On the Line...with Jason Fisher

When It Comes to Call Center Policies, Transparency and Fairness Win the Day

Sometimes we over-think phonathon. I've consulted on many programs that have extravagant training materials that include dozens of policies and procedures. Management methodically puts together a list of the dos and dont's of the call center and goes through each thoroughly during the new hire portion of training. All in all, this is a good thing as students have a clear understanding of what their expectations are. However, I have also been to programs that leave much to the imagination in terms of the rules and structure of the phonathon. This tends to leave callers playing the guessing game when it comes to making sure they conduct themselves as management wishes. Yes, some management discretion is a good thing, but I've always found that transparency is the key to a good set of policies and procedures.

Here's a couple of additional pointers on putting together a good set of rules for your upcoming phonathon.

1) Consistently enforce the rules. Nothing will tear apart your call center more quickly than the impression that the policies apply to some callers and not to others. Fairness doesn't seem like a major issue until the callers feel that there are untouchable employees or favorite students on the calling floor. By then, it's too late.  The trust between you and your staff is gone.

2) Post your policies somewhere in the call center. Refer to those rules periodically and encourage your callers to read them more carefully on their time between calling shifts. This helps management stay transparent and leaves no surprises when it comes time to enforce the policies.

3) Have a supervisor or other manager sit in on disciplinary employee meetings. Two managers total is sufficient; what you want to strive for is two people hearing the discussion in case of differing opinions or sensitive HR issues.

Young phonathon managers who are in their first professional position tend to have more issues with enforcing policies than experienced managers.  That's ok...it's a learning opportunity.  But my advice to avoid making mistakes that cause employee relations issues is to let the verbiage of the policies speak for itself.  Provided that the policies and constructed well, students will appreciate the transparency in the call center and will work hard to avoid conflict with the rules.

Why I Never Allow Homework On My Calling Floor

When I have the opportunity to speak at various conferences around the country, I often ask the phonathon managers or directors gathered in the room if they allow callers to do homework when they are on the phones.  The response is normally around half and half- 50% allow homework and 50% do not.  Even though I know about how many people will raise their hands, I still ask that question anyway because it almost always leads to lively discussion.  There are strong opinions out there as to why it’s ok and why it should be banned.  But in almost all cases, the people who said yes are left to justify why they give callers the privilege to do their homework on calling time.

 

I’ve been managing calling programs or consulting with phonathon managers for about 18 years, and during that time my policy has been consistent - no homework or other time-consuming distractions.  I admit- I’ve made fewer friends and more enemies with that policy.  But as a wise friend once told me, “it’s not show friends, it’s show business”.  Whether it was a veteran caller that was used to getting their way, or a manager who suddenly had to explain to their students that the rule had changed, the homework policy almost always ruffles somebody’s feathers.  Despite being the bad guy, I stick to my principles on this one because the alternative means less productivity.  Here are the two central reasons why:

 

Allowing callers to do homework takes away from their ability to properly prepare for the phone call.  Don’t let callers fool you; they cannot effectively do two things at once.  Being ready to make a quality phone call cannot be done in the time between when the prospect answers the call and the call ends.  Quality starts in the seconds before the prospect answers the phone, beginning with the student reviewing name pronunciation and continuing with understanding the location of the prospect, degree information, past gift history, potential matching gift companies, and any other vital demographic details that give the caller insight as to what to expect from that prospect.  Ask yourself this- how many times have you heard a caller not ready when the prospect answers the phone?  Having their head down buried in a book is basically the same as turning around talking to their friend.  When the prospect answers the phone, the caller should be ready.  But instead they stumble, stammer and goof up the last name of the alum- killing any opportunity for a great first impression.  We’ve all heard this happen multiple times.  Enough said on this one- poor preparation hurts productivity.

 

Second, and perhaps most importantly, homework and other personal distractions take away from teamwork and other team-oriented motivational pieces.  To accomplish the lofty goals and expectations, callers must work together and be a team- not just a team of individuals.  If all the callers are doing their own thing, how can management effectively create an atmosphere of excitement and interest toward reaching the goals?  When homework is allowed, the caller becomes disinterested in the motivational contests that have been thought up and pushed by the supervisors or manager and effectively disengages from the calling room.  They would much prefer it if the prospect wouldn’t answer the phone- that way they wouldn’t have the inconvenience of having to do their job while they were studying!  If the supervisors and management are doing their jobs to properly motivate the callers, there is no need for the callers to entertain themselves.  To achieve the lofty expectations set forth at the beginning of the year, the entire staff needs to pull in the same direction and help each other during difficult circumstances.    If everyone is looking out for themselves, the team element is essentially lost.

 

Some managers challenge the assertion that homework takes away from productivity.  They believe it should be allowed in certain circumstances, such as near the end of the program or other points when contacts are very low.  I understand their point, but just disagree with it.  To me, this approach is lazy management.  Instead of giving your callers free reign, I recommend using the slow time to review key objection techniques or run contests designed to improve time management.  I'm pretty sure this is a topic I could write a 10 page paper on, but after adding up all the pros and cons I would still come to the same conclusion- allowing homework hurts productivity.  I would love to be the manager that could still hit goals and let the callers do whatever they wish, but I know from firsthand experience that this approach doesn’t consistently deliver the results.