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<\/h3>\n<\/h3>\nWhen you have to call for customer service assistance, it’s often a last resort.<\/p>\n
Maybe you need to dispute high charges on a bill, discuss a warranty for a new appliance that isn\u2019t working, or want to save money on a new service plan for your phone or vehicle. Many times, these calls end in frustration because you paid for services you weren\u2019t aware of, the problem isn\u2019t covered by your warranty, or that can\u2019t-miss deal is only offered to customers in another hemisphere.<\/p>\n
Even worse, such calls often require a long wait on hold before you\u2019re transferred to another department or have to speak to a manager who isn\u2019t available at the time.<\/p>\n
Sometimes the words \u201ccustomer service\u201d can be such a contradiction, right? \u00a0What purpose do departments like this really serve?<\/p>\n
CHG has its own customer service team. But our folks aren\u2019t a bunch of call takers trying to discern why a customer\u2019s gravy may be coming out lumpy.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur team is 100 percent about problem solving. Every day,\u201d says Mary Blum<\/strong>, CHG\u2019s director of Customer Service.<\/p>\n In fact, Blum\u2019s team takes few calls from customers hovering over problems on their stove.<\/p>\n \u201cWe analyze case-fill rates, shortages, incidents and on-time deliveries of our products,\u201d she says. \u201cWe support the Food Service side of the business, the At Home channel, National Accounts and our bakeries.\u201d<\/p>\n Customer Service here at CHG attacks problems on multiple fronts. The Customer Operations team manages order fulfillment, Customer Success manages the health of service provided to our clients, and Customer Data manages order data and maintains key information related to our customers.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Order Management <\/strong><\/p>\n Clarissa Dawson<\/strong> manages the Customer Operations team, which keeps tabs on orders coming into CHG and products going out of our plants.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re account managers for the customer, on the Food Service and the Retail side of the business,\u201d Dawson says. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to make sure our customers are taken care of.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt’s about order management. Once the order hits, do we have product? Can we get it on time? \u00a0What are key items that we\u2019re sole providers on and what does a customer need? Are we meeting the customer’s expectations?\u201d<\/p>\n Sometimes problems pop up \u2013 pricing issues, product availability or short lead times. Clarissa and her team work with plant schedulers to make sure orders are completed on time, with our Distribution team to determine shipment schedules, and with brokers to confirm all details and expectations related to those orders. Challenges are part of the territory.<\/p>\n For example, a national restaurant chain recently requested a significant increase in its order of pancake and waffle mixes and a quick turnaround time. CHG is the sole supplier of those products for the customer. Sure, more business is good business. But now the Customer Operations team had a problem to solve. Could we move up production to expedite the order? Do other plants have product that can be shipped and shared until the new order can be met? Communication was key and Customer Operations had to bring everyone together to develop a feasible solution.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have to kind of spread the wealth,\u201d says Blum. \u201cIf we have a demand for 200 and we only have 100, then we have to do an allocation plan. Sometimes we might delay an order. Sometimes we may be able to shift production. So, there’s about six different ways we kind of slice and dice and look at things. We always want to make sure that we service the customer with our business needs in mind.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Information Central <\/strong><\/p>\n It\u2019s the information age. You can\u2019t slice and dice without data. That\u2019s the focus of Kelly Gonsalves\u2019 <\/strong>and her Customer Data team.<\/p>\n \u201cWe’re conducting audits, supporting our order data process, troubleshooting order-to-cash issues, and providing essential reports,\u201d says Gonsalves. \u201cWe collaborate with a variety of cross-functional teams to execute projects.\u201d<\/p>\n Purchase orders are the lifeblood of a global food manufacturer like CHG. Customer Data manages our Electronic Data Interchange, which is how 75 percent of orders are submitted. When a distributor such as Sysco submits an order, it shows up in our SAP system minutes later and begins its journey to order fulfillment.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Customer Experience<\/strong><\/p>\n The goal of the Success team is to get in front of issues \u2013 inventory, delivery, accounting, incidents \u2013 and communicate what\u2019s happening to customers.<\/p>\n Recently, CHG produced a maple biscuit as a limited time offer for a convenience store chain. The product, despite original plans, would never see the inside of a CHG plant. Instead, it was produced and shipped by a third party copacker, making it difficult to track in our system.<\/p>\n \u201cBasically, I was having to monitor inventory on something I couldn’t see,\u201d said Leslie Grubbs<\/strong>. \u201cAnd then, because it was shipped from the copacker instead of from us, the point of sale wasn\u2019t the same as what we submitted in the system. I had to manually monitor it based on third-party information \u2013 This is what the warehouse says. This is what Distribution says. This is when it’s going to ship. And this is when it’s supposed to deliver. But I couldn\u2019t see any of it.\u201d<\/p>\n The product was successfully managed, completed and shipped, with a winter storm the only reason for delay.<\/p>\n \u201cWe’re not only Customer Service to the outside customer, but also to the inside customer,\u201d she says. \u201cWe have to have a good relationship with every department we work with. We need them to be honest with us about what’s happening, so that we can bring resolution and communicate those things to our customers.<\/p>\n Grubbs says the team thinks a lot about process. How can something be done more efficiently? How can we help the customer? How can we save the company money?<\/p>\n \u201cI think, for the most part, people think of customer service as people who answer phones,\u201d she says. \u201cBut we are actually very strategic. We\u2019re problem solvers.<\/p>\n So, customer service at CHG is<\/em> <\/strong>about helping customers.<\/p>\n \u201cWe’re trying to make everybody feel good,\u201d says Grubbs. \u201cIf something’s not right, we just want to get to the bottom of the problem and say, \u2018Hey, we’re here for you. Don’t you worry about it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \u2013 Scott Wudel<\/p>\n CHG Spotlight: Smart Shopping<\/a><\/p>\n