Virido is hiring 3 full time positions.  We are looking for people with Call Center experienced.  Call Center Directors, Trainers and Vendor Managers are preferred. Minimal travel required. Will be responsible for training & performance management of multiple vendors. Strong organizational, verbal & written communication skills a must. Must be creative, able to work independently and have excellent computer skills. Email resume and salary requirements to gfinney@virido.com

Are you interested – ATA Arizona Chapter Presents “ Changes in Healthcare and What it Means the Contact Center” Thursday March , 2010 2:30 – 6:00 PM

Join Us for a Panel Discussion with Leading Healthcare Experts!
Changes in Healthcare and What it Means to the Contact Center

How will the changing landscape of health care impact businesses
and insurance benefits?

What business opportunities does all this change create for contact centers?

What is the role of the contact center in health care?

As a leader, what best practices in health care do you need to know about?

Don’t miss these critical presentations and the informative and interactive Q&A session.

Panelist Team:

Linda Cooper, Aetna – Sr. State Government Relations Specialist

Lynne Jacoby, Formally of UnitedHealth Group and PacifiCare Health Systems – Current VP of Healthcare Solutions, Synergy Solutions, Inc

Tom Gibson, CBIZ, Inc – Employee Benefits Consultant

Guest Speaker:

Interactive fun session with a LIFE COACH engaging you in clarifying your passion and how to find a better balance for a healthier lifestyle!
Dr. Marcia Reynolds, CSP
Life & Leadership Coach, Author of “Outsmart Your Brain”

Sign up today at;
http://www.ataconnect.org/public/chapters/arizona/events.php

Effective Recruiting and Management of Work at Home Agents Come to the ATA March event Thursday March 19^th at the NEW Intercontinental Montelucia Resourt. Our panel will consist of Bob Schmid Director of Operations at Nurse Wise, Kelly Mcquiston Manager at Kelly Services and Tim Whipple Vice President of Agent Services at Live Ops Inc. Come find out how to recruit, screen and train work at home agents. Understand the technology, security and compliance processes. A special Guest Speaker during our networking session to be announced soon. You can sign up at http://www.ataconnect.org/public/chapters/arizona . Registration starts at 2:00 pm and the event lasts until 6 pm. A GREAT PLACE TO SOCIALIZE AND NETWORK WITH HIGH LEVEL DECISION MAKERS IN YOUR INDUSTRY. Feel free to give me a call at 480-419-9063.

I am looking for your feedback on the webinar services you are using. I have found a new video conference service that is not only easy to use but so simplistic that your outside or inside sales team should double if not triple their sales activity and close more business faster. Make your company and team look like the pros that they are. Take away the embarrassment of dysfunctional hard to get into complex conference webinar services. Conference IQ is the latest conference webinar service that does far more than the top 3 services. Stop toying with the Chevy and start driving the Mercedes. See for yourself by clicking on the following link:
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What is even better, the first 500 to sign up will get a free two week test account and a special bonus. You can keep the bonus even if you drop the service before the trial is up!
This bonus is a webinar autoplay system ($1500 value) that automates your presentations just like an auto-responder automates your e-mails.
I was also able to get a 10% for just typing in my last name (Finney) into the Promotion code area of the registration page. To get the bonus and discount, sign up for the free trial through this link:
http://joomla.conferenceiq.com/idevaffiliate/idevaffiliate.php?id=100_2_1_6
After you get your free trail account and collect your “Webinars on Autoplay” bonus, go to their website (www.conferenceiq.com) to learn how this technology can enhance your lead generation and improve your conversions.
Please let me know how this compares to your service.

The Arizona Chapter of the American Telemarketing Association has announced their 2009 board members. The board is making it a point to increase the ATA membership and member participation. The Arizona Chapter has been a large influencer for the National Board and has been actively involved in giving back to the community supporting such organizations as the Women’s Foundation to Stop Domestic Violence and the Pediatric Unit of Maricopa County Hospital. WE PROVIDE A GREAT PLACE TO SOCIALIZE AND NETWORK WITH HIGH LEVEL DECISION MAKERS IN YOUR INDUSTRY. If you have any interest in be an Ambassador within your company and or community please contact me at 480-419-9063.

Looking for ways to motivate sales and service results? Check out this online solution. It is quick, easy and inexpensive so you can run an incentive contest/SPIF in minutes.

Motivated Incentives specializes in sales compensation and incentive management programs. Our flagship product is an online, ready-made contest application that allows you to implement an incentive program in minutes. Our plug and play tool is easy to use and reduces administrative set up time by 90%. This allows managers to focus their time on what is important…driving results!

Whether you need to motivate sales, service quality, safety or employee morale, Motivated Incentives has a campaign to fit your needs. The online catalog gives you access to hundreds of games and high quality creative themes that cover anything from sports (like Football, Olympic Gold and Kick it Into Gear Soccer); to general themes (like “Idol”, Ultimate Survivor, Beat your Best, Cowboy Up) to Seasonal themes (like Turkey Trot, Blast Off, Build a Snowman and Surf’s Up). In addition you will have access to an ROI calculator, recommended prize tool and tracking worksheets to measure your success.

