12 best practices of high selling call centers

Without a doubt many contact centers are moving to a call center as a profit center.

Most likely your center has changed their model to this or are moving in this direction.  No matter the case, this article falls under the Call Center Best Practices category.

Please comment at the end of this article with your thoughts…

Call Center Sales – Best Practices
By Mike Aoki

Want to improve your call center’s sales results? Here are the 12 best practices of high selling call centers

Clearly communicate sales targets:

• Set expectations: Communicate sales objectives on a daily basis so your Agents know exactly what is expected of them.
• Provide feedback: Post daily sales results at each Agent’s desk or on-line so they know how they are performing versus expectations.
• Spot trends: Analyze results per Agent and, per product, to determine trends. Use these trends to coach your team to higher performance.

Train your call center Agents on how to sell:

• Hold sales skills workshops: Having good customer service skills isn’t enough. They need to attend a call center sales workshop so they can learn how to upsell and right size client accounts.
• Conduct product knowledge training: During team meetings, have each call center Agent take turns doing a five minute presentation on the key selling benefits of a product.
• Distribute current competitive information: Train your Agents on how your products and services compare to your competitors. Provide them with solid answers they can use when a client says, “But your competitor offers…”

Provide a “big picture” perspective for your Agents:

• Key Business Indicators: Ensure your Agents understand how their performance impacts your department, your company and its customers.

Motivate your call center Agents:

• Rewards and recognition: Give out out prizes for “Most Improved Performer” or “Top Ten Salespeople.” The rewards can be food, movie passes or company branded items like mugs or caps.
• Motivational ideas: Use one idea per week from an employee motivation book like “1,001 Ways to Reward Employees” by Bob Nelson and Ken Blanchard to encourage your team.
• Post a “Wall of Fame”: Show photos of the top sales Agent for each product. Beneath each photo, have that Agent share their best sales tips on how to sell that particular product.

Constantly reinforce your team’s sales performance:

• Share best practices: Discuss sales tips at every team meeting, shift huddle and one-on-one coaching session.
• Send out a “Sales Tip of the Day” to your Agents: Ask your top-selling Agents to write the tips so they get public recognition.

Use these 12 tips to improve your call center’s up-selling and rightsizing performance. Ensure your Agents understand how their performance impacts your department, your company and its customers.

© 2008 Reflective Keynotes Inc., Toronto, Canada

Mike Aoki is a corporate trainer and motivational speaker with 20 years of experience in the telecom industry. For more free tips on public speaking, sales and call center techniques, visit http://www.reflectivekeynotes.com/articles.htm

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mike_Aoki
http://EzineArticles.com/?Call-Center-Sales—Best-Practices&id=1147689

Tell me what you think of these ideas by commenting below!

Thanks

BPO Philippines Call Center Outsourcing Boom

Recently I was doing some research about doing business in the Philippines and I came across this article and thought you may be interested.  Currently, the Philippines is growing like crazy due to 3 major reason:

1. American and UK customers have rejected the notion of India as a source of quality Voice support.
2. The global recession, and especially the hurt US companies are feeling now
3. Quality, well spoken agents.  They have a strong influence from the US culture.

Several years ago I was completely against offshore customer sales and support but my last assignment, 2 years ago brought me to Manila then to Cebu and I realized that the quality was strong.  All they needed was a way to consistently execute against client expectations. That is the key so finding a Philippine Contact Center with these attributes is key.

If you are looking to provide call center outsourcing a try make sure you read this Contact Center vendor Evaluation Form.  Then read this great article below…

BPO Philippines Call Center Outsourcing Boom
By Zachary Williamson

BPO in the Pilippines Call Centers

As globalization expands the benefits of global BPO are becoming easier to obtain for small and mid-sized companies. Business Process Outsourcing otherwise known as BPO has only been available to large firms and the Fortune 500 and now the trends are starting to change. India and China are the top outsourcing countries of the world followed by the Philippines. More and more American companies are becoming players in the international scene, just as more and more companies are starting to choose BPO in the Philippines to run their off shore call centers. The Philippines consist of a group of 7,000+ islands that all together only take up the land mass of Arizona. The country was occupied for over 300 years by the Spanish followed by an American occupation, which led to the country’s Independence and this spawned its transformation from Eastern to Western Culture. Unlike other outsourcing hubs of the world, BPO Philippines not only offers a high rate of exchange on its currency as well as an English speaking population but also a culture and lifestyle that is very much like our own.

