L-com Inc.
Company: L-com Inc., North Andover, MA
Company Description: L-com, a global leader in the manufacture of wired and wireless connectivity products, offers unmatched customer service for the computer hardware industry. The company’s product portfolio includes cable assemblies, connectors, adapters, computer networking components, and custom products, as well as antennas, RF amplifiers, coaxial lightning and surge protectors, and NEMA rated enclosures.
Nomination Category: Customer Service Awards Department Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Customer Service Department of the Year - All Other Industries
Nomination Title: L-com Inc.
Tell the story about what this nominated department achieved since the beginning of July last year (up to 500 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:
Alfred Contarino founded L-com in 1982 on the principal of providing
exceptional service in the product-centric computer hardware industry. Since
2001, L-com has seen unprecedented growth as a company, expanding from $10m
annual sales to over $60m despite a shrinking global economy. Much of this
continuous growth can be attributed to the company offering exemplary service
to its customer base.
In July of 2009, L-com had been growing steadily in sales and revenue for
almost eight years straight. It had grown from a single North American contact
center to two, one each in Massachusetts and Florida. However, the economy
forced a round of layoffs that left the company with only 10 CS reps
altogether. This small workforce had to shoulder an excessive amount of
volume, handling roughly 290 calls per day and thousands of emailed and faxed
orders. Despite this, L-com’s commitment to service did not waiver.
Since July 2009, the L-com contact centers achieved many of its goals for
providing excellent service:
- In July 2009, L-com completed upgrading the Florida contact center
with the same technology that it already had implemented in Massachusetts,
allowing sales and CS reps to handle faxes and emails in a queue system
similar to the phone. This sped up service considerably.
- Shortly thereafter, despite the difficulties of managing split
workforces, L-com surpassed the 80/20 goal (80% of calls answered in 20
seconds or less) by getting to 85/15. It has maintained that fast and
attentive service for more than 15 months straight.
- With herculean effort, supervisors in both Massachusetts and Florida
implemented joint standardized training for the highly technical product line,
educating sales and CS reps for up to four hours per week so they could
quickly and accurately answer customer questions.
- In addition to the technical training, they also added another hour of
service training, using “Through the customer’s eyes” software, to help sales
and CS reps best deal with customers of all types.
- In the fall of 2009, the contact center completed “5S” training to
maximize efficiency and handle the high volume of work gracefully and error
free. It has continually maintained this since the initial training through
follow-up meetings.
- In mid 2010, though all CS reps were assigned accounts, they were
trained to handle any customer request, providing dedicated service without
the wait.
The results of all of these efforts speak for themselves. The service level
was 89.7 during this time, and the total answer percentage was 94.9%. This
commitment to customer service has resulted in customer testimonials like the
following:
“I am a researcher at the University of Kansas Medical Center. I placed an
order today over the telephone to L-com, and it truly was one of the best
customer service experiences I have had in years. I dealt with two customer
service people and one IT person. They all took the time to find answers to my
questions. You are lucky to have people working for you that make customers
feel good about your service.”
List hyperlinks to any online news stories, press releases, or other documents that support the claims made in the section above. IMPORTANT: Begin each link with http://, and enclose each link in square brackets; for example, [http://www.youraddress.com]:
Provide a brief (up to 100 words) biography about the leader(s) of the nominated customer service organization:
As Contact Center Manager, Lester Smock is responsible for both the inside
sales and customer service departments. He joined L-com in 2003 after working
at Spherion Corporation since 1999. He graduated from Hartwick College in
Oneonta, NY, in 1985 with a BA in English and Theatre Arts. He brings to L-
com a mixture of managerial expertise and resource management. Since his hire
at L-com, Lester has drastically improved contact center resources, allowing
his staff to reach new heights as the front line in customer satisfaction.