Jessica Zhang

To help us keep up with increased demands on our Business Development team, we welcome Jessica Zhang as Executive Assistant to Vicki Norton. Jessica joins SVC after a successful run as a sales agent for a skin care company. Her enthusiastic personality and attention to detail drove impressive sales results, and she enjoyed a loyal clientele through a dedication to customer service.

Jessica also has a background in data base management. Her accuracy, positive attitude, and tireless work ethic will be a great help to the Sales Verification Company as we continue to expand our TPV business.

“We are very happy to welcome Jessica to the team,” Norton said. “Our growth trajectory is through the roof, and she’ll be a valuable asset in making sure we continue to meet our commitments – both to our existing clients and in the pursuit of new business.”

Our third party verification business continues to grow, thanks to the faith of loyal clients and the dedication of our tireless staff. Production is increasing, and future projections are strong. So we are moving forward with expansion plans that will double both our office space and our team.

“It’s a huge move for us, but one we are very confident in making,” Executive Director Sara Goldberg said. “We have put together a great record of success over the past year. We are sure of our business model and our internal operations, and we’re ready to make a dramatic investment in the future.”

By the middle of May, The Sales Verification Company will literally burst at the seams, spilling over into the next office suite and creating a total floor space of more than 8,500 square feet.

The new area is being designed as Payment Card Industry (PCI) compliant, which requires stringent security and infrastructure safeguards that allow processing of credit card transactions in a secure environment. The designation further enhances our capability to service a wide variety of clients with third party verification and customer transaction needs.

As our client base continues to grow, we expect to double the number of verifiers on the floor. We’ll also be adding administrative support staff, including quality control monitors, floor supervisors, and customer experience coaches.

“We are proud to be adding jobs and contributing to the local economy,” Goldberg said. “It’s exciting for all of us to be part of this explosive growth, and we look forward to continued service of our valued clients.”

Click here to view the embedded video.

So, drum roll, please, for our first official Employee of the Month, Account Manager Yasaman Garner. Yasaman joined the Sales Verification company in October, 2010, after six years in other customer-service retail positions. Her friendly demeanor and attention to detail made her a natural at 3rd party verification. She quickly moved up to Account Manager, and as such has direct responsibility for ensuring client satisfaction and TPV program success.

“Yasaman is really the face of our company for her clients,” Executive Director Sara Goldberg said. “The care she demonstrates in those relationship is extraordinary. All pertinent data and qualitative feedback is delivered swiftly and efficiently. Beyond that, though, she really builds the kind of trust with clients that carries a relationship for the long haul.”

That two-way communication is what makes Yasaman such an effective third party verification account manager.

“I give my clients feedback on the ways our team can better work with their sales team to create a better understanding for the customer and increase the percentage of quality verifications,” Yasaman said. “We pride ourselves on making changes as quickly and efficiently as possible so the client can launch new processes, markets or extensions to current markets as quickly as possible.”

Congratulations to Yasaman, the January Sales Verification Company Employee of the Month.

But when they show an appreciation for each other? Well, that’s when we know that the caring, team atmosphere is genuine. And it warms our hearts.

Jacque O'Malley (l) and Sara Goldberg at the party

Heading into the holiday season, one of our third party verifiers had a sudden blow to her health, and was forced into emergency surgery that threatened her ability to walk again. Her brother, also a Sales Verification Company employee, was overwhelmed in caring for her and her five children. Their hopes for a happy Christmas were pretty
grim.

Her colleagues decided to pitch in and fill their tree with the kids’ most wanted gifts; a bike, some radio-controlled cars, and a small mountain of Legos. The generosity was contagious, and the giving soon spread to include several other children of the SVC team.

The employees had a secret Santa exchange for themselves, and created a potluck feast. A volunteer decorating committee added the final touches, transforming the third party verification center for a festive holiday celebration.

“It was very happy occasion,” Executive Director Sara Goldberg said, “and one of the most genuine displays of holiday spirit I’ve ever seen. It’s very heartwarming to see that kind of support for each other in the workplace, and I think it’s a great testament to the work atmosphere we try to create.”

May we all carry our holiday spirit throughout 2012.

Statistics are how we measure the health of the TPV business. We’re always aware of the ups and downs, looking for patterns of success and areas of improvement. Recent trends indicate that our hard work is paying off. Since the beginning of September, our internal call quality percentage has been on the rise.

