Within a year, he had moved into management. Before Chamales will hire anyone with a troubled past, he demands 30 days of sobriety in a treatment program. He forgoes drug tests, relying instead on his own instincts and the honor system. Once hired, telemarketers learn the company's well-defined rules. There are a lot of guidelines and structure here because we need that.
Managers balance that strictness with sensitivity to personal problems that can mar performance.
Another technique is to assign a mentor to each new employee. Ex-addicts often need help with such basic etiquette as shaking hands. And mentors help ease the emotional roller coaster of commission sales itself, which can take a toll on anyone. All this support results in lower turnover, especially during the first year, when the telemarketers are earning the least for the company. Such attrition would be dismal in most businesses, but experts say it's quite solid for telemarketing.