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The Current team recently celebrated Customer Service Week, a week dedicated to recognizing the job that customer service professionals do all year and the importance customer service plays in running a business. We sat down with our North America Customer Service Leader, Brant Snead, to get an update on the team. Check it out what Brant had to say below:

Last year was challenging for Customer Service as our volumes dramatically increased after the billing conversation. Those volumes and many of the issues driving them have reduced, so we are back on track with our five fundamentals.

Call Service Levels: Our goal for many years has been to answer 80% of our calls within 20 seconds of calling. This was the CS industry standard several decades ago and today it would be world class especially when you consider we do not have a robust IVR, which often can frustrate customers. The last three months (July-Sept) we have averaged answering 88% of the calls within 20 seconds. However, the real news is in October we are at 97% with an averaging answer speed of 3 seconds!

E-Mail Resolution: We measure this from the time an email comes in, till the time we resolve the issue and close the case. We include nights, weekends and holidays to mirror the true customer experience. Our goal has been to resolve cases in less than 24 hours. The last three months (July-Sept) we have averaged 16.9 hours with improvement month over month. In October, we are currently down to 10.1 hours, which is our lowest in history.

Block Handling: At a high level, Customer Service focuses on the blocks that delay fulfillment or manufacturing. We are currently clearing 95% of MTO Fixture orders on the day the order is entered. An outside consultant with experience at two major competitors recently commented, “I would definitely rate where you are as excellent. Both competitors are still struggling to maintain 95% in 2 days.” The team is also clearing Quick Ship orders at 98% and Core/LED Lamp at 100%.

Knowledge: Being able to retain information on almost all products, processes and contacts can be daunting to say the very least. We are continuously trying to find new ways to help the team with this. A few updates to share on this topic:

  • Stephen Carson (Technical Product Lead) is visiting this week to review several aspects of the fixture products
  • Dave Korow (Senior Lighting Specialist) is coming in early November for in depth training on LED lamp and core products.
  • New Standard Operating Procedures have been created with team member input. These will be available to the team in new manuals and in SFDC. A big thank you to Jo Freeman and Muriel Mines for spearheading this project.

Morale: No doubt our CS team has a challenging job as they are often being asked to correct something they did not cause or to overcome something not working. We try to find ways to have some fun, create a good work environment and show appreciation. Customer Service week is one example where we had food, events and surprises to show how much we value this great team.