I have a close friend from India that has been in the US for over 14 years now and even though he knows the English language very well his accent is choppy and his understanding of American culture and mannerisms is still vague. One time while visiting with him he made a phone call to his local electric company to have his service transferred and I got the chance to hear the conversation. The agent from the electric company was in an American and I could tell they had quite a communication problem. I noticed that my friend had to repeat himself several times and had trouble telling the agent his request. It took a frustrating twelve minutes to process his request when I could have done it easily in five. Looking back I really think the agent could understand him but sub-consciously gave him a hard time due to his accent.

Philippines Call Center

The next day I was ordering phone service from a VOIP provider and spoke to a call center agent to setup my service. It wasn’t till the end of the conversation that I asked him where their call center was located (as I always do, since I work in the industry) and to my surprise he said it was a Philippines call center. This was when I realized, I may need to look into BPO Philippines call centers. The agent spoke using American slang and had somewhat of a Spanish accent so I assumed he was in Southern Florida or Southern California. After finding out about BPO Philippines I started doing research and found that Dell, IBM, Vonage along with many other Fortune 500 companies had migrated, if you will, to the Philippines to open call center facilities of their own. Filipino agents speak Spanish as well as English and provide superior telesales services.

BPO Philippines

Our company now owns and operates a facility in the Philippines call center district of Manila. BPO in the Philippines has increased our conversions and sales as well as our customer satisfaction. Find out how BPO Philippines Call Centers can give your business the competitive edge.

Zachary Williamson is the Director of Business Development for The Lead Tree, LLC and enjoys travel to India and the Philippines call centers.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Zachary_Williamson
http://EzineArticles.com/?BPO-Philippines-Call-Center-Outsourcing-Boom&id=1208840

Stress Management/Emotional Control

Description:

This module will help you identify causes of stress, recognize warning signs of being over stressed, identify the conscious and subconscious influences on behavior, and apply stress management skills to job situations. This module also explains strategies for effectively coping with stress and explains why employers value emotional control.

Objectives:

By the end of this module, you will be able to:

• Develop strategies for managing stress to improve job performance.
• Explain the importance of emotional control in managing stress.
• Explain the influence of stress and emotions in employee job performance, job satisfaction, and motivation.

Module Contents:

• Introduction
• Stress Defined
• Life Change Scale
• How Stressed Are You?
• Personality Types Assessment
• Identify Your Personality Type
• Characteristics of Type A and Type B Personalities
• We Live with Stress Every Day
• The Signs of Danger
• Individual Profile of Stress Vulnerability
• Stress Reaction Indicators
• Personal Stress Control Survey
• Methods of Coping with Stress
• Ways to Achieve Emotional Control

Introduction

Knowledge of what stresses our coworkers and us, and how to deal with stressful situations is an essential key to effective supervision. Before learning to “deal” with stress, it’s important to know what it is.

“Webster defines stress as pressure, pull, or other force (psychological or physical) exerted on one thing by another.

Stress is anything that:

• pushes
• threatens
• scares
• worries
• thrills
• prods

Industrial psychologists, however, narrow that definition to fit today’s workplace. “Stress” is the tension people feel when they try to adapt to change.

Stress Defined

Change happens, but, unfortunately, most managers seem to spend most of their careers fighting it. However, fighting change is a losing battle and the casualties are all around us.

Ulcers, heart attacks, and premature graying are just a few of the symptoms.  Of people trying to fight   change and losing their resulting battle with stress.

We all know that change is not a picnic, so let’s begin by understanding the stages of changes.

STAGES OF STRESS:

The first stage is that we deny it. We make statements such as “Whose dumb idea was that? Don’t worry, they’ll see it won’t work and go back to the “old” way of doing things.”

Next, we resist it. We say “Nope, we’ve been doing it this way for the past 20 years. So, if it was good enough then, it’s good enough now.”

These are natural reactions, but, the key is the quicker you “get over it” and go on with the program, the better off you’ll be.

The next step is to explore it. Think to yourself, “Hey, this is not so bad.” Look for the good that can come from the change.

Finally, accept it. Before long, you’ll make statements like, “This system really does work better. Actually it beats the heck out of the old way.”

