Customer experience providers depend on their agents to provide top-notch service. However, to deliver a positive customer experience to today’s tech-savvy consumers, BPOs need to consistently ensure that the customer support quality is improved. This is why it’s vital to invest in the skill development of call center agents and support their professional growth so that they are enabled to provide the best customer service possible.

Listed below are some vital tips that will help upskill a call center’s workforce, maintain a competitive advantage, and ensure future success in the customer support department.

What does “Upskill” Mean?

Upskilling is the method of training agents to boost performance in their respective roles. Deploying effective techniques to upskill the workforce is essential, especially when channels for support are continuing to evolve. It can benefit the BPO and their clients in the following ways:

1) Handle new support types –  With a strong upskilling strategy in place, a telephonic support agent could play the role of chat support agents and vice versa.

2) Streamline internal processes – Building on the customer support agent’s skills can help prevent unnecessary business downtime that hampers productivity.

3) Improve service quality – Regardless of how dramatically a client’s business changes, up-skilled workforce are more likely to meet and even exceed customer demands.

4) Close critical skills gaps – By bridging the talent gap, BPO employees can work more efficiently. This helps position both the BPO and their clients for long-term success in the customer experience department.

 How Can BPO’s Upskill Their Workforce?

 1) Conduct Talent Gap Analysis

By conducting a thorough talent gap analysis, BPOs can determine what talent gaps are present and come up with ways to close them. It can also help them understand their client’s goals better, identify customer support trends (for instance the growth of live chat support), and employee trends.

By learning about the skills their employees possess and the skills that are required for them to grow, BPOs can work towards bridging their talent gap and position themselves to deliver a seamless customer experience.

 2) Conduct Job Simulations

Customer support can prove to be a challenge, and it’s important for candidates to know what to expect before accepting a role. Realistic BPO simulations and job tests offer an effective way to prepare candidates for the challenges and responsibilities of the role. After a job simulation test, customer support agents will be receptive to challenges and more receptive to learning skills to overcome them.

3) Have a Mentoring Program in Place

By having a mentor program, BPOs can reskill and upskill their in-house talent by making use of existing resources. For instance, experienced agents with ample industry exposure and client knowledge can train junior employees and help them upgrade their skills. This will also ensure seamless knowledge transfer within the BPO, reduce employee turnover, nurture employees and support their growth.

4) Develop an Internal Mobility Strategy

Call centers might already have talented people in their organization who could be interested in taking more responsibility and learning new skills. BPOs need to identify such agents and provide them with opportunities to grow their skills.

As part of the recruitment strategy, BPOs must also prioritize both horizontal and vertical mobility. This means identifying agents who might have the right skill sets to provide different types of support or work with challenging clients. For instance, you never know if a mid-performing live chat support agent could be a star at telephonic support if they get the right training.

5) Conduct Data-Driven Performance Management

BPOs need to consistently track the performance of their customer support agents. Otherwise, it will be extremely difficult to know if the recruitment and training efforts are effective and successful. Call centers must conduct comprehensive, data-driven performance management exercises. This will help them gain valuable insights on the effectiveness of their hiring, onboarding, and training processes and aid in optimizing them.

BPOs must also measure and track their employee’s performance based on how they fared during their selection process. It is also important to track how the employees performed before and after the mentoring/training programs.

Final Thoughts

Call centers must be strategic about planning and developing the skills of employees. By combining effective recruiting with closing talent gaps, reskilling the existing workforce, and tracking the performance of agents, BPOs can provide top-notch customer service and scale the business of their clients.

At KServe, we follow all the above-mentioned steps that are required to upskill our workforce. We ensure that our efforts go well beyond conventional hiring and we focus on providing our agents the best development opportunities and training possible.

If you want to have an in-depth understanding of the services we offer or have any queries, feel free to get in touch with us. Our team will reach out to you and help you through every step of the way!