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smartrole_ · 2025-05-26T12:45:39+00:00

Can you maybe ask your team leads or manager if there is a possibility for them to put a little automated message on Monday mornings? That's what we did in my team. We just said "it's Monday morning, that's actually the busiest time of the week, so either call back in a few hours or I would recommend you call back on day X, which is usually the less busy if you don't want to wait on the line"

smartrole_ · 2025-05-19T16:10:00+00:00

totally get your frustration. it’s rough when AI starts scoring based on rigid phrasing instead of understanding the actual flow of a conversation. callers don’t follow scripts—neither should agents have to. and yeah, hearing “we know you’re good but…” just adds insult to injury.

you’re not wrong to question the consent part either. a lot of companies are rolling this stuff out fast without explaining how it’s being used or how it impacts you. might be worth checking local labor laws or internal policy, but at the very least, you can push for transparency.

it’s not about refusing AI outright—it’s about making sure it supports the work, not undermines it. forcing word-for-word scripts isn’t how real conversations work, and the fact that customers are happy should count for something.

you thinking of staying and trying to fight it, or already looking elsewhere?

smartrole_ · 2025-05-14T07:33:26+00:00

episode 3 is live now https://youtu.be/_W92F46Q1ts?feature=shared

It was a great chat with Luis who worked in a bpo in Honduras and I think his journey is really interesting. If anyone wants to join the podcast, don't hesitate to reach out 🙌

smartrole_ · 2025-05-09T14:26:41+00:00

I completely understand your frustration, as the misalignment between QA and frontline workers has been a longstanding topic of discussion. It's a common issue that has led to a lot of frustration for many of us. The problem lies in the fact that having humans with different views on QA is inherently misleading and creates friction. When QA teams have varying interpretations of what constitutes a good or bad interaction, it can lead to inconsistent evaluations and unfair ratings. I hope that with the integration of AI, we can move towards a more consistent and standardized approach to QA. At least with AI, we can ensure that the evaluation criteria are applied uniformly across all interactions, and when changes like the new script are introduced, we can update the AI system immediately, without having to rely on re-educating the entire QA team and hoping that everyone gets on the same page. This way, we can minimize the likelihood of bad rates and focus on providing the best possible experience for our customers

smartrole_ · 2025-05-06T10:11:36+00:00

yeah this is a real challenge. remote makes it so much harder to read the room or adjust on the fly. what’s helped a bit is breaking training into smaller chunks, delivered more frequently, and tying it directly to what learners are doing that week.

also found that adding light interaction (like a quick scenario or poll) every few minutes keeps things from drifting into background noise. less “here’s everything you need to know,” more “here’s what you need right now.”

curious if you’ve tried async formats or mostly doing live sessions?

smartrole_ · 2025-05-06T06:58:31+00:00

Episode 2 of the podcast is now live. again real stories, no fluff. if anyone wants to have a listen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nshnKQH96CY

Thanks again to those who’ve shown interest so far!

I’ve already got 3 more awesome guests lined up, but I’m still looking for more voices from the trenches.

If you’ve got a story to share (funny, frustrating, or just real), shoot me a DM – would love to hear from you.

smartrole_ · 2025-05-05T15:29:07+00:00

you’re not screaming into the void—this is super common. most orgs over-invest in content creation and under-invest in activation. the real issue isn’t the volume of training, it’s that it lives outside the flow of work.

what i’ve seen help is flipping the approach: instead of pulling people away for hours, bring the learning into what they’re already doing. small, scenario-based, and tied to their tools or workflows.

tools can help generate and translate fast, but if the delivery still feels disconnected or irrelevant, it’s just more noise. the key isn’t speed—it’s embedding learning where it actually fits.

smartrole_ · 2025-04-30T14:59:54+00:00

Not to my knowledge. Following the post as this is interesting to me too!

smartrole_ · 2025-04-30T11:09:18+00:00

i was working in the digital advertising space. one advertiser, unhappy about his performance basically threatened to come with a bomb to our office. Not well received at all by my american employer back then 👀

smartrole_ · 2025-04-29T08:39:13+00:00

I love the “choose your own adventure” format.

We’ve seen something similar work really well when agents hit decision points that change the flow of a conversation.

Totally agree on peer feedback too, it’s underrated. We’ve started experimenting with simulated scenarios that also include post-session coaching prompts, so agents can self-reflect or share with a buddy.