Changes in today’s workplace come in many forms, including the need to do a job faster, the need to master advanced technology, and the need to take on a new or different work assignment.

Let’s consider for a moment employees who have been accustomed to working alone and now must work with a team, or employees who have held jobs that required little contact with the public and now must spend a great deal of time with customers.

Changes such as these can be a major source of stress.

Life Change Scale

Complete this exercise based on events in your life in the last 12 months.

EVENT RANK	LIFE EVENT	EVENT VALUE	HAPPENED	YOUR SCORE
1	Death of spouse	100
2	Divorce	73
3	Marital separation	65
4	Jail term	63
5	Death of close family member	63
6	Personal injury or illness	53
7	Marriage	50
8	Fired from job	47
9	Marital reconciliation	45
10	Retirement	45
11	Change in health of family member	44
12	Pregnancy	40
13	Sex difficulties	39
14	Gain of new family member	39
15	Business readjustment	39
16	Change in financial status	37
17	Death of close friend	37
18	Change to different line of work	36
19	Change in number of marital arguments	35
20	Mortgage or loan over $20,000	31
21	Foreclosure of mortgage or loan	30
22	Change in responsibilities at work	29
23	Son or daughter leaving home	29
24	Trouble with in-laws	29
25	Outstanding personal achievement	28
26	Spouse begins or stops work	26
27	Starting or finishing school	26
28	Change in living conditions	25
29	Revision of personal habits	24
30	Trouble with boss	23
31	Change in work hours or conditions	20
32	Change in residence	20
33	Change in schools	20
34	Change in recreational activities	19
35	Change in church activities	19
36	Change in social activities	18
37	Mortgage or loan less than $20,000	17
38	Change in sleeping habits	16
39	Change in number of family get-togethers	15
40	Change in eating habits	15
41	Vacation	13
42	Christmas or equivalent religious holiday	12
43	Minor violations of law	11

Total Score ___________

How Stressed Are You?

One way to determine the amount of stress in your life is through the Life Change Scale. It was devised by Doctors Holmes and Rahe at the University of Washington and identifies 43 of life’s major stress factors.

‘These events have an impact on our health according to the research. The events on the list are called life change units since they indicate changes that require adaptive energy and coping action. The more important the event, the more strain on a person’s energy system. The strain can make people vulnerable to the adverse effects of stress.

Be aware there are positive events as well as negative. Positive events can place a strain on the system, although not to the same extent as negative events.

• If your score is less than 150, you only have a 37% chance of becoming ill within the next two years.
• If you have a score of 150 300, you have a 50% chance of becoming ill within next two years.
• If you have a score of more than 300, you have an 80% chance of becoming ill within next two years.

A high score does not mean you will become ill, but it does indicate that you have experienced events that require coping energy. Your immediately accessible reservoir of energy may be under strain.

Illness is not inevitable, but if you have a high stress score, you may choose to look at:

1.  How you deal with stress
2.  How you can become stress resistant

Personality Types Assessment

For each item listed below, compare yourself with other people in general, and decide how well it describes your own typical way of doing things. Place a check in the appropriate space for each item.

	Almost Never	Rarely	Some- times	Often	Almost Always
Talk loud and fast.
Work hard and go at “full speed.”
Am good at remembering facts and figures.
Get annoyed when having to wait.
Feel resentment about things.
Get angry enough to hit things.
Am irritated by inefficiency.
Take on more than I really should.	5	4	3	2	1
React to problems in an easygoing manner.
Have time for relaxation and reflection.
Take a walk to spend time in leisure pursuits.
12. Make decisions in a slow deliberate way.
13. Listen well and don’t interrupt others.
14. Am satisfied with current position and status
15. Avoid being the one to run things.
Work at an unhurried steady pace	1	2	3	4	5

For items 1 through 8, give yourself the number of point shown on the solid line under item 8 in the column corresponding to your check. Place this score for each item in the box to its right. For items 9 through 16 do this using the number of points shown on the solid line under item 16. Add all of the 16 point scores and interpret the degree to which you are prone to adverse effects of stress as follows:

16 44 Type A        Highly vulnerable to adverse effects of stress.
45 59 Type AB        May be vulnerable to adverse effects of stress in some situations.
60 80 Type B         Not now very vulnerable to stress related problems.

