Last month in this special 75th Anniversary blog series highlighting the group of people that maintain and operate this small town, big business, we put the spotlight on our Customer Service team. As part of our anniversary celebration, we will continue putting the spotlight on everyone here behind the scenes, including our next group.
You all know by now that SilverTowne’s subsidiary company, The Coin Vault, has a television program designed for collectors of all things numismatics. That show is live on Dish, Direct TV, Spectrum, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, AT&T TV, and CMG every Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday 7pm-midnight EST. In addition, the show streams 24/7 on Roku, TheCoinVault.com, and YouTube, and live on Facebook every Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday from 7pm-midnight EST. During our live shows, we have a special group of people that answer the phones and take your orders when you call in about something you have seen on the show. Those people are our live show operators and are quite possibly the most important group of individuals that have enabled us to be the longest running coin television program!
Marrissa – Live Show Supervisor
With nearly 40 years of experience combined, the operators that work during our live show are the direct link between what you see on the show and how you can add it to your collection.
“The operators answer all incoming calls every show night and place orders for the customers,” said Marrissa, who has been the supervisor for five years. “We really must familiarize ourselves with the inventory and our point of sales system to better accommodate customers and make their experience, from start to finish, as efficient as possible.”
As the live show supervisor, Marrissa not only oversees the operators, but spends her nights assisting with questions involving product or the system itself (which endured a major facelift and overhaul in July), cancelling orders, handling shipping requests, and sometimes even jumping on the phones as an operator herself.
“One of the biggest parts of my job is to listen to the calls to make sure we are offering the best quality for our customers,” she stated. “It’s imperative that we handle each call to the best of our ability.”
Handling those calls is a six-member team that, if you are a regular, you have probably talked to a time or five: Tam (who also happens to be the Shift Manager), Lori, Mandy, Joanna, Sherri, and Shannon. They not only take your calls, but they give a more in-depth introduction to the company, especially for first-time buyers.
Tam, Lori, Mandy, Joanna, Sherri, and Shannon – Live Show Operators
“We have people call in all the time as first-time buyers,” said Tam. “As a result, we try to take the time to introduce those customers to the history of the company, how long we have been on air, etc. We take our time with our phone calls to bring the family business aspect to life. It is important to establish those relationships with customers early and build that rapport.”
Having eight years under her belt, Tam assists not only the other operators, but also Marrissa as the Shift Manager.
“Tam is my right-hand woman,” Marrissa said. “I could not do my job without her. She helps with my nightly tasks when we are slammed on the phones and helps to make things go smoother for the other operators. When I can’t be here, she also steps in for me.”
Teamwork makes the dream work. Sounds cliche but remains a saying for a reason. Our live show operator team is crucial to the success of The Coin Vault. Not only do they help ensure that our live show runs smoothly, but they also help generate extra sales for the company with monthly upsells that are outside of our direct nightly show.
Our live show operator position is considered an entry level position. This means that younger workers who are just starting out come here for experience while in college.
“We also get young mothers who need some extra income but need to be with their babies during the day or some people who just need a little more extra income in general on top of their full-time jobs,” Marrissa stated. “We have a small staff right now, but they have been with us for quite some time.”
The team’s experience is evident as they handle the incredible influx of calls on nights when the phone doesn’t stop ringing due to the popularity of products available. Those products are generally United States Mint related, like your American Silver Eagle annual releases or the Morgan and Peace dollar coins, but also new products that are firsts of their kind. Our Deal of the Day segment will also increase call volume, putting the girls to work on a constant basis.
“The vault finds are also a really amped up time for us,” Tam said. “Depending on the night, which you have Extras on Monday’s, Values on Tuesday’s, and the regular Vault Finds on Thursday’s, customers call in so fast and you must make sure that those one-off items are not being oversold or held in a cart for too long. It’s quite the delicate balance.”
While you have Andy and Tyler Abel as your hosts every show night, the girls in the call center are your connection to all things collector and numismatic.
“They are the faces of the company, but we are the voice behind those faces,” Marrissa said.
