Secrets To Contact Center Success

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Dan Cooper is the Head of Digital at Spark NZ. He’s been working in the contact centre industry since the late 90s. Over the past few years, Dan’s lead the transformation of Spark’s customer care with digital adoption.

Today, he shares the details of Spark’s digital adoption journey, the mistakes they made along the way, and their exciting next steps. All so you can shortcut your organisation’s digital adoption journey.

Over the past few years, the approach Dan discusses has lead to significant improvements in Spark’s customer interaction NPS score and their employee NPS score. As well as a 45% reduction in human assisted interactions.

You'll Learn:

How Spark now starts all of their initiatives, instead of the common practice approach of starting with a commercial assessment (02:43).
Dan’s core philosophy regarding improving customer experience (03:04).
What was wrong with the KPIs the contact centres had in place when Dan arrived (which might be true of your KPIs too), and what he did about it (03:20).
The complete flip that Dan made with regards to customer journeys, which has allowed Spark to be more successful (04:26).
The proactive approach Spark now takes, to reduce the problems customers experience (04:40).
The management restructure that was done in the contact centre, which has been crucial to streamlining contact centre operations (05:32).
The continuous improvement approach Spark takes to reduce customer friction (06:21).
Why their first attempt to transition customers to use self-service options failed, and the successful approach that followed (08:29).
Which digital initiative Spark has launched in the last 12 months, which is going gangbusters (15:15).
The changes that Spark are are making to their internal systems, which will dramatically reduce the time taken to bring new hires up to speed (16:28).
The ‘unified front line’ approach that Spark is about to embark on, which will enable frontline team members to flow to wherever the customer needs them to be (18:03).
The subtle changes they made to the contact centre KPIs, which has resonated extremely well with staff (23:09).
A summary of Dan’s advice for contact centre leaders who are deciding to go down the digital adoption route (28:48).

See the full show notes.

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John Kelly is the Chief Revenue Officer at SupportLogic, while Jessica Voss is responsible for Enterprise Sales.

They have over 50 years’ experience between them in the tech side of contact centres and support services, and keep abreast of the latest trends. They know exactly what technology is needed to reduce escalations, customer churn, operational expenses, and lift customer satisfaction.

Today, they share their secrets to customer support success.

You'll Learn:

How to predict escalations and prevent them ahead of time (02:43).
The goldmine of information you have sitting in your contact centres, which is probably going untapped (04:33).
How to optimally prioritise the order in which tickets and cases are handled (08:21).
A nightmare example of what can happen when you leave it up to agents to escalate support cases (08:57).
How escalation prediction can reduce escalations and customer churn, while improving CSAT, NPS and employee retention (13:00).
How to get a far more accurate gauge of customer satisfaction, when your CSAT survey response rate is probably 15% or less (16:40).
Why customer satisfaction is dead (19:34).

See the full show notes

Get your free ‘support whisperer’ shirt from Jessica, by emailing her at jessica@supportlogic.com

Connect with John and Jessica on LinkedIn.

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Justin Baty is the Auckland Cars Regional Manager at Turners Auto Retail.

With 9 years’ experience in the business, he’s seen firsthand how the company’s supportive performance management process is highly effective at getting people back on-track and reaching their full potential.

Today, he shares what it is.

You'll Learn:

The details of the Performance Improvement Plan which Turners puts people on to support them to reach their potential, which you can swipe and deploy (02:31).
How managers structure their catch-ups, to ensure their team stay on track (02:55).
How team members can get daily coaching, in real-time (04:11).
The stunning success rate of the Performance Improvement Plans (05:18).
Just how quickly individual performance turns around with this approach, and how it motivates the rest of the team as well (06:21).
How this approach can be applied across the entirety of your business, including management (08:25).

See the full show notes

Connect with Justin on LinkedIn.

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David Stone is a Senior Vice President at the conversational AI startup, Curious AI.

With 30 years’ experience in the call centre industry, he’s spent his career working both in contact centre, for outsourcers, and for industry vendors.

Over the past 10 years, he’s seen the evolution of AI in contact centres. Today, he shares how the next generation of conversational AI can revolutionise your centres.

You'll Learn:

How David gets asked all the time by senior and CX leaders how their centres can take less calls from customers, and his unexpected answer (02:01).
The way conversational AI can be a bridge from your voice to your digital solution, at a lower price, and deliver better customer experience than an agent (03:11).
The 3Ps of this new wave of conversational AI, that allows for powerful customer conversations at scale (03:41).
Why traditional ‘conversational AI’ is neither conversational, nor overly intelligent, and why the next generation of the technology is vastly different (04:26).
How this next generation of the technology can be deployed within 10 days as opposed to months like traditional conversational AI, at a 10th of the cost (05:57).
Dave’s mantra for which companies will win in the digital age, and how you can join the winning side (08:21).
How you can tell when customers are likely to need to call your centre and proactively reach out to them, instead of needing to be able to take voice calls (08:48).
How conversational AI helps agents be even better, and will never fully replace their role (11:00).
How Curious Thing was able to able to deploy a solution for a government agency in Australia in 4 days, to make 1.5 million personalised calls (15:19).
How conversational AI is able to drive a constant loop of innovation, helping you gain better customer insights, and provide more value to them (17:07).

Full show notes

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Alex Mead is the Chief Customer Service Experience Director at a start-up digital bank in Bahrain.

With 20 years experience in this role at organisations across multiple industries, Alex has discovered many organisations have got fundamental parts missing from their customer experience equation, leading to poor outcomes for customers.

He’s developed a framework in response, which when implemented, is the secret to customer service success.

Today, he shares what it is.

You'll Learn:

The industry change that happened more than a decade ago which has compromised customer service experience ever since (01:29).
The 2 very separate parts of customer experience which have been forgotten (02:40).
The outdated view that many leaders have of customer service (04:22).
What Alex’s ‘EPIC’ framework stands for, which includes what organisations should always provide to customers in their service experience, but is commonly missing (05:24).
What your agents require to deliver on the needs of customers, which is summarised by Alex’s ‘TIME’ framework (07:58).
Why customer effort is king when it comes to world-class customer service (09:47).
What Alex is putting in place in his current role, to ensure it’s seamless for customers to move from self-service to talking with an agent (11:31).
Why most chat bots aren’t providing the level of customer service they could, and what to do about it (12:45).
The one (controversial) thing Alex recommends organisations do to improve the customer service experience they provide (13:20).

Full show notes

Connect with Alex on LinkedIn.

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Gabriel Mendez is an auditor and senior consultant in customer experience processes and technology applications.

Based in Mexico City, Gabriel has decades of experience in contact centre data and voice technology, and has been a judge for industry awards in Mexico and Colombia.

Today, he shares how to increase customer loyalty by reducing customer effort.

You'll Learn:

The 3 key metrics you need in place to measure and track customer experience (04:00).
How customer effort is the biggest determinant of customer loyalty, repurchasing and spending you can measure (04:59).
The common reasons why customer effort is higher than it should be (07:17).
Why many IVRs don’t create as much value as they could for customers (10:26).
Technologies which can reduce customer effort, and the common pitfalls when deploying them (13:02).
Why Customer Effort Score should replace NPS as your primary customer experience measure (15:52).

See the full show notes

Connect with Gabriel on LinkedIn.

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Immanuel Joseph is the Reporting Manager at Allianz Australia.

With a master’s degree in IT, Immanuel has worked in the Allianz contact centre for the past 4 years to modernise their reporting.

Today, he shares tips from the journey Allianz has been on to modernise their reporting, so you can do the same, and empower Centre Managers and Team Leaders to make better decisions.

You'll Learn:

3 critical problems with using Excel for reporting (01:34).
The 2 key steps Immanuel took to migrate reporting to being live and online, which reduced costs and increased buy-in from managers (04:39).
The way the contact centre has created a scalable framework so they can produce any number of reports with the same ease (08:15).
Why having people with an IT background in your contact centre can save your centre money, and solve your problems quicker (10:49).
Tips on a better approach for using Excel for reporting (12:05).

See the full show notes.

Connect with Immanuel on LinkedIn.