Identify Your Personality Type

Before we can learn to deal with stress and become more stress resistant, we need to identify our personality type. Our personality type has an effect on our view of stress and the events that cause stress, and may even help create the stress itself.

To score the Personality Types Assessment, use the following scale:

If your score is between:	Your Personality Type is:
34-68	Dominant Type B
68-102	Low Type B
102	Median Score
102-136	Low Type A
136-170	High Type A

Write your score here:    ________

Write your personality type here: _________

Characteristics of Type A and Type B Personalities

Now let’s learn the characteristics of A and B personality types.

Someone with an “A” type personality:

• Is often impatient, racing with the minutes
• May be considered aggressive, even hostile
• Is highly achievement oriented and competitive
• Wants to succeed, and to win to the point so badly that he or she puts too much effort into it
• Redoubles effort when faced with a stressful situation
• Is seven times more likely to have a heart attack or coronary related illness such as high blood pressure or high cholesterol

People with a “B” type personality are:

• More laid-back and mellow
• More likely to succeed and complete the same amount of work without as much energy output
• Less likely to push himself or herself

Do you recognize yourself?

We Live with Stress Every Day

We live with stress every day.  Living a stress filled life is like driving your car 75 mph down the expressway with the brakes on. Sooner or later, we break down.

The Signs of Danger

• Irritability, depression
• Pounding of the heart
• Impulsive behavior, emotional instability
• Overpowering urge to cry or run and hide
• Inability to concentrate, flight of thoughts
• Feelings of unreality
• Emotional tension
• Trembling, nervous tics
• High pitched, nervous laughter
• Insomnia
• Migraine headaches
• Pain in the neck or lower back
• Alcohol and drug addiction
• Accident proneness

How does stress affect people on the job?

The prevalence of stress in your work and personal life is without question a major contributor to destructive lifestyle, disease, and premature death. Effects on the organization include reduced productivity, excessive absenteeism, and higher health care costs.

The next five exercises are designed to give you a private indication of your status pertaining to stress factors found to be important.

Individual Profile of Stress Vulnerability

Please read the following statements and circle the T if you think the statement is true or mostly true, and circle the F if you think the statement is false or mostly false.

		TRUE	FALSE
1.	I get annoyed when I have to wait.	T	F
2.	I tend to worry about how things will turn out.	T	F
3.	I think my appearance is OK.	T	F
4.	Getting to the top is always worth the effort.	T	F
5.	When I have problems, I work them out right away.	T	F
6.	This stage of life is rewarding.	T	F
7.	There seems to be a lot of conflict and tension around me.	T	F
8.	Today is more important than either yesterday or tomorrow	T	F
9.	I have more than two alcoholic drinks per day.	T	F
10.	There is a lot of stress in my work.	T	F
11.	Things seem to be over my head.	T	F
12.	I have had a lot of tragedy and disappointment over the last year.	T	F
13.	I wish that I were younger than I am.	T	F
14.	Each day I take a walk or spend time out of doors.	T	F
15.	I have a trusted person with whom I can discuss my problems.	T	F
16.	My present job is a great source of satisfaction for me.	T	F
17.	When I feel stressed, I can still breathe normally.	T	F
18.	I have the authority to carry out my responsibilities.	T	F
19.	Things I am trying to do get disrupted or sidetracked.	T	F
20.	I fit in well with people around me.	T	F

PERSONAL STRESSORS	SITUATION STRESSORS
Give yourself 1 point if you circled T for These items: 1, 2, 4, 9, 11 Give yourself 1 point if you circled F for These items: 3, 5, 8, 14, 17 Add up these points for your Personal Stressor Score: ______	Give yourself 1 point if you circled T for these items: 7, 10, 12, 13, 19 Give yourself 1 point if you circled F for these items: 6, 15, 16, 18, 20 Add these points for your Personal Stressor score: ______
Interpretation: low stress moderate stress 7-10 high stress	Interpretation: low stress moderate stress 7-10 high stress
OVERALL STRESSORS: Add together the Personal and Situational Scores: ______ Interpretation: low stress 7-13 moderate stress 14-20 high stress

The Individual Profile of Stress Vulnerability indicates the amount of stress you encounter as a result of your personal characteristics, situational environment, and your overall level of stress vulnerability.

