Company: Endurance, Northbrook, IL
Company Description: Founded in 2006, Endurance provides high quality Vehicle Service Contracts. Endurance is the only company in the Vehicle Service Contract industry that is both a Gold-Certified member of the Vehicle Protection Association (VPA) and an A+ Rated Accredited Member of the Better Business Bureau. Our commitment to excellence and growth has launched Endurance to being the premier provider in the nation.
Nomination Category: Customer Service Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Customer Service Department of the Year

Nomination Title: Endearing Customer Service is the Endurance Way

Tell the story about what this nominated organization/department achieved since January 1 2013 (up to 525 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:

Endurance is a customer-driven company from top to bottom. We serve as an advocate for America’s car owners by protecting them from the stress and high costs of auto repairs.

At Endurance, the foundation for our company is “Empowering Confidence for the Road Ahead”. This foundation has inspired confidence in our work environment and continues to empower our customers with world-class service.

Not only does Endurance have vast experience administrating vehicle service contracts, but we are also one of the largest direct-to consumer sellers of vehicle service contracts in the nation. Furthermore, we are very proud to be the only company in the country that is both “A+” rated by the Better Business Bureau and Gold-Certified by the Vehicle Protection Association, a national association promoting self-regulation of vehicle service contracts sales direct-to-consumer.

Endurance's Customer-Focused Achievements for the Year of 2013:

•Excellence Award: In order to better serve our customers and to reinforce our core values Endurance initiated the "Customer Service Representative of the Year Award", which bestows recognition on an individual who has surpassed our company's stringent guidelines.

•Customer Response Time: Endurance was named one of the top five companies nationwide in regards to customer response time on Forbes.com with reply occurring in a mere 32-seconds. Out of over 300 companies that were contacted in the audit, Endurance was the fourth fastest and only one of seven that had less than a minute response times. Endurance Customer Service Director, Steven Kay, says that this is only the most recent example of the company’s strive for excellence in serving their customers.

•User Experience: In 2013, Endurance completely redesigned its website to improve our customers' online experience. Our design and marketing team understand that user experience encompasses more than just the website design, therefore we've also put a lot of effort into redesigning print materials, increasing brand recognition, and improving social engagement.

•Live Chat Support: Our customer service team strives to exceed the needs of every customer, therefore we added a Live Chat option to the website. This helps our customer service team to answer questions immediately and gain powerful insights about what consumers and anticipate their needs to better serve them while creating lasting relationships.

•Endurance Learning Center: Our very own Learning Center was launched to educate consumers on our product and other products available in our industry. Selected customer service representatives and vehicle protection specialists share their advice that will encourage consumers to make the right choice and purchase our products with complete confidence.

•Department Expansion: Our commitment to excellence and growth has launched Endurance to open another location in downtown Chicago.

The Endurance customer service team handles thousands of calls on a weekly basis and answers all queries on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+. The team grew from 10 employees in 2012 to more than 35 employees presently. Our brand stands out in the industry with its integrity, commitment to customer service, and superior product offering giving Endurance a distinct value and competitive edge over direct and indirect competition. We believe in education, options, security, and service which arms our customers with the necessary tools for the road ahead!

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Provide a brief (up to 125 words) biography about the leader(s) of the nominated organization/department:

Steven Kay serves as the Customer Service Director at Endurance. He brings more than 10 years of customer service experience to his role, and specializes in training and managing the customer service team to meet our company's expectations. Steven started out as one of the first customer support representatives at Endurance seven years ago, and now manages a team of over 35 employees.

Steven says that the company’s slogan is what influences him and his colleagues daily, “Our slogan is to empower confidence for the road ahead, and we actually get to do this every single day!”

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