A call center is a valuable asset to help medical practices deliver better patient experiences, demonstrate exceptional customer service, educate and convert new patients, and retain loyal patients. But the success and effectiveness of a medical call center is highly dependent on the amount of training agents receive.
Call center agents who receive comprehensive, in-depth training on your practice’s services and technology systems, customer service best practices, and empathetic patient communications will perform better and keep your patients more satisfied than agents without specialized training.
Keep reading to learn five benefits of implementing agent training programs and on-going learning in your medical call center.
Better Patient Experiences
There’s nothing more frustrating for patients than calling a health care practice and speaking with an agent who doesn’t provide accurate information, can’t answer in-depth questions about the medical office’s services, or passes along the call to a different agent to handle. Comprehensive training can help call center agents deliver better patient experiences by providing accurate information, giving valuable education and assistance, demonstrating empathy, and making the interaction effortless for patients.
In the long run, better patient experiences lead to more patient satisfaction, greater loyalty, and higher retention rates.
Improved Performance Metrics
Your medical practice may use several metrics to measure call center agent performance, productivity, and efficiency. Common KPIs for tracking agent effectiveness and customer satisfaction include average handling time, first call resolution, average resolution time, customer satisfaction score (CSAT), and net promoter score (NPS).
These metrics monitor how long agents spend on the phone with a patient, how long it takes to resolve an issue, and how satisfied the customer was with the level of service they received. The more highly trained your agents are, the more likely they are to resolve patient issues faster and provide a good customer service experience.
In the long run, agents who resolve patient queries effectively are able to take more calls in the day and contribute to a high-performing call center.
Higher Productivity Rates
Call centers can and should use training and on-going education to improve agent productivity and efficiency. Employers can achieve this by analyzing key performance metrics (like the ones listed above), identifying weak areas, and providing supplemental education and training to improve performance. Continuous training helps agents stay up-to-date with best practices and fine-tune or adapt the processes and methods they use daily.
In the long run, on-going training ensures that agents are more productive and consistently delivering the best patient experience services possible.
Greater Agent Satisfaction
All employees — including call center agents — want to feel engaged, happy, and confident in their job roles. Providing comprehensive training during the onboarding process will help agents feel more confident performing their job responsibilities. On the flip side, low confidence and uncertainty among agents will lead to poor customer service interactions with patients. Additionally, providing on-going learning and development opportunities will keep agents engaged with their job and incentivized to perform at their best.
In the long run, offering comprehensive training and on-going growth and development programs can help reduce employee turnover and attract top talent to your center.
Increased ROI
Finally, call center agent training produces tangible benefits in the form of higher profits and increased return on investment. Studies have shown that providing opportunities for employee training and learning have a significant impact on a company’s success. One study found that companies offering comprehensive training have 218% higher income per employee than companies with less comprehensive training, and enjoy a 24% higher profit margin than companies that spend less on training.
In the long run, the benefit is clear: better training is better for your bottom line.
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The NewGen Marketing team has years of experience driving sales and business growth for industry-leading health care brands. We recognize the value of integrating multi-channel marketing campaigns with a proven acquisition and nurturing process that leads to patient conversions and treatments.
NewGen Marketing provides broad-spectrum marketing services, including strategy and investment, analytics, paid media, social media, remarketing, content marketing, and acquisition and call centers. When you’re ready to hire a marketing agency who can drive more to your bottom line, contact NewGen Marketing today for a free consultation.