Not a workday should pass by without each Conversational Marketing Expert (CME) receiving coaching for blood donor recruitment in some form. Formal Coaching Sessions, Follow-Up Coaching Sessions, Positive Coaching Sessions, and Quality Audit Sessions fill this need eight days each month.
On remaining days, each tele-recruiter should receive what we call “Drive-By Coaching.” Drive-By Coaching is not as time consuming and is less structured than the rest. It consists of very brief, one-off suggestions or reinforcements related to current conversations.
Supervisors should listen carefully to their tele-recruiters’ donor conversations throughout the day. As they do, they should notice little opportunities to strengthen positive habits and/or correct poor habits and should discuss these observations with tele-recruiters as soon after the call as possible.
Drive-By Coaching In Action
The following are example Drive-By Coaching statements:
- “That was a great second attempt, Sara! I know you didn’t get the appointment, but the second attempt was awesome. If you keep on doing it that way, you will definitely get more appointments!”
- “Don’t forget to ask for an email address in every call, Byron. It helps us stay in touch with the donors who don’t respond well to phone calls.”
- “I’d like to hear you emphasize key words more in your conversations. I brought a highlighter and a paper copy of the script so that you and I can highlight key words in the script for emphasis. For the next hour, I want you to focus on putting extra emphasis on those words when you say them. Practicing this will allow you to inject some highs and lows into your presentation flow and make your pitch sound more natural and interesting.”
- “Second requests increase appointments per hour by an average of 25%. I’d like you to set a goal of at least five second-requests per hour in five separate conversations for the rest of the day. Five second-requests per hour should result in you scheduling a minimum of one additional appointment per hour today.”
These brief but meaningful encounters keep Conversational Quality top-of-mind, let your tele-recruiters know that you are always listening, and provide instant feedback for strengthening good behaviors and changing bad ones.
What do your Drive-By Coaching sessions sound like?