Holiday Extras is flying high: Call‐center training improves call time, quality and staff retention

Abstract

Purpose

The article describes an award‐winning training program that has helped Holiday Extras to cut call time and improve customer service in its 85‐seat call center.

Design/methodology/approach

Draws on information provided by the company's call‐center operations manager.

Findings

Reveals that the program helped the company to knock a minute off the average call, while improving quality to the customer. Over 12 months, monthly staff turnover fell from 7.95 to 4.2 percent, and is currently around 3 percent. The rate at which calls are converted to sales increased by 6 percent, from 62 to 68 percent, and there was a 2 percent increase in the percentage of calls answered within 20 seconds, from 85.8 to 87.8 percent.

Practical implications

Describes how Holiday Extras has embedded good practice: what was considered unachievable or uncomfortable for most people at the outset is now regarded as normal working practice and everyone has noticed positive differences.

Originality/value

Highlights the way in which, through the training, the Holiday Extras call center gained maximum benefit from the skills that already existed within the company.

Citation

(2006), "Holiday Extras is flying high: Call‐center training improves call time, quality and staff retention", Human Resource Management International Digest, Vol. 14 No. 7, pp. 22-24. https://doi.org/10.1108/09670730610708178