Spreadsheets and a practice tool that didn't fit
When I started working with a B2B appointment-setting company, its reporting depended on Excel spreadsheets maintained by hand. Somebody exported the day's numbers from the CRM and typed them into the sheets.
Coaching depended on manual review too. To work out where an agent needed help, the owner or operations lead listened to recordings or read transcripts, then gave feedback individually.
They had already bought an outside practice tool. It didn't fit their coaching process and couldn't be adapted, so they changed their process to use it.
What was getting in the way?
Basic questions about the business required somebody to do another piece of work. Yesterday's appointments needed an export. An agent's weak points needed a review of their calls. Choosing what that agent should practise depended on what the reviewer had found and remembered.
The team already knew those questions mattered. They had put time into the spreadsheets and money into a practice tool. I started with the work they were doing to get an answer.
What replaced the manual reporting?
I built a nightly process that pulls the numbers from VanillaSoft, the CRM the team already uses, and writes the reports. The operations lead's spreadsheets populate automatically, and a dashboard shows the reporting without anyone having to assemble it first.
The timing matters. These are daily reports, so the team sees a completed reporting day rather than a live count of a shift still in progress.
How does call review work now?
Recordings are transcribed and scored automatically when they meet the system's scoring requirements. The company defines the scorecard. Managers can see an agent's scores and the supporting evidence, then open a particular call when they need to understand it. The score gives them a place to start reviewing.
How does practice use those scores?
The agent's weak points from scored real calls shape the next practice call. The practice prospect gets instructions based on that agent's results, along with the client's brief and the assigned difficulty. If there isn't enough scoring history, practice starts with a general scenario.
Agents practise through VanillaSoft. They dial a training contact using the same workflow they use for a real prospect. I kept that part of the job in the training: a new hire needs to practise navigating the CRM as well as handling the conversation.
Feedback comes at the end of the practice call. Practice and real calls use the same scoring rubric, so a manager can compare them and check whether a weak point is still showing up in real conversations.
What changed, and what hasn't been measured?
Managers can use scored calls to decide where to focus their review. Practice can target the weaknesses in an agent's call history while keeping them in the workflow they already use.
Those are changes to the way the work gets done. I don't have a confirmed before-and-after measure of time saved or appointment rates to publish. Comparing scores is possible; claiming that the training improved sales would need evidence I haven't established here.
What does a similar project cost?
My current project pricing explains the starting range and how further phases are agreed. This engagement developed over several phases; the starting price for a new project isn't the total cost of everything described here.
Questions about the setup
Does the team need to switch CRM?
This company stayed on VanillaSoft. Reporting reads from it, and agents dial practice contacts through it. The managers use a separate dashboard for reports, scores and practice assignments.
Does every call get a score?
No. Automatic scoring depends on an available recording and enough usable material to assess. Some calls need review or don't qualify. A score also covers only the audio available, which may end before the call did.
When does an agent get feedback?
Feedback comes at the end of a practice call. Real calls are scored in the background, and their results help determine what the next practice call focuses on.