Customer Service Awards Blog

Carita Vallinkoski, Senior Executive-Expansion Management at Competence Call Center AG in Vienna, Austria is Chair of the final judging committee of the Customer Service & Contact Center Team categories in the 2012 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. (The final entry deadline for the awards is January 18.)

We asked Carita what it takes to create a successful customer service or call center team.

What are your top tips on how to create a successful customer service or call center team?
My years of experience as a Contact Center leader, building up Call Centers, and leading large teams of people, have taught me that the employees are the main asset in a company, so my top tips are:

1. Treat every human being with respect and empathy
   Be it employees or customers.
2. Always give your team a vision.
   Your people need to know whom to follow, what direction to take, and for what purpose. Make sure this information is clear and easy to understand.
3. Support and motivate your team 
   Investing your time, energy, and love will help your people in providing excellent customer service because they will feel that you care about them and that you take them seriously.
4. Care about your team and your team will care of your customers
   Always remember that your employees are the entrepreneurs in your company.

What item of news recently caught your eye and why?
The passing away of Steve Jobs touched me very deeply.  He was a great person, and I remembered some of the sayings from his Commencement Speech in 2005:  “We are here to put a dent in the universe. Otherwise why else even be here?” and “… the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it.“

His autobiography (I, Steve: Steve Jobs In His Own Words) motivates, inspires, and helps me because his thoughts and views resonate with me.  For example: “Sometimes the things that sound so simple are the most important and difficult ones in life, like: do what you love.” I have the book on the dresser opposite my bed and whenever I catch a glimpse of Steve’s kind face it helps me to contemplate these views and to motivate me. He changed all our lives and I thank him for that every second of the day.

What is your favorite sport or hobby?
In my spare time I love to be outdoors, to walk my dog, and to watch and interact with animals. I also love talking to people from all over the world, to encounter new cultures, and to get to know different views and opinions. I´m always keen to share new ideas, to broaden my mind, and to try to become a better person. I think about life a great deal: about helping people, animals, and the planet—I still have to find a way to do that!

If you could choose another profession, what would it be?
I would love to either take care of animals or to be an aid worker with Caritas or Médecins Sans Frontières.  I wish I had the strength, backbone, character, and energy that it takes to be an activist for some good cause protecting children, animals, or nature. I would love to fight unfairness everywhere in order to make the world a better place.

Instead, I channel this energy into what I do in my work life by helping employees and customers.  Thomas Kloibhofer, our CEO and founder, taught me from my first days at CCC that it is “always about helping.” The most satisfying thing about this work is to be able to say: “Today I helped hundreds of customers to have one challenge less and to be happier.” That is a great feeling.

What quality or qualities do you most value in your business associates?
Integrity, honesty, humor, values, ethics, and good morals. Plus a good common vision and the same understanding of partnership.  The sense of being a unit, the sense of togetherness, and of “having each other’s back”—always.

As someone at the top of your profession, what keeps you inspired or makes you hit the ground running in the morning?
What keeps me inspired is the vision of helping customers at the end of the line and of developing our employees. I want to be there for the employee on the one side and for our company on the other, and to bring these two worlds together.  And finally, I want to bring in the customers and their interests.

I never forget where I came from: I was a customer service rep and sales agent and I know how tough and challenging this life can be. My aim is to develop an even better service understanding and environment for everyone. My wishes are to continue watching our company grow and our people developing—and to grow old as part of this company.

About Carita Vallinkoski
Carita Vallinkoski has held the position of Expansion Manager at Competence Call Center (CCC) since 2007 and has been responsible for the continuous development of existing CCC locations, the evaluation of potential markets, and the set-up of new CCC operations. During her time as call center manager, she had overall responsibility for personnel, commerce, and technology, and the management of more than 600 employees.

Carita was awarded the CAt-Award for Call Center Manager of the Year at CallCenterWorld® in 2001; and received the award for Best Contact Center Leader in the world at the 2006 Contact Center World Conference in Las Vegas for her management services in the call center business and for her strategic leadership of employees. Her seventeen years of call center experience in the areas of outsourcing, consulting, training, call center set-up, implementation, and employee motivation make her a leading expert in the call center and customer care industry in Europe.