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Stephanie Riordan-Edmonds is the Head of Customer Service at Southern Cross Health Society.

She’s been in the contact centre industry since the mid 90’s, and loves making a difference to customers and her people.

Today, she shares they maintain a positive work culture through values at Southern Cross, and changes they’ve made as a result of lockdown.

You'll Learn:

The 4 things Stephanie did when she first started as Head of Customer Service (02:05).
The 5 functions of a team, which formed the basis of a workshop Stephanie ran to foster trust and a positive culture (02:36).
The 2 common areas her Team Leaders realised they needed to take action in (03:23).
The 5 things Southern Cross has done to help the health and wellbeing of staff in the Covid lockdowns (04:09).
One of the aspects of Friday standups which people find really motivating (05:29).
The 5 ways they embed the organisation’s values at Southern Cross (07:26).
The 4 steps Stephanie suggests Senior Leaders can take to improve the psychological safety and engagement of their people (09:47).

See the full show notes

Connect with Stephanie on LinkedIn.

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Marc Carriere is the creator of the 7 Pillars for Creating Amazing Team Leaders course.

With 35 years’ international experience in the contact centre industry, Marc has managed contact centes, owned one, won industry awards, and consulted with businesses, coaching and mentoring their Contact Centre Managers and Team Leaders.

Today, he shares how to create amazing team leaders.

The approach Marc takes when training Team Leaders:

Ensure they know their role and responsibilities, with respect to being a Team Leader, and the interactions they have with their Centre Manager. Otherwise, it can be unclear who’s supposed to do what, when (06:44).
Have them stop doing activities which an admin person or HR person should be doing, so they have the time needed to train and coach their team (08:11).
Teach them how to give effective training and feedback to their team (09:08).
Create a coachable call structure, that sets out the steps of a call, which Team Leaders can coach to (09:23).
Have them monitor recorded calls, which they score and give feedback on (11:09).
Have them run pre-shift meetings, to get their people prepared and focused for the shift ahead (12:05).
Have them do skills audits to identify what areas their agents need help with (12:55).

You'll Learn:

Why Team Leaders are the backbone of any contact centre operation (02:56).
How most Team Leaders are missing fundamental skill sets to be effective leaders (05:01).
The key to effective time management (13:52).
How a coaching call structure differs from a quality guidelines (15:15).

Full show notes: https://bravatrak.com/marc-carriere-podcast

Connect with Marc on LinkedIn.

Get Marc’s free course, 7 Pillars For Creating Amazing Team Leaders Who Coach, Nurture And Lead Winning Teams

Check out Marc’s website and YouTube channel for more for more resources.

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Michael Clark is the Principal Consultant at CXTT Consulting.

He has more than 20 years experience in the contact centre industry across both the private and government sectors. This year, he started his consultancy, focused on helping organisations with their transformations in the customer experience and technology space.

Today, he shares the essential steps to take when implementing your strategy.

Michael’s Top Tips For Successful Strategy Implementation:

Build interdisciplinary teams, so there’s common ground and collaboration between the departments involved (01:49).
Strategy implementation falls apart when it’s top-down only. You get the best results from engaging with the frontline. You’ll have a better chance of getting their buy-in, plus, you’ll uncover roadblocks implementing change (07:45).

You'll Learn:

What Michael did to reset expectations with work-from-home teams due to COVID, which helped lower everyone’s stress (04:03).
The style of leadership Michael finds best to empower employees, give them ownership, help get their buy-in, and help them deliver change (09:02).
What design thinking is, how it’s helped Michael tackle all sorts of business problems, and how it can help you too (12:46).
The key thing to consider in your business, so you remain relevant in a world disrupted by COVID (16:58).

Full show notes: https://bravatrak.com/michael-clark-podcast

Connect with Michael on LinkedIn.

Check out Michael’s blog for more resources on the topics he covered.

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Paolo Fabrizio is a Digital Customer Service consultant.

He’s been in the contact centre industry since the mid 90’s, and as been focused on helping companies improve their digital channel customer service for the past 7 years.

Today, he shares what’s stopping your agents from providing the best digital customer service.

Paolo’s Top Tips When Adding Digital Channels:

Introduce one digital channel at a time, ensuring you have the staff with the necessary skills for each (32:15).
Once you get results with a new digital channel, market the results within your organisation, so you get buy-in from your colleagues (33:49).

You'll Learn:

Why having the right company culture is far more important than the digital platforms you use (03:26).
The common mistake Paolo sees organisations in their adoption of new digital platforms (04:52).
Why good agents in your phone and email channels might not be the right people to provide digital customer service, and what to do about it (06:18).
The 2 essential skill sets that agents need to be equipped with to master digital customer service (08:06).
Why getting rid of scripts for agents will be crucial for you to separate your organisation from your competitors (12:15).
The approach Paolo is seeing contact centres take to make the cultural changes necessary to meet customer expectations (14:05).
‘The Blockbuster risk’ which could make your organisation obsolete, and what to do about it (17:55).
The new skillset Team Leaders need, if they’re to effectively manage agents in digital channels (20:10).
The framework Paolo uses when he assists clients to improve their digital customer service (26:19). Get his e-book which covers the framework at https://customerserviceculture.com/en/resources/#ebook

Full show notes: https://bravatrak.com/paolo-fabrizio-podcast

Connect with Paolo on LinkedIn.

Get your copy of Paolo’s e-book, Digital Customer Service Personas: The skill-set model for Digital Customer Service Assistants

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Chris Clark is the National Partner Manager at Jabra in New Zealand.

Chris has been in the unified communications - or call centric - industry for 15 years. As a result, he’s got great insight into best-practice when it comes to contact centre headsets.

Today, he shares why your agents’ headsets may be hurting customer experience, and what to do about it.

You'll Learn:

The 2 key elements of audio which determine customer satisfaction (06:00).
Why your current headsets may allow hackers to listen in to customer conversations, and the technology you can use to prevent it (09:32).
Why many headsets are inappropriate for use in contact centres (10:41).
Why noise cancellation in headsets is terrible for contact centres, and a better approach (11:44).
The headsets which are now working hand in hand with AI (14:35).
Why it’s critical to ensure your headsets are certified by the platforms you use (18:06).
The 2 common mistakes Chris sees in headset selection for agents (21:03).
Chris’ biggest piece of advice for choosing headsets for your agents (26:18).

Full show notes: https://bravatrak.com/chris-clark-podcast

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Darren is the Co-Founder of Cloud Tech Gurus, and Rob Enslow is Senior Executive Partner.

Cloud Tech Gurus are technology matchmakers. They help call centres to more effectively and efficiently source and procure technology solutions. They invest 40+ hours to each client project, at no cost to you, as they are compensated by suppliers.

Today, they share the little-known next generation of contact centre technology solutions, which can make a big difference in your centre.

You'll Learn:

The technology solutions which are in the highest demand right now (06:35).
The solution which handles better, faster, and cheaper than a live agent. Often with a higher CX score (08:33).
What RPA is, and how it can replace 2 to 6 of your people, for a fraction of the cost (09:27).
The technology that can clone your subject matter experts and high performers, and cut training time for new hires in half. And return your investment in 90 days (11:30).
How you can access a global workforce of contact centre agents on-demand, cutting your cost of talent acquision and staffing in half (13:24).
How a conversational AI tool has generated $25 million in additional revenue for one organisation, in the past year (15:57).
How an AI tool predicts and prevents escalation in customer care, and is creating savings of 30 - 60% of escalation costs (17:01).
The technology solution which enables you to get rid of your PBX and has 100% guaranteed uptime, saving you tens of thousands of dollars (18:14).

Full show notes: https://bravatrak.com/cloud-tech-gurus-podcast

Connect with Darren and Rob on LinkedIn.

Check out the Cloud Tech Gurus website, and get updates on the latest technologies.

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Phil Skingsley is the MD at Sales Performance Improvement Strategies.

He was in the top 3% of salespeople for Xerox in the UK, transformed performance at American Express in New Zealand, and helped a major New Zealand bank achieve sales of between 200% and 300% of target.

Today, he shares how to increase sales through excellent customer service.