According to the Interpretation above, what is your overall street level?  Write your stress level below:

Is the main cause of your overall stress level PERSONAL or SITUATIONAL? (Or do both contribute equally?)  Write your answer below:

Mental Stress Reaction Indicator

Read each of the following statements and decide how rarely or often it pertained to you during the past week. If the statement was correct more rarely than often, circle R; if it was correct more often than rarely, circle 0.

	Rarely	Often
.Came up with new ideas and problem solutions easily.	R	0
Felt well organized and clear?headed.	R	0
Goals and purposes seemed clear.	R	0
Couldn’t get motivated to do important things.	R	0
Had difficulty enjoying or getting involved with a non?work activity.	R	0
Worried or was preoccupied about things.	R	0
Could focus my concentration even though I was under pressure.	R	0
Used alibis to explain my shortcomings.	R	0
Continued to question my decision after it had been carried out.	R	0
Had plenty of time to accomplish important things.	R	0
Maintained good self?control.	R	0
Had little influence on things.	R	0

Give yourself 1 point if you circled 0 for these items: 1, 2, 3, 7, 10, 11; and 1 point if you circled R for these items: 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, and 12. Add up the points for an indication of your mental reactions to stress:  __________

Interpretation:    8 12 positive reaction to Mental Stress
5 7 neutral reaction to Mental Stress
0 4 negative reaction to Mental Stress

Write your reaction to mental stress here: _______________________

Emotional Stress Reaction Indicator

Read each of the following statements and decide how rarely or often it pertained to you during the past week. If the statement was correct more rarely than often, circle R; if it was correct more often than rarely, circle 0.

	Rarely	Often
Became irritated without much provocation.	R	O
Had regular body functions (sleep, eating, elimination).	R	O
Mood changed back and forth between feeling very good and feeling very bad.	R	O
Was happy.	R	O
Was sad without knowing why.	R	O
Felt relaxed.	R	O
Felt up tight or anxious.	R	O
Seemed comfortable with my surroundings.	R	O
Had arguments that harmed important relationship.	R	O
Took time out to allow myself to be relaxed.	R	O
Had an urge to cry for no particular reason.	R	O
Able to stay calm in tense situations.	R	O

Give yourself 1 point if you circled R for these items: 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11; and I point if you circled 0 for these items: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12. Add up the points for an indication of your emotional reactions to stress:

Interpretation:    8 12 positive reaction to Emotional Stress
5 7 neutral reaction to Emotional Stress
0 4 negative reaction to Emotional Stress

Write your reaction to emotional stress here:

Physical Stress Reaction Indicator

Read each of the following statements and decide how rarely or often it pertained to you during the past week. If the statement was correct more rarely than often, circle R; if it was correct more often than rarely, circle 0.

	Rarely	Often
1. Felt rested and energetic	R	O
2. Had headaches.	R	O
3. Got plenty of restful sleep.	R	O
4. Bothered with pains (neck, back, shoulder, etc.)	R	O
5. Had a cold or other illness.	R	O
6. Had nausea or upset stomach.	R	O
7. Getting breath was difficult (shortness of breath).	R	O
8. Perspired a lot under arms.	R	O
9. Had difficulty sitting still.	R	O
10. Was exhausted or easily tired.	R	O
11. Noticed heart beating fast.	R	O
12. Felt hurried, pressured, or strung out.	R	O

Give yourself I point each if you circled 0 for items I and 3, and give yourself 1 point each if you circled R for all the others. Add up the points for an indication of your physical reaction to stress:

Interpretation:    8 12 positive reaction to Physical Stress
5 7 neutral reaction to Physical Stress
0 4 negative reaction to Physical Stress

Write your reaction to physical stress here:

Personal Stress Control Survey

Read each of the following statements and circle T if it is more true than false for you; circle F if it is more false than true for you.

