PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. - Dartnell Corp. has released new guidebooks that provide call center managers with tips to effectively monitor and coach their staffs, and call center reps with strategies to quickly learn and produce on-the-job.

The Call Center Monitoring and Coaching Guidebook
($24.95 plus $5.50 s/h, 111-page paperback book, by David Dee)

This 111-page paperback offers ideas and techniques to efficiently monitor reps' calls - and provide productive feedback to call center staff. It details how to: develop a standard call-monitoring form; give constructive, non-threatening feedback; help service agents overcome their resistance to call monitoring; and give personalized, one-on-one coaching.

The guidebook's four parts offer new as well as experienced managers an effective plan to increase productivity:

• Part one: Tells how to convey the importance of service expectations to reps, address their concerns about being monitored, and choose the best type of monitoring for the call center.
  
  
• Part two: Shows how to create an effective call-monitoring form, and provides samples of forms that other companies have used successfully.
  
  
• Part three: Describes ways to provide constructive feedback, and set up a peer-monitoring program that empowers service agents to coach and learn from their colleagues.
  
  
• Part four: Outlines the biggest performance problems discovered when monitoring - and offers tips and suggestions for guiding reps toward improvement in critical customer service areas such as communication, listening, and projecting a positive attitude to every caller. Self-quizzes for reps to evaluate their skills are also included.

The Ins and Outs of Call Centers: A Reference Guide for New Reps
($23.95 plus $5.50 s/h, 105-page paperback book, by Jennifer Anderson and Patrick Luce)

This 105-page paperback serves as a primer for what to expect when working in a call center. Included are: an introduction to call center basics such as industry terminology; customer service and telesales training; an overview of call center communication such as e-mail, Chat, VoIP and the Internet; and ideas to work ergonomically. Each section also features self-tests - for reps to evaluate how well they have learned new skills.

The reference guide also details specific tips a new service rep can implement right away concerning:

• Basic phone etiquette, including putting customers on hold and transferring calls
  
  
• Communication, including phrases to avoid and how to ask the right question
  
  
• What to do when they make mistakes
  
  
• Handling customer objections
  
  
• Proper positioning and use of computer equipment

The Call Center Monitoring and Coaching Guidebook and The Ins and Outs of Call Centers: A Reference Guide for New Reps are available from Dartnell Corp. To order or for more information, call 800-621-5463, ext. 563, or visit www.dartnellcorp.com.

Serving businesses since 1917, Dartnell Corp. (www.dartnellcorp.com) - a subsidiary of LRP Publications (www.lrp.com) - provides training and motivational newsletters, books, videos and audiocassettes on customer service, sales, teamwork and management skills.

###

Editor's Note: For a media-review copy of either or both publications - as a pdf or in print - and/or a JPEG file of the book covers, call Gary Bagin at 561-622-6520, ext. 370, or e-mail garyb@lrp.com.