You'll Learn:

The 2 key ways to ensure your sales consultants create good customer outcomes (03:31).
The SPEND framework that Phil recommends consultants use to uncover customer needs (04:51).
An example of how a high-performing sales consultant delivered outstanding customer care (06:09).
The power of uncovering the impact problems are having on customers, and how it turned a small speaker manufacturer into a global powerhouse (09:47).
How great selling is really just great customer service (13:09).
How opportunities to lift sales and achieve good customer outcomes may be sitting right in front of you (15:56).
What customers are really buying when they purchase from you. It’s probably not what you think (18:11).
An easy exercise you can do with your team, to lift their sales and belief in your products (19:15).
How a major retail chain increased extended warranty sales by just over 20%, nationwide (22:07).
The 2 magic words that need to be used in sales conversations (23:38).
The most important step to lifting sales, which comes straight out of the playbook of the All Blacks, the best rugby team in the world (24:08).

Full show notes: https://bravatrak.com/phil-skingsley-podcast

Connect with Phil on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/philip-skingsley-9b1aaa22/

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Sarah Mannion is the Global Support Centre Manager at Fisher & Paykel Appliances.

Her earliest contact centre role was back in 2000. She has deep experience in the finance sector, and at the intersection of HR and operations.

Today, she shares how she was able to turn around the coaching in her centre, by significantly freeing up Team Leaders’ time.

Sarah’s Top 3 Tips (08:12)

Identify the role you expect of your Team Leaders, and ask yourself, if you were to start again, how would you structure your contact centre to make that a reality?
Make sure you have the right Team Leaders in your centre. It’s vital to keep an eye out for new talent.
Connect your people to the voice of the customer, and to your organisation’s values and purpose. That way, everyone is clear about how they fit in to where you’re going.

You'll Learn:

How Sarah has structured her centre, to allow Team Leaders to spend 90% of their time coaching (02:07).
What change Sarah has made to enable much better career progression in her centre (06:28).
The tool Sarah uses to do frequent pulse checks of employee engagement (09:19).
How Sarah is ensuring Team Leaders do the coaching they need to, even if they have a natural tendency to avoid doing it (09:27).
The 2 elements of how Sarah is maintaining a great company culture, even with everyone working-from-home (10:04).

As part of this transformation, Sarah would like to acknowledge Suhail Shaikh who joined Fisher & Paykel and saw the gaps in their structure and the impact this was having on their leaders. He worked alongside Workforce Planning Manager, Tarush Airi, to deliver the business case and embed the change to deliver what they have today.

Connect with Sarah on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-mannion-87bb2213/

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Gerry Brown is The Customer Lifeguard, saving the world from bad customer service.

He has over 40 years’ experience in the contact centre industry, and helps businesses save customers at risk and breathe life into their customer service operations and customer experience strategy.

Today, he shares the 4 key pillars of a successful customer experience strategy.

The 4 pillars which make world-leading companies great (04:51)

Culture
Communication
Commitment
Community

You'll Learn:

The relationship between employee experience and customer experience (08:19).
Solutions to the company culture challenges created by work-from-home, based on what Gerry is hearing from senior leaders (13:14).
Why cross-functional collaboration is essential to your organisation’s success, and the proven (yet simple) approach Gerry recommends clients use (18:38).
The very first thing to do when it comes to improving employee experience and customer experience (26:37).
Gerry’s 3 tips when it comes to enhancing organisational engagement, in order to improve customer experience (29:54).

Full show notes: https://bravatrak.com/gerry-brown-podcast

Connect with Gerry on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gerryhbrown/

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Rachna Singh is a Managing Consultant at Madison Recruitment. She manages the team who recruits CSRs for Auckland contact centres.

Today, she shares what to look for when recruiting high potential CSRs, who have the talent to step up to a Team Leader role.

The 7 attributes Rachna looks for in high potential CSR candidates (02:21)

Willingness to learn.
Clear and effective communication.
Sees the bigger picture, of how their work relates to the vision and goals of the organisation.
The ability to positively influence others.
Firm and confident.
Open to feedback and new ideas.

You'll Learn:

The vital characteristic which leaders need, but is often forgotten (03:25).
The 3 attributes which are critical for Team Leaders (04:11).
The 3 steps CSRs can take to step up to a Team Leader role (05:53).
The 2 top areas of development which most people need to excel as a Team Leader (08:54).
The key actions people can take to progress towards their first leadership role (12:12).

Full show notes: https://bravatrak.com/rachna-singh-podcast

Connect with Rachna on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachna-singh-a7b97a127/

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Julien Rio is the AVP of International Marketing at RingCentral, a leading provider of employee and customer communications systems.

Although Julien comes from a marketing background, his passion has always been around customer experience. He is a CCXP (Certified Customer Experience Professional), and co-host of the CX Therapy podcast.

Today, he shares the common problems he sees in omnichannel strategies, and how to solve them.

Julien’s Top 2 Tips

Open one new channel at a time, by finding out which one customers use on daily basis, and then launching it with only a sample of customers. That way, you can expand it at the rate you’re comfortable, or switch it off if it doesn’t work (11:28).
If you’re thinking of switching off a channel, make sure the data shows that it’s time to transition away from it. Assumptions can often get in the way of making the right choice (13:12).

You'll Learn:

The difference between omnichannel, multi-channel, and cross-channel, and why it’s important to know (02:47).
Why moving to an omnichannel approach is mission critical for your business, if customer experience is a priority (04:28).
The 2 steps (which are often missed) that will help you deploy your omnichannel channel strategy successfully (05:46).
The skills to bear in mind when recruiting agents to deliver an omnichannel experience (08:24).
The danger of having phone teams also do email, which hurts customer experience (10:22).
Why good customer experience is the shortest path to additional revenue (14:57).
How your Customer Service Representatives can be the best possible sales people in your team (16:37).

Connect with Julien on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julienrio/

Tune in to Julien’s podcast, ‘CX Therapy’ on YouTube, or follow it on Twitter or LinkedIn.Follow me on LinkedIn, or connect with me on Facebook.

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Mark Kenning is the Head of Sales at Cigna Life Insurance.

He has 26 years experience in the contact centre industry, and has had various roles involved with sales throughout that period.

Today, he shares how to overcome the sales leadership challenges in financial services, triggered by the Royal Commission in Australia, and the FMA’s review in New Zealand.

Mark’s Top 3 Tips

The customer has to be at the top of the pyramid, not the drive for remuneration (16:55).
Do the basics well. It’s easy to inadvertently drift away from doing them as you start doing new things in the business, and as new people come in (17:19).
Be ruthless with standards, but gracious with people. Treat your team with care and respect, at the same time as having high standards of the behaviour you expect of them (18:26).

You'll Learn:

The process agents follow with customers which ensures they create good customer outcomes, that’s often overlooked (06:53).
The change which Mark is making, to empower staff but ensure compliance is being met (10:28).
The 3 steps Mark is taking, to motivate agents to create good customer outcomes (14:47).

Show notes: https://bravatrak.com/mark-kenning-podcast

Connect with Mark on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-kenning-4b551367/

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Geeta Sreeraman is the Head of Customer Centre at DBS Bank in Singapore.

She has 22 years’ experience in banking across 3 countries, and 15 years’ experience in the contact centre industry.

Today, she shares how she helped create world-class customer experience in the bank’s contact centre, and how it’s lead to:

DBS becoming the World’s Best Bank, 3 years in a row.
An increase in complements from 300 to 10,000 a month.
A consistent drop in customer contacts year-on-year, of between 8 and 10%.
Consistent Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) ratings of around 4.6 out of 5.
Consistent awarding of the Best Contact Centre of the Year by the Contact Centre Association of Singapore.

Geeta’s Top 3 Tips

Given your agents are dealing with customers everyday, you have rich insights into what customers like and want. Find a way to capture the essence of that data, and see how you can use it to refine your customer journeys (17:02).
Ensure you have a very strong support system for your agents, which includes their training, how they’re empowered, and the simplification of systems which they use (18:12).
Put customer experience at the centre of everything you do. All other metrics should play only a supporting role (18:55).