	True	False
If I am in a tense situation, I have the ability to control my tension and make myself relax again.	T	F
2. Often, I feel that no matter what I do, I will be stressed.	T	F
If I see an excellent doctor or psychologist regularly, I am Less likely to have stress-related problems.	T	F
4. I can only handle my stress with professional help.	T	F
5. I share the responsibility with my environment for any negative effects I might suffer as a result of stress.	T	F
6. Other people have a lot to do with how stressed I become.	T	F
7. When I feel particularly stressed, I know it is because I have not been managing myself properly.	T	F
When I become tense, I just have to wait until things calm down and get back to normal.	T	F
9. Health professionals keep me healthy.	T	F
10. When I can avoid becoming stressed, I’m just plain lucky.	T	F
My energy and mood depends on how well I deal with stress.	T	F
12. Even when I am careful, it’s easy to become anxious.	T	F

Give yourself I point for each T circled for the following group of items:

1, 5, 7, 11    ______Internal (your own actions and characteristics)
2, 8, 10, 12    ______Chance (random occurrences without predictability)
3, 4, 6, 9    ______External (other people)

The Personal Stress Control Survey indicates the relative strength of 3 sources of stress control:
?    Your own internal characteristics and actions
?    Chance occurrences
?    Other people

The resulting scores indicate the relative importance of these sources of stress for you. A higher internal score indicates that you already have sufficient power to minimize negative stress reactions. High scores on the other two components indicate that you believe chance or others have control.

Some Methods of Coping with Stress   I

Centering the physical and mental and mind body cooperation for greater relaxation are a few methods of coping with stress.

Taking charge of your breathing will help you control your emotions. Deep “abdominal breathing primes the relaxation response. To progress in your ability to reach deeper states of relaxation, you will want to be centered.

“Centering” refers to the process of being totally captured by the moment. Mind and body are together, ready to accomplish the task at hand. On the mind’s part, there is no pre judgment, no evaluation, and no concern about the past or future. The mind is relaxed and prepared to cooperate with the body. The body is balanced and ready to be in harmony with the mind.

To learn to be centered means to be able to quickly move to this state of total oneness with the moment. World class athletes know the importance of being centered. Likewise, a successful salesperson appreciates the skill of being totally caught up with his customer. All of us have experienced the positive effects of being “centered.” We feel whole, involved, and we enjoy the activity at hand.

Because centering is a process of mental and physical harmony, it is best taught through exercises.

Getting Centered
STEP I

A. Stand and spread out so you can swing your arms all around without touching. Feet are apart at about the width of the shoulders, arms hang freely. Hands should be unclenched and relaxed.

B. Close your eyes. Think about your body. Are there parts of your body which you are more aware of than others? Do you feel tension anywhere? What parts seem stiff and unused?

C. With your right index finger, touch the middle of your belly about an inch or two below your navel. This is your center  where your physical center of gravity is located.

Now press your finger firmly into your center, until the pressure is almost painful. Drop your hand and see if you can continue to sense that point.

Now let this single point of awareness expand through your whole belly. Let your belly expand with each incoming breath. Engage in deep abdominal breathing.

D. Breathing exercise. Use the correct breathing pattern.

Allow air to enter through the nostrils and travel downward, as if to fill the abdomen.

Exhale through the mouth until your lungs are as empty as possible and abdomen is again flat.

At this point of emptiness, close your mouth and wait  expect nothing.

The incoming breath arises spontaneously. Its precise moment of coming is always unexpected, a delightful surprise.

E. Continue to focus on your breathing with a slow, total inhale and a slow, total exhale.

The exercise is ideal before facing a situation requiring you to be at your best. Before you go to sleep is another opportune time for you to develop your centering skills, and that takes practice.

STEP II

A. With your eyes closed, focus your attention on your head and neck. As you exhale, give permission to your head and neck to relax  to be totally relaxed.

B. Do the same to your shoulders, arms, and hands.

C. Now, give your chest, back, and stomach permission to relax.

D. Now, your thighs, calves, and feet need to relax.

E. Now, exhale and give permission to your whole body to relax.

Some Methods of Coping with Stress   II

How you get up in the morning can influence your entire day. Start off the morning in a grumpy, irritable mood and the rest of your day may not go well. Start off the day feeling good and the rest of your day has a better “chance of following suit.

Too often, you stack the cards against yourself by starting the morning on the wrong foot. For example, by shutting off the alarm and saying to yourself that if you rush you can get an extra 10 minutes of sleep does two things. First, that extra 10 minutes of sleep does not really contribute to your restfulness. When you wake up, you will not feel as rested as when you get up immediately after awakening from sleep. And, by putting yourself under time pressure, you increase the likelihood of something going wrong.

By getting up immediately from the sleep state and involving yourself in your normal morning routine, you will produce a positive attitude toward yourself and your day.

If you need some help, try the following activity. It is great with the entire family.