Each of our third party verifiers are monitored daily on each campaign. The quality assurance team is trained to listen not only for one-time mistakes (which are correctly immediately), but also for potential tongue-twisting areas of the script that might need addressing with the team as a whole, or even with the client. It’s our goal to deliver a concise, easy-to-understand verification of customer understanding.

And based on our numbers, we’ve been doing a great job. Our overall service level is consistently above 90%, a number that includes not only our accuracy measures, but also our speed-to-answer and our average talk time. One of our biggest clients conducted their own internal review, and our call quality on their campaign was above 96%!

So business is good, volume is up, and all the seats are filled. We’re bursting at the seams, actually, which has prompted us to begin the search for a larger office. More business than you can handle is a problem any operation would like to have, and we’re fortunate that our third party verification service is expanding to meet clients’ needs.

Congratulations to October’s winner, Tomika Jones.

“All the sales verifiers have a good time with the award,” Executive Director Sara Goldberg said. “It’s a way of stirring up some lighthearted competition on the TPV floor while keeping the focus on our quality and efficiency measures, which is where it needs to be every day.”

The Award is based on several metrics including call quality, talk time, zero-tolerance complaints, and per-hour production.

“I’m certainly excited to win the award,” Jones said. “I take great pride in my work, as we all do, and it’s great to have that hard work recognized by the management team. Now I’ll just enjoy the title for the month, and look forward to winning again.”

The third-party verifiers on the campaign for Payless Power, an energy retailer based in Texas, took a short break from the phones recently and enjoyed an afternoon snack, compliments of the client. The TPV reps were smiling and the mood was light, and not only because of the goodies. The event was a celebration of months of hard work, and a testament to a true vendor-client partnership.

“I couldn’t be happier with what The Sales Verification Company has done for our business,” said Sam DeHoyos, Vice President of Operations for Payless Power. “The feedback they have provided has increased the effectiveness of our sales force. The stats are up, and we see great growth ahead.”

The spark came from an onsite visit to Payless Power by Sara Goldberg and Milly Borja, Executive Director and Senior Account Manager, respectively, for The Sales Verification Company. The personal attention and face-to-face relationship building helped level-set expectations, address concerns and challenges, and cement the partnership that has become the bedrock of day-to-day success.

“It really is all about relationships,” DeHoyos said. “I really enjoy working with Milly. She understands and responds to our concerns, while providing valuable feedback, and the result has been a dramatic increase in effectiveness.”

So much so that Payless Energy felt compelled to say thank you to the verifiers by springing for the treats. The team snacked in shifts, of course, so as not to slow down production. The show must go on, after all.

Earning his keep

OK, maybe that’s a bit dramatic (we couldn’t resist), but we do want to report that at around 11:00 ET today, a transformer blew in our neighborhood, knocking out electric service to much of the industrial park in which we’re located. The emergency generator kicked on instantly and, as advertised, was at full power within seconds. Ten seconds, actually, was all it took for a reboot back to full capacity. We barely skipped a beat. In an odd sort of way, the story gets better when we report that the power was out for four hours and 45 minutes. While businesses around us closed up shop and went home, we kept on providing our third party verification clients with the security and responsiveness they’ve come to expect. An extended power outage would have cost clients and vendor alike thousands of dollars in lost productivity. Today, we’re happy we had The Beast in our backyard.

Yasaman joined The Sales Verification Company in October, 2010 as a front-line verifier. She demonstrated an ability to handle any TPV situation on the phone, while conveying a measure of leadership to those around her. She was quickly elevated to a Quality Control monitor, and later to Training Manager, where she mentored others in the traits necessary to succeed in our business: patience, clarity and exactitude. As our business in on the upswing, we needed to dedicate more resources to Account Management, and Yasaman was the obvious choice.

“We are so happy to have watched her rise through the ranks to her new post,” Executive Director Sara Goldberg said. “She has shown great determination in her new career, and she’s tackled everything that’s come her way in her previous positions. We know that she’ll be a great account manager, as well, and give our clients the attention they deserve.”

In her new role, Yasaman will act as the day-to-day contact with her TPV clients, providing statistics and performance metrics, facilitating script changes, and determining manpower needs based on sales projections. Her friendly demeanor and customer-service background make her a natural for the position, and she’s excited for the future.

“Every day is a brand new opportunity to grow,” she likes to say.”Each job I’ve had at the Sales Verification Company has offered different challenges and rewards, and I’ve enjoyed them all. I think that experience will be a great asset in serving my clients. I can’t wait to get started.”

We welcome Yasaman to her new post, proud to elevate and recognize one of our own.