Holiday Extras is flying high : Call‐center training improves call time, quality and staff retention

Purpose – The article describes an award‐winning training program that has helped Holiday Extras to cut call time and improve customer service in its 85‐seat call center. Design/methodology/approach – Draws on information provided by the company's call‐center operations manager. Findings – Reveals that the program helped the company to knock a minute off the average call, while improving quality to the customer. Over 12 months, monthly staff turnover fell from 7.95 to 4.2 percent, and is currently around 3 percent. The rate at which calls are converted to sales increased by 6 percent, from 62 to 68 percent, and there was a 2 percent increase in the percentage of calls answered within 20 seconds, from 85.8 to 87.8 percent. Practical implications – Describes how Holiday Extras has embedded good practice: what was considered unachievable or uncomfortable for most people at the outset is now regarded as normal working practice and everyone has noticed positive differences. Originality/value – Highlights the way in which, through the training, the Holiday Extras call center gained maximum benefit from the skills that already existed within the company.