You'll Learn:

The 3 parts of DBS’s service which turned around customer experience (03:26).
How the contact centre changed from meeting only the functional needs of customers, to also meeting their emotional needs (04:32).
The radical change in agent empowerment that was made in the centre (07:15).
The clever (and simple) piece of technology agents use to hone their skills (08:25).
How agents working from home are supported, so they have just as much support as they’d have in the office (08:57).
The 2 steps Geeta takes to continually reduce call volume (10:38).

Connect with Geeta on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/geeta-sreeraman-0575337/

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Nigel Piper is the Executive General Manager of Customer at Xero.

He’s been responsible for architecting and building Xero’s support model during the company’s hypergrowth over the past 9 years, going from 100,000 customers to more than 2.7 million.

Today, he shares how he reinvented his contact centres to create outrageously great customer experience, and how you can do the same.

You'll Learn:

How Nigel is allergic to inbound voice, but loves outbound voice, and the advantage to customers (03:51).
How Xero’s hypergrowth has forced Nigel to think differently about customer support (04:51).
The ‘cart before the horse’ technology problem which Nigel sees companies make, and what to do about it (07:38).
Why Nigel wants to increase customer contacts (beyond organisational growth), not decrease them. Although counter-intuitive, it’s very clever (08:15).
The exact parts of Xero’s people culture which enables their CX offices to deal with exponential growth in customer contacts (10:53).
How Xero’s world-class content, education and help platform gives customers exactly what they need, when they need it. It’s created extremely high NPS, and massively cut down on the number of cases raised (12:23).
Xero’s customer service workflow that allows for hypergrowth (13:42).
The advantages of Xero’s open and transparent culture (16:59).
The values Nigel believes are key to creating great customer support experiences (18:01).
The trend Nigel sees in how customers expect to be helped, which is only getting bigger (19:01).

Full show notes: https://bravatrak.com/nigel-piper-podcast

Connect with Nigel on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nigepipes/

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Josh Walton is the Workforce Planning Manager at Allianz Australia.

He was the Auscontact Association, National Workforce Management Champion for 2020. And he was part of the Workforce Optimisation team that won the National Operations Award in 2019.

Today, he shares how your workforce management team can help your contact centre make better decisions.

Josh’s Top 3 Tips For Creating A High-Performing Workforce Management Team:

Continue to invest in training and technology for your team. Which also means grabbing as much budget as you can for your team (14:59).
Develop a diversity of strengths within your team. Josh is also a big fan of using CliftonStrengths to understand team members’ innate strengths, so he can assign the right person to the right project (15:31).
Collaborate with your team to come up with what Josh calls ‘operating principles’ you expect each other to follow (16:14).

You'll Learn:

The value that your workforce management team adds to your business, which often goes unnoticed (02:13).
The 3 steps Josh took to turn his workforce management team into a major contributor to the business (05:18).
The principle he applied from professional sports, that he credits for helping win the National Operations Award in 2019 (09:12).
Exactly what he looks for when hiring great workforce planners and analysts (10:33).
The way he motivates his team to ensure new hires are successful in their roles (12:48).
The philosophy Josh has when it comes to hiring (13:50).

Connect with Josh on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-walton-524120108/

Follow me on LinkedIn, or connect with me on Facebook.

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Deepak Selvaratnam is the founder and COO of Snapshotz and Remotability, which has more than 10 years of validated data on how to improve mental health of contact centre team members.

Today, he shares what to do about the abuse your agents face from customers.

Deepak’s Top 3 Tips For Addressing Agent Abuse:

Define the levels of abuse that customer agents face, so they can be trained and supported accordingly (07:57).
There’s technology available to understand customer nuances and why they’re upset. Take advantage of it, so you can better support your agents (08:17).
Make your centres aware of any issues - whether external or internal to the organisation - which are impacting customers. That way, a defense can be formed for angry customer calling about the issue (08:43).

You'll Learn:

What ‘emotional labour’ is, and how it damages agent mental health, and craters their motivation (04:05).
The 2 common reasons why customers are abusive (04.19).
The shocking percentage of organisations which haven’t taken the first step to addressing agent abuse (05:39).
The critical skill gap that’s stopping agents from better handling abuse (10:35).
The problem you face if you have an outsourced contact centre, and what to do about it (07:03).
A simple and effective way to identify what’s missing to better support your agents (09:44).

Full show notes: https://bravatrak.com/deepak-selvaratnam-podcast

Connect with Deepak on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deepak-selvaratnam-b8182a11/

Follow me on LinkedIn, or connect with me on Facebook.

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Clare Baker is the Country Manager for Australia and New Zealand at eGENTIC.

She has 25 years’ experience in sales, both as a BDM (Business Development Manager) and in sales management. Most of that time, she’s worked in the outsourced contact centre industry, with many clients across a wide range of industries.

Today, she shares how to lift the performance of your outbound sales teams.

Clare’s Top 3 Tips:

It all comes down to the environment. So make sure you create one that’s set-up for success (13:37).
Make sure that your Team Leaders have been trained in how to coach and understand their individual agents (13:47).
Make sure the calling lists give agents the best change of success, by making sure the people they’re calling actually want or need what you’re selling (14:15).

You'll Learn:

Clare’s controversial advice which will help your team leaders best understand their team, so they get the best from them (04:05).
A couple of easy ways team leaders can recognise the success of agents (05:20).
The 2 common gaps Clare sees in lower performing centres. Plug these, and success is assured (07:12).
What Team Leaders are often saddled with, which gets in the way of them growing sales (08:14).
Clare’s great ‘Haystack Metaphor’, that will help you ensure your agents remain motivated (08:53).
The one thing Clare’s noticed that makes the world of difference in agents being fired up (11:44).
The simple question that will guide you in how to improve outbound sales (12:18).

Connect with Clare on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/clarebaker1/

Follow me on LinkedIn, or connect with me on Facebook.

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Andrew Sidwell is the founder of BareZero, strengthening transformation teams.

He was previously Executive Director of the Customer Experience Transformation Program at DBS Bank in Singapore, where he helped the bank transform into the World’s Best Bank, 3 years in a row.

Today, he shares how the bank made the transformation.

Andrew’s Top 3 Tips For Managing Change:

Get a very clear picture of what your role is in the transformation, to support your people. It will be different from your business-as-usual role (21:43).
Change yourself first. It's okay to be vulnerable, and be willing to be bare and open with your team. Keep resetting in order to do your best work (22:30).
Your people are the change makers. Not you. So it’s crucial to create space for your people, so they can do the work needed to get where you want to go (23:45).

You'll Learn:

What organisations DBS looked at, to get a head start on creating world-class service (05:58).
The first of 5 pillars which Piyush Gupta (CEO of DBS Group) focused on to begin the transformation (05:14).
The steps the bank took to hone the service they wanted to deliver to customers into 3 words (07:02).
What ‘RED’ stands for, and how it forms the basis of service provided by the bank. Chances are, it will be equally applicable in your business (09:47).
How DBS got buy-in to the transformation at all levels (12:43).
Andrew’s number 1 tip for the mindset to have as a leader, so you can help your people learn and transform (16:12).
The process which senior leaders followed, to get deep insight into what was working in the transformation, what wasn’t, and the opportunities that existed (16:58).
The ‘minefield’ some of your people may feel they’re having to find their way through, when you’re in the midst of change, and how to help them (20:27).

Full transcript: https://bravatrak.com/andrew-sidwell-podcast

Connect with Andrew on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewsidwell8

Get the book by Paul Cobban (Chief Transformation Officer at DBS Bank), which Andrew highly recommends (Eat, Sleep, Innovate: How to Make Creativity an Everyday Habit Inside Your Organization), on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Eat-Sleep-Innovate-Creativity-Organization/dp/1633698378

Follow me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevensonblair

Connect with me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/blair.stevenson.980

Eat, Sleep, Innovate: How to Make Creativity an Everyday Habit Inside Your Organization

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Emma Riordan is the Customer Care Manager at Econowaste.

Prior to her current role, she was with Skinny, as the Head of Skinny Care. In her time there, the contact centre won numerous awards.

Today, she shares how to create an award-winning contact centre with servant leadership, based on her 23 years in the industry.

