Agent Retention Through Positive Coaching Sally Cordova and Judy McKee Presented at the ATA 2009 This includes the Positive Coach Approach and a Case Study regardign Positive Coaching techniques and agent retention.

1. Agent Retention Through Positive Coaching

8. The LAMA © Technique McKee Consulting, LLC The Positive Coach Approach ©

10. The Eight Guiding Principles McKee Consulting, LLC The Positive Coach Approach © Create and Maintain a Safe Environment Create a Consultative Environment Build Self-Esteem by Focusing on the Positives Maintain an Adult Training Environment Responsibility to Learn/Grow Lies with Agent Time Lines are Essential Bi-Lateral Action Agreements Questions are the Key

13. Quality & Coaching – “The Soft Side of Customer Care” Call Center Myth Revealed…….. Contributed By: Aaron Taylor – Sr. Director of Customer Care Reunion.com/Mylife.com

14. Bio: Aaron Taylor AARON TAYLOR - is a senior level call center executive with over 5-years of experience in call center start-up and =management. A former partner at GEINE Technologies, a 250 seat outsourced call center where his clients included House of Blues, Perot Systems, United Airlines, Stamps.com, and many others. From 2003-2006 Aaron served as Sr. Director of Contact Centers for eHarmony.com where he designed and implemented a world-class, multi-channel Customer Care organization and supported the addition of over 12 million new customers. In 2006, Aaron was hired by a former client and assumed the role of Director of Customer Care at Stamps.com. In this capacity, he led the effort to re-organize the entire contact center structure and launched several highly effective initiatives surrounding Operations, Technology, Quality and Training, Revenue Enhancement, and Customer Satisfaction. Aaron is currently Sr. Director of Customer care for Mylife.com (formerly Reunion.com) where he is the senior customer advocate for the organization managing both the strategic and operational aspects of the Customer Care organization. Aaron is a frequent lecturer at various industry events and has been published in Contact Professional Magazine. Currently, Aaron is providing a wide-array of call center and customer care consulting services and has recently worked with companies like, Yokohama Tire, The City of El Monte, GE Capital, Superior Engineering, and many others.

16. Improves financial performance/increases revenue. Mylife.com – Launched customer retention program that YTD has prevented/protected millions. Stamps.com – Added over a million dollars in Life Time Value due to LAMA retention efforts . (Keep account open) eHarmony – Realized a 20% reduction in refunds and a 37% increase in retained account.

19. EMPLOYEE Turnover Quotes from the Experts! According to ICMI, reps felt that call centers were….. “ Impersonal and cold, leaving reps feeling isolated and unhappy; research shows that dissatisfaction with job conditions leads to turnover.” ICMI also concluded that….. “ High turnover centers also tend to offer less on-the-job training . It is likely that low amounts of training erode rep confidence and comfort in their job performance, and as a result, they are more likely to quit.”

24. McKee Consulting, LLC The Positive Coach Approach © I Did the Best I Could L - Listen to the agent’s opinion of his/her performance. A - I know you did, and thank you. M - I also know that you can do so much better. You have what it takes to be really good at this. A - Do you think that we could role play it and come up with a way to do this even better? And another thing . . .

25. McKee Consulting, LLC The Positive Coach Approach © L - Listen to the agent’s opinion of his/her performance. A – I understand. I thought that it was in the training but maybe not. M – I think that we can fix this right now. A – If we go over this today, will you use this from now on? Nobody ever told me that

26. The Positive Coach Approach © Don’t Say: Manipulative Questions that intimidate and create fear. How to say it. Set Up Questions in a fair manner to inspire and acknowledge . Did you like the way that call went? Don’t intimidate people into making themselves wrong. What would you like to improve on that call? What did you like or dislike on the call? Could you tell me where the customer was beginning to get irritated? Judgment call -- the agent already knows you don’t like it. I thought I heard some irritation on the part of the customer when he said: “AS I SAID” What did you think when that happened? Great Opener….. Excellent job…. (These expressions don’t mean anything.) Your opener was clear, sounded helpful and got straight to the point. The customer must have been glad to have gotten you on the telephone.