Support Services Group - Young Customer Service Professional of the
Company: Support Services Group, Waco, TX USA
Company Description: Support Services Group was founded in 1998 and is a leading provider of various types of Consumer Support, including Technical Support, Help Desk Services, Customer Service, Ecommerce and Retail Support, Lead Generation, B2B/B2C Sales, Sales Support, Chat Support, Email Support, and Knowledgebase Management. We have 7 contact center locations across the United States, Latin America, and Canada.
Nomination Category: Customer Service & Call Center Awards Individual Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Young Customer Service Professional of the Year - All Other Industries
Nomination Title: Summer Downs' Career is Looking Up at SSG
Most training classes have a new hire or two who are way ahead of the rest. They understand customer service, are comfortable navigating systems and digest product-specific training quicky. By the end of class, they are ready to take live calls without nesting at all. The person in the March 16, 2020 class at Support Services Group was Summer Downs.
"Contact rates were skyrocketing amid COVID,” said Summer. “My journey on the program started as an agent. I was able to move up to a Subject Matter Expert, then Trainer, and now my role has recently become the Client Services Administrator.”
“Summer is passionate about getting the job done the right way on the first attempt,” said Chris Hudson, operations manager at Support Services Group.
“When I joined the team Summer was in the Trainer role,” he said. “I reduced her workload so she could focus on training development. I removed her from some operations email distribution lists too. Summer fought to get put back on the lists.”
Summer knew the team was struggling with service levels and that she could help by rewriting training materials.
As it turned out, her instinct was spot on!
Career Path
In just 18 short months, Summer, 23, has taken on progressively more responsibility and is considered a rising star at SSG. Summer wears several hats at SSG. She is a trainer, curriculum writer, and Client Services Administrator for a top 10 client at Support Services Group. She is the daily contact for the client and regularly provides thought leadership while consulting on process improvements.
Circumstance Faced
The program was struggling with service levels due to team instability and lack of knowledge transfer. The client was questioning whether SSG could improve in time for the upcoming fall shopping season. A new operations manager was hired, and he was asked to work with Summer and Team Leads to turn it around.
Actions Taken by Summer Downs
Built user friendly Knowledge Base
Revamped Training Curriculum to set clear path to service level attainment
Launched professional development training for Team Leads
Started hosting weekly live product demos to ingrain knowledge
Validated daily reporting to the client
Results
Service Level improved from 34% in March 2021 to 88% in June
Average Handle Time (voice) reduced from 6:38 to 5.99 minutes
Client confidence was restored, and the program is now on track
Summer was promoted to client services in August
Summer now travels with the client to site visits and conducts MBRs
People don’t often choose a career in contact centers. Much more likely is that they find early success in a short-term job, then discover they like it so much, there is no reason to leave. The truly good candidates keep progressing until they are leading contact centers or entire companies. It is early yet, but Summer, at age 23, is showing all the signs of a future industry leader.
The job isn’t too big for her.
She asks for more responsibility and if it doesn’t happen, she asks again.
Summer inspires others and builds the team’s collective confidence through shared experiences.
“For me, success means that I am fully achieving any task that is handed to me,” said Summer. “Success is making sure that no matter what is thrown my way, I can handle and overcome it. I am a very hard worker and I try to be a person that anyone can count on, whether that be family, friends, or coworkers. Success to me is overcoming all obstacles, no matter how big they are!”
Chris Hudson is the Operations Manager who was hired to work with Summer on the turnaround effort.
“I knew from our first face-to-face meeting just how capable and passionate she was about her role and the success of the program,” said Chris. “We immediately partnered to redefine the role of the Training manager and rebuild the training foundation that has contributed to the program’s complete 180 turn around to success.”
Maintaining customer satisfaction during COVID-19 has not been easy as these articles outline:
As retailers grappled with out-of-stocks, the research found that 75% of consumers opted to shop with alternative brands. What COVID-19 did to customer loyalty | Retail Divehttps://www.retaildive.com/news/what-covid-19-did-to-customer-loyalty/58...
This article explains that customer revealed the number of customers experiencing service issues with organizations has risen to its highest level since 2009. https://www.instituteofcustomerservice.com/customer-service-complaints/
This article by Deloitte addresses the pains the BPO industry experienced during March 2020. https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/uk/Documents/consultancy/deloitte-uk-covid-19-a-wake-up-call-for-the-bpo-industry.pdf
This article by Harvard Business Review addresses the difficulties of maintaining program performance during COVID-19. https://hbr.org/2020/04/supporting-customer-service-through-the-coronavirus-crisis