Circumstance
By May of 2023, travelers were booking 20% more trips than the same month the previous year. SSG’s operations team noticed agents were feeling overwhelmed with the uptick in pace and urgency. The learning curve in training was quite steep as trainees had one week to learn the complex material. The result was high attrition and low performance.
Something had to change.
Approach
SSG thoroughly reviewed recruiting and training processes, then approached the client with an idea – it was time to redesign the curriculum and focus on recruiting agents with a particular set of skills.
Solution
Top performers were evaluated to see what qualities should be prioritized when hiring. As it turned out, successful agents were confident, competitive, and easy going. They remained calm while helping customers change travel plans, even in the most stressful of circumstances. The new approach was approved by the client and the ensuing hiring process was focused specifically on confident individuals who have a lot of competitive drive. This was done for subsequent hires, but there was likewise a need to re-train the current crop of agents.
Training was also expanded from 1 to 3 weeks, with role playing stressful situations incorporated into every phase of training. Agents not only participated in lectures, but they also listened to calls, then role-played similar scenarios to get a solid understanding of how to drive customer satisfaction and first-call resolution. Building rapport with customers was stressed during training and agents were held accountable for following the new approach.
Result
The hiring and training revamp produced amazing results:
- Time to agent proficiency has been reduced by 60%
- Monthly attrition was reduced from 15% to 3%
- Sales conversion improved from 27% to 31%
- Nesting Performance increased 6%