The Morning Laugh

• Assume a standing position with your hands on the back part of your hips, palms faced upward.
• Now, begin to laugh.
• Keep laughing, letting your laughter feed off itself and propel itself through your body and out.
• Laugh fully and completely for at least one full minute.
• When it feels comfortable, stop laughing. Go about your normal morning routine.

Some Methods of Coping with Stress – III

Between 12% and 15% of the American population have serious sleep problems, with another 20% to 25% complaining of periodic bouts of insomnia. Also, excessive daytime sleepiness is a problem for well over 100,000 Americans. Not mentioned, yet, are other problems during sleep such as nightmares, sleepwalking and talking, and bed wetting.

Our sleep can be interrupted by body movements. Many people who report having slept well, experience eight to fifteen awakenings a night. Movement while we sleep (one every fifteen to twenty minutes) may be important for a good night’s sleep. Too few or too many movements are detrimental to a good night’s sleep.

As you get older, time spent in bed decreases up to the age of 45 (17 hours per day in bed near birth to about 8 ½ hours at age 12 to about 7 ½ hours between the ages of 25 and 45). After 45, there is a steady rise to about 8 ½ hours spent in bed, but after 45 you actually spend less and less time sleeping. In fact, the older people get, the longer they stay in bed but the less time they spend sleeping. In later years, the average sleep time is around 6 ½ hours. Also, sleep for the elderly becomes more fragmented with more and more awakenings and greater difficulty returning to sleep once awakened.

The following ten suggestions are the first steps toward better sleep hygiene. You tend to violate these rules when you are under stress. Adding stress management techniques to your daily routine will improve your night’s sleep.

Ten Rules to Better Sleep Hygiene

1.    Sleep as much as needed to feel refreshed and healthy during the following day, but not more. Curtailing time in bed a bit seems to solidify sleep; excessively long times in bed seem related to fragmented and shallow sleep.

2.    A regular arousal time in the morning seems to strengthen circadian cycling and to finally lead to regular times of sleep onset.

3.    A steady daily amount of exercise probably deepens sleep over the long run, but occasional one shot exercise does not directly influence sleep during the following night.

4.    Occasional loud noises (e.g., aircraft fly-overs) disturb sleep even in people who do not wake up and cannot remember them in the morning. Sound proofing the bedroom might be advisable for people who have to sleep close to excessive noise.

5.    Although an overly warm room disturbs sleep, there is no evidence that a very cold room solidifies sleep, as has been claimed.

6.    Hunger may disturb sleep. A light bedtime snack seems to help many individuals sleep. Warm milk contains tryptophan, which actually functions as a relaxant.

7.    An occasional sleeping pill may be of some benefit, but the chronic use of hypnotics is ineffective, and in some cases detrimental.

8.    Caffeine in the evening disturbs sleep, even in people who don’t seem to notice its effects.

9.    Alcohol helps tense people to fall asleep fast, but the resulting sleep is often fragmented.

10.    Rather than trying harder and harder to fall asleep during a poor night, switch on the light and do something else for a while.

Ways to Achieve Emotional Control

Emotions can be thought of as feelings that influence our behavior. When we looked at the signs of stress, emotional instability and tension were mentioned.

When we allow our emotions to become unbalanced, it is many times the result of stress. Stress will generally produce negative emotions which can inhibit our productivity.

What are our emotions influenced by?

Our emotions are ruled by temperament and subconscious influences.

• Temperament is our personality or identity
• Subconscious influences because our mind is a vast storehouse of memories, desires, ideas, and frustrations.

What are some ways we can achieve emotional control?

We can achieve emotional control by:

• Taking responsibility for our emotions
• Putting our problems into proper perspective
• Taking steps to move beyond anger and resentment
• Giving our feelings some exercise

How do these ideas relate to your companies or teams Core Values?  Write your answer in the space provided below:

Notes

Call Center Metrics & Command Center

Executive Summary

To improve the efficiency of the a contact center, it is necessary to implement industry standard metrics.

• A call center has an opportunity to improve its efficiency by leveraging the right measures to drive accountability at the department, supervisor, and associate levels
• There are several industry standard call center metrics that the a contact center will benefit from implementing
• A cross-functional task force was developed to implement the right metrics for the contact center prior to peak season
• The role of the command center is changing to support these initiatives and to more effectively manage the network

The Current Contact Center Environment

An analysis of the a contact center uncovers some improvement opportunities.