About CCC
Competence Call Center is one of Europe’s leading call centers.At ten locations in seven countries, more than 3,000 service professionals provide top quality international call center services. CCC is a financially strong, rapidly expanding company with a clear focus on quality.  For more information, go to www.yourccc.com.

Q&A with Carita Vallinkoski, Customer Service Awards Committee Chair Judge

Accenture Utilities BPO Services’ Revenue Cycle Operations Team for BC Hydro in Vancouver, Canada, won the Stevie® Award for Back-office Customer Service Team of the Year in the customer service awards categories of the 2011 Stevie® Awards for Sales & Customer Service. (Entries for the 2012 awards are open through January 18 - submit your entries now.)

As the pressure on businesses to lower risks and control costs while still achieving high customer satisfaction performance grows, so has the importance of business process outsourcing. Here we look at how Accenture Utilities BPO Services’ Stevie Award-winning team has helped find this crucial balance.

What is Business Process Outsourcing?
Business process outsourcing (BPO) is a valuable strategy for companies seeking new ways to achieve high performance by controlling costs, reducing risk, fostering collaboration, and increasing transparency. In its Office Support surveys of its clients, Accenture is achieving a stunning satisfaction rating of 98% overall. 

Three Ways Accenture Utilities BPO Services’ Revenue Cycle Operations (RCO) Team Succeeds at BPO and Customer Satisfaction:

1. Fosters Employee Appreciation
   Accenture Utilities BPO Services' Revenue Cycle Operations (RCO) team is made up of groups of dedicated employees from the Billing, Credit & Collections, Payments, Security, and Support Services departments. RCO team leader Maureen Lachnit is a firm believer in staff appreciation. Her motto is: “Always do the right thing. If you take care of your people, the business will succeed.” 
2. Encourages Change from Within
   Accenture Utilities BPO Services encourages employees to create and run committees in order to drive changes in the workplace that involve both system and process improvements. The RCO team has several committees, including both the Events Committee (in charge of all in-house as well as all community-based events), and the Working Committee (which strives to enhance employee morale through the Grow BPO campaign by highlighting company achievements and focusing on areas of future growth).
3. Cultivates Corporate Citizenship
   Community outreach is at the heart of everything Accenture’s RCO team does. On December 15, 2011, BC Hydro and Accenture held their annual Holiday Cheer Event, a joint partnership to help raise donations for the Greater Vancouver Food Bank. BC Hydro and Accenture employees raised the grand total of $31,245 for the Food Bank in just two hours at this event. In 2010, the RCO team gave back to local charities by raising hundreds of dollars for the Union Gospel Mission and the Burnaby Christmas Bureau Angel Project.

About Maureen Lachnit
As the lead of Revenue Cycle Operations, Maureen Lachnit has dedicated over 30 years of her career to Accenture.  She started as an Application Clerk and continued her journey through various departments.  Maureen strives to keep her team focused on Accenture’s core values and fully supports initiatives like the RCO Events Committee.  She is committed to helping engage employees and to providing staff with opportunities for growth. Her keen business sense drives improvements and innovations and ensures that Accenture maintains and exceeds client expectations and satisfaction.

About Accenture
Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services, and outsourcing company, with more than 244,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries.  Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world’s most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments.  The company generated net revenues of US$25.5 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2011.  Their home page is www.accenture.com.

Recognize your company’s excellent customer service and call center individuals by submitting entries in the 2012 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, which recognizes customer service excellence. (Request your entry kit and it will be emailed to you right away.  The final entry deadline is January 18.) 

