Who are you hiring and why

Rajesh from a call center email me on Friday telling me that his agent turn over is way to high. It seems that just when the agents are closing and becoming viable, they are leaving and going to other centers looking for more money or an easier job. 

I thought that what I helped him with, may be helpful for you too. 

Do you have an unacceptable employee turnover rate that’s costing you too much money? Are your new hires performing badly and costing way to much in the long run? When do you decide that it’s time to cut the ties and send a non-producing employee home? 

Really who are you hiring and why?

Is it the training or lack there of? 

All good questions, but the important fact here is that you want employees who fill your seats making you money not costing you money, right? 

Why except “hire” turn over and thinking that its just the cost of doing business.

 Many centers that are in the same geographical territory as you, are pulling from the same employment pool which makes it even that much harder to find and keep good producing agents. 

Here are a few things to keep in mind when hiring that I shared with Rajesh.

1.  Offer them a great environment to work in.       Many centers do not attract the right kind of employees because of the shape your center is in. Loud music, loud managers, lack of respect for the agents can all turn away the best employees. The worse part is that they will get hired and worked by your competition many times.

2.  Pay is always important. Give them a fair wage, doesn’t have to be better than the next company. But add in production bonuses paid weekly. Daily spiffs and other incentives. Play a week or month long game so they have something to win. We use little things like cash spiffs, dinner out for two at a nice local restaurant, lunch for the winning group of agents…etc. This gives them something to work towards in addition to making a good pay check. And lets face it, everybody likes to play a game where they have a good chance to win. Be sure to give the spiffs in your morning meetings in front of all the sales agents. That way the agents being validated fell great being recognized in front of their peers. Not to mention that the rest really look forward to being recognized and validated too.

3.  Resumes tell a good story, but not as good as listening during the interview. How does he/she sound, have them read a couple paragraphs from a script your using and hear how they sound. Do they understand right away. How long does it take them to answer a direct question. The longer the worse. Quick concise answers are what you’re really looking for.       Remember that during an interview, the applicant will say what he feels you need to hear in order to get hired.

4.  Offer your employees a cash spiff for anyone that they recommend, hire and stays for at least for 30 days.

5.  Put new hires on a 30 day probation period and help them out. At the end of the day, always check in with them and ask, “how did it go today?”   “What did you run into today?”   You’re not only showing a care factor, but can head off any problems or bad habits quickly with your new hire. 

Five quick steps that should give you a little better incite to hiring good employees and why. 

As always, if you find this useful and have any comments to how it works in your center, please let us know through your valuable comments with our group. 

Ask about our 3 question survey that every employee should answer. Just email me directly at [email protected] and receive yours now.