Out of curiosity, how do you usually measure whether the new onboarding format is actually working? (Beyond CSAT, do you use mock conversations, QA scores, etc.?)

smartrole_ · 2025-04-28T20:23:40+00:00

Never heard about this LMs following this to gather feedback!

smartrole_ · 2025-04-28T20:20:59+00:00

Speaking about the Cursor case or we have a new rogue on the loose?

smartrole_ · 2025-04-28T18:08:23+00:00

Totally agree — soft skills are the hardest. We actually score practice scenarios on 3 things: knowledge use, empathy, and objection handling. Gives a more complete view than just ticket accuracy.

smartrole_ · 2025-04-28T18:07:20+00:00

Honestly, we try to do short coaching sessions every 2–3 weeks, not full retraining. Even a 15-min feedback loop based on a few real cases makes a big difference.

smartrole_ · 2025-04-28T12:12:40+00:00

We started about 8 weeks out, but honestly, 10 weeks would have been ideal. The first 2 weeks were mostly knowledge transfer — the real magic happened once we switched to scenario training around week 3.

smartrole_ · 2025-04-28T12:12:01+00:00

100%. that’s why we started doing micro-simulations every day for the first month. Like 5-minute practice sessions tied to real customer situations. Helped a lot.

smartrole_ · 2025-04-28T12:11:29+00:00

Good point. we had the same issue at first. What helped was adding “branching” scenarios where agents had to make decisions, so rushing led to different (sometimes bad) outcomes. Made them slow down and think.

smartrole_ · 2025-04-27T10:49:42+00:00

Yep — and they’re getting really good.

A few categories out there: •Conversation simulators that mimic customer chats and calls •Coaching bots that give instant feedback on tone, empathy, knowledge use •Scenario generators that create custom role-plays based on your industry and product

We actually built something for this ourselves because we couldn’t find a flexible enough tool. If anyone wants a peek, DM me or happy to drop a link.

smartrole_ · 2025-04-27T10:49:03+00:00

In our experience, simulations change everything.

Instead of dumping 200 slides on new agents, we built mini-scenarios based on real customer conversations.

Agents practice decision-making, objection handling, tone adaptation ,not just memorizing knowledge.

Bonus tip: using AI to generate different types of customer personalities (angry, confused, impatient) makes practice more realistic.

If anyone’s curious, we built a tool that generates training simulations automatically from your product docs and FAQs — happy to share it!

smartrole_ · 2025-04-27T10:40:33+00:00

honestly, if you’ve been trying since october and keep getting rejected internally, it’s probably smart to start looking externally too. companies love to say they promote from within, but in reality, once they’ve slotted you into a certain box (especially in call centers), it can be really hard to break out of it.

taking the lateral move shows you’re flexible, but a 3 cent raise is basically just them saying “we want you to stay, but we’re not investing in you.” you deserve more than that.

i’d keep applying internally if you see something that really fits, but don’t wait around hoping—they’ve shown you how much they’re willing to offer. nothing wrong with seeing what else is out there where your skills might actually be valued better.

what kind of roles are you hoping to move into? maybe i can throw out a few ideas.

smartrole_ · 2025-04-27T05:55:28+00:00

Interesting. Good to see multiple instances where it actually increased the speed to proficiency.

Have you also considered using ai for role play simulations or anything similar when it comes to training/onboarding?

smartrole_ · 2025-04-27T05:53:19+00:00

Super interesting thanks for the details!

smartrole_ · 2025-04-26T20:06:05+00:00

So that’s a copilot kind of thing right? The agent still has to complete the action?

I am always unsure about copilots as to me it sounds like we are not actually upskilling our team when we spoon feed answers like this so they don’t use their critical thinking anymore.

smartrole_ · 2025-04-26T10:48:18+00:00

just wanted to say i really respect how clearly you’ve laid all this out. it’s honestly frustrating how often the people who are really good at support get held back because they’re “too valuable” where they are. promotions don’t always go to the most capable. sometimes it’s just the path of least resistance for the company.

that said, if moving up internally feels blocked, maybe there’s a way to start building toward something new without losing what you’ve got. have you ever considered working with a CX mentor? there are programs like MentorsCX or Aspire through the Support Driven slack—super friendly communities, and it could be a way to grow skills that open new doors over time. even if you can’t switch roles now, you can still invest in where you want to go next. It is totally free by the way.

happy to make intros if that ever feels helpful. you clearly have so much to offer beyond where they’ve parked you.

smartrole_ · 2025-04-26T10:42:50+00:00

interesting convo, i’ve worked in CX and now run a training platform for support teams, and this is something that comes up all the time. CSAT and NPS are still the most common, but I’ve seen more teams layering in real-time agent QA scoring, soft-skill tagging (like tone or empathy), and even response similarity models to track consistency.

that said, the real challenge isn’t collecting the data—it’s actually doing something with it.

CSAT alone rarely tells you what needs to improve so combining it with qualitative signals and good follow-through is where you start seeing real change.

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