In our Customer Interaction Centres, customers are naturally at the core. For Customer Service Advisor Lesley Powell, this close interaction with callers is precisely what she loves about her job.
After working in Logistics for more than 7 years, Lesley Powell decided it was time to try something new. 19 months ago, she transitioned from her job as Logistics Operations Manager into the customer service team in VELUX GBI.
“Following Simplify and the Covid-19 pandemic, I had a think about what I wanted to do in terms of work . My old job had changed and it didn’t really match my skillset anymore. I have always enjoyed the customer interaction, so moving into customer service felt like the right choice,” says Lesley.
The first year she went through a thorough training programme, and was quite surprised by the breadth of knowledge required . Fortunately, Lesley does not need to know the answer to every question. The team has an online toolkit, where they can look up (almost) all the information they need.
“Working in customer service keeps your mind active. You can get any question thrown at you. Today, I mostly deal with calls from merchants and homeowners relating to deliveries, pricing and operations. But when I joined the customer service team, we had not yet been split into After Sales (AFS) and CIC. So I would sometimes get very technical questions from installers. When you get a call from someone, who is on a roof somewhere and looking for a very specific answer, it can be quite a pressure,” Lesley laughs.
I love the social aspect and being part of a big team. We are a diverse group, from different backgrounds and age groups, and that gives a very nice dynamic. Even though we are all busy, there is always room for a quick chat
Lesley Powell, Customer Service Advisor
Colleagues support when calls are challenging
Lesley and her colleagues all have targets for how many customer enquiries they have to answer in a day, whether it be calls, emails or live chat. Most enquiries are resolved right away, but sometimes additional information is needed from third parties such as carriers.
“One of the things that was new to me is the fact that you don’t have complete ownership of your tasks. For every call we create a ticket, and all information relating to the call will be connected to that same ticket. So someone else might get back to “your” customer with information if their query is not resolved right away. I have never worked that way before, but it is very streamlined.”
“I love the social aspect and being part of a big team. We are a diverse group, from different backgrounds and age groups, and that gives a very nice dynamic. Even though we are all busy, there is always room for a quick chat.”
When asked about her favourite part of the job, Lesley also emphasizes the customer interaction:
“I really enjoy talking to customers, and I get lots of lovely phone calls. Sometimes it is older women, who want to buy blinds, but have no idea how to get them or how to install them. They are always so grateful to be guided in the right direction. And merchants are usually a good laugh.”
Not all conversations are easy, though. Sometimes you have to tell a homeowner that their product delivery is delayed, and this can cause a lot of frustration for someone in the middle of a home improvement project.
“Merchants are usually understanding of deliveries being late, because they know the market and supply situation, but conversations with homeowners can become quite animated. When you are in an open office, you can usually tell if someone is having a challenging phone call, and there is always a lot of support from colleagues afterwards. Fortunately, it is not something that happens often. Personally, I have had so many weird phone calls in my time, I am hard to upset, haha.”