Nominate your organization's top performers in the following Customer Service Awards categories:

1. Front-Line Customer Service Professional of the Year
   Recognizing the achievements of customer service professionals who directly engage customers.
2. Young Customer Service Professional of the Year
   Recognizing the achievements of customer service professionals under the age of 30.
3. Customer Service Manager of the Year
   Recognizing the achievements of customer service managers and service professionals with a managerial role at organizations of any size, of any type.
4. Customer Service Leader of the Year
   Recognizing the achievements of senior customer service and call center executives. 
5. Customer Service Contact Center Professional of the Year
   Recognizing the achievements of non-executive professionals who work in a call or contact center.

Looking for more ways to showcase your organization’s sales & customer service excellence? See all of the Sales & Customer Service categories here.

Need help choosing the best category? Let us help you. Contact us at help@stevieawards.com.

How has your company elevated your customer service performance? 

The final entry deadline for The 2012 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service is November 18.

Submitting entries for sales awards and customer service awards is easy:

1. Request your entry kit here.
2. Decide what you would like your company to be recognized for. There are more than 90 categories, honoring sales excellence and customer service excellence for individuals, teams, and departments, plus new categories this year for products and service and solution providers.
3. Submit a winning entry!

Want more sales and customer service resources? Here are some great sales and customer service tips and tools to help succeed in The 2012 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service:

1. 10 Reasons to Enter the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service
2. Answers to Frequently Asked Questions

Still have questions? Contact us at help@stevieawards.com, we'd love to hear from you!

Gonna miss the November 18 deadline?  Don't panic. Late entries will be accepted through January 18 with payment of $35/entry late fee.

As the deadline for The Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service approaches on November 18, we've created 9 simple tips to help you submit entries that are worthy of receiving a Stevie Award for Sales & Customer Service:

1. Request an Entry Kit
The entry kit contains everything you need to know to be able to prepare and submit your entries.  Click here to request yours.

2. Watch our How to Enter the 2012 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service Video
Our brief video gives an overview of the world's premier customer service awards and sales awards, with a step-by-step guide to how to select categories, prepare entries, and submit them.

 

3. Determine Who or What You Want to Nominate, and in Which Categories
Decide which individuals or teams in your sales organization that you will nominate, then select the most appropriate categories for those entries. 

4. Prepare Your Entries
Take the time to tailor each entry for each category you apply for.

Stevie-winning entries are:

a. Well-written.  They are terse and succinct.  Their tone is modest, even when describing the most impressive accomplishments.
b. Focused on a few accomplishments.  Describe in detail just a few accomplishments, instead of listing many accomplishments in brief.

Stevie-winning entries are not:

a. Fluffy and hyperbolic.  Avoid flowery language and overblown claims.  The judges tend to deduct points for immodesty.

Want to read entries that judges have scored highly in the past? The full-text of most Stevie Award-winning entries are published on the web site. Start by looking through the 2011 winners.

5. Submit Your Entries By The Entry Deadline
The final entry deadline for The Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service will be November 18, 2011.  Late entries will be accepted through January 10, 2012 with payment of a $35 late fee per entry. When you're ready to enter, begin here...

6. Subscribe to the Free Stevie Awards Email Newsletter
The weekly email newsletter is the best way to stay informed about entry deadline extensions, new categories, and other announcements from the organizers of The Stevie Awards.  We have a very strict privacy policy, so we will not share your email address with anyone else for any reason.  Click here to learn more.

7. Get Social with The Stevies
Connect with The Stevie Awards on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube for latest announcements, blog postings, photos, and videos regarding our awards programs.

8. Participate in the Judging Process
Apply to be a preliminary-round judge.  As a judge you will be able to see the entries submitted by many companies around the world, and you will develop a better sense of the types of entries that judges score highly.  (You will not be allowed to judge entries in categories in which you have submitted entries, however.)  Click here to complete the application form.

If your application is accepted you will be assigned categories based on your function and experience.  As a preliminary-round judge you will be able to judge as few or as many nominations as you like, at your convenience, over the Internet in November-January.

9. Contact The Stevie Awards
Contact us with your questions about the most appropriate categories, entry fees, and so on.  Our phone number is +1 703-547-8389, and our email address is help@stevieawards.com. Note, the first question we’ll ask you is: what do you and your organization want to be recognized for?

