When Jason Heil, Co-Founder, CEO, and Managing Partner of Redial BPO, shared on Episode 9 of SymTrain’s Podcast Coach’s Corner that he once told his son, now a dedicated soccer player, to “always play and practice with the big kids,” it was more than just sports advice. It’s a proven strategy for accelerating learning and performance on the soccer field and in the contact center.

Why “Playing with the Big Kids” Works

Whether in sports or in a customer service role, practicing with more experienced players forces you to raise your game. In the contact center industry, this translates to shadowing high-performing agents, learning advanced communication techniques, and adapting to complex situations quickly.

Key benefits include:

• Faster skill development: Exposure to higher performance standards sharpens your abilities faster.
• Advanced technique adoption: You naturally learn best practices from experts.
• Confidence under pressure: Challenging situations become easier after consistent high-level practice.

The Contact Center Connection

In a call center environment, “big kids” are your star agents, the ones who deliver exceptional CX, handle difficult customers effortlessly, and consistently exceed KPIs. Giving newer agents access to these skills can drastically shorten their learning curve.

The challenge? Live shadowing is often time-consuming and disruptive. That’s where AI Coaching tools like SymTrain comes in.

How SymTrain Enables Expert-Level Practice

SymTrain makes it possible for every agent to “practice with the big kids” daily without taking top performers off the floor. Our AI-driven coaching platform uses real call data, proven scripts, and high-performance examples to build simulations that challenge agents at the highest level.

With SymTrain, agents gain:

• Access to high-quality, realistic training scenarios
• Immediate, targeted feedback to pinpoint improvement areas
• Consistent practice at a top-performer standard

Raising the Bar Across Your Contact Center

When every agent has the opportunity to train at a top-performer level, performance across the floor improves. This leads to:

• Faster time-to-proficiency
• Higher CSAT and NPS scores
• Lower attrition rates

Final Takeaways
Jason Heil’s advice “always play and practice with the big kids” is a blueprint for success in the contact center world. With SymTrain’s AI coaching, every agent can train against the best, every day, until “big kid” performance is the standard across your entire team. Want to know more? Get in touch.