5 Simple Ways to Upskill Agents – Without a Huge Training Budget

When purse strings tighten, you shouldn’t have to hit pause on upskilling your agents. In fact, there are lots of ways to keep learning front and centre – without a huge training budget!

That’s why we asked these industry experts for their most practical, low-budget strategies to help develop skills, build confidence, and improve performance for you to try in your contact centre.

1. Use the Customer Data and Call Recordings You Already Have 

Think about the resources you already have at your disposal! After all, the contact centre is a treasure trove of data, so make good use of it.

One effective (and free) exercise is to create customer personas based on all the conversations and data you already have in-house. Your agents can then use these as an ongoing tool for role-playing sessions.

You can also make use of call recordings as the training material itself! Let’s face it, you have looooooooooooots of these!

So set aside time to review actual call recordings. Pause, discuss what worked, and brainstorm what could be improved. Nothing is more practical – or cheaper – than real-world examples.

If you are looking to develop your training strategy and use mock calls, read our article: How to Use Mock Calls to Improve Agent Performance – With Free Exercises

2. Encourage Open Knowledge Sharing Across the Contact Centre

There’s a lot of value to be had in peer-to-peer learning too!

One way to do this is to pair agents together and encourage knowledge sharing, provided there’s mutual trust and willingness to collaborate.

This can really be strengthened by empowering agents with some self-direction, giving them the space and opportunity to say, “I’m a bit weak in [THIS]” and pairing them up with someone who can share best practice in that particular area.

This approach can also be extended across management levels and other teams and departments. For example, agents could spend time with the planning team, or shadow team leaders to learn more about the operation as a whole.

This isn’t always immediately straightforward, however, as some people are naturally more open to sharing, while others may need encouragement. You also need to be mindful that some people might choose to deliberately withhold information to suit their own agenda.

“Sadly, putting the spotlight on learning and development can sometimes bring out the worst in people, creating a bit of a cartel-type environment where key knowledge and skills are guarded by people who want to protect their jobs.

So, if there are blockers internally, think about why there are blockers, what the agenda might be, and how you might begin to break down these cultural barriers.” – Maria McCann, Co-Founder of Neos Wave

Don’t be discouraged by this, though! If you can get to a point where agents and the wider contact centre actively foster a culture of learning and openness, the impact can be substantial – without breaking the bank!

For some of the best actionable strategies out there to help you encourage knowledge sharing, read our article: Want to Foster Knowledge Sharing Between Your Agents?

3. Create Space for Agents to Identify Opportunities for Improvement

As Stephen Covey once famously said, “Without involvement, there is no commitment” – so make it easy for agents to get involved in improving your contact centre operation.

After all, everybody that’s working in your operating environment knows all too well what the problems are and also probably has some idea on how things could be improved. So, make time and space for these conversations to happen!

Engage agents directly in identifying opportunities for improvement and give them clear pathways to contribute.

This all creates a great platform for your people to step up and learn new skills, and for you to see what they can really do. When done well, this even creates a springboard for internal development and mentorship programmes.

“Some of the most of the most effective in-house learning I’ve ever seen has been homegrown, because people come up with the coolest ideas on how and where improvements can be made – but only if you actually give them the time and space to think creatively and introduce a clear structure for everyone to work to.

It’s not enough just to provide some freedom, you need to pair this with a system that allows things to be tracked and the success of initiatives to be measured.” – Adam Boelke, Founder of the Alignment Advantage Group, and author of the “7 Cs to Success” mastermind course on leadership & culture

4. Record Your Own Training Videos to Scale Up Knowledge Sharing – Without Losing the Human Touch

Another low-budget training hack is to record your own videos in-house, which agents can watch as often as they need to.

“One of my favourite low-budget training hacks is Loom videos. They’re fast to create, easy to share, and agents can watch them as often as they need. They let me explain something once and then scale it without losing that human touch.

Another tool I love is Tango – it automatically creates step-by-step walkthroughs with screenshots just by recording your screen, which makes it perfect for documenting processes or creating quick how-tos.” – Brittany Hodak, Keynote Speaker & Author of Creating Superfans

If you are looking for advice on how to ensure your coaching remains effective, even as technology continues to transform, read our article: Take Your Coaching Strategy to the Next Level

5. Make Good Use of Your LinkedIn Network to Bring in Guest Speakers

Be creative and look beyond your contact centre too – even to your LinkedIn network – to see who might be willing to give up a bit of their time to help with your team’s personal development.

Of course, when people are volunteering their time, no money is changing hands, so it’s a cost-effective way to invest time – rather than money – in professional development.

“I regularly reach out to people on LinkedIn to see if they might be willing to spend a bit of time with my team.

Even if it’s just half an hour on a Zoom call, the perspective and the expertise they bring can really help others.” – Arlyne Pardo, Senior Workforce Manager at DASH BPO

If you’re smart about it, sessions with guest speakers can even be tailored to specific needs and areas of interest.

You can ask your team “What would you like to know more about?” and then actively seek out external volunteers who can put the spotlight on that topic.

This is a very hands-on approach that not only builds knowledge but highlights the value of networking and looking beyond internal experts for insight and support.

Training Doesn’t Have to Come With a Hefty Price Tag

Training doesn’t always have to come with a hefty price tag! As these examples show, when budgets are tight, how far you take the initiative to be creative and use what you already have can make the world of difference to your agents’ professional development.

What Have You Tried to Upskill Your Agents Without Formal Training?

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With thanks to the following people for sharing their thoughts for this article:

• Adam Boelke, Founder of the Alignment Advantage Group, and author of the “7 Cs to Success” mastermind course on leadership & culture
• Arlyne Pardo, Senior Workforce Manager at DASH BPO
• Brittany Hodak, Keynote Speaker & Author of Creating Superfans
• Maria McCann, Co-Founder of Neos Wave

If you are looking for more information to help you develop your contact centre agents’ skills, read these articles next:

• How to Improve Your Agents’ Critical Thinking Skills
• 5 Soft Skills Every Agent Needs Before Taking Their First Call
• Live Chat Quality – 7 Training Exercises to Improve It

Author: Megan Jones
Reviewed by: Jo Robinson