Emma’s Top 3 Tips:

Do real life. It’s essential to enable your people to manage their work-life balance. You’ll end up with agents who are more motivated, and have better conversations with customers (07:36).
Truly listen to what your people say, and treat it like a gift. Even though it’s not always a gift you want (14:45).
Make sure your people feel valued, and that their future is with you - even if it’s only an emotional attachment to your organisation (16:19).

You'll Learn:

The 3 standout experiences which formed Emma’s approach to leadership, one terrible, two great (01:33).
The ‘family first’ approach one of Emma’s past managers, that helped get the best from her team (04:03).
The 2 critical parts of servant leadership which enable your people to do their best (05:22).
The small things which make a world of difference for your agents (08:30).
How winning awards at Skinny was never the focus, but the by-product of putting their people first (09:52).
The wider relationships it’s essential to have within your organisation, so you’re always the first to know what’s going on, and ensure your people are kept front-and-centre of what other departments are doing (12:49).

Show notes: https://bravatrak.com/emma-riordan-podcast

Connect with Emma on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmalrio/

Follow me on LinkedIn, or connect with me on Facebook.

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Lance Burdett is the founder of WARN International. He spent 22 years with the NZ Police, becoming their lead crisis negotiator.

In that time, he was also responsible for recruitment and training at the Police Emergency 111 call centres, where he delivered programmes on handling emotional conversations and personal resilience.

As a result, he has extensive experience in operating in stressful environments, and has practical tips to deal with stress in your contact centres. Today, he shares them.

Lance’s Top 3 Tips:

Connect with others. The best way is to have face-to-face conversations, one-on-one (05:51).
Exercise. A 15 to 20 minute walk a day will burn off the stress hormones we get throughout across our day (17:46).
Get a better night’s sleep (18:39). Lance’s ‘sleep tips’ document shows you how. To get it, click here, and in the ‘Interest’ dropdown, select ‘Sleep Tips’.

You'll Learn:

7 ways to check whether you’re overwhelmed - even if you don’t feel it (01:18).
The simplest way to calm your entire body in an instant, thanks to a special nerve (02:25).
What to do every hour to feel better. It only takes a moment (03:54).
2 quick actions agents can do after calls to keep in balance (04:39).
The four pillars to mental wellbeing (05:38).
Why working half in the office and half from home doesn’t work well for most people, and what to do about it (06:02).
Lance’s take on group meetings that you might find controversial (06:40).
The temptation which gets in the way of your work-life balance when working from home (07:18).
Lance’s catchy phrase that helps you bring your best-self when working from home (08:01).
A great way to switch off from work at the end of the day, that’s also used by undercover police (09:18).
How a blanket can make the difference in your work-life balance (10:24).
The 3 stages people go through when struggling with their mental health. You’ll learn the warning signs of each and what to do to help them (11:40).
The food to eat just before bedtime which will help have uninterrupted sleep (18:51).

Full show notes: https://bravatrak.com/lance-burdett-podcast

Get Lance’s sleep tips document: Click here, and in the ‘Interest’ dropdown, select ‘Sleep Tips’.

Connect with Lance on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/warninternational/

Follow me on LinkedIn, or connect with me on Facebook.

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Daniel Ord is the founder and director of OmniTouch International. He’s spent the last 20 years helping and inspiring people to deliver great customer experience, employee experience and contact centre performance.

As one of only 15 recognized training providers in the world for CXPA (the Customer Experience Professionals Association), he has deep insight into how to create world-class customer experience in your contact centres.

There are 6 domains of Customer Experience, which you’re probably not paying attention to. Daniel shares what they are.

Dan’s Top 3 Tips For Lifting CX:

Ask yourself whether the metrics you have in place to measure productivity are aligned with achieving your CX ambitions. You won’t achieve your ambitions by focusing on ones like number of calls handled and average handling time (23:15).
Develop a ‘service delivery vision’ - a one or two sentence statement that says what kind of service your contact centre delivers (23:49).
The whole organisation is responsible for delivering on CX. Not just the contact centres. Build relationships with other department heads, so you can work together to fix customer issues holding back CX (25:09).

You'll Learn:

Dan’s ‘circus tent’ metaphor for CX, and why it’s vital to understand it to lift CX in your organisation (04:50).
The 6 core competencies of CX, and how you contact centre can contribute to them (06:11).
The problem caused by asking an NPS (Net Promoter Score) survey at the end of calls (10:36).
The ‘spaghetti diagram’ and how it can help you lift CX (11:26).
The percentage of low NPS scores caused by other departments (discovered by the Head of CX, at the biggest bank in his country). The number will shock you (12:10).
The one question Dan asks to get a sense of how well a contact centre is operating (16:54).
Dan’s PQ and A model which highlights the metrics to focus on to lift CX. This will also help you recruit the right people (18:17).

Connect with Dan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniellawrenceord/

If you want to steal some ideas on how to lift operational efficiency while reducing unplanned leave, send me an email (at blairs@bravatrak.com) and we can organise a 15-minute call over Zoom or Teams.

Follow me on LinkedIn, or connect with me on Facebook.

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I’m Blair Stevenson, founder of BravaTrak. Since 1997, I’ve specialised in helping contact centres lift agent performance by more than 11% in 7 months. My science-based system achieves this by measuring and improving the coaching effectiveness of managers.

Working with over 7000 first-line managers, I’ve identified there are 7 traits high-performing team leaders have in common.

These are the ones to look for when you’re recruiting team leaders, to ensure they’ve got high potential.

The 7 Traits of High-Potential Team Leaders:

Honesty (05:09).
Action oriented (11:02).
Low need for approval (14:32).
High IQ (20:10).
Social awareness and ability to maintain good relationships (22:57).
Self-awareness and ability to self-manage (25:02).
Great time management (28:08).

You'll Learn:

The most important characteristic people say they want in their team leader - based on global research since 1987 (05:34).
The 2 questions to ask during an interview to identify whether a prospect has this characteristic (08:02).
The competency area of your team leaders which has the greatest impact on employee engagement (07:08).
Why most successful team leaders aren’t perfectionists (11:58).
The percentage of decisions made by Chief Executives which are wrong - the number will shock you (12:33).
What high performing team leaders have in common with dictators (15:19).
Strategies they use to keep maintain self-awareness (25:32).
The common red flag which shows a person has poor self-management (26:04).
The hack high performing team leaders use to ensure they get things done in the required timeframe (28:38).

Follow me on LinkedIn, or connect with me on Facebook.

If you want to understand how the future of contact centre coaching - which is a behavioral science-based approach - can help you to strengthen employee engagement and to drive results, send me an email (at blairs@bravatrak.com) and we can organize a 15-minute call over Zoom or Teams.

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Laurie Smith is the director of CRM Consulting. She’s the force behind the annual CRM Contact Centre Awards, the industry’s largest awards in New Zealand.

Laurie shares her top tips on how to win.

Laurie’s Top Tips:

Get a preaudit done by the CRM Consulting team - you’ll get their recommendations on where to improve, which will also lift everyday customer service (10:34).
Talk to past winners, which you can do at the showcasing events. You can also check out the past winners here https://www.crmconsulting.co.nz/crm-awards/2020-results. They always offer lots of tips (11:36).
Bring your agents to the awards. If you don’t win an award on the night, they’ll come away from the event really wanting to be up on the podium next year (12:12).

You'll Learn:

The 3 things the CRM Awards have done for the contact centre industry in New Zealand (01:50).
The awards up for grabs (03:32).
The 4 key characteristics the Supreme Award winners have in common (05:42).
The timelines for the awards each year - what happens, when (08:15).
How CEOs and Managing Directors often say the awards evenings are one of the best they’ve ever been to (12:48).

Check out the full show notes here: https://bravatrak.com/laurie-smith-podcast

Check out the highlights of the 2019 CRM Awards: https://vimeo.com/384424183/eb4f6423fb

Connect with Laurie here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurie-smith-24875a14/

Follow me on LinkedIn, or connect with me on Facebook.

