It seems that there are a million things that must be done before a B2B lead generation telemarketing campaign is launched. Once you finally get to the big day, and your managers, quality assurance (QA) specialists, and agents have been thoroughly trained, then you’re ready for the first calls to be made. Ah,finally,.time to relax. Ha, not so fast! Your work has just begun! Now there are a million questions to answer: Are the agents getting the right message across? Are they maintaining best practices? Are they representing your clients in a positive and professional manner? Are they listening to what the prospects are saying? Are they developing the best leads possible? The list is seemingly endless.
Call calibration sessions are a critical component of monitoring calls and improving quality on B2B lead generation campaigns. A call calibration session is a way to check, adjust and determine, by comparison to a standard, the quality of your phone calls and lead output. These sessions should be an ongoing part of your quality & monitoring program in order to allow you to provide meaningful feedback to assist your agents and increase their success. Engaging agents early on in the calibration process is important. It is also important to hold these sessions on a regular basis, whether your agents have been working for you for 10 years, or 1 month.
There are several key points to remember when conducting a B2B call calibration session:
- Make sure everyone (managers, QA, agents, and stakeholders) agrees upon and are grading calls based upon the same criteria. We use a monitoring form which includes a minimum criterion of questions and information the agents are expected to obtain and follow during their conversation, which would constitute a good call. This criterion includes product knowledge, metamessage, and listening skills.
- Make sure to block off enough time to calibrate four or five calls during the calibration session. Usually an hour or so is enough time to make progress. We have a call recording system in place that includes many features, including the ability to monitor, review, and evaluate calls.
- After listening to each call in its entirety, take some time to recognize achievements and identify opportunities for improvement. The session should be an inclusive, mutual effort so as to bring about reception and collaboration. We usually have a manager who drives the meeting. After listening to each call, we recap the call and allow all calibration participants to provide feedback on each call. Believe it or not, many times the agents are harder on their own than managers would be.
- Before the calibration session ends, take time to review the overall consensus as to what meets criteria and what does not, and what is best for the campaign. This also aids in communicating action items for the next calibration session.
Devoting this time to your agents will reap measurable results for your call center. The information learned during these sessions is not only valuable for the agents, but also to management and clients as you gain quite a bit of information as to how and why the campaign is performing the way it is and how prospects are reacting to your message and engaging in each call. The more time and energy you devote to calibrating, the better your calls (and your output!) will be.