The challenge

In the auto industry, the beginning of the customer relationship is the most critical. If new customers schedule their initial vehicle maintenance with the dealer, it often sets them up to continue to think of the brand first for any needs related to their car throughout the lifecycle. This creates a positive, long-term relationship with the brand.

A leading car manufacturer wanted to get drivers acclimated to their new cars and the service experience as soon as possible. Yet the company realized its Service Marketing associate training was inefficient and needed an update.

The associate training process was lengthy, and didn’t reflect actual customer interactions. The company was eager to invest in strategies and solutions that would maintain high quality training while quickly getting associates into the live production environment.

TTEC’s Discovery and Simulated Learning methodologies emphasize the learner and promote self-discovery to prepare associates for success when taking live calls.

It sought TTEC’s Discovery and Simulated Learning solution — a methodology that emphasizes the learner, not the teacher, and promotes self-discovery and knowledge-based learning to prepare associates for success when taking live calls.

Our solutions

We first conducted a thorough review of the client’s current Service Marketing New Hire Curriculum. We wanted to do away with the outdated curriculum that focused on slides and memorization to create an innovative training experience. A redesigned Service Marketing New Hire Curriculum was soon implemented featuring self-discovery and simulated learning tools.

Through Discovery Learning, learners located and used their production resources, tools, phones, and systems to discover solutions and procedures through realistic calling scenarios. The learners logged into the Salesforce system, and handled the entirety of these calls.

It was simple — two employees played the role of customer and agent. It created actual dialogue that they would encounter. We even threw in different customer demeanors and additional staff to mix things up. The real-time experience made their calls natural and less stressful. The training simulations covered critical topics including top call drivers, key performance metrics, and best call practices. This methodology was covered in every module within the redesigned Service Marketing New Hire Curriculum.

The results

The redesigned curriculum effectively reduced training from six to five days without compromising the training quality. In addition, metric data and composite scoring displayed a lift and increase. The average training assessment score jumped from 82% to 87%. In addition, the average composite score – how well trainees are doing compared to desired metrics — rose from 65% in 60 days to 72% in 90 days. In addition, improvement in the top three quartiles — which compares trainee performance to that of tenured associates — jumped from 44% to 67% within 30 days.

The redesigned curriculum effectively reduced training from six to five days without compromising the training quality.

These improved test scores translated into associates who didn’t just memorize their training, but could better apply their training in the real world. And that influences first call resolution and a better understanding of how to effectively work with the client’s real customers.