Workforce Optimization for Outbound Telesales

Witness Systems has published an excellent white paper on how workforce optimization is more than simply forecasting the number of agents required, based on expected call volume, and scheduling appropriately. Instead, true workforce optimization should be customer-centric - integrating QA, training, forecasting and scheduling. I'd add recruiting and a CSAT program to this list as well.

Below are some special considerations I have found useful in striving to be customer-centric in an outbound telesales environment. 

1. Implementing a Customer-Centric Sales Process. Use information from shopping competitors, customer surveys and quality monitoring to ensure your sales process meets customer needs

• Segment customers based on demographics & needs unveiled by surveys/QA monitoring
• Understand your competitors' sales processes through regular mystery shopping
• Use information from surveys/monitoring/competitor shops to adapt the right call flow/scripting and tools to optimize conversions within each customer segment
• Develop rebuttal guides to help salespeople overcome prospect objections

2. Hire salespeople with the skill sets needed to execute your process most effectively.

• Assess the skill set needed to sell your product most effectively - you can do this by profiling your best salespeople. Also use this profile in screening new hires
• Determine whether your compensation/employee benefits are appropriate by benchmarking competitors and comparable industries (also if all your best salespeople are defecting to other companies, you know you have a problem)
• Assess whether you can expand your labor pool by using home agents or locating in a different geographic location

3. Ensure your inside salespeople are properly equipped to handle your sales process

• Determine what foundational training & coaching is needed for onboarding new salespeople
• Determine what foundational training & coaching is needed to ensure that newly promoted/hired coaches understand how to coach your sales process
• Once a salesperson is on the phones, use QA and supervisor coaching to identify gaps in agent skill sets
• Use a mix of e-learning, simulation and live coaching to close gaps in agent and coach skill sets
• Measure agent, coach and organization-wide training needs via a learning management system.
• Ideally you should be able to statistically tie skill set trainings and scoring to changes in performance

4. Optimize Agent Time Management and Staffing

• Determine optimal average handle time for each part of the sales process based on customer segment. Use this to set agent expectations,  being mindful of the fact that every customer is different
  
• Determine how changes in customer wait time during the sales process affect conversion rates (e.g. if it takes over x amount of time for a potential student to reach a financial aid advisor, how does it affect sales). Use this information to make the right staffing decisions
• Note that it is challenging to schedule optimally when inside sales agents are executing complex sales that require multiple contacts with the potential customer. You cannot simply staff to meet a service level on an inbound queue.
  
  • For example, in education, an admissions advisor may talk to a potential student  three or four times prior to the student making their decision to enroll in class and six more times prior to the student starting class.  When a student is having second doubts, these are often best addressed by phone rather than email.
  • When scheduling, you need to creatively think about how a customer can receive the personalized attention and service they need when the work schedule of the salesperson  does not always match the time when a potential customer is available

5. Lead Allocation. You also need to think about the optimal number of sales leads an agent can handle, to maximize conversions across your workforce (but this is a discussion for another day)

Comments

[Paul Brown]

Sales Managers have a wide variety of responsibilities in today's competitive landscape that they are faced with. This certainly makes finding the time for sales management and sales planning a challenge. In sales management we know the importance of executing sales with a sales plan. To ensure the passing of this skill to sales reps, we need to teach them to create a successful sales plan and execution strategy. Since time is limited, using sales templates and tools will help to maximize the interaction with Sales Reps to get the most measurable performance gains for the time spent.