The city shuts down and Spectrum Communications keeps on ….
Call it the “snowpocalypse” or “snowmageddon”, but to Spectrum it was just another day at the office! While Southeastern Wisconsin virtually shut down due to the blizzard conditions, our staff at Spectrum was hard at work providing service to thousands of our clients’ callers. It was “all hands on deck” in our office! With some careful pre-planning by our staff coordinator, arrangements were made for TeleService Representatives to work longer shifts, extra shifts and even overnight stays at a nearby hotel for easier access to the office. As the rest of the area was shoveling out, Spectrum more than doubled our staff and we handled triple the usual call volume. As hard as we tried, it was a struggle to keep up with the call volume, so wait times were longer than we ever want to see on a normal basis, but just about the only people not working during the storm and its aftermath were those who had already left for vacation. I’m so proud of our team – everyone pulled together, took on extra hours, dealt with a lot of difficult callers and never missed a beat in providing the service our clients have come to rely on.
Truly, the staff pulled together in an awesome way. We only had two staff members take us up on the offer to put them up at the hotel nearby to avoid travelling through the worst of the storm, but when it was time to work it was impossible to drive from the hotel to our office so they waalked and shovelled their way from the hotel to get here! Our Team Leader from Tuesday night got stuck in the parking lot when leaving so stayed overnight in the office and was back online helping out around 6am. Fortunately our 3rd shifter had carpooled with our early morning starter, so they both made it in to the office before the worst of it. Our management team, stuck in their homes, were able to log in and take calls from home. We had already arranged for other staff to log in remotely, extend their shifts, and work extra shifts. Not a single person called out for the day and most everyone worked extra hours on top of that! One of our young men on staff was even kind enough to shovel out staff cars, shovel a path to the entrances in our building (apparently the trucks plowing our parking lot didn’t think the 4 ft drift at our door was a problem!). Folks that started later in the day were able to dig themselves out and make it the office on time to carry on into the evening as we continued to handle the influx of calls.
So what kinds of calls did we take on a snow day of historic proportions?
- a bizzilion calls from customers for our heating clients with furnaces out due to the blowing/drifting snow – we explained the importance of clearing the vents and restarting the furnace
- a trillion calls from tenants at our property management clients facilities asking “where’s the plow guy?!” – we let them know the status, made sure there was no life threatening situation
- a million calls from employees calling in absent due to the weather – we referred information about the status of the plant and when they were to report back to work
- hundreds of calls from people outside our area trying to reach various clients unaware of the storm – we let them know what was happening and gathered their information as usual to pass on when the storm subsided
Of the over 7000 calls that passed through our system that day, some callers were wonderful, others were understandably frustrated or panicked and Spectrum’s caring staff did what they could to ease their pain. Thanks to all of the wonderful clients who used our services and thanks to all of our staff for getting the job done in the worst conditions I can remember!
As we rush around this holiday season, getting last minute shopping done, running to Christmas concerts, trying to finish our to do lists before the holiday visitors arrive, it's easy to forget those that help us every day, rain or shine, 365 days a year!
Who keeps everything running behind the scenes while you are off enjoying your holiday?
-- The plumbers and heating technicians who are on call to save the day
-- The doctors and nurses taking care of us in the hospitals and urgent care centers
-- The police officers and sherriff deputies keeping our streets safe
-- Plow drivers keeping our roads cleared of snow
-- and yes, your friendly answering service and call center operators!
As a 24/7/365 answering service and call center, we have a unique perspective on the holiday season. Our goal is to serve our clients and their customers no matter what the day, time or weather is! During the torrential rains and flooding on July 22nd, we doubled our staff within minutes to help with the deluge of phone calls to our plumbing clients, our property management clients, etc. as they received call after call about flooding. During snow storms, Roy Osmon, owner of Spectrum, will drive around in his 4-wheel drive vehicle to pick up staff who are stuck at home, shoveling them out or jump-starting their car if needed. And on the holidays, our staff sacrifices time with their family at home to serve our family of clients so that no call will be missed.
We are fortunate to have a wonderful staff of people willing to pitch in and help out to cover these kinds of bad weather days and holidays. We understand the value of every all - sometimes lives can literally hang in the balance - and we strive to provide every client and caller the peace of mind of knowing that we will always be here!
Happy Holidays!