PPB December 2019

Her Inspiration To Go Above And Beyond: My inspiration is my customers. Almost daily I receive emails telling me what a great job I did or how wonderful it was to work with me. I’ve even had a customer email me to simply say “Kat for President!” It’s feedback like this that makes me push forward and try to be better than I was the day before. No. 1 Tip For Enhanced Customer Service: Be nice and empathize; put yourself in their shoes. At the end of the day, our position is to sell promotional products, but you could be talking to someone who is spending their last dollar to help promote their on-the-verge-of- bankruptcy business. Best Personal Customer Service Experience: While out of town, I went to breakfast with about 20 other people at a mom- and-pop restaurant. Guests sporadically showed up and we had just one server, so by the time one person was finished eating another guest would walk in and sit at our table. The server was amazing. She was happy, patient and kind and kept a smile on her face the entire time, even though you could see the beads of sweat forming on her forehead. Before we left, I told her she did an excellent job knowing this was not a normal situation for her. She was able to keep everything organized and everyone happy, and I will for sure return if I’m ever in the area again. GARRETT LEE Sales Assistant Think It Then Ink It Years At This Company: Almost 2 T here isn’t a day at distributor Think It Then Ink It that someone on the team doesn’t hear Garrett Lee ask, “Need any help with that?” Since Lee joined the company two years ago, his first full-time job since graduating from college, he has impressed not only owner Tim Bruner, one of two nominators, but is a welcome addition to the rest of the team as well. “Garrett has taken on more responsibility in our company and backs up several employees,” says his other nominator Kelly Williams, corporate brand consultant. “He does everything without a hitch, even with his regular schedule being jam-packed. Garrett is in his early 20s and is one of the best CSRs I have ever worked with.” How Garrett Sees It Best Part Of The Job: The part I enjoy the most is that every day is something different. Each day I have different tasks, different customers and a different experience. This makes the job entertaining because it is always changing. Biggest Challenge: The most challenging part for me is sending options for items a customer would like. The reason why it is challenging is because there are so many options out there for apparel and different promotional products that I can’t show the customer every potential item. I have to choose a couple options for them and hope they like them. Since each customer is different and likes different materials, etc., I can’t send the same options to each person. Although it is challenging, it helps me learn more about our industry because I find some options that I never thought of before. His Inspiration To Go Above And Beyond: I know this is probably what a lot of people say but I just live by the motto, “treat others the way you want to be treated.” If I were the customer, I would expect quick, positive and knowledgeable replies. That is what I try to do with every customer. I try to answer most emails within an hour of receiving it, and no more than a half a day. This not only creates great customer service, but also keeps things moving. One of my favorite things about this job is working with customers who are getting shirts for children. I know they really enjoy getting items, so I pride myself in getting the order to them quickly and correctly. No. 1 Tip For Enhanced Customer Service: My No. 1 tip is to always be positive no matter if you using email or the phone. Having an upbeat, positive tone will make you not only seem like a great individual, it will likely make that customer come back because of the great interaction you had. Best Personal Customer Service Experience: The best service I have received was when I was buying running shoes at Performance Running Outfitters. I was having issues with my feet when I was getting ready for a half marathon. The pain was so bad that I would have to stop and walk in the middle of my run so my feet could stop hurting. When I FEATURE | Service Superheroes 68 | DECEMBER 2019 |