What has helped you write successful entries for The 2012 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service?

Meritus Payment Solutions of Santa Ana, California was named a finalist in the highly competitive New Company of the Year category in The 2011 American Business Awards. (Entries for The 2012 American Business Awards are now being accepted- get your entry kit here.  And speaking of customer service, November 18 is the final entry deadline for the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service.)

Here we take a look at how this company is helping small-to-midsized businesses maximize their potential.

If small business is the engine to economic growth, then Meritus Payment Solutions is the conductor.  In 2009, Meritus Payment Solutions became operational and was founded on the promise that small-to-mid-sized companies would have a partner that understood their business and their payment-processing needs. 

Smaller companies are often unaware how much the methods they use for accepting payments can affect their productivity and profitability.  As a full-service payment processor, Meritus puts its promise to see business through the eyes of its clients into action by offering the following customized solutions:

1. Process Any Payment From Anywhere

Utilizing proprietary technology, Payment XP allows merchants to process all payments from anywhere in the world on any device (computer, Blackberry, etc.) with Internet access.  Backed by banks such as Wells Fargo©, Royal Bank of Scotland©, and Harris Bank®, Meritus allows businesses to accept all payments including credit card, gift card, check, mobile, and more.  With technology pushing business into new territories, Meritus has created a product that allows companies to conduct business wherever it takes them.  Internet-based payment gateway Payment XP gives merchants the ultimate flexibility for growth.

2. Utilize A Single-Source Solution for Measuring Business Productivity

Meritus allows for profit, productivity, and protection within a single point of entry. On-demand reporting gives merchants visionary insight into their business activity and helps them to identify points for strategic growth.  Robust and merchant-defined fraud protection allows merchants to find the balance between protection and profit. Meritus is a single-source solution for business productivity with Innovative features such as the ability to process Automated Clearing House (ACH) transactions, the ability to proactively manage chargeback activity, and the ability to create electronic invoices.

Being able to conduct business within one platform is invaluable.  Not only do businesses have one place to pinpoint success, loss, and potential, but Meritus is strategically positioned to prove its greatest value proposition as a true business partner.  The Meritus First Team supports this initiative.  

3. Take the Guesswork out of Processing Trends

The Meritus First Team specializes in supporting clients beyond what merchants have come to expect from typical Merchant Services providers.  The First Team delves into the merchant’s business flow to maximize merchant profits while keeping them safely within processing guidelines.  With highly refined business analytics tools, Meritus First Team takes the guesswork out of a merchant’s processing trends.

With the consultative client services of the Meritus First Team and the development of proprietary solutions, Meritus empowers businesses to maximize their potential.  The First Team provides answers to merchant questions regarding chargeback ratios, fraud prevention, risk analysis, and trends within their specific industry. The First Team’s goal is to reach out to merchants and provide those answers before they ask.

Maximizing Its Own Potential

Today, Meritus is experiencing record growth.  From its first operational day in 2009, Meritus has experienced rapid growth with a 150x increase in processing volume and more than 35x increase in customer base. In 2010, processing volume [repeat] almost tripled from the end of 2009 and the Southern California headquarters doubled their employee headcount.  2011 looks to be equally, if not more promising with processing volume already up more than 20% in the first quarter.

“We never settle here at Meritus. This attitude pushes us to continue providing pioneering products and unparalleled customer service unknown in the payments industry,” says Alan Kleinman, Principal of Meritus Payment Solutions. “We are grateful for our success and look forward to providing solutions for our merchants’ long-term success and growth.”

Meritus is looking towards the future by expanding into new sales channels and increasing their number of clients.  But as Meritus grows it stays true to its client-first and technology-driven roots.  Meritus has proven it is a company that can be judged on its own merit.  Meritus is ready to shape the global payment processing industry.

Leadership

Meritus Payment Solutions is led by example.  The infectious dedication and  enthusiasm of partners Alan Kleinman and Hiep Tran motivate their team to stay grounded in diligence while keeping future opportunities in mind.  

