Ben R., Brand Ambassador
I have worked as a Brand Ambassador for 2½ years now, and
absolutely love it! Working from home is great, as it saves me a
lot of money in gas for my car every week; and the commute to my
home-office is non-existent! I also love being able to adjust the
hours that I work to fit my schedule-no matter what is going on
with my kids, my wife, or my softball team, I am able to fit it all
in.
I can work practically any time I want to, 7 days a week. I work
every Sunday, which is great for my family-on Sundays, my wife
spends the day with the kids-just she and them all day long-which
they all love, since she has to commute to work two hours every day
and doesn't get to spend much time with them during the week.
Before my shift starts, I need to ensure that I am ready to go
as soon as calls start coming in. Quite often, calls come
back-to-back for my whole shift-especially during the holiday
season. I like to log in at least 20 minutes before I am scheduled
to start taking calls, so that I know that I am ready to begin!
The first thing I do after I turn on my computer is log into the
various systems needed to perform my job.
- First, I make a call from the computer to the phone in my home
office, which connects me via we call a "persistent
connection".
- The customer service program is where I spend a lot of my time.
This is where I enter any orders that are placed, check on the
status of any orders, or anything else a client asks me.
- I also need to open the e-mail program programs that I use to
communicate with customers.
- I refer many times during my shift to the Brand Ambassador
Gateway. It helps me stay up to date on all of the specials and
coupons that we have to offer customers who call. I also want to
find out what sales contests we have running, and see if there are
any special notes-such as an advertising campaign that will push
customers towards a certain product.
- I can also check out the internal chat rooms where my fellow
Brand Ambassadors are posting comments and questions about how
their shifts are going so far-this really gets me going and ready
to help our customers!
- Finally, I want to open our most recent catalog for reference,
as well as our client's Website. That way I can quickly refer to
them if there are any questions.
Once my shift starts, I start taking calls from customers.
People call for many different reasons-they have a problem with the
order they received, it was the wrong size, they ordered the wrong
thing, they don't want their order and want help returning it, or
they want to know when they will receive credit for their
return.
We do a lot of sales for this client-I love sales, so upselling
is natural to me. It is also a great way to increase my income! The
average that VIPdesk says you can make is $10-$12/hour, but the
more I sell, the more I make, so I definitely upsell as much as I
can!