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Garry Gormley is the founder of FAB Solutions - the contact centre specialists. He has nearly 20 years’ experience in the contact centre industry. In that time, he’s working across a wide range of industries, and has been responsible for a number of projects.

Garry also runs The Contact Centre Network. The Network holds free monthly events, with industry thought leaders sharing practical advice and support to help improve the running of your contact centre.

He shares the key considerations when it comes to deciding on your post-pandemic operating model.

Garry’s Top 3 Tips:

Evaluate what your operating model needs to look like. If you’ve still got resource challenges 12 months on from COVID, there are some core issues which need to be addressed (21:55).
Listen to your employees and take action on what they’re saying. The employers who do this will suffer lower attrition when certainty returns and people start looking for jobs again (22:37).
Invest in the capability of your leadership team, so they’re better able to coach and communicate with their team remotely (23:37).

You'll Learn:

The percentage of remote workers who want to remain remote, return to the office, and want a combination. The numbers may surprise you (05:26).
9 advantages of having an operating model with 100% of agents working from home (07:15).
3 benefits to agents for working in centre (11:38).
How remote working can jeopardise agents’ resilience, and what to do about it (12:27).
What needs to change to ensure work from home agents get the support they need (13:28).
Advice from a leader of a 100% remote BPO, to get the best from work from home agents (16:26).
Garry’s Customer Experience equation. Get these pillars right, and great Customer Experience is assured (25:17).

Show notes: https://bravatrak.com/garry-gormley-podcast

Connect with Garry here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/garry-gormley-fism-the-contact-centre-specialist/

Join ‘The Contact Centre Network’. Garry runs free monthly events, with industry thought leaders sharing their experience and best-practice tips.

If you'd like to understand how the future of contact centre coaching - which is a behavioral science based approach - can help you to strengthen employee engagement and enhance customer experience, send me an email (at blairs@bravatrak.com) and we can organize a 15-minute call over Zoom or Teams.

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Dave Hoekstra is a Workforce Management (WFM) Evangelist at Calabrio. He has more than 20 years’ experience in the contact centre industry, much of that spent in Workforce Management.

Dave spends much of his time talking with Contact Centre Leaders and staying abreast of the latest developments in WFM. As a result, Dave has deep insight into the trends in WFM which will transform your contact centre.

Dave’s Top 3 Trends:

There’s a shift to empowering agents to have more of a say in their schedule, to lift their engagement (03:59).
The computing power of the cloud is unlocking functionality which has never before been cost effective. Like Speech Analytics now able to transcribe 100% of calls, and WFM Planners being able to change the roster throughout the day (16:56).
With the ease of updating the roster in WFM software, WFM teams are able to focus on the bigger picture. Like working with HR to find the right type of agent (25:55).

You'll Learn:

The problems associated with letting agents design their schedules (05:14).
Why employee empowerment and employee engagement will only become more important (07:00).
Dave’s key question when he’s asked for job advice (09:33).
The piece of technology that has ruined us all (11:05).
What Dave thinks of the quote from Paul Stockford (Director of Research at the National Association of Call Centers) - that contact centres are “white collar sweatshops” - and the change Dave’s seeing across centres (13:27).
What new functionality is coming to contact centre software (22:30).
How we’re almost at the tipping point where centres will be able to create better Customer Experience for lower cost (30:14).

Connect with Dave here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davehoekstrawfm/

Tune in to Dave’s podcast, ‘Working Smarter: Presented by Calabrio’: on Apple, Spotify, or your favourite podcast app.

If your priorities include strengthening employee engagement, lifting customer experience, or increasing your focus on coaching and development, I can help you out with a few ideas that you can steal. Send me an email (at blairs@bravatrak.com) and we can organize a 15-minute call over Zoom or Teams.

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Mark Burton-Brown is the Managing Director of Engagement Partners. He’s a sales growth expert, with more than 20 years’ experience in sales management.

In recent times, Mark has been working closely with inside sales teams to achieve their sales growth objectives much faster than they were previously able to.

He shares the importance of having a formal sales process in place, and how you can go about developing one.

Mark’s Top Tips:

Create your sales process based on a best-practice and proven template. Mark has one he’s happy to share, and talk you through - get in touch with him on LinkedIn (14:27).
Get buy-in from your team by getting them involved. Identify up to 8 people in the business who are already following a sales process. Run a workshop with them, and refine the sales process they follow into a one-pager (04:31).
Start to implement the process. It's not going to be perfect, but it's going to be better than what you used to do. By continuing to iterate the process, within a year you’ll probably be surprised how far you’ve come (09:37).

You'll Learn:

The 3 common challenges inside sales teams struggle.
How a formal sales process can lead to 28% faster revenue growth (03:37).
The 4 key things to include on your one-pager, so your people are clear on how to succeed (05:27).
The most important phase of the sales process, which most salespeople do poorly - and what to do about it. The secret ratio Mark shares helps position your people as trusted advisors - rather than product pushers (07:12).
The 2 changes in perspective you can make, which will help your people succeed (09:37).
The best-practice approach Mark recommends for keeping your sales process up-to-date (10:49).
The 8 positive outcomes which result from having a formal sales process in place. You’ll never guess the third one (11:11).
The common concern salespeople have about following a sales process, and the answer (15:32).

Show notes: https://bravatrak.com/mark-burton-brown-podcast

Connect with Mark here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markbb/
If you’d like a copy of his sales process template, get in touch with him on LinkedIn. He’s happy to share it with you, and talk you through it.

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Katy Langridge is a Team Leader for ACC New Zealand. She’s responsible for the annual CCNNZ (Customer Contact Network of New Zealand) Awards being held in September.

In 2018, she won the CCNNZ National Contact Centre Team Leader of the Year.

She shares details about the Awards - including how you can enter - and the secret to her success as a Team Leader.

Katy’s Top Tips:

Don’t be afraid to enter. If you believe you’re doing a great job, put yourself forward. Even if you don’t win, you’ll get feedback from the judges which can help with your development.
Give specific examples in your application.
Talk about your application with your manager. They may have ideas which could help your entry.

You'll Learn:

The 7 Awards which are up for grabs (02:51).
About the $500 professional development grant for each Award winner (05:11).
The dates for registration (06:59)
The coaching approach Katy uses which has turned her people from good to great, and strengthen employee engagement (09:05).
The quote from Angela Ahrendts (Senior Vice President of Retail at Apple) which guides Katy in how she manages her team (12:50).
What Katy does at least twice a day which she credits for her success (14:04).

Download the CCNNZ Awards Pack here: https://ccnnz.org.nz/event-directory/awards/

Email CCNNZ: info@ccnnz.org.nz

Connect with Katy here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katy-langridge-b06723149/

If your priorities include strengthening employee engagement and boosting customer experience, I can help you out with a few ideas that you can steal. Send me an email (at blairs@bravatrak.com) and we can organize a 15-minute call over Zoom or Teams.

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Kelly Brickley is a Business Development Manager at Pyrios, an AGC Black Box company. She has more than 25 years’ experience in the contact center industry internationally, including 7 years with ICMI as their Director of Educational Services based in Southern California.

She shares her thoughts on how to better support your Agents post-COVID.

Top 3 Tips:

Provide online resources customers can use to resolve their issues themselves (15:19).
With self-service options taking some of the pressure off Agents, they now have an opportunity to be proactive with customers; reaching out, educating them, and doing more for them (15:48).
It’s time to look at how bots can fit into your strategy. They’re becoming very useful in assisting Agents mid-call, serving up answers straight away which saves Agents from trawling though the knowledge base (03:07).

You'll Learn:

A best-practice approach to provide real-time support to remote Agents (03:57).
Why call analytics is the future of Quality Assurance (08:00).
How leading contact centres are changing the way they do coaching (10:03).

Connect with Kelly here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kelly-brickley-2b04692/

If your priorities include boosting employee engagement, lifting customer experience, or increasing your focus on coaching and development, I can help you out with a few ideas that you can steal. Send me an email (at blairs@bravatrak.com) and we can organize a 15-minute call over Zoom or Teams.

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Shoby Abraham is the Customer Care Manager of Samsung Electronics New Zealand. He’s COPC certified and has 20 years’ experience in the contact centre industry.