With ISO experience—Alan at National Merchant Center and Hiep at Transfirst Merchant Services—both Alan and Hiep were pivotal in growing their respective businesses into billion-dollar empires.  Now, in their entrepreneurial venture together, they have positioned Meritus Payment Solutions to evolve with the industry, grow internationally, and continue to create innovative solutions with the merchant in mind.  

Alan Kleinman, Principal

Before starting Meritus Payment Solutions with Hiep Tran in 2009, Alan Kleinman was COO of National Merchant Center, a full service ISO. During his tenure, the company’s annual processing volume increased from $150MM to over $1 billion. Prior to joining National Merchant Center, Alan was a venture capitalist at Pacific Venture Group, a $210 million healthcare venture fund, and was involved in the investment and management of a number of successful companies including Symbion, Visicu, Phaseforward, Zonelabs, Vivant Medical, LifeMasters, and Long Term Care Group. Before that, Alan was an analyst at Gateway Partners, a merchant bank that focused on consolidating niche industries.

Hiep Tran, AAP, Principal

Hiep Tran was the CEO/Founder of Primus Payment Solutions, Inc., a merchant services sales office that focused on card-not-present merchants. Prior to Primus, Hiep was Vice President of Credit, Risk, & Operations for National Merchant Center (NMC). At NMC, he designed and implemented NMC’s risk management system for domestic and offshore merchant processing. Before that, Hiep was Director of Credit, Risk Management, and ACH Compliance for TransFirst Merchant Services, where he led their risk management, Credit, Collections, and ACH Compliance teams. Hiep received his AAP (Accredited ACH Professional) certification from NACHA in 2006.

About Meritus Payment Solutions

Meritus Payment Solutions is the innovative leader in advanced global transaction processing. Meritus provides a breadth of payment and transaction processing solutions that include mobile, credit and debit cards, gift and loyalty cards, Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT), Automated Clearing House (ACH), Check 21, and more. Built on a foundation of dedication, initiative, and collaboration, Meritus strives to shape the payment processing industry. For more information go to www.merituspayment.com.

 

How has automation created better customer service for your clients?

We've published a 13 minute video called How to Enter the 2012 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service.

Do you provide excellent customer service?  The video covers the steps you should follow if you're at all interested in winning the top customer service award on the planet.

Entries are now being accepted for the 6th annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service.  You'll find the entry kit online, here.

If you have questions about how to submit nominations after watching the video, write to us at help@stevieawards.com.  We're here for you!

Confero, Inc., of Cary, North Carolina, USA was named Customer Service or Call Center Consulting Practice of the Year in the 2011 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. Entries for the 2012 awards are now being accepted.

Confero, Inc. is a national customer experience measurement firm that helps clients provide a service to their customers. Operating throughout the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, the firm offers customer service mystery shopping evaluations, customer brand support services, customer satisfaction research, and employee incentive and recognition programs.  Here we look at how they successfully beat the competition and handled the tough conditions of 2009-10.

Never Say No

Confero has a policy of never saying “no” to its clients. People have requested some very short deadlines with seemingly impossible logistics, but Confero knew that in each case the client had a need that absolutely had to be addressed.

Turn-on-a-Dime Projects

Confero is known for its unusually fast, turn-on-a-dime projects. Most competitor companies want 30 to 60 days notice, a substantial setup fee, and multiple meetings in order to accept a project. The Confero team, however, can place a finished project in the field in 30 days or less—sometimes in only 3 to 4 days—which is quite an accomplishment in the industry. 

Because of the economic climate, client companies often would not receive funding for projects until the last minute, but these projects were nonetheless important. By using its ability to get a project into the field quickly, Confero was able to really help these clients.

8,000 Locations in 8 Weeks

With only 10 days’ notice, the Confero team was able to put a year-end program for 8,000 visits into the field last December, managing mystery shop visits to 8,000 locations in eight weeks, with pre-shipped and prepared on-the-spot prizes, which is completely unheard of in the industry. To give more of an idea of the scope of this project, it was carried out across the United States in the middle of one of the worst winters on record.

