It’s 8:00 a.m. on the dot at the USAble Life headquarters in Little Rock. The company’s 17-member Customer Care team is buckled-in and ready to go. Headsets are on, the phones are lit up, and the leadership support team is monitoring activity. There’s no time for small talk for this conscientious team that assists hundreds of people who call USAble Life each day from every corner of the U.S.
From the outside, USAble Life Customer Care looks like a calmer version of air traffic control, but no less busy. And while they are not flying airplanes, the calls they handle are important to the customers on the other end of the phone. As the day progresses, the team manages a constant flow of incoming and outgoing communication from policyholders, group administrators, brokers, and even funeral homes.
Any of the company’s more than 1.7 million insured and 27,000 groups can call at any moment, and the team is always eager to assist. With an unwavering dedication to a positive customer experience and a strong desire to exceed callers’ expectations, the team emphasizes professionalism, a true dedication to resolving issues, and a high level of expertise that USAble Life customers can count on.
Not just another customer
The employees who work on the USAble Life Customer Care team are among the most engaged in the company. In a recent employee survey, the team reported an 82% engagement score — a likely result of the positive, supportive culture they experience at USAble Life.
“I think our culture of support translates to an uncharacteristic level of patience, compassion, and empathy that callers experience when they talk to a member of the Customer Care team,” says Customer Care Manager Lisa Vargo.
“We strive to make our team’s spirit of cooperation, collaboration, and teamwork the embodiment of our corporate values in action. We are dedicated to keeping our promise to our customers, providing excellent service with thoughtful approaches. The individual contributions of each team member, as well as the unified team focus on responding to our customers questions, resolving issues, and creating peace of mind differentiates our service approach.”
It takes someone special
“This job is not for everyone,” says Vargo, of the employees who are carefully selected to work in Customer Care. “Successful customer care employees really care about people and know that our callers are not reaching out to us because they want to. We get calls because people have questions, problems, or complaints, oftentimes on their worst of days. How we treat someone on those days is challenging, but also highly rewarding if we do a good job.”
Many call centers use scripts. USAble Life focuses on developing service professionals.
“We teach our employees to be critical thinkers and to do what’s best for the customer,” Vargo adds_._
To prepare for the role, each new customer care employee completes a comprehensive six-week training course. After completing company and job-specific training, team members start on the phones with a peer mentor. Even after that, training is ongoing with an in-depth focus on 60 different knowledge areas.
Customers care, too
Recently, a policyholder requested to speak to a manager. The caller said to Vargo, ‘You made my disability not an inconvenience.’ Another caller shared with Vargo, ‘Allison [the USAble Life Customer Care associate who helped her] was wonderful. She answered every question. She took care of everything. This meant the world to me. She knows her job. This is a rare thing. Many other companies don’t seem to care if you are taken care of or not.’
As the day draws to a close, Customer Care associates are still at it, working hard to maximize the last ounce of the day they have to help customers ― that is, until the next day begins, and this amazing team is back in action again!
‒ 17 Amazing Individuals
‒ 13 Frontline Employees Supported by a Trainer, Team Lead, Supervisor, and Manager
‒ 8,000 Average Number of Calls Per Month
‒ 85+% of Calls Resolved in Under One Day
‒ < 30 Seconds Average Time to Answer Call
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