Enhancing Remote Teams
Building a company culture with remote workers is a daunting task, and is one that many companies are having to tackle now with many potential employees starting to work remotely.I have the ability to learn what is needed within a company and recruit top-tier talent, training them in the customer service skills I have honed while working with companies like The Walt Disney Company and Apple Inc, and instilling in this new team a sense of pride and ownership in the work they'll be doing and the people they'll be working with.
What I Do Differently
While I often take on the role of Customer Service Manager, I think of myself more as a leader and protector than someone that spends his day managing. Of the three-legged stool of Employees, Customers, and Company, my first priority is always my employees. Experience has shown me that investing heavily into an employee often means that they'll invest heavily back. My second priority is the customer. My favorite Walt Disney quote is, "Quality will out." I firmly believe that giving the customer the best we can as a company and in service, the more they'll reward us with loyalty and positive word of mouth. And while the company itself is my last priority, if I have employees that are invested and customers that are loyal, the company will continue to thrive long-term.Often when an employee falters, many leaders fail to seek understanding, and instead jump too quickly to punishment. If we take the time to learn how to help them be successful, we can ensure that our trainings are optimized, expectations are clear, and that the employees have all the tools they need to thrive.The more we treat them as humans instead of cogs, the more loyal and invested they will be to the company and its customers. This sets both them and the company up for long-term success, and it is so worth the investment of time and energy.As a manager or consultant, I have consistently found the best talent from around the world and built with them a company culture that keeps them engaged and striving to contribute more for your customers outside of just their job description.
About Me
I am a 30-something-year-old digital nomad, traveling the world and learning about the various histories and cultures - far from the small northeast state of Vermont I grew up in. I've always found that diversity fosters the best solutions by allowing us to see situations from multiple viewpoints.Connecting with wonderful people across the world, I've gained a better understanding of life, and how those experiences can be applied to my relationships with my employees and customers.
Testimonials
"Everyone we have talked to so far have been very happy with the state of the team, and they all seem like great people overall. I'm super happy that we chose you for this task, I can't see any way that it could have done better."
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"You impress me every time with how well you understand these employees. I'm more of a 'company profits' and 'let's be more productive' guy... I definitely need to consult with you before making these moves."
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"Blake did what we thought is impossible and built an amazing, motivated team for our eCommerce brand. He helped us build a completely new customer service team from scratch that has transformed our business. We have nothing but good things to say about Blake, and even more importantly, our team thinks the same of him. He's really a superstar when it comes to building customer service teams."
"Blake is awesome! Can't recommend him enough!! He came into our customer service department when it was entirely broken, and helped re-architect everything with a keen sense of what is best for our team/customers! We've come eons from where we were prior to his time with us!In short, I promise you will not regret working with Blake!! Stop reading this review and hire this man :)"
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"Blake is hands down the best manager I've ever worked with! He came into a situation where our customer service team was unable to win (hopelessly behind due to understaffing, lack of process/leadership etc), and in under 2 months, we were firing on all cylinders!He hired and trained 12 new team members in a matter of weeks that completely changed the quality of service to our customer.If you need a leader for your customer service department, get this man on your team asap!! I can't thank him enough for his contribution to our company and culture!"
"One of the best customer service people I've worked with."
"Blake is a juggernaut in customer support and everything relating to it. His standards for support are impeccable and he gave a new perception of the company when it was struggling with support."
"Blake did a great job on this media outreach contract and achieved some significant media coverage for a restaurant client's anniversary event. Blake has excellent communication skills, is conscientious, and enthusiastic about learning new things. He is a pleasure to work with."
From Past & Current Employees
These messages were unprompted feedback and received within the context of our daily work.
"Blake, it's an absolute grandiose pleasure working with you, You're a dream and I'm always going to give 100% and do my best at whatever you put my way. I hate mediocrity in general, but with people that actually appreciate it, you have my word, sir, I'll always be on top!" - Ari
"Going through your feedback was very helpful. I may make a little list or something with some of these because I think I get caught up with an emotional response when actually the examples you gave for empathy and accepting responsibility were very straightforward and simple."
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"Your feedback is very appreciated as it’s always super helpful in making improvements!" - Barry
"I just want to say that that was probably one of the coolest - if not THE coolest - day one of training I've had in a long time. I love the squad you've assembled and I feel like we were all vibin' really well right off the bat. I'm looking forward to day two!"
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"Thanks for always making us feel at ease. I don't think I've ever been on a team with a leader that shows as much genuine love as you do, and being that I'm the grandpa on the team, I've been on quite a few teams in my life. It makes such a HUGE difference for having a great work environment and how we show up. After our team meeting today I got a few DMs from the team just saying how your talk made them feel so much better and eased their nerves." - Martin
"Working with you makes this all so easy! Your attitude and approach to all this means that we can be free to be us in all this. So thank you!" - Sita
"Before the year ends, I want you to know that I am so grateful for you, for your leadership, and for guiding the whole team to success"
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"Blake, please know how grateful I am for you. You have done a tremendous job and brought in awesome people to help us improve the team. I am so lucky to have experienced working with you." - Cindy
"You are the best boss I've ever had - thank you!"
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"You have heard this a lot of times, but I can't thank you enough. I'm grateful for everywhere you've taken me to. I know you have been working hard, and I'm thankful for everything." - Massiel
"I am sad that you are leaving the team, but I understand. I know you will have other teams where you will rock! Thank you for everything you have done for the team and for me personally. Without you, I wouldn't have survived the Christmas rush. You rock!"
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"I'm really going to miss you! Thank you for being an immense emotional support. Without you, I wouldn't have survived, and you've made me a very happy person!" - Charlotte
"Blake, I'm so sorry you're leaving, but please know that I am so thankful to work with you. I won't lie, I cried because of you and your never-ending patience with me." - Abi
"Thank you so much! You having a personal relationship with the rest of the team makes me feel like I belong and work harder as if it's my own company and not simply a place where I work just for the salary, so this is amazing. Thanks so much for creating this cozy environment for all of us." - Elif
"Blake, I am really sad to see you go, but I completely understand. I just wanted to thank you again for choosing me for this team and putting faith in me. Good luck with your future projects, and I would be delighted to work under you on a more ambitious project in the future if the opportunity came up. You've always had my back when I needed it, and I would busy my balls off for you if you ever need it." - Lee
"I'm sure that you will do great in what ever you, as you did over the last couple of months here. You've been such a great help, and I really appreciate it. And I appreciate everything you've done for us, so thank you for everything, and good luck!" - Melanie
Contact
Please reach out if you'd like to chat directly about the ways I can help you.