Census Project Completed in 3 Weeks

In February, just before the start of the U.S. Census, the government contracted with an agency to market the census to underrepresented sections of the population. This agency contacted Confero with just three weeks’ notice to go into independent Hispanic- and Asian-American-owned-and-operated grocery stores to educate the owners about the census and to place marketing materials in the stores to encourage their customers’ census participation. The agency came to Confero after using two other providers who had not been able to complete the project. Confero finished the project for them in the three weeks.

Making the Client Look Good

Confero aims to make its clients look good by ensuring access to the resources needed to scale up or down, depending on the project. Confero’s “Don’t Say No” attitude asks: If we do this project, how exactly can we accomplish it?

Can-do Thinking

The Confero team’s can-do thinking considers business on the table, appreciates that the client needs its services, and then figures out a way to make the project happen. Instead of saying, “Here’s a client with a project need, so can we fit it into the bucket of what we do?” Confero says: “Here’s a client with a project need, and if it’s anywhere near the bucket of what we do, we’ll figure out how to get it done.”

On the Confero team’s winning a Stevie Award earlier this year, the company’s president Elaine Buxton commented: “This award is particularly meaningful to Confero’s customer service team because it recognizes the team’s delivery of quality solutions in 2010, including many that involved quick turnaround times and tough requirements.”

About Elaine Buxton

Confero’s president Elaine Buxton earned a B.S. from UNC-Chapel Hill and an MBA from Meredith College, which named her one of its top 100 graduates. She has been recognized among the top 25 businesswomen by Triangle Business Journal, named as a Woman Extraordinaire honoree, and honored by Enterprising Women magazine.  Elaine and the Confero team ranked on Inc. Magazine’s Inc. 5000 list and at No. 51 on the Top 100 North Carolina Small Businesses list. Elaine is a founding member and immediate past president of the Mystery Shopping Providers Association and serves on the Better Business Bureau of Eastern North Carolina board of directors.

About Confero, Inc.

Confero, Inc. is a national customer experience measurement firm dedicated to helping clients provide outstanding service to their customers. The firm offers customer service mystery shopping evaluations, customer brand support services, customer satisfaction research, and employee incentive and recognition programs. For more information, call (800) 326-3880 or visit http://www.conferoinc.com.

We've been trumpeting the more than 200 professionals worldwide who participated in judging of The 2011 (8th Annual) International Business Awards, and today we cite the contributions of those who judged the customer service awards categories.

The IBAs, if you're not familiar with them, are the world's top honors for business professionals, with categories that recognize achievement in every facet of the workplace.  All organizations worldwide may submit entries.  This year's IBA honorees hail from more than 40 nations.  Honorees were announced last month, and will be celebrated on October 11 during gala ceremonies in Abu Dhabi, UAE. 

The final judging committee for the customer service categories, whose average scores determined this year's honorees, included

Michaela Aguilar, ICT Program Leader, Parramatta City Council, Parammata, NSW Australia
Don Batting, Senior Consultant, Enterprise Support Services, Ernst & Young, New York, NY USA
Clare Buchanan, Head of Customer Service USA, DHL Express, Tempe, AZ USA
Karen McFadzen, VP Technical Services, APAC, Japan & Greater China, Cisco Systems, Chatswood, NSW Australia
Charles (Chick) Olsson, BEc, Acc, MAICD, Managing Director, Four Season Company Pty Ltd, Sydney, NSW Australia
Melanie Pope, Director, Australian Paramedic Support Foundation, Aspley, Australia
Stormy Simon, Senior Vice President, Customer Experience, Overstock.com, Salt Lake City, UT USA
Jan Willem Strijker, Owner/Director, Brantas International Technology Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand
Julie Toma, President, Advenio Group, East Killara, NSW Australia

The committee was chaired and formed by Susan Savage, General Manager, MICROS Fidelio Australia, South Turramurra, Australia

The categories Sue and her committee judged included

• Customer Service Department of the Year
• Customer Service Team of the Year
• Customer Service Executive of the Year

The honorees they chose in these categories include Etisalat, Mafraq Hospital/Abu Dhabi, and Haktan Yasar Kiliç of Turk Telekom.  See the full list of honorees here.