From his extensive experience in Quality Assurance, he’s identified there are 3 common pitfalls of most QA programs. He shares what they are and how to solve them.

The approach he shares helped Samsung shift Customer Satisfaction from 75% to 90%+.

The 3 Common Pitfalls of Most QA Programs:

Calls are often given an overall score. Instead, give a call an overall ‘pass’ or ‘fail’ (03:34).
There is often bias in how calls are picked for evaluation – Team Leaders and QA often pick them based on length. Instead, random calls should be evaluated (06:51).
Team Leaders and Quality Analysts should be calibrated in their ability to assess calls. This ensures alignment of call quality across your contact centres (08:33).

You'll Learn:

The ‘sword’ metaphor that Shoby uses, which defines what a Quality Assurance program should and shouldn’t be (10:35).
The different way of thinking Team Leaders and QA need to adopt when evaluating calls, to ensure great customer outcomes (11:09).
What feedback should be given to agents – and when – which will make a massive difference to your Customer Satisfaction (11:28).

See the full show notes here: https://bravatrak.com/shoby-abraham-podcast

Connect with Shoby here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shoby-abraham-08381587/

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Hector Farmer is the Digital Team Manager for TSB Bank’s Customer Engagement Centre.

He’s been a Digital Team Manager for the past 7 years, at 2 different banks. In 2020, he won the Customer Contact Network of New Zealand, National Team Leader of the Year Award.

He’s got a fantastic mindset which helps his people thrive. Exactly the sort of mindset to look for if you’re recruiting Team Leaders, or to replicate if you’re a Team Leader.

Hector's Top 3 Tips:

Share your “Why” with your team. And if you can, align your “Why” to that of your business. Purpose matters (11:45).
Have positive intent in how you coach and lead your team. It’s the foundation of great leadership. When you create a safe environment for your people, they’re empowered to be their best selves (12:03).
Slow down to speed up, by stepping back from the detail, and doing what only you can do as a leader - setting strategy, enabling others, and removing barriers (12:21).

You'll Learn:

Hector’s apple orchard metaphor, which shows how you can help your team deliver great customer outcomes (03:42).
The actions Hector takes each day to help his team thrive (05:52).
The emotional bank account each of your team has, and why it’s vital to keep topping it up (06:15).
The model which Hector uses to identify what coaching each team member needs (06:56).

See the full show notes here: https://bravatrak.com/hector-farmer-podcast

Connect with Hector here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hector-farmer-488a68161/

If you’d like some ideas on how an evidence-based Coaching System can help you reduce unplanned absenteeism and attrition - while boosting employee engagement and customer experience - send me an email at blairs@bravatrak.com to book your 15-minute chat over Zoom or Teams.

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Vanessa Varela Escobar is the Operations Trainer at Sykes Holiday Cottages. She has more than 12 years’ experience in the contact centre industry, and has worked as an agent, Team Leader and Contact Centre Trainer.

As a Trainer, she was heavily involved in helping the New Zealand Automobile Association contact centres win the Member Support Services category, at the 2017 CCINZ (Contact Centre Institute of New Zealand - now CCNNZ) CRM Awards. And then in 2018 helped the Association win the Supreme Gold award for contact centers over 50 seats.

She shares her tips on how the Automobile Association went about winning these awards, so your centres’ can do the same.

Top 3 Tips:

As a Contact Centre Manager, be clear about what award you’re trying to win, and ensure your Trainers share this vision. Then it will be very easy to lead you contact centre through the journey (15:34).
Get pre-audits from the people who will be judging the awards. They’ll help guide you in the behaviours they’re looking for in your agents (16:37).
Have your Trainers block out time in their calendars, to be out on the floor giving coaching or doing side-by-sides, to coach agents to use the behaviours the judges are looking for (17:04).

You'll Learn:

The ABC model which is critical to motivating your agents to use the behaviours needed to win (05:48).
The 2 things Vanessa credits for helping maintain momentum in her centres, leading to back-to-back awards wins in 2017 and 2018 (10:19).

See the full show notes here: https://bravatrak.com/vanessa-varela-escobar-podcast

Connect with Vanessa here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vanessa-varela-escobar-169386167/

Get your free copy of Game On here: https://bravatrak.com/game-on-book

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Craig McFadyen is Director of LearningPlanet. He has over 30 years’ experience in the contact centre industry, and has been at the forefront of providing training services to the industry for more than two decades.

As a result, he’s got fantastic insight into how to create a learning culture in your contact centres, as well as how to take advantage of the latest trends in contact centre training.

Top 3 Tips:

A learning culture starts at the top. Where there’s executive level buy-in to the importance of training, it cascades right down the organisation and transforms the entire culture (03:09).
You don’t need as large a budget as you might think. With the online training that’s accessible these days, you don’t need a big budget to have a big impact (12:33).
Be responsive to the new trends and technologies that are coming through. They’re shaking up how contact centre training needs to be done (12:47).

You'll Learn:

The common mistake made in the selection of contact centre trainers (which sets them up to fail) and how to solve it (04:42).
The 2 trends in contact centre training which are likely hurting the training your agents get (06:41).
The next frontier of contact centre training, that will bring vital content to the fingertips of your people (07:32).
The approach some contact centres are taking, which means agents are being trained before they even start their job (09:37).
How the typical training approach goes completely against how most agents learn, and what to do about it (10:51).

Check out the full show notes here: https://bravatrak.com/craig-mcfadyen-podcast

Connect with Craig here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/craigmcfadyen/

Get your free copy of Game On here: https://bravatrak.com/game-on-book

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Josh Krissansen is the Managing Director at Blogger Boy. He’s a Millennial born in 1993, and with five years' experience as a Sales Manager, he's also managed Millennials. Particularly as Head of Sales, responsible for an inside sales team doing outbound calling.

As a result, he’s got a number of great tips on how to get the best from the Millennials you manage.

Top 3 Tips:

Many Millennials see working in a contact centre as a career steppingstone. Find out what their career goals are, so you can help them understand how what they’re learning and doing is going to benefit them in the future (25:30).
Give them more autonomy where possible, along with the tools they need to come up with their own decisions. Retention will improve because they’ll be more engaged, and you’ll have happier customers (25:57).
Like Gary V suggests, use kind candour. Which means being straight up and honest, coming from a place of good intention (26:25).

You'll Learn:

The personality trait which separates Millennials from previous generations, and it’s implications (03:07).
Why working for established companies can be a challenge for Millennials, and what to do about it (04:00).
What happened at school and at home for Millennials, and its huge impact on how they want to be managed (05:27).
What Millennials need more than any other generation, but often don’t get enough of (10:30).
How to let them self-correct when they’re off-track (13:50).
How to have a constructive conversation with a Millennial if they’re off-track (14:44).
The changes in your business systems which Millennials require, so you get the best from them, and deliver better customer experience (19:15).
The number one thing your youngest employees want to be in their career, and how you can help them achieve it (23:19).

Get the full show notes here: https://bravatrak.com/josh-krissansen-podcast

Connect with Josh here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/josh-krissansen/

Get your free copy of Game On here: https://bravatrak.com/game-on-book (you’ll also get the latest podcast episodes sent straight to your inbox).

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Josh Ballantyne is the Insurance Manager at Kiwibank. He’s spent 13 years in the financial industry - working with some of New Zealand’s largest insurers and companies - and has created huge performance transformations in multiple sales campaigns he’s been responsible for.

He’s got great tips on how you can achieve the same.

Top 3 Tips:

Put yourself in a positive mindset - you can lift performance (11:26).
Identify what behaviours distinguish your high performers from your average performers. Train all agents to use them on every call (12:12).
Praise agents every time you observe them using these high performance behaviours (12:55).

You'll Learn:

The key advantage you have in your contact centres - over any other channel - when it comes to lifting performance (04:37).
How many behaviours distinguish your high performers from everyone else. The number will surprise you (07:05).
The surprising transformations in Josh’s agents, which happened at the same time they lifted performance (09:05).
How much more praise than correction Team Leaders need to give agents, so agents reach their potential (13:11).