With the quarter coming to close, now is the perfect time to rev up your team results. So go ahead, close the year strong and kick start 2009!

For more information visit www.MotivatedIncentives.com or call Laurie Alm directly at 817 912 1072.

Recently I had lunch with a friend – a former client who was venting her frustrations with her new job, past predecessor and current vendors. During the course of our conversation, she explains that she is responsible for outsourcing 50k consumer telemarketing hours each month. She has inherited 3 call center companies and a management team that are all on different agendas and different skill sets.

Her first plan of action was to visit her vendors. Walking through the call center with the Director and a Supervisor, she was impressed with the number of people in the call center. When asked how many work stations the facility has, she is told 750. By the time she gets to her team at the far side of the call center she finds that they are packing up and on their way home. Okay – it ‘s 4:30. “Have a good night see you in the morning” as she introduced herself to the team as they headed to the door. Before going back to the conference room to check her email and voice mail she asked the call center director, “How many people do you have on my program”? “Between 50-70” she is told. One hour later she returns to the floor looking for her team. Where’s my team? They can’t be on break! She asked a supervisor standing by. We don’t have room at night due to the demands of some of their other larger clients. We just call your program during the day. STRIKE 1.

The next day she returned to the call center to spend some time with the agents and the management team. The team sounds okay and inexperienced. Her company has been working with this call center for 2 years. As she began to monitor she finds the agents to be using an outdated script, no manager was monitoring, motivating or coaching her agents. While talking to the Supervisors she realized they have less than 3 months of experience between the 2 of them. During her meeting with the agents she finds that her program is the stepping child for the other programs within the facility and that really didn’t know the senior management team. They only know their direct supervisors. STRIKE 2.

At this time I was so amazed that it began to get funny. Trust me she didn’t think so. Many of the processes supposedly in place were broken. Monitoring and verification were not being completed as required and agents were all working at their own pace. What she saw the previous day were not people functioning as a call center but a room full of people getting ready to go home. This day the entire facility seemed to be dysfunctional. She decided it was time to meet with the Senior Management team.

During this meeting she was told that they were sorry for what she had experienced. It was not typical and that the facility is quite large and they can’t be everywhere at the same time. They have had some turnover lately and they can assure her they are doing their best to fix the problem at hand. One of the management team members commented that it’s hard sometimes to manage such a small campaign. She realized she was a small fish in this pond and she needed to go back to where she found the most success. The smaller call centers where she can work with the owners (the decision makers) where size does matter and her program is going to get the attention it needs. STRIKE 3.

Make sure when you are looking to outsource, choose the company that has experience in your industry.See the technology and meet the management team.Choose the call center that takes your business as serious as you do. Treat them as a partner and as a part of your team.Their success is your success. Most of all, make sure your vendor is willing to have the flexibility and scalability that you need while maintaining the appropriate attention as promised. Don’t get caught up in all the glitz stay focused on what is right for your needs and company.

One of the most interesting topics I see on RFP’s or I hear asked during the interview process between a client and a potential vendor is Turnover or Attrition.You will hear attrition percentages but rarely do you hear the calculations or the circumstances for it.What about an industry standard?Is there really an industry standard calculation for attrition?Does this mean that all call centers are alike?The 60 seat facility in Nebraska that provides services for 4 clients is like the 1500 seat facility in Orlando that is owned, operated and services its own product line?I hope not!!!!!

Believe it or not, most call centers use their own calculations for measuring turnover.Some start the calculation after 30 days of employment, some exclude part timers while others begin from the first paid hour.Does your turnover number include all employees or just agents?I believe most call center management and clients don’t understand turnover or its calculations.Want to have some fun? Once you have received a turnover number, ask how it is calculated and how the industry calculates this number.My guess – a lot of stuttering will begin to take place.

So as a client, what does the Attrition number mean to you?Is it the answer you were looking for?Will you make your decision based on a number you heard and may not really understand?I believe the answer is more than a number.

While internal issues, clients expectations, consistency of work flow and employee personal lives effect turnover, lets discuss the 3 areas that I believe should be discussed when addressing turnover.

Natural Attrition – People move, go back to school, find higher paying jobs, retire, die…

Controllable Attrition – Agents let go because of performance, attendance or behavioral issues.

Uncontrollable Attrition – client unexpectedly loses funding, changes the way they do business, facility lost to fire……forcing layoffs.

Turnover is important but should be based on the skill set of the agent needed and the complexity of the program.“So tell me, now that you know my program expectations and complexity, what type of turnover do you experience on such like applications?” A program that takes 8 weeks to train, and has a long sales cycle should have less turnover than a program that takes 2 hours to train and usually is a 1 call close.