Customer Service +

Providing exceptional customer service is the most important job in any company. It’s not just a department, it’s everyone’s responsibility. A customer’s experience can define the entire brand of a company.

When a customer is dissatisfied, it's a valuable opportunity for the company to learn and grow. I’ve tested and implemented the following steps that are effective in deescalating a complaint quickly and finding a fast path to resolution.

1. Stop everything;
2. Put all ego aside;
3. Give them 100% focus;
4. Say the words, “I’m listening” (and watch as tensions begin to dissipate);
5. As they tell their story, react to the highlights with the appropriate balance:
   • If you appear defensive, you lose their trust;
   • If you side with them too much, you could implicate the company;
6. Let them tell the entire story and ask questions to extract more details;
7. Take notes and document everything;
8. When they are done, let them know:
   • This is not how the company normally conducts business;
   • If an employee was named as faulty, let them know that there will be retraining;
9. Ask them what can be done to make the situation better in their eyes, and give them what they ask for ASAP;
10. Send the customer a recap email and follow up until what they ask for is received and the issue is 100% closed out to their satisfaction.

It's likely that you now have a walking, talking advertisement for the company.

The situation must be logged immediately:

• The error/incident report and all notes and correspondences should be filed;
• If there was a systems error, immediate steps should be taken to fix the issue;
• If retraining is necessary, the employee should document:
  • What happened;
  • Why this is an issue;
  • What steps are going to be taken to make sure that this does not happen in the future;
• This should be filed in the employee’s development plan;
• A follow-up date should be set to make sure the proper steps were taken to fix the system or human error.

Employees should be encouraged by the opportunity to learn from these experiences. The best way to foster a sense of security is for management to set the example by being forthright with mistakes they’ve made themselves.

Operations Management +

For an organization to stay fresh, competitive and lean, its employees and managers must commit to taking a disciplined and systematic approach for continuous daily improvement in its processes and systems. An executive manager or leader should conduct regular internal operational audits. The goal is to learn, assess, restructure and document the SOPs, systems and labor-management around all key departments:

Operations; Accounting; Servicing and Collections; Sales; Marketing; Customer Service; Reputation Management; Human Resources; Compliance; Legal; IT and Security.

A practical start is to request the daily, weekly, quarterly and yearly tasks performed by employees from each department. A clear and concise training guide should be written on each task.

Once the tasks are documented, record the names of employees trained on each function, taking care to note any tasks that are performed by one single person. This is a critical issue, and cross-training must be done immediately.

It’s important to make this an empowering group project. Everyone should feel safe and encouraged to think for themselves and have a say in how their work is done. Communicating the strategy will increase the amount of information extracted, help prevent feelings of encroachment and align everyone on the shared, long-term purpose.

The manager should then be trained on each task, using the manual that was created by its owner. The trainee should remain humble and curious, but act with urgency to correct the smallest faults and make the improvements while encouraging everyone to have the same intolerance of deviations. When there’s a safe, blame-free environment, finding, solving and preventing problems is easier.

This goal of the training is for the manager to integrate and automate as many processes, rules and regulations as possible into the CRM. Roles and daily tasks can be cleaned up and simplified into entry-level positions so staff can be reassigned to more senior roles. Internship programs can be used as a steppingstone for discovering talent.

KPIs can be assigned once data needs are identified and captured, allowing the company to budget, report and hit growth targets and sales goals.

Once each department is complete, we start over again, striving for continuous improvement.

CRM Design and Implementation +

A CRM system should complement your business and reflect your sales process, your marketing strategy, your customer service activities, your contact management routines. There’s so much to consider when deciding on a CRM for the company. The variety, sophistication and ease of use are increasing so it’s worth the time spent researching the perfect software. These are some important questions to consider:

• Will the CRM scale and grow with your company?
• How specific to your industry are the features? Are there many you’ll be paying for but not using?
• Is it user friendly and aesthetically pleasing? Could everyone potentially use it? Does it have mobile capability?
• Does it have open APIs that integrate easily with other platforms? Is it customizable?
• Can it replace some of your other platforms?
• How much of your pipeline management and business operations can be streamlined?
• How does the reporting compare with current methods? Are they live and custom-made?
• Do they offer unlimited, ongoing training and customer service? Or will you be billed?
• Are there one-click solutions to service customers? Are the statements clear and is it easy to remove their data if requested?

Depending on the organization’s complexity, building a proprietary CRM can also be an attractive option. A talented developer can make any request a reality, and the benefits could easily outweigh the costs.

Whether creating a proprietary CRM or implementing an existing one, there are important general steps that should be followed.

1. The data must first be cleaned, segmented and analyzed.
2. We can then design, develop, test, and deploy new features while working closely with executives, IT and Legal to strategize and set priorities with realistic timelines.
3. Take the time to assume the roles in each department to pinpoint inefficiencies in the existing processes. Having this in-depth understanding allows you to build and better improve on the architecture and functionality of the CRM.
4. So that the platform captures all required information at key points of the cycle, it’s important to collaborate and brainstorm with the users and encourage them to help map out pipeline workflow.
5. Proposals and customizations must be both drawn up and written out with clear steps in exact detail before presenting them to developers.
6. Throughout the development phase, we communicate directly with the users, train them, implement worthy suggestions and resolve issues quickly.
7. Once tested meticulously, the rollouts are met with successful user adaptation, increasing loyalty and retention across the company.

