Let’s talk turkey (went there). This season is about giving thanks, so it only seems right to express some serious gratitude to the frontline workers in customer service.
Those individuals who work day in and day out to deliver reliable, consistent, patient, empathetic service to genuinely improve each customer’s experience.
Y’all are the heart of every brand, and we applaud you!
We’re especially grateful to have been able to crown a few of these incredible individuals last month in our 1st ever Back To The Customer (B2C) Awards.
Hosted by Flip, Kustomer, and Aircall – these awards were created to celebrate extraordinary CX work in DTC and eCommerce, in 3 categories:
- Top CX Leaders – learn more about our winners in part 1 of our B2C series
- Frontline MVPs – today’s focus
- Best Brand – details coming soon
And, with the caliber of submissions that came in, the work was most definitely cut out for our 6 Judges:
- Alexandria Collis – Sr. Director of Operations, Princess Polly
- Nate Brown – Co-Founder, CX Accelerator
- Jenna Best – VP of CX, Brooklinen
- Ben Segal – VP of CX, Thesis
- Liz Tsai – Founder & CEO, HiOperator
- Jess Cervellon – VP of CX, Feastables
Our Frontline MVP category was packed with extraordinary nominees. This article is all about shining a brighter light on what got them there.
So let’s fire up the spotlight and get glowing!
Frontline MVP
All of our categories for B2C are important, but we felt this one was especially in need of greater recognition.
It’s also one that’s near and dear to the heart of B2C Judge—and VP of Customer Experience at Thesis—Ben Segal.
As he says, “What got me excited about B2C was giving back to the Frontline MVPs – the people who are doing the work day in and day out, that don’t always get the recognition. Especially not on a stage like this.”
Hear hear! And, our 3rd place winner certainly deserves some time center stage.
3RD PLACE WINNER IN THE CATEGORY OF FRONTLINE MVP
Genie Burton, Customer Experience Advocate at Feastables, is our 3rd place champ in this category. Here’s just some of what won her the title:
- PERSONALIZED CS: Genie manages Feastables’ fan mail P.O. Box. Whenever possible, she sends out personalized packages and hand-written notes directly to these customers – a rarity in today’s world.
- SOLUTION-ORIENTED: According to Jess, and other colleagues, Genie is an expert at offering both empathy and solutions.
- TEAM PLAYER: When it comes to bettering both herself and the organization, Genie is always the first to raise her hand. She’s known at the office as “the support ninja,” and regularly champions for her team.
- WORK ETHIC: Genie’s been known to tackle over 800 messages per week, with over 660 conversations marked as done, while keeping that average handle time to 2.3 minutes. As B2C Judge Ben Segal puts it, “She’s a workhorse behind that keyboard!”
- EXPERIENCE ENGINEER: This is a title that Judge Nate Brown feels fits Genie to a T. “We talk a lot about that term of experience engineering,” he says, “About being able to guide a customer even from a difficult place—where the temptation might be to say no—to a place where you can still be helpful.” Genie’s proven to be brilliant at doing this in a “fun, exciting, and whimsical way.”
2ND PLACE WINNER IN THE CATEGORY OF FRONTLINE MVP
This individual excels as both a frontline worker and a leader. Congrats to Charlotte (Char) Wood, Customer Experience Manager at Bespoke Post! Let’s lay out some of the awesome contributions that won her the 2nd place title:
- KEEPS CUSTOMER TOP OF MIND: Char is truly passionate about customer service. Among many other initiatives, she implemented a process where Team Leads reach out to customers who left 1 and 2 star ratings – to make sure they feel seen and heard.
- EXCELLENT CS IN RECORD TIME: She once took 800 tickets in a DAY!
- EXTRAORDINARY MANAGER: Brian Kaufman—Char’s colleague, and our 1st place CX Leader this year—believes that Char is, “without question, the best manager I’ve seen in the contact center profession.”
- WIZ AT AGENT ENGAGEMENT & SATISFACTION: Char came up with a concept of “Agent Boosts” at Bespoke Post. Agents earn stretch opportunities to help with other initiatives around the company – exposing them to more parts of the business, and keeping them engaged. She also started bi-weekly team social events, spearheaded a legendary annual Halloween party, and goes above and beyond to make sure agents are seen, heard, and represented in decision-making.
- INSPIRING GLOBAL COLLABORATION: For the past 3 years, Char has worked closely with Bespoke Post’s team in the Philippines. And, the feedback many of them sent in about her—praising her as approachable, motivating, versatile, dependable (the list goes on and on)— was beyond inspiring.
- PASSIONATE ABOUT LEARNING AND SHARING: Char is part of multiple thought groups and regularly attends industry events. She’s always looking to soak up and share industry knowledge, which helps her entire team to level up.
1ST PLACE WINNER IN THE CATEGORY OF FRONTLINE MVP
Our 1st place winner in the category of Frontline MVP went to none other than Sarah Garcia, Customer Service Representative at Plum Deluxe Teas. Let’s highlight a handful of what makes Sarah our 1st place champ:
- BELOVED BY MANY: As B2C Judge Ben Segal says, “This one – all I can say is wow!” Sarah received 12 nominations! That’s more (by far) than any other nominee in B2C 2023. The large majority of those nominations were from customers themselves, and almost all were accompanied with supporting materials that laid out individual cases of incredible CS.
- KIND: It’s abundantly clear that each and every customer interaction is important to Sarah. One customer writes, “I buy from Plum Deluxe more than anyone because of their customer service aka Sarah. She is SO kind. I have made some odd and specific requests and she is always helpful. Not only that, but she knows us customers.”
- DETAIL-ORIENTED: Nominators describe Sarah as pleasant, professional, prompt, and—here’s a big one—a representative who doesn’t forget anything or anyone. She’s been known to take note of special requests and follow up years later with a personalized note – once that request can be fulfilled!
- GOING ABOVE & BEYOND: As Jess Cervellon pointed out, “One of the things that makes Sarah an amazing pick for first place is how she goes the extra mile for a customer. She’s setting the bar for every customer experience that person has with any brand going forward.”
In truth, there were so many extraordinary nominees for Frontline MVP, and we’re grateful for the contributions of each and every one.
Oh, and here’s a fun fact: We even had a submission for—wait for it—a dog named Pépére at Danforth Pewter. Hey, great CX can come in many forms.
That’s it for now. A special shoutout to our generous B2C Sponsors: TTEC, PartnerHero + Humanize, Simplr, AdvisoryHub, LTVplus, Richpanel, Hark, and DigitalGenius.
Massive thanks to ALL of our nominees in this category, and another huge congratulations to B2C’s Frontline MVPs of 2023!
And, thank YOU for your support as we continue to regularly recognize awesome frontline workers – all year round, and especially during this season.
P.S. Keep an eye out for part 3 of our B2C blog series—featuring our Best Brand nominees and winners—coming soon.
