Contact Centre Manager of the Year 76+ seats

Contact Centre Manager of the Year 76+ seats - Raychel Comerford, TelstraClear

Our thanks to Raychel Comerford and her team at TelstraClear for the photos and interview.




 

1. Congratulations on your win. TelstraClear has certainly become an important player in the telecommunication space in New Zealand. Can you tell us what role the contact centre has in TelstraClear now and for the future and how the contact centres fit into the TelstraClear strategy?

Thank you. The contact centres have a huge role to play in any company. TelstraClear is no exception and the contact centres are at the hub of our company.  The Kapiti Contact Centre is responsible for all consumer products for residential customers nationwide. 

The contact centres have some big challenges coming up in a world where customers want different ways to communicate with us and TelstraClear is a leader with communication technologies, so exciting times ahead.

2. As part of your award winning entry, you would have outlined some of
your targets - are you able to share some of them with the TUANZ contact
centre community? If so, what are they and how do you meet them?

A never ending pursuit of improvement in a dynamic challenging environment! We have a tremendous impact on overall business in the areas of revenue, costs, market intelligence and customer loyalty. Our vision is to provide market leading customer support and service for all of TelstraClear's customers.

This market recognition, our people and performance focussed culture, and career growth opportunities we offer, set us apart as an employer of choice. We are very focused on getting the right people on board through effective recruitment processes, giving our staff a good experience once they are on board and ensuring our most valuable resources are well managed and supported in our environment. 

We are also looking at the technologies that support this and ensuring we have seamless communication strategies in place.


3. Do you think entering the awards (evaluating the metric you use, & how you manage your team) was useful? If so, can you provide us with tangible examples of what you learned during the process?

It was incredibly valuable. It gave me time to reflect on what we had achieved in the previous 12 months. Sometimes you are so focused on the future that you don't take the time to look back at your achievements. I got a great sense of pride in what we had done and what we are striving to do.

The process also enabled me to think more about where we had our best bang for our buck and enabled us to celebrate our wins, literally!

4. What difference has the win made to you and the contact centre?

The win has made some big differences for myself and for the contact centre also. It has cemented that we have best in class leadership to the contact centre as a whole and how critical it is to have great people working with you. I think it has assisted with influencing morale and a healthy culture.

It was a very exciting time and, the win aside, it really made me aware of how much support and energy the contact centre staff give me - if that's not motivating as a leader, I don't know what is. It has also raised my profile within TelstraClear and I am frequently used as a subject matter expert on contact centre operations. 

I have been asked to speak at a number of forums which has also assisted with my own personal development. I now also have a lovely "Oscar" proudly on display.

5. After your success this year, it would be easy and very human, to sit
back and bask in the glory. How do you motivate yourself and/or your
team to achieve even more for the future?

People have to like what they are doing to be motivated. The contact centre environment, as we know, is a fast paced and ever changing, if you sit back then it will pass you by. I find the industry a constant challenge and working for a large and extremely competitive telecommunications company very stimulating. 

I am proud of our company, our environment and our people. My team places a huge amount of trust and confidence in me and I take that very seriously. There is so much more yet to do so not much time for basking... even though we are on the sunny Kapiti coast!
















Telstraclear Contact Centre Purpose: Our Goal is to provide an excellent customer experience - answer, own and resolve customer contacts.