From Collections to Conversations: How Hoist Finance Boosted Conversions with Targeted Training

For any debt collection company, the key to success lies in both efficiency and effectiveness. For Hoist Finance, a global financial services company, a dip in performance and missed targets across their seven European contact centres highlighted a need for a new approach. The challenge wasn’t just about collecting debt; it was about transforming agent-customer interactions to drive better results.

Diagnosing the Challenge: Beyond the Numbers

Penguin Learning was brought in to diagnose the root cause of the performance decline. Their analysis revealed a critical gap: agents weren’t building effective relationships with customers, and they lacked the necessary negotiation skills and assertiveness. Furthermore, managers were providing poor quality feedback, failing to properly support and challenge their teams. The metrics were clear: key indicators like conversions, negotiation effectiveness, and kept promise rates were not being met.

The Tailored Solution: Two Bespoke Programmes

To address these issues, Penguin Learning partnered with Hoist to create two distinct, but interconnected, training programmes: one for agents and one for managers.

• Agent Programme: This training focused on fundamental behavioural changes. Agents learned how to increase their accountability, improve negotiation skills using logic, enhance their emotional intelligence, and become more flexible in their approach to customer conversations. The goal was to move from a transactional mindset to a more collaborative one.
• Management Programme: The management training was designed to empower leaders to drive performance. It focused on developing a commercial mindset by linking daily 'inputs' to tangible 'outputs'. Managers were taught the power of a positive praise-to-criticism ratio, how to adapt their communication styles, and were given "quick hit coaching" techniques to provide effective, timely feedback.

The Results: A Shift in Performance Culture

The results of the training programmes were transformative. Hoist Finance saw a significant upturn in their key performance indicators, proving that investing in people can directly impact the bottom line.

• Leader Effectiveness: The effectiveness of leaders in negotiation jumped from 35% to 56%.
• Sales Conversions: Sales conversions rose from 12% to 22%.
• Wider Metrics: Other impressive results included a 9.38% increase in conversion, a 1.85% increase in yield, and a 0.5% increase in the kept promise rate.

By focusing on a human-centred approach to debt collection, Hoist Finance not only improved their metrics but also fostered a more professional and effective performance culture. 

“Working with Penguin was seamless, they are extremely easy to work with. Professional and fun and with a level of attention to detail, flexibility in approach and focus on lasting results that enables success. Great results from a great team! - Claire Jackson, Head of Learning and Development