We have done a lot of training.
When we first started, we complied with our customers' desire for "onsite training". We have considered hosting training seminars at our home office. We can tell someone everything they need to know in about 8 hours. (Utility billing is really not that complicated, unless you make it that way.) But over the years we noticed that the recipient's eyes glassed over after the first hour. They just cannot absorb the information in short intensive sessions. They would call two weeks later and ask, "Can you tell me how to enter meter readings (again)?"We have trained a lot of new clerks. They get the job and see our 800 number on the main screen. They want to know how to enter payments because a lot of payments have piled up since the last time they were entered, and the money needs to be in the bank. So, over the phone we teach them to enter payments. It is easy, it is short, and they are doing it; real time, as we are talking to them. They learn how to enter payments. They were in their office and we were in ours. It works, it is fast, and it is cheap. In a few days they will call and have a problem; say a customer with an incorrect high reading. We will talk them through it. Now they know how to make adjustments and change a previous reading. The meter reader wants the meter reading sheets, so they call and we talk them through it. We talk to them maybe 10 times throughout the month, not really much time but they are learning it because they are doing it. Next month they will call about 4 times, the next, about once. They have learned how to do it.
If we do "onsite training" with a customer, the first month progresses almost exactly like the proceeding paragraph. So we do our training a little at a time over the phone.
It is easy. It is cheap. It works.
