How 1 CU Used Tech To Boost Call Center Volume 30%

Call center training technology helped boost loan volume by 30% in one year at the call center at Government Employees Credit Union (GECU).

GECU's call center originated $65 million in consumer and home equity loans last year, up from $44 million in 2002, when GECU started using Envision, Inc.'s Click2Coach agent development solution, according to Jenny Turner, Remote Services Branch manager.

And the monitoring and learning tool should further help call center representatives hone their skills, pushing an additional 15% increase in volume this year, she added.

The 30-agent call center pulls in about 30% of the CU's total loan dollars, she said.

The Click2Coach agent development solution comprises two modules, including Quality Monitoring and eLearning. Quality Monitoring tracks representatives' interactions with screen and audio recordings and responds with automated coaching.

"Quality Monitoring is a training and a coaching tool," Turner explained. "Representatives can see their call evaluations and listen back to their calls at their own desktops. Representatives start to understand where they are being too long-winded or aren't 'sharing the moment' with the member."

The eight-branch GECU has made "sharing the moment" a requirement for representatives selling loan products to members. "We want a representative to become part of the members' enthusiasm by congratulating them or being excited for them," said Turner.

Quality Monitoring tracks whether a representative "shares the moment" by adding the criterion to a customizable monitoring template. "The result is more consistency," Turner continued. "Our monitoring scores are currently above 90% as a group."

Other monitoring criteria include using the member's name at least twice during every call and asking if the member needs any additional assistance after an issue is resolved.

Click2Coach's eLearning module allows Turner to send customized video training clips to individual representative desktops.

"These are one- to three-minute clips that the six call center supervisors can send out to representatives at any given time-for example when a product we're selling has changed or to remind representatives that they shouldn't forget to fill out a certain part of a loan application," she said.

Click2Coach has also helped increase loan originations by teaching GECU how to cut the time it takes to complete the application process.

"We started monitoring some of the calls and wondering why they were taking so long," Turner said. Representatives sometimes spent up to 25 minutes per application, she said.

"Since then, representatives have learned not to sit there going over every single thing line by line on the member's credit report," she said. "Instead, the representatives just ask if there's anything they need to change related to the member's debts.

"Now I can guarantee some of the experienced representatives take about 15 minutes per application."

Before the $1-billion GECU had access to Click2Coach's monitoring equipment, supervisors used to evaluate and coach agents using a tape recorder.

"We didn't enjoy that very much," Turner said. "It was time-consuming, because we had to bring the agent into a backroom, listen to the recorded call, and rewind it constantly."

The method allowed GECU to evaluate and coach each representative only once per month, said Turner. "We were taking baby steps."

Now that the 236,000-member CU uses Click2Coach to send digital results straight to representatives' desktops, Turner can evaluate and coach each representative four times per month, she said. "Now, in my opinion, we're awesome."

Envision also offers a Workforce Management tool, which can be integrated with Click2Coach. Two additional U.S. credit unions use Click2Coach, including Olympia, Wash.-based State Employees and Jacksonville-Fla. Vystar Credit Unions.

CUJ Resources

For additional information on this story:

* Government Employees CU: www.gecu-ep.org

* Envision at www.envisioninc.com

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