided with the appropriate supporting
environment to find time, and are empowered to prioritize coaching, the
amount and effectiveness of coaching in the call center will continue to lag.
Additionally, until coaching becomes a metric that is tracked, monitored and
coached to, like AHT, adherence, quality and revenue are, it will continue to
be pushed to the bottom of the “to do” list.

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 About Knowlagent
By automating traditional call center management
processes, Knowlagent’s on-demand agent management
solutions for training, coaching and hiring reduce
spending attributed to off-phone activities while
improving the key metrics that matter most to you.

Knowlagent Coaching™ helps you increase the amount,

frequency and effectiveness of coaching, ultimately
improving key metrics such as sales conversions and
overall agent productivity.

With Knowlagent’s on-demand Coaching solution, you

can:

• Increase supervisor span of control by as much as

20%.

• Provide supervisors with easy-to-use tools to

diagnose agent problems and create individualized
solutions.

• Automatically schedule time for coaches and agents

to meet to review performance gaps.

• Dramatically increase the amount, frequency and

effectiveness of coaching.

• Measure the impact and effectiveness of coaching.

• Create shared accountability between supervisors

and agents.

With Knowlagent, you can optimize frontline performance

faster and more affordably than ever before. You can
spend less and get better. For more information about
Knowlagent Coaching and our other on-demand agent
management solutions, visit us at www.knowlagent.com.

11800 Amberpark Drive

Suite 200
Alpharetta, GA 30009
Main: (678) 356-3500
Toll Free:
3157 Royal Drive, (888) 566-9457
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Alpharetta, GA 30022
www.knowlagent.com
888-566-9457
www.knowlagent.com
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