Company: Western and Southern Financial Group, Cincinnati, OH
Company Description: Western & Southern company's heritage dating back to 1888, has been serving families and businesses with our diverse range of life insurance, annuities and investments. Our knowledge in planning for retirement and small business services help protect futures. As one of the world’s strongest life insurance companies, we are here for every stage of life.
Nomination Category: Customer Service & Call Center Awards Individual Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Young Customer Service Professional of the Year - Financial Services Industries
 Nomination Title: Kayle Ayres- Leading by Example
- Which will you submit for your nomination in this category, a video of up to five (5) minutes, explaining the achievements since July 1, 2020 of the nominated woman, OR written answers to the questions? (Choose one):
Written answers to the questions
- If you are submitting a video of up to five (5) minutes in length, provide the URL of the video here, OR attach it to your entry via the "Add Attachments, Videos, or Links to This Entry" link above, through which you may also upload a copy of your video. If you are submitting written answers to the questions for this category, provide them in the spaces below.
- Briefly describe the nominated individual: history and past performance (up to 200 words):
Total 161 words used.
I proudly nominate Kayle Ayres for the Young Customer Service Professional of the Year. While I recognize there are numerous worthy nominees, I am confident there is no one more deserving of this honor than Kayle. A team leader is defined as providing guidance, instruction, motivation, direction and leadership to a group of individuals for the purpose of achieving a key result. They often work within the team carrying out the same roles but with the additional 'leader' responsibilities. Team leaders utilize their expertise, their peers, influence, and/or creativeness to formulate an effective team. Kayle exemplifies all of this and more.
Kayle joined the Client Relationship Center here at Western & Southern in 2017 as a Service Consultant. Since joining the team, Kayle quickly established herself as a top-performer, consistently exceeding goal metrics while being a “go-to” team member. Her passion and dedication earned her a promotion to Senior Service Consultant and most recently achieving promotion to Team Leader in 2021.
- Outline the nominee's achievements since July 1 2020 that you wish to bring to the judges' attention (up to 250 words):
Total 246 words used.
As a team leader, Kayle is responsible for directing, motivating, and guiding the team to meet and/or exceed goals. They provide assistance on interactions through chat or calls depending on volumes, ensure interactions are answered in a timely manner, and create/conduct training initiatives for the Service Team. In addition to these responsibilities, Kayle represents the Customer Service Department as our subject-matter expert for project initiatives and enhancement efforts, and is our “go-to” for training of our service consultants.
Kayle accomplished the following from July 2020:
- Team Achievements:
- Leading a team of 13 associates
- Completing:
- 5,418 calls
- 4,858 chats
- 4,097 correspondence
- Training: Conducting training for new hire training and stage progressions.
- Led 8 classes’ training 25 service consultants.
- Project Initiatives: Subject-matter expert supporting major department projects
- Payment Vendor Adoption - Championed transition to new payment processing vendor. Kayle completed requirement gathering, testing and documentation. She was instrumental in the timely and successful system launch and created job aids.
- Authentication Tool – Supported the modernization of team’s verification process. Team member for incorporation of a one-time passcode and knowledge-based authentication, reducing time spent verifying caller identity by 55%.
- RPA Tool- Assisted in training and job aid development to provide immediate assistance to remove policies from recurring payment for customers.
- Identifying process enhancements:
- Streamlined shared process with Policy Change Department when issuing policies. This new process eliminates the Customer Service team’s involvement while improving the client experience
- Improving chat presentation to help with identifying complex resolutions.
- Reference any attachments of supporting materials throughout this nomination and how they provide evidence of the claims you have made in this nomination (up to 250 words):
Total 20 words used.
Included is a document with feedback received in regards to Kayle and the support she provides her team and peers.
- Explain why the achievements you have highlighted are unique or significant. If possible compare the achievements to the performance of other players in your industry and/or to the nominee's past performance (up to 250 words):
Total 170 words used.
Whether it’s supporting Enterprise-wide projects, training frontline Customer Service associates, onboarding new team leaders, or providing world class service to our customers, Kayle continually adds value and commits to improving the customer experience.
Kayle remains focused on the heart of the customer and delivering world-class customer service. She operates with the highest degree of ethics and integrity and motivates her peers to do likewise. Kayle’s passion for process improvement, peer development and organizational success is contagious and reaches well beyond our team. The accomplishments listed provide just a glimpse of what she contributed during this time period. It does not by any means encompass all her daily routine tasks, her ability to assist at a drop of a hat, or the way she multi-tasks priorities with ease. Kayle is a true team player and leads the team by example. Kayle’s dedication to Western & Southern and the Customer Service team is evident in all she does and for this we nominate her for Young Customer Service Professional of the year.
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