Open communication with employees
shouldn’t end after the training
process. When running a company that relies on good client relations, a
healthy dialog among workers, management and the executive level sets a precedent that fosters success and retention.
Smart Business asked Mike Langenfeld,
executive vice president for call center
operations at InfoCision Management
Corporation in Akron, about the role of
communication in the workplace.
Is there a particular educational or job background that tends to produce better communicators?
Retailing, customer service, food service
industry — jobs that require contact with
people are ideal for this. We are looking for
anyone with a good attitude and a willingness to learn. We can teach them to be successful.
You can teach product knowledge. Can you
teach phone personality?
You absolutely can. We teach sales skills
and customer service skills, whatever is
needed for the client. We teach the communicators how to listen and then how to
respond as well as how to use their voice to
connect with the other person. Objection
handling, internalizing and assertiveness
are all skills that can be taught.
How does the InfoCision training program
work?
The initial new-hire training is four to five
weeks long. We have one week of in-class
training, where the trainee stays in the
classroom environment the majority of the
week. During week one, we use instructor-lead presentations and take into account
adult learning principals in how the information is taught and coached. The in-class
trainer then works on the floor with the
new hire during the second week of training. Additional classroom time is provided
in week two.
During their third and fourth weeks of
training, a call center trainer works on the
floor with the new hires, continuing to
develop their presentation skills, and getting them comfortable with the work. The trainers will work one on one coaching the
trainees. We do still provide additional in-class training modules in weeks three and
four. After four weeks of training, we are
able to have 90 percent of the trainees
working within 80 percent of the average
performance of the established center.
That trainee is then considered a graduate
and is moved on to a supervisor team.
If a trainee is not able to perform within
80 percent of the average, they are given an
additional week on the training team, and
additional help is provided.
Do some communicators work better with
one product or service than another?
Yes. We evaluate our communicators on
the various programs separately. We will
then try and place our people on the programs with which they excel. While the
various skills can be taught, the individuals
will have natural skill sets that may make
them stronger on a particular program.
Employee, worker, team member: does it
matter what communicators are called?
Absolutely. In an industry that is known
to have representatives and agents,
InfoCision has ‘communicators.’ They
communicate the message of our clients.
We work for our clients and everything we
say on the phones is approved by the
client. We are an extension of the client
and it is our job to ‘communicate’ the same
message regardless of which communicator is making or taking the call.
Do communicators respond more to cash
incentives or other perks?
It depends on the location. Cash in hand
is good, but workers don’t like taxes being
taken out. They like to be personally rewarded for success and prefer instant rewards versus drawings for a chance to win.
It’s also effective to offer incentives, such
as flexible hours, vacation time, fitness
centers, an on-site doctor, tobacco cessation programs, weight-management programs, wellness competitions between
buildings and discounted daycare.
How do you build a sense of team with your
workers?
We make daily announcements, hold biweekly meetings, put out team newsletters
and maintain team boards in the call centers. There are special recognitions and
awards at monthly Employee of the Month
ceremonies to top performing teams.
How often do you poll employees about job
satisfaction?
Once a month we have a Quality
Environment Assessment and will hold
open forums with random selections of our
communicators to make sure we get feedback. Our president and CEO will end
every Employee of the Month ceremony
with a Q&A session to encourage constant
feedback from our communicators.
MIKE LANGENFELD is executive vice president for Call Center
Operations at InfoCision Management Corporation, Akron. Reach
him at (330) 668-1400 or [email protected]. In business for
25 years, InfoCision Management Corporation is the second
largest privately held teleservices company and a leading
provider of customer care services, commercial sales and marketing for a variety of Fortune 500 companies and smaller businesses. InfoCision is also a leader of inbound and outbound marketing for nonprofit, religious and political organizations.
InfoCision operates 28 call centers at 12 locations throughout
Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. For more information, visit
www.infocision.com.