The next opportunity for customer service and call center professionals to be honored in a Stevie Awards competition is in the 6th annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, which is now accepting entries.  These awards feature more than 90 categories focused exclusively on customer service, call center, and sales achievements.

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With the final entry deadline for The 2011 American Business Awards coming up on April 27, we asked Art Gairo, Senior Vice President for Broadview Networks, for his top tips about what makes for great customer service.  Art will chair and form the final judging committee for the customer service awards categories of the 2011 ABAs.

What are your top 3 tips on how to be successful in customer service?

1. Listen to your customers’ feedback and use their suggestions to improve—the customer does indeed know what’s best!
2. A company is only as good as its employees, so it’s important to imbue your employees with a sense of purpose and make sure that they both understand and believe in their mission. Having talented and engaged employees can make all the difference in providing excellent customer service. 
3. Never be satisfied in the pursuit of customer service objectives—go over and above what’s required. Whether it’s call-center service levels, mean time to repair, or overall customer satisfaction, always press to be better, faster, and stronger than your competitor, and strive to get it right for the customer as much as possible.  

What item of news recently caught your eye and why?
I keep seeing TV commercials where people turn to “the cloud” to accomplish something, whether it be for some type of collaborative work, or for family picture albums, etc. This is the new mantra for accessing software and applications remotely, and it just so happens it aligns very nicely with the new line of Cloud Computing products and services that Broadview is rolling out to small- and medium-sized businesses. So all things “cloud” have been resonating with me lately.

If you could choose another profession, what would it be?
I’ve always wondered what it would be like to be a doctor, particularly a neurologist. I’ve always been fascinated by the field of medicine.

What quality or qualities do you most value in your business associates? Trust and respect are a given, but I would add that I also value people who are positive thinkers and who bring innovative ideas to the table. These are the people who help me to step outside the everyday comfort zone and to grow as a teammate and colleague.

What do you think is the worst bad habit to have at work? Procrastination ranks right up there as one of the least desirable habits to have—especially at work. Every day I come into the office and look directly at a sign on my desk that says: “Be Proactive!”

As someone at the top of your profession, what keeps you inspired or makes you hit the ground running in the morning?
I think it’s important to like what you are doing, and to be challenged by your job every day. If you don’t love what you do, it’s going to be difficult to be really successful at it!  I begin every morning with a game plan for the day.  As I move through the day, I check off my completed tasks, while also adding short- and long-term tasks to the list.  This gives me a real sense of accomplishment about what I do.

About Art Gairo
Art Gairo is the senior vice president of Operations for Broadview Networks, with responsibility for all Service, Repair, and Care Centers; the Enterprise Customer Support Division; Field Operations; and the Agent and Wholesale Support Divisions.  Gairo has more than 18 years of leadership experience in operations management in the telecommunications industry. He joined Broadview Networks as a vice president of Customer Operations (previously ATX Communications) in May 2004.  Prior to that, Gairo served as vice president of Customer Operations for Allegiance Teleco, now part of XO Communications.  Before that, Gairo worked as Team Leader of Field Engineering for MCI Communications.

About Broadview Networks
Broadview Networks is a network-based business-communications provider serving customers nationwide. It provides the total solution for business communications, including all distance-voice communications, premises-based and patented hosted VoIP systems and data services encompassing VPN- and MPLS-enabled applications, traditional telephone hardware, high-speed Internet services, a full suite of managed services, and a range of professional services. Broadview also provides an innovative portfolio of bundled, hosted IP phone and cloud computing services designed to meet the unique application requirements of diverse workforce groups. Its customers benefit from award-winning customer service, including a web-based account-management tool and a primary point-of-contact for real-time, personal customer care.

Broadview is a control investment of MCG Capital Corporation (NASDAQ: MCGC). Its largest investors are MCG Capital, Baker Capital and New Enterprise Associates.