There’s more to agent training than just training agents
Agent networks in mobile money thrive when they have convenient ways to access liquidity, compelling commissions, well merchandised and monitored shops and, well trained agents. Well trained agents are more likely to drive transaction volumes for the operator, educate the customers on how the service works and deliver error free transactions.
Based on its work with high performing mobile money services, MMU has developed Designing & Delivering Agent Training for Mobile Money Deployments, which is a practical guide to agent training and makes the following recommendations:
- All members of the mobile money distribution channel require training – Business owners, shop handlers, agent management teams, Master Agents, foot soldiers, etc. are all important members of the distribution team who need to have a complete understanding of the mobile money product.
- Centralised training is effective at the beginning of a deployment but will likely need to evolve to regional decentralised training as the agent network grows
- Agent training is not a onetime event – Agents will need refresher courses on a periodic basis and will need training on new products. Agent training should be thought of as an ongoing part of a mobile money service.
- Dedicated trainers with clear KPIs for performance management is necessary to deliver effective agent training
- Training curriculum must go beyond the practical “how to” of executing mobile money transactions – It importantly must also cover the business case for how to make money on mobile money, the company guidelines for agent behaviour and regulatory compliance requirements.
What is your approach to agent training? How long is your course? Where do you train agents? Can Master Agents train agents? Can agents fail training if they don’t pass the test? How do you deal with shop handler turn over? What should be included in the agent curriculum?
Please send us your questions and opinions!
And join Gerry, Yasmina and other mobile money managers on October 9 at 10am London Time for a webinar discussion on the practicalities of agent designing affordable and cost effective agent training programmes.
Le webinaire sera également donné en français le 10 octobre à 11:00 London Time.
To register, please email mmu@gsm.org.