Dr. Wendell Williams, a well-known expert on human performance assessment and the founder of ScientificSelection, LLC, has been recognized in a recent publication on improving sales performance in the call center environment. According to the new book, Driving Peak Sales Performance in Call Centers, the crucial first step in improving the performance of call center staff echoes the teachings of Dr. Williams: source, select, and retain the right people in the first place.
Defining best practices
ìItís gratifying to be recognized as helping define best practices in an industry,î says Dr. Williams. ìBut as a longtime champion of test-based assessment, I find it even more satisfying to see that rational, scientific hiring practices are now considered an essential part of the ìtextbookî approach to performance. In this area, at least, testing has finally achieved the status of orthodoxy.î
The book delivers tools, practices, and strategies for driving large-scale sales improvements in call center operations. Written for line managers, executives, and anyone else interested in the call center world, it offers a best-practice-based approach drawn from Murcottís own experience, advice from industry experts such as Dr. Williams, and lessons drawn from American Express, Convergys, Cox communications, Hilton Hotels, Landís End, and others.
Staffing at the root of performance
Once a call center organization has identified a performance gap and committed to a path of improvement, says Murcott, the process must begin with selection. ìTraining can make people work better, and incentives can make them work harder,î says Dr. Williams, ìBut nothing can ëfixí hiring mistakes once they have already been committed. And those mistakes can haunt you for a long, long time.î The book goes on to discuss his recommendations for assessing the full range of job competencies including Attitudes, Interests, and Motivations (AIMS), using realistic simulations and validated tests, and making hiring decisions based on measurable data.
ìCall centers have been seen as a kind of test laboratory for selection techniques, because the job competencies are very well-defined, performance is easy to measure ñ and perhaps not least, because performance and turnover are often problematic,î Dr. Williams says. ìIn other environments and for higher-level, salaried employees, rational selection has made less progress to date. Itís still seen by many as more of an innovation than a necessity. But with every piece of evidence, such as this book, managers and executives are gradually coming to their senses.î
Dr. Wendell Williams Offers Employment Testing Expertise to the Call Center World
Scientific Selection founder provides best-practice recommendations in a new book from Call Center Press