Get the full show notes here: https://bravatrak.com/josh-ballantyne-podcast

Connect with Josh on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshballantyne/

Get your free copy of Game On here: https://bravatrak.com/game-on-book

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Jane Horne is a Customer Service Representative at TSB Bank. She was awarded the CCNNZ (Customer Contact Network New Zealand) National Contact Centre Agent of the Year award in 2020. Her traits and mindset are exactly the ones to look for when you’re recruiting CSRs.

Jane's Top 3 Tips:

Having enthusiasm and passion for working with customers is vital (05:41).
Being skilled at asking open questions like “what”, “how” and “tell me about” separates high-performing CSRs from average performers (07:06).
Consider all customer service based backgrounds when it comes to recruiting CSRs, not just people who’ve worked in a contact centre before (11:10).

You'll Learn:

The best tip Jane was ever told, which helps her prioritise customers waiting in the queue, and respect their time (03:12).
The four pairs of shoes Jane packs in her bag each day, and how they help her bring her best-self to the job (04:24).
The quick and easy way Jane saves time and stress during her work day (09:40).

Get the full show notes here: https://bravatrak.com/jane-horne-podcast

Connect with Jane on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jane-horne-b400501b4/

Get your free copy of Game On here: https://bravatrak.com/game-on-book

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Amanda Law is a Recruiter and Principal Consultant at Cultivate Recruitment. She has more than 11 years in the recruitment industry, and has spent most of the that time recruiting for contact centres.

Her expertise means she’s got some incredibly useful tips when it comes to recruiting your perfect contact centre agents in the current environment.

Top 3 Tips:

If you can, run a blind recruitment process - which basically means not reviewing CVs - and trust in your interview process. You’ll avoid discounting people who are fantastic for the role (10:33)
When it comes to interview questions:
1. Break down your competency-based questions into parts to avoid confusing candidates. For example, instead of asking "tell me about a time when you've had a difficult customer that you've had to deal with. What was the situation? What was the outcome? How did you feel about that?", ask each part at a time (12:08).
2. To find out what a candidate’s motivations are, get a workplace story out of them. That way, you’ll be able to find out what makes them tick (13:41).
3. Make the candidate experience a stand-out one, that’s smooth and fun. Then you’ll have the best chance of them choosing your role as opposed to choosing one at another organisation (14:50).

You'll Learn:

What changes have happened in contact centres over the last few years, that have turned the skill requirements of your call centre agents upside down (01:56).
The common mistake many contact centre leaders make when it comes to candidates’ salary expectations, and how to easily solve it (06:42).
The key things that your candidates are looking for in your business - that you might not be aware of - which determine whether they want to work for you (16:39).

See the full show notes here: https://bravatrak.com/amanda-law-podcast

Connect with Amanda on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amanda-law-b45143a4/

Get your free copy of Game On here: https://bravatrak.com/game-on-book

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Angela Wynn is the Head of Strategy at ASB Bank. She’s spent the last 20 years in the finance industry, within sales, service, and strategy roles. Most including big change management projects.

She’s the most incisive strategic thinker I know. Today, she shares her tips from one of her change management projects around how to increase customer service in your contact centres, while increasing sales revenue.

Top 3 Tips:

Take the time to understand what your customers want, and what looks like in what your agents do. It’s vital to put your assumptions aside (07:28).
The more positive feedback your managers give their people, the better. All of us think we give a lot of it, but when you track it, you may realise you’re not giving as much as you thought (07:55).
Establish an operating rhythm around when you expect your managers to coach, and track it. It’s easy to assume people are doing what you’re wanting done, but they may not be (08:33).

You'll Learn:

The key part of operating rhythm Angela credits for lifting performance (04:58).
How you can lift sales by improving customer experience (05:24).
The shift Angela made in their recruitment of Centre Manager and Team Leaders, which made all the difference in creating long term improvements in customer service and sales revenue (09:40).

Show notes: https://bravatrak.com/angela-wynn-podcast

Connect with Angela on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angela-wynn-51847a14/

Get your free copy of Game On here: https://bravatrak.com/game-on-book

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Robin Carter-Stuart is the Nominated Representative Coach at TSB Bank. He’s worked in the contact center industry for the past decade, mostly as a Team Leader, a technical trainer and as a sales quality analyst. He’s got a super strong understanding of how your Quality Analysts can contribute to building a world-class coaching culture in your centers, so you lift performance.

Full show notes: https://bravatrak.com/robin-carter-stuart-podcast

Connect with Robin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robincarterstuart/

Get your free copy of Game On: https://bravatrak.com/game-on-book

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Sheryl North is the Consumer Programmes Lead at Spark New Zealand. She’s spent the last 25 years in the contact centre industry, and was responsible for setting up and running Spark’s highly successful Agents at Home programme from 2010 to 2020. She’s got a number of great hard-won tips for how to manage remote teams to get the best from them.

Full show notes: https://www.bravatrak.com/sheryl-north-podcast

Connect with Sheryl: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheryl-north-25a76536/

Get your free copy of Game On: https://bravatrak.com/game-on-book

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Georgia Irvine is a Customer Service & Call Centre Recruiter at Tribe Recruitment. She has great insight into the industry trends about what employers are looking for. She’s got some great tips about how to get placed in the contact centre manager role you’re wanting.

Top 3 Tips:

Above anything else, employers of call center managers still look for strong people leaders. In other words, people who can build a strong culture, be an advocate for their contact centre or customer service team and develop and nurture relationships across the wider business (09:46).
Look at the strengths, experience, and competencies outlined in the description of the role you’re wanting to land, and come up with examples of your achievements which tie in with these (10:56).
Take the time to think about where you want your career to go, and what role you want to have in the future. That way, in your job search and discussions with agencies, you’ll be much more likely to find the role which is right for you (13:02).

You’ll Learn:

The shift that’s happened mainly in the last 12 months, which has split contact centre manager roles into 2 categories. You’ll discover what these categories are, and what to do so you’re able to get the role that’s best for you (01:43).
The skill sets employers are now looking for in the contact center managers they hire (03:37).
The new KPIs and metrics which employers are now wanting their contact centre manager hires to improve, so you can be a step ahead of your competition (07:11).

Show notes: https://bravatrak.com/georgia-irvine-podcast

Connect with Georgia on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgiairvinecandidatemanager/

Get your free copy of Game On here: https://bravatrak.com/game-on-book

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Bridgette Dalzell is the General Manager of Customer Connection Hubs at Bank of New Zealand. She's spent the last 25 years involved in customer experience, customer service, and customer sales. And she's led teams across New Zealand, Australia, India and the Philippines.

Top 3 Tips:

Have a really good data set of understanding why your customers are calling.
Have a team of people dedicated to doing call listening.
And then come up with a strategy around what is your low hanging fruit and how you'll measure it.

You'll Learn:

How Bridgette has dealt with unprecedented high call volume. And how she’s taken 14,000 calls out of her service contact centre in the last few months - while improving customer experience (including for high volume callers) - by pushing customers to self-serve and digital (01:43 and 04:31).
How to address any concerns around the cost of having a transformation team, so you can make a rock-solid business case for having one (08:09).
The way to guarantee your customers' experience is kept top-of-mind in every meeting (10:40).

Full show notes: https://bravatrak.com/bridgette-dalzell-podcast

Connect with Bridgette on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bridgette-dalzell-b582b86/

Get your free copy of Game On here: https://bravatrak.com/game-on-book

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Welcome to the Secrets to Contact Center Success. The podcast which connects you with the latest and greatest tips from the best and brightest minds in the industry.

But before I tell you a bit about myself, let's talk about you. More specifically; the value you can expect to get from regularly tuning in.

My focus is on interviewing experts in the contact centre space, to share with you the best secrets for solving the challenges that you're facing.

The reality is that whatever problems you're currently facing in your contact centers, someone else has faced them as well and overcome them. Someone else already has the answers. And I want to connect you with those answers to shortcut your path to success.

Each episode will cover a contact center improvement project - or a change management initiative - that a contact center leader has lead, which was highly successful.

See the full transcript here: www.bravatrak.com/welcome-to-the-podcast

Secrets To Contact Center Success: Recent Episodes

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