At A Glance

‍With deep coffee knowledge and proactive customer engagement, Sean’s CX team is delivering concierge-level experiences that go beyond resolving tickets. In this conversation, he shares how empowering agents with expertise and ownership leads to a more personalized and impactful CX strategy.

‍Who is Sean Sarkin-Shearer?‍

Meet Sean, the Customer Experience Manager at Cometeer!

About Cometeer

Cometeer believes in providing exceptional coffee from farm to cup. Their products are both sustainable and completely quality-centric. 

They’re also selling something you simply won’t find anywhere else. Exceptional coffee brewed to perfection and then frozen immediately after. The resulting pucks can be added to a mug directly from your freezer. Just add hot water for a perfectly brewed cup of coffee every time. 

Sean’s CX Journey

Sean didn’t start out in customer experience—he and his wife were both adjunct professors teaching creative writing at the University of Virginia. But when COVID-19 hit, they rethought their plans and decided to move closer to her hometown of Rockport.

“We settled in the neighboring town, Gloucester, where Cometeer is headquartered,” Sean says. “I remember applying on Halloween and was hired soon after.”

Now, four years later, he’s the CX Manager at Cometeer, bringing a unique perspective shaped by his background in storytelling and education.

For Sean, customer experience isn’t just about support—it’s about communication, problem-solving, and human connection.

“It blends everything I loved about writing and teaching,” he says. “It’s about understanding people, figuring out what they need, and making sure they feel heard.”

The CX Team at Cometeer

At Cometeer, Sean leads a lean but highly effective CX team. Instead of focusing on headcount, he prioritizes impact. “A well-trained, empowered team can do more with less if they’re set up for success and aligned with customer expectations,” he explains. The team is fully remote, with three U.S.-based agents covering East Coast business hours (with some West Coast overlap) and two offshore agents providing overnight and weekend support.

“We used to dread Mondays,” Sean admits. “Now, with dedicated weekend coverage, we’ve created a smooth transition into the week.” By focusing on structure, efficiency, and empowerment, Sean ensures that even a small team can deliver top-tier customer experiences.

CX As a Cross-Departmental Resource

CX is at the center of every department at Cometeer. “My team doesn’t exist in a silo,” Sean says. “We’re the bridge between customers and teams like product, marketing, fulfillment, even the sensory team that tastes the coffee.” CX isn’t built on guesswork. Sean has developed a team that uses data and customer insights to refine processes and anticipate needs. He’s also intentional about keeping his team engaged beyond the day-to-day of support. “When there’s downtime, I encourage my agents to take on projects that align with their interests,” he explains. “One agent focuses on social media engagement and turning negative experiences into opportunities. Another works with me on data deep dives. A third optimizes our CRM, creating macros, auditing FAQs, and refining auto-replies.”

By blending creativity with analytics, Sean ensures his team is both reactive and proactive—solving immediate customer issues while shaping the future of CX at Cometeer.

CX Team Success Factors

For Sean, deep product knowledge is key to delivering exceptional customer experiences. That’s why his team doesn’t just answer questions—they actively engage with the product.

“Just this week, we had a virtual tasting with Chris, who runs our sensory team,” he shares. “I shipped my team a variety of coffees—light, medium, dark, and our higher-end Select and Stellar series. We discussed how temperature affects taste and aroma, and how that influences customer preferences.”

These experiences do more than make learning fun. They give agents firsthand knowledge, allowing them to provide more personalized and—most importantly—confident support.

“In CX, there’s always more to do,” Sean says. “But when your team understands the product inside and out, they’re not just answering tickets—they’re delivering a richer customer experience.”

Key Metrics

Sean is a self-professed “data nerd.” “The most valuable metric for us is CSAT by contact reason,” he explains. “We drill down into whether the issue is product, marketing, or fulfillment, then break it into sub-reasons to get a clear picture.” Beyond that, contact rate is a key signal. “If I see a spike, I know when to flag it to the VP of Product. Is there a packaging issue? A misprint? We use data to catch those problems fast.”

New customers get special attention. “CSAT for first, second, and third orders is critical for retention. Every morning, I check the previous day's data. If I spot a trend, I flag it immediately to the right department.” By combining detailed analysis with swift action, Sean ensures Cometeer’s CX stays proactive, not reactive.

Revenue Generation/AI/topics of interest 

For Sean and his team, answering customer questions isn’t enough—they’re transforming into true coffee experts.

“We’re in the process of turning our CX agents into CX baristas,” he explains. “That means deeper coffee knowledge to enhance the customer experience.”

This shift is driven by monthly virtual tastings led by Cometeer’s sensory team. “We just had our first one, and it’s going to be ongoing. There’s so much to learn—like the different ways decaf is processed—and we want our agents to have a central knowledge hub to pull from when customers ask coffee-related questions, which happens a lot.”

The goal? “Our CX agents won’t just resolve tickets—they’ll be able to guide customers like true coffee experts. If someone asks for recommendations based on taste preferences, they’ll have the expertise to suggest three or four options confidently.”

While it’s a gradual process, Sean sees this transformation as a game-changer. “It’s about adding that extra layer of expertise to create personalized support that goes beyond expectations.”

When it comes to success, Sean believes that the recipe is pretty simple. Believe in your team. “Agents are the front-line face of the company,” he says. “A strong leader doesn’t just track performance; they build a team that feels valued, supported, and connected to the mission.”