If you’re a training manager of a Customer Service organization, how much time do you spend training customer service? Anyone else hear crickets creaking? Exactly. The basis of your business isn’t even what you’re focusing on training employees. You’re training on specific products, on answers to inquiries, and how to “handle” difficult callers, guests or clients. But shouldn’t you be training how to service clients in a manner to prevent them becoming “difficult”?

Our culture is much more re-active than proactive. Hey, if it weren’t, Reagan wouldn’t have pulled the solar panels off the White House when he got into office. But if you want to provide the best service to your clients, like so many companies say they do, you need to provide better customer service training.

According to a report by the Service & Support Professionals Association (SSPA), just 27 percent of service and support staff spends more than five days on annual ongoing learning. Another study completed by Professors Bill Withers and Patrick Langan, both of Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa, determined that 78 percent of employers said they provided some customer service training, but 65 percent of those said they would provide more if it were available (Chief Learning Officer Magazine, September 2007)

How do you provide this training? It seems 65% of you reading this are seeking the answer, which is a simple one. Role-play. Your employees know better than you the situations that need to be practiced. Let them record freestyle videos in SureSpeak. Have them send the videos to other employees. Every time a new customer service employee encounters a new or challenging situation, create a training module based on the situation. Want some help? With our Rapid Results™ program, our implementation team can help you create these customer service scenarios. We’ll even promise that your customer service employees will be better equipped to handle tough situations in as little as a month. Find out more by emailing sales@surespeak.com.

For Immediate Release

SureSpeak Wins CLO Magazine Excellence in Social Networks Award Surespeak Recognized as Distinguished Technology Provider Among Learning Industry Leaders

CHICAGO, Sept. 26, 2008 — SureSpeak, the online, webcam-based training and networking solution, is pleased to announce it has received industry recognition in eLearning by winning a Chief Learning Officer Special Provider Award. SureSpeak was presented with the silver “Excellence in Social Networks Award” during the Fall 2008 CLO Magazine Symposium’s special awards ceremony held Thursday at the legendary Hotel del Coronado in Coronado, Calif. From a pool of 500 applicants, 40 awards were presented to the learning industry’s most respected leaders.

“The winners are the industry leaders who truly champion innovation and transform it into learning and value for their organizations,” said Norm Kamikow, President and Editor-in-Chief of Chief Learning Officer magazine.

"We are honored to have received the prestigious Special Provider Award. This recognition as a distinguished technology provider emphasizes our continued commitment to providing our customers with a cost-effective, performance improvement training tool," said Darren Schwartz, CEO, SureSpeak, LLC. "We are proud that our technology is gaining traction in the marketplace at a time when organizations are desperately seeking training solutions that maximize results, while reducing travel and training expense."

SureSpeak is a web-based video training tool for sales and customer service people to build their skills using off-the-shelf webcams. The scalable platform offers asynchronous training through the site’s networking. Using SureSpeak, companies can create a curriculum that trains new hires, enhances skills of current employees, and offers online training without integrating new systems.

The average time to fill an open position ranges from four to fourteen weeks (RHI/CareerBuider.com Report, 2008). Provided most employees still give the standard two-weeks notice, this means before your new hire starts, the position they're expected to effortlessly walk into has been open two weeks to three months already! Getting this employee up and running ASAP is vital to the success, or in this economy, the survival of your company. By implementing these four tips into your training program, you can help your new hires get fully ramped-up in no time at all:

1) Make expectations clear on day one—or even sooner. Much of the time figured into ramp-up time can be attributed to attrition. If you make it clear to your new hires on the first day, or even in the interview, what will be expected of them regarding workload and goals, you’re more likely to begin training an employee who won’t quit just as they get ramped-up. If you feel as if you’re selling a position to an employee—stop. The employee probably isn’t the right fit.

2) After expectations are clear, let the employee test the waters right away. This doesn’t mean setting up your new hires to practice on clients—but instead, arrange for the employee to role-play with a seasoned employee, trainer or on video using SureSpeak. Gauging employees’ starting points, as well as where they excel, can make your job as a trainer a lot easier.

3) Immerse your new hire into different situations. No matter what position you’re hiring for, the employee will most likely need to be able to make judgment calls in different scenarios. Practice as many real-world situations with the new employee in rapid succession, with evaluation after each training session. Give examples of yourself or another employee in similar situations, and then make the new employee practice it themselves. By the way, SureSpeak’s iRole™ is a great way to practice these skills.

4) Create a standard method of delivering consistent feedback. All employees need consistent and constructive feedback. Many trainers wait until the end of a training session to take the time to review trainee’s progress, which adds days or weeks onto the employee’s ramp-up time. Oftentimes, time is stretched in training sessions, and providing individual employees with one-on-one training and feedback seems impossible. Find ways to make best use of your valuable training hours. An effective way is to incorporate SureSpeak.

Want a simple way to decrease your new hire’s ramp-up time using your current training content? Contact SureSpeak about the Rapid Results™ program. Give us 25 new hires, and they will be outperforming peers in one month. Guaranteed. Email sales@surespeak.com 

Darren was recently interviewed by MidwestBusiness.com. Here is an excerpt:

"One year from now, we see the company positioned as a major competitor in the SaaS e-learning market. Our customers are all trying to cut costs and improve the value of their training investment. We’ve demonstrated we can do both of these things."

Click here to read the entire interview. Enjoy!

Heads up, SureSpeakers. Adobe has released a new flash player, which you will need to install to record in SureSpeak. When you go to record, and you click "Allow" so Flash can recognize your webcam, you will get an hourglass that won't go away. To get the right version of Flash, click here. Need help? We would be honored... help@surespeak.com

http://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/

Hey Guys,

We have made some exciting changes to SureSpeak, some of which we’re sure you’ve noticed. These changes not only improve the look of the site, but should make it run a little more slick also:

·        An exciting new homepage, with new site design and structure

·        New Coaching Box, with expanding folder systems

·        Improved security system, to further encrypt videos ensuring no one can view them unless invited

·        The ability to attach additional materials—such as Power Point Presentations, .pdf’s, and Microsoft Word Documents to a course or lesson.

·        iRole, which is a back and forth recording feature, allowing you to simulate a conversation

Want more info on how to access these features, and maximize their use? Email us at info@surespeak.com.