1. Prioritize team well-being: When team members feel safe and supported, it directly impacts their performance and customer satisfaction. "If they feel safe... it’s going to reflect in their work."
2. Foster flexibility to avoid burnout: Ensure employees can rest during busy periods to maintain quality and prevent exhaustion. "We can do great work, but we can also rest and take a breath."
3. Value quality over quantity: Focus on thorough, thoughtful responses that address customer concerns fully, reducing back-and-forth. "We prefer quality over quantity... full resolution with minimal back-and-forth."
4. Embrace AI for repetitive tasks: Use AI to handle simple, repetitive tasks, freeing up humans for more complex customer issues. "AI frees up our reps so they can take care of nuanced questions that require a human touch."
5. Be a compassionate leader: Understand that employees have lives outside of work and offer flexibility and support. "I’m a big advocate for compassionate leadership... offering flexibility and care increases retention."
Introducing Femi Olasupo, the CX leader at Truvani who is transforming customer care. Her methodology is as novel as Truvani's products, including everything from using AI to manage a remote staff to guaranteeing enjoyable encounters. Explore her path and discover how she's causing a stir in CX.
Meet Femi Olasupo, CX Manager at Truvani!
Truvani is a company focused on providing health and food products without toxins and labels without lies. Offering a range of plant-based protein powders, supplements, collagens, and snack bars, Truvani is committed to transparency in ingredient sourcing and strives to use the best ingredients available.
After graduating from the University of Texas, Femi moved to Chile where she worked as an English instructor. “I worked with executives at Deloitte and KPMG who needed language skills for presentations and interviews. The experience gave me a taste of the working in higher-level professional environments. When I came back to the US, I learned about Melanie Duncan and felt working in her company, that offered trainings for female entrepreneurs, could teach me a lot. I applied to work for her company and got a job in customer service.
Looking back on her diverse background, Femi says she has always been service-oriented, so it was no surprise that she excelled as a customer service leader. “I found that I am a great intrapreneur, that I love serving a company through bettering its customer service.” Melanie Duncan, is the VP of Marketing at Truvani, and Femi was brought on to head the health supplement & food company’s customer service department. “Most jobs in my department are entry-level. Being able to help people hone their relational and communication skills so they can have pride in their work, and eventually move up in the company has been really rewarding to me.”
Asked what excites her most about working in CX, Femi responds, “It’s twofold. I love serving my team. If they feel safe and taken care of, it’s going to reflect in their work. We represent the company – when customers have a positive, helpful touch point with my team, they are going to want to come back and do business knowing they can trust us.”
Femi manages a fully remote team of 16 representatives with the support of an AI bot (whom they call Robert). Because Truvani is a growing company, Femi admits that unexpected issues arise. “My main challenge as a leader is making sure everyone feels supported with the resources that they need to answer questions. Having responses and processes updated so everyone is on the same page, and we are a united front when talking to customers is crucial.” She believes that fostering an open and flexible work environment is important. “Especially during high volume periods, I don’t want any of my members to feel that they can’t take a break. The last thing I want is for someone to burn out. We can do great work, but we can also rest and take a breath.”
Truvani’s hiring process begins with reviewing resumes in combination with a list of open-ended questions– Femi focuses on the latter to glean if an applicant is a good fit for her team - followed by an interview. “The main way we communicate to customers is through a written text or email. I’m looking at how well and thorough they wrote their responses. Did they proofread? This gives a good sense of how they will perform in their job.” She goes on to say that the main trait that she seeks in a team member is ‘positive resourcefulness – a figure it out mentality.’ She explains, “We provide in-depth training, but because we are a health food company, customers are going to ask questions you can’t prepare for. I love to see a representative do their own research, figure out a solution, and present it to me for feedback if needed.”
When it comes to tracking metrics, Femi pays close attention to the volume of tickets each representative is handling per day and does spot checks to ensure quality. “I prefer quality over quantity,” she says. “We spot check emails, text messages, and Instagram replies to see if reps are fully considering the customers ‘questions and main points. We also watch for complete resolution to a question with minimal back-and-forth.” The final line on Femi’s CX representative scorecard is tone and quality of communication, maintaining that responses should always be thoughtful and friendly.
Femi admits that she felt hesitant toward AI at first, but now views AI as valuable in customer service for e-commerce. “Through Stateset Response, we use an AI bot (Robert) to handle the monotonous, time sensitive issues like cancellation requests. He’s working 24/7 and frees up our reps so they can take care of questions that are more nuanced and require a human touch.”
Contemplating AI and customer service in the future, Femi sees the relationship as one of collaboration, not competition. She elaborates, “There’s always going to be circumstances that AI can’t handle in the same way that humans can. But AI can complement our work by dealing with the repeated, tedious tasks. Humans then will be able to refine their communication skills and solve the multi-step, complex situations.” She finishes, “It’s great to have all these AI tools when relating to customers, but they aren’t going to make them feel seen, heard, and valued. We’ll always need human beings for that.”
Femi is sensitive to the fact that her team members are dealing with real life outside of work. “I’m a big advocate for compassionate leadership,” she reveals. “People can be dealing with some pretty heavy stuff, which gives me, as a leader, an opportunity to make them feel more valued and safe by offering flexibility and care for their situation.” Having a dynamic criteria for success and strong sense of job security has also increased retention in her department.
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Postscript
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Can’t-Live-Without-Tool: Gorgias and Slack
Favorite Communication Channel: We use email to handle most customer questions, but I do love the fact that customers can text us and we have that quick touch point.
Recent Book or Podcast: I’ve become slightly obsessed with the Jake Paul/Mike Tyson fight and ended up doing a deep dive learning about Tyson’s upbringing and mentality. He has a fascinating life history. Despite public perception, he comes across as wise in podcast interviews. He’s been on the Joe Rogan Podcast numerous times, and I just listened to his interview from 2022.
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