# Agent Training Checklist

The sequence an agent moves through before being approved for live customer contact. Use this to track readiness, or to sanity-check any provider's training process against a real standard.

Provided free by VoiceSupportCrew.

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## Stage 1 — Company introduction

- [ ] Can explain what the business does, unprompted
- [ ] Understands who the customers are and what matters to them
- [ ] Knows the company's tone and communication style

## Stage 2 — Product / service knowledge

- [ ] Passed a knowledge check on core product/service details
- [ ] Can explain pricing structure and quoting limits correctly
- [ ] Aware of common customer misunderstandings and how to correct them

## Stage 3 — Policies

- [ ] Knows refund/discount/goodwill limits, with actual numbers
- [ ] Knows what may and may not be promised about timelines
- [ ] Understands escalation triggers and where the boundary sits

## Stage 4 — Systems

- [ ] Can navigate the CRM unaided for core workflows
- [ ] Can navigate the helpdesk / phone system / chat platform as required
- [ ] Has completed a supervised walkthrough of each required system

## Stage 5 — Scripts

- [ ] Has reviewed all approved scripts and talking points
- [ ] Understands the reasoning behind key script decisions, not just the wording
- [ ] Knows what may be said in the agent's own words versus what must stay verbatim (e.g. compliance disclosures)

## Stage 6 — Role play

- [ ] Has role-played the core contact flow with a trainer
- [ ] Has role-played at least one difficult scenario (angry customer, out-of-policy request)
- [ ] Received specific, actionable feedback — not just "good job"

## Stage 7 — Mock calls / chats

- [ ] Completed mock contacts scored against real QA criteria
- [ ] Scored at or above the minimum bar for live handling
- [ ] Documentation/notes from mock contacts reviewed for quality

## Stage 8 — Escalation simulation

- [ ] Practised at least one scenario requiring escalation
- [ ] Correctly identified the right tier and urgency
- [ ] Used approved wording when handing the conversation off

## Stage 9 — Knowledge check

- [ ] Passed a genuine assessment covering product, policy and process
- [ ] Any gaps identified were closed before proceeding
- [ ] Assessment results documented

## Stage 10 — Launch approval

- [ ] A specific, named decision that this agent is ready for this campaign
- [ ] Client has been informed the agent is starting (where applicable)
- [ ] First-week supervised monitoring plan is in place

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## General Agent Skills vs Client-Specific Training

**General skills** — established once, before any campaign assignment: communication, listening, professionalism, general systems literacy, typing.

**Client-specific training** — rebuilt in full for every new campaign, because business knowledge does not transfer automatically between clients: product, policy, scripts, systems, escalation rules.

An agent moving between campaigns repeats stages 1-9 for the new campaign, even if they were fully trained on a previous one.

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## A note on timing

How long this takes depends heavily on your material (see the Knowledge Transfer Checklist). A campaign with existing scripts and a real FAQ document moves through these stages faster than one where the knowledge has to be extracted and documented first.

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*More free templates and guides: voicesupportcrew.com/downloads*