TempWorks Software director of support services, Alisha Santoorjian Thunstrom, provides insight into best practices on creating a customer-centric company culture and support team in Part 2 of this 2-part series.
In the first part of this series, I touched on the importance of maintaining clear lines of communication between your customers and your support team. For this blog, I want to share the importance of delivering a consistent support experience to demonstrate a customer-centric system through a specific example from my time at TempWorks.
Planet Support System
In July 2017, TempWorks introduced a new support model known as planets. Today, our support team members are divided into eight planets, which consist of three to seven employees of various tenures and one team lead. Depending on the size and demographics of customers, each planet represents a group of 20-50 customers. Rather than grouping clients geographically, most planets represent a specific industry or a group of industries that may utilize the TempWorks software products in similar ways. When a customer calls in, they are automatically routed to their planet and supported by one of just a handful of team members who know the customer’s business, industry, use of the software and what they may be looking to accomplish.
The planets concept was more intentional than just a more creative naming convention than “Team A” or “Team 1.” There is no ranking order in the support teams and no planet group that is better than others. Planets also became an opportunity to give employees a fun “mascot” to use without it turning competitive or political.
Results
The results for both customers and employees have been significant. Customers now experience the small-company feel again with a support team that knows their name and their business, but they can also leverage large company resources that allow for quick response times and deep expertise. With smaller teams and assigned customers, focused industries and training, and appropriate delegation of leadership, our support team members can be more effective at their jobs and more efficient with their time. This all has a direct impact on the client experience, which has been significantly enhanced by this new model.
While this same model might not apply to your company’s business, I hope that this example from TempWorks might demonstrate how a simple reorganization of support team structure and team member alignment can help to cultivate a customer-centric service model. If you’re interested in learning more about how TempWorks can help support your customer focus efforts, contact us today to learn more about our staffing software solutions and services.
ABOUT ALISHA SANTOORJIAN THUNSTROM
Alisha Santoorjian Thunstrom is the Director of Support Services at TempWorks Software. Support has been Alisha’s specialty since her first day at TempWorks Software in 2011. She’s steadily climbed from support analyst to support supervisor, manager and now director. Alisha understands that the long-term success of clients depends on the investment of time and support to build true partnerships. She also leads the year-end team and manages sales and payroll tax changes throughout the year.