Accountability
Associates fundamentally know that they should be on the phone, but the right measures are not implemented to monitor this behavior.
As a result . . .

• Supervisors do not have the right information to hold associates accountable for doing the job that they are being paid to do
• Management does not have the right information to hold supervisors accountable for their associate’s production

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Call Center Metrics: Bill To Pay or Productive To Pay

Measuring Productivity through Bill to Paid to maximize revenue

Bill-to-pay (B2P), also known as Productive-to-Paid (P2P)

Bill To Pay is the measure of the amount of time an associate is productive  relative to the amount of time the associate is paid (or the amount of time billed to the client)

B2P is typically a measure that outsourced contact centers use to track percent of agent time that is billed to the client.  P2P is typically the measure in-house contact centers use to measure how productive their agent base is
Represented as a Percentage of total paid time.

When used in conjunction with Occupancy, is a powerful tool for managing the effectiveness of the overall contact center.  Here is the formula:

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Time Management

Description:

This module teaches you how to analyze your current time management skills. You will learn how to determine which areas need improvement and how to develop a detailed action plan to achieve the improvements.

Objectives:

By the end of this module, you will be able to

• Explain the purpose of effective time management.
• Better manage your time.

Module Contents:

• Where Does All of Our Time Go?
• Time Management Profile
• Daily Time Log
• Daily Time Recommendations
• Tips for Better Time Management
• Tips to Help You Use Your Time More Effectively

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Delegation

Description:

This module explains what is involved in the delegation process. You will learn why some supervisors are reluctant to delegate, and how to delegate work appropriately.

Objectives:

By the end of this module, you will be able to:

• Explain the importance of delegation.
• Avoid barriers to delegation.
• Pick the right person to delegate to.

Module Contents:

• What is Delegation?
• Test Your Delegation Habits
• Why is Delegation Important?
• Delegation Tasks Identification Chart
• Barriers To Delegation
• Learning What to and What Not to Delegate
• Rules for Determining What To Delegate
• Delegation of Responsibilities Planning Chart
• Picking the Right Person
• Delegation Process
• Delegation Plan Form
• Let Go of the Task
• Offer Feedback

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Setting Goals and Expectations

Description:

This module explains the importance of goal setting, clarifies goals and objectives, helps identify your goals, and describes methods of monitoring progress toward attaining goals.

Objectives:

By the end of this module, you will be able to:

• Identify and create quality goals.
• Explain the importance of monitoring progress toward goal attainment.

Module Contents:

• Introduction to Setting Goals
• Life Without and With a Plan – Exercise
• The Importance of Goals – Introduction
• What are Goals?
• Why is Setting Goals so Important?
• Goals and Success
• The Importance of WRITTEN Goals
• Goal Setting   Exercise
• Guidelines for Effective Goals (S.M.A.R.T. Goals)
• Goal Planning Sheet
• Goal Setting for Employees
• Getting Acceptance and Commitment for Goals

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Understanding Individual Behavior: Motivation

Description:

This module will help to identify your philosophies on motivation, examine motivational strategies to apply to specific situations, and demonstrate the importance of identifying employee motivators.

Objectives:

By the end of this module, you will be able to:

• Explain the supervisor’s role in helping employees achieve satisfaction of their needs.
• Identify motivational strategies that can be applied in work situations.
• Properly utilize motivational strategies.

Module Contents:

• Definition of Motivation
• Two Dimensions of Motivation
• 5 Characteristics of Motives
• Theory X   Theory Y
• What Do People Want from their Jobs?
• Motivator   Hygiene Theory
• Hierarchy of Needs Theory
• Discovering Your Needs
• Needs Analysis
• Motivating Workers
• Case Studies

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Team Building 102

Description:

This module outlines how to use team building strategies.

Objectives:

By the end of this module, participants will be able to:

• Develop an action plan for team building.
• Explain the stages of team development and identify the stage a team is at.
• Utilize the Characteristics of an Effective Team Member.

Module Contents:

• Teams versus Work Groups
• Stages of Team Development
• Examples of Team Ground Rules
• Team Needs During Each Stage of Development
• Assessment of Your Team’s Needs
• Characteristics of an Effective Team Member
• How Do You Rate as a Team Member?
• ?    Action Commitments

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