One of the most important things we can do as a brokerage is provide you, our customer, with excellent customer service. A year ago, Zecco Trading was not consistently delivering on that obligation. So last fall we promised you that we’d make a major investment in our service organization and I’m proud to say we have. If you’ve called in recently you may have noticed a big difference. Creating a world-class service organization takes time, and while we’re only part way through that journey, I’d like to fill you in on what’s been happening in our Pasadena office.
First, it’s all about the people. We’ve brought on a management team of brokerage rock stars with decades of experience, spearheaded by Brokerage President Michael Feser (formerly responsible for transforming E-trade’s customer service) to head Zecco Trading. Our new management team leverages their experience from leading financial institutions like E-trade, JP Morgan Chase, USAA, JB Oxford and TradeKing. Michael and his team have re-energized and restructured our service organization and made it their mission to deliver outstanding customer service.
Second, it’s all about the people. Michael and his team began by tripling the number of service reps on staff. That means three times the number of people on hand to help you. And best of all, those reps are getting to your calls faster than ever. The average time to pick up a call has dropped by 48% in the past year.
Third, it’s all about how you train the people. Not only has the quantity of reps increased, the quality has improved as well. I’m happy to say that a third of our reps are now Series 7 licensed and we’re targeting getting 100% of them licensed by October. These improvements are due in part the tireless work of our new training manager, George Shearer, who has implemented fresh programs to provide you with better, more knowledgeable, more qualified service reps.
The proof is in the pudding. We received this letter complimenting the service provided by rep Chris Tam:
“(Chris Tam) exhibited a great deal of professionalism and tenacity in resolving my problem and kept me updated every step of the way. His sense of urgency regarding my dilemma renewed my faith in Zecco Trading and as a result, I intend to remain a Zecco customer. Chris Tam went above what would be expected of a customer service rep in today's marketplace, and his service is greatly appreciated. If more companies would employ and reward this type of performance, there would far fewer complaints that reach management's desks. More praise should be directed toward this type of work ethic. Thanks Chris for a job well done.”
I’ll second that--thanks Chris for a superb job! We at Zecco expect this level of professionalism and commitment from all of our reps and we’re pleased to see each one of them beginning to deliver on that promise.
In the end, it’s all about how you measure the people. Anecdotal feedback is great, but we need objective, hard facts to ensure we are improving every single day. So to make sure our reps deliver each and every time they pick up the phone, we’ve created new quality assurance programs to track customer satisfaction. We’re monitoring rep calls and emails for quality and we’re running a program to resolve customer issues expediently. We’ve also instituted a system for real-time tracking of customer satisfaction. If you’ve called customer service lately, you may have received a call back asking you to rate your experience. This instantaneous feedback allows us to monitor how we’re doing on the spot and gives us the information we need to make adjustments if necessary.
While we’ve made some major improvements, I acknowledge we’ve still got some work to do. Our reps are working really hard day in and day out to pick up your call speedily, satisfy your request quickly, and do both with a smile. They may not be on it 100% of the time, but that’s the goal.
And let me just say that I know in writing a blog like this, I’m opening the floor to all kinds of feedback-- both positive and negative. But that’s what this is all about—a dialogue with you, our customer. If you have any feedback on a recent experience please email customer service: customerservice@zeccotrading.com.
I can say with confidence that our service organization is headed in the right direction and for that I am very happy. A huge thanks from me to the whole team in Pasadena for their hard work and dedication. You’re all doing a bang up job!