Human Resources +

We invest in Human Capital just like any other asset. Some believe it’s the most valuable kind since it directly influences productivity and can result in a higher quality of labor. We want to empower our employees to be active decision-makers and participants in how the company is run. With the freedom to try new things, we form innovative, engaged teams that rally behind the company. If we operate from a position of transparency, employees understand the strategy and the mission, which fosters a sense of meaning in our relationships and our work.

Successfully managing a Human Resources department can be complex, but choosing the right HR Software keeps us up to date with compliance, safety and health regulations. If it integrates with the company’s CRM, the technical burden is alleviated. We will have a robust onboarding and offboarding policy so we can focus on the human aspect.

Great care should be taken so that the person placed in charge of this department is approachable, open-minded and a great listener, making it easy for employees to develop their careers and share their concerns. On the other side of this warm persona is the compassionate executioner who is ultimately looking to protect the company and make pre-emptive strikes if necessary.

The company’s responsibilities:

• Build the foundation for a unique company culture by creating a relatable mission statement and transparent strategy.
• Trust everyone to do the right thing with independent autonomy.
• Hire for attitude and personality that fit the culture.
• Make sure employees look forward to coming to work in the morning. Treat them like you want to be treated.

Capital Raise +

Whether we are looking for our first credit line or raising our 5th round of equity financing, the key to a successful capital raise is structure, organization and accountability. I can lead or support the capital markets team through the process.

1. Gather the dream team;
2. Write an investment memo and take to market;
3. Create and implement the systems, SOPs, policies and processes;
4. Manage the relationships with potential investors;
5. Prepare and maintain the data room;
6. Implement and/or optimize CRMs;
7. Audit the entire operation to prepare for successful fields exams;
8. Manage the closing checklist between multiple companies, departments and legal teams, maintaining high levels of cooperation between them;
9. Set daily meetings, delegate tasks and hold everyone accountable so that deadlines are met on or ahead of schedule;
10. Analyze the various options investor proposes and select the best option for the organization;
11. Build reporting and follow up with the final investor in the system.

Underwriting and Credit Analysis +

Determining the creditworthiness of a business is a great responsibility. Not only could there be a major impact on the health of the business being funded, but an underwriter is charged with making the most responsible choices that ultimately will result in the return of the investor’s money. A good underwriter knows they cannot always apply the hard-learned lessons to similar future scenarios, so the decision maker must remain risk adverse and skilled at identifying and preventing fraud while staying creative, open minded and always analytical. To successfully run a healthy portfolio with a profitable P&L, a balance between maintaining a low default rate and achieving the highest maximum gain must be properly managed.
Closing a deal is both expensive and labor intensive. In most cases, the costs incurred are not recouped unless there are subsequent renewals. For this and many other reasons, establishing lasting relationships with customers is a top priority. Not only does a trusting connection inspire them to prioritize their repayments to your company, but it creates a book of business that eventually runs itself. This hard work can be compromised by sales reps and brokers who do not share the customer’s best interests, so it’s important to align with referral sources of the highest integrity who will present your negotiations the way they were intended.
Whether credit decisions come from a complex algorithm or more traditional investigation, a company-wide underwriting policy must be respected by decision makers. Protocol exceptions and deviations need to be documented and approved so that data can be accurately analyzed for future policies and marketing purposes. With the right systems in place, the number of administrative employees and the skillsets needed to enforce these intricate policies can be significantly reduced.
Let me help you build, train and manage your underwriting team.

Leadership +

A title can designate that a person should be followed and trusted, but they don't become a leader just because of that title. A person becomes a leader when they demonstrate the genuine personality traits that create a fearless and unintimidating environment for people to work in.

My Top 5 Core Leadership Values

1. Passion – When you are passionate about the work you are doing, it’s the last thing you think of when you go to sleep and the first thing when you wake up. During that time-space, intuition kicks in and flows onto paper when the pen is back in hand, finding new ideas, solutions and paths forward. These kinds of leaders don’t have jobs, they have a passion, and it’s contagious.
2. Purpose - Set an example through what you do, not just what you say. Know where you’re going, go there, then show the way. This creates cooperation, which can often be the difference between success and failure.
3. Inspiration – When you inspire people to believe in themselves, their gifts, and their potential, you create a group of people who choose to follow you voluntarily in search for something much greater than their own self-preservation.
4. Consideration – By encouraging and nurturing those around us, we improve the quality of life of our colleagues and employees and elevate our standards of living together. Building relationships, trust and friendships is a natural product of having genuine curiosity towards each other.
5. Humility – When given the task of translating a vision into reality, there’s no need for rank, power, or a place on the org chart when everyone is rallying behind you. A true leader is a servant to the company and its people, always grateful and respectful. Give for the sake of giving, expect nothing in return.