HML. Homeloan Management Ltd

Telephone calls form a significant part of HML’s communication to customers. Call handlers are trained to recognise and deal with vulnerable customers, anxious customers, customers who want to complain and customers who simply want to service their loans. That’s a lot of calls (in December, for example, HML dealt with over 67,000 calls).

 

In addition, we have specific client strategies to follow – from marketing a new service to existing customers to talking to customers who have broken arrangements to pay.

 

As a financial services organisation working on behalf of clients, we also need to be mindful of FSA regulations and guidance around customer communications. So it’s really important for us to get call quality right.

 

For the last 3 years, HML has used coaching very successfully to improve call quality. It’s a method that addresses the changing dynamics, behaviours and key regulatory principles simultaneously. Teams of quality coaches are located near call handlers on every site and each coach is responsible for a number of call handlers, grouped by the clients they service, while the span of control for coach to call handler is capped to ensure no coach is over-stretched. Coaches are encouraged to foster close relationships with their call handlers, but they are also monitored to ensure this does not impact on their objectivity.

 

So what makes coaching so effective?

 

For a start, it’s empowering. Coaching, as any top athlete will testify, concentrates on the positives and helps develop the individual with his/her behaviour and attitude. This is crucial in calls where customer behaviour can sometimes be challenging and the call agent has to maintain his/her professionalism.

 

Coaching leads to conversations taking place between the call handler and coach in a non-confrontational manner. It facilitates rather than tells and helps individuals see things from a different perspective. Although he eventually lost, Andy Murray’s recent performance in the Australian Open against Novak Djokovic evidences the kind of transformation a new coach can bring in an individual by working with him, yet not shying away from the developmental issues.

 

While most of the coaching is on a one-to-one basis, we also carry out group coaching to address issues common to a body of people. Group coaching is facilitated more like an action learning set, where the ultimate aim is self-management and self-sufficiency.

 

Coaching involves significant investment but in the long run it pays for its keep by minimising risk, and provides reassurance that processes are being continually improved. On a personal level, when correctly deployed, coaching can create a positive vibe – call handlers are given the space to identify their own pointers for improvement, keeping people motivated, energised and ready to handle the next call.