PPB November 2020

PAM GRAY Director of Sales Onboarding HALO Branded Solutions Years at this company: 45 T his month PamGray will celebrate 45 years at HALO Branded Solutions. Her journey at the Sterling, Illinois-based distributor has taken her through a variety of roles: filing clerk, word processing, customer service rep, customer service supervisor, customer service manager and director of customer service to her current position as director of sales onboarding. Over the years, she’s proven herself again and again, and garnered the admiration and respect of many, including nominator, direct supervisor and senior vice president of operations, Dawn Olds, MAS. “Pam is responsible for onboarding new sales recruits, teaching them the ropes and helping our staff understand the new recruits’ unique business requirements—all at the same time,” explains Olds, who has worked with Gray for 32 years. “This not only requires a deep understanding of the business and industry, but a keen ability to put herself in the salesperson’s shoes and be their advocate. She is relentless in her follow-up. When something goes wrong, she looks for the root cause so the issue does not happen again.” While many times the term “customer service” is associated with external clients, internal clients—company employees and colleagues—also expect exceptional service, and Gray delivers. “A new recruit recently had a large, complex opportunity that required coordination between several groups,” explains Olds. “Pam took the time to thoughtfully write out detailed requirements for each group and sent them to everyone who would touch the project, so the entire team had perspective on the project end to end. She then followed up with each person to make sure each step occurred as planned.” One-On-One With Pam Gray How the pandemic has affected her approach: Overall, the pandemic has not hindered my ability to provide service. Much of my work has always been handled over the phone or email; solving problems continues to be done that way. I miss not being able to talk to people in person, because I view myself as a teacher at HALO. I enjoy sharing experiences with people or providing a different perspective on situations. That is how I grew in my career and I feel that is still important in today’s work environment. I try to communicate more via phone, Teams or Zoom. Being able to see someone, even if it is on a computer monitor, is important. Her inspiration to deliver great service: It is important to me that people are pleased with the outcome of a situation. The reputation that HALO has built over the years means a lot to me. We do the right thing and treat people properly. Everyone involved in making sure product is delivered correctly takes teamwork. Many people are needed to make it work, and everyone has to want to do their best. No. 1 tip to share with others: You have to enjoy helping people, solving problems and learning to develop creative solutions to any situation. There is no better feeling than when you have accomplished the task that seemed impossible when it started. Knowing you helped someone be a hero is a terrific feeling. Best personal customer service experience: I was working with a vendor in the industry and we had a very tight deadline that we had to make. Normal processing time was a few days and we did not have a few days. Everyone I spoke with at the company knew how important this order was and did everything they could to get the shipment out on time. I could feel the sincerity of each person I spoke to and everyone was involved in helping make this happen. Communications were consistent as they kept me advised so I could let our client know we were not going to let them down. I know the company leadership values the people who work there and empowers people to do their best each and every day. It made me feel good to be working with a great company that wanted to help me achieve my goal. FEATURE | Service Superheroes 20 | NOVEMBER 2020 |