Customer Service Representative

8:00 am
I arrive early for my shift and begin my day by greeting my co-workers and settling into my cubicle with a large coffee. I open all the necessary computer applications required to assist my callers. I make sure my catalogues, flyers and shipping information is within arms reach. I adjust my head set, place my phone on ready and start my day.

10:00 am
My morning was quite busy with phone calls. I assisted approximately 30 customers with various questions and concerns. I was able to track an order on line and deliver the good news to my anxious customer that it will be delivered today. I love happy endings. I entered several orders and was able to help release a few existing orders as well by helping the customer to choose another style or color. Not every caller is a happy caller but I know that I can handle the negative ones and I like having the opportunity to turn it around into a positive situation for the customer. Also, the team leaders and supervisors are here to assist us and intervene should a situation escalate. They are the cream of the crop and really know their stuff.

11:30 am
I had an opportunity to attend our official grand opening ribbon cutting ceremony with my coworkers, the company President and General Manager as well as the mayor of Richmond Hill. We enjoyed a piece of cake and were welcomed to the community by the mayor. As much as I enjoy my time on the phones, this was a wonderful change of pace. I was proud to be a part if it.

1:00 pm
After lunch I responded back to a customer email regarding one of our new polo shirts. With the information I provided, I was able to secure an order for 400 of those shirts for one of our US customers. The calls today were continuous and challenging. I was able to log another 30 calls after lunch which made the afternoon fly by. I was even able to sneak in a second piece of cake on my afternoon break…shhh, that's our little secret.

3:00 pm
Even though being available to take the inbound calls is a large part of my day, we are sometimes called upon to complete special projects, attend product information sessions, and assist other co-workers from other areas of customer service such as the out-bound and order entry teams. I like having the opportunity to do something different now and again. I am grateful everyday for a chance to enjoy a unique balance of variety and structure, exciting challenges and fresh tasks.

4:30 pm
As another day comes to a close, I make sure I've completed all my work for the day before leaving, close my computer programs down, tidy up my work space and say a quick goodbye to my teammates. I'm proud that I've had a productive day and was able to help many of my Ash City customers. I always look forward to tomorrow.

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Inside Sales Rep

8:45am
I came into work just before 9:00. Our new location in Richmond Hill is so close to my house! I check my emails that I received after I left for the day yesterday. I'm glad to see that my client Robert was able to land the large order that we were working on together. I also just read a great email that my teammate received from a customer. She provided suggestions which led to her securing a corporate apparel program. I went through my daily workbook, and prioritized my calls for the day.

11:00 am
Focusing on my hot leads, I called Barbara, who is a sales rep from a recently opened new account. She was able to meet with her client yesterday, and she is confident they are going ahead with a style from Ash City. Barbara asked me to provide another similar style as an alternative. I recommended our E.C.O. knits sample kit, and she said she was going to place the order on our website as soon as she clarifies sizes with her client.

1:00 pm
BBQ Day!!! Every other Thursday in the summer, we have a company barbeque. I picked up a hamburger and some salad and sat on one of the picnic tables with my peers. As a member of the Ash City Green Team, I helped collect the plates and forks used, and volunteered to wash the dishes for my department. I am going for a brief power walk now with a few co-workers. This #1 selling Ash City style # 85080 I am wearing today really does feel comfortable, and wicks away the moisture on this hot sunny Thursday! I feel refreshed now and ready to go back to work and make some productive outbound calls.

2:00 pm
Continuing to follow-up on leads, I received a long list of tradeshow attendees from the recent show in California. I made some good contacts, however, I had to leave a lot of voicemails. There was one particular account that was very excited to start doing business with Ash City, and wanted to see the product again. I called the Ash City local representative that I work with, and he is going to call the customer this afternoon to see if he can book an appointment for later this week.

3:30 pm
Working on my list of customers in which I have sent catalogs to in the past two weeks. I had a great conversation with Julie while reviewing our hot selling styles in each category. She wanted to update her showroom with new and exciting garments. She was very excited to hear about our sample program! Julie has a few upcoming golf tournaments in which she is going to take advantage of our in-house embroidery services.

5:30 pm
I am leaving for the day now with a few co-workers for a late round of golf. It's been a great week!!!

Why I like working at Ash City
Ash City is a growing company that provides opportunities for individuals that are driven to succeed. There is a great work atmosphere at Ash City, and a real team mentality.

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Order Management Clerk

7:00 AM
On the early shift schedule 7:30 to 3:30 pm I start the day by logging on to my computer. I open up all the different applications I will be using so I am ready to go. I like to read my emails first and prioritize them before I start entering orders. My first task is to take care of one of our bigger accounts. We normally receive about 20 to 50 orders from this retailer per day, this morning I received 26 orders. These orders are always rush so this is top priority first thing in the morning. They normally take anywhere from half hour to one and half hours to release them depending on how many I receive on my report. This morning it took me 45 minutes to process the 26 I received. I also had a couple of rush staff orders from the Kansas office so I processed those orders and advised Kansas staff that they are done.

8:00 AM
The web report arrived so I completed the web orders taking into consideration web failures, and canceled a few original web orders that are duplicates. I also entered faxed orders from US customers. It is vital to check faxed documents properly so nothing is missed.

8:30 AM
I took a break from entering orders and try to catch up on some emails since I was away on a vacation yesterday. Read up on some Ash City up coming communications and notices. I like to stay on top of these communication emails since most of them have important updates pertaining to order processing.

9:00 AM
I took my 15 minutes break and made a cup of coffee and had a little snack. After break I go back to my desk and started processing regular orders from the web report.

10:00 AM
I attended a product workshop session for 1 hour. Learned lots of exciting things about product quality checking, filled out a short quiz and did some exciting experiments too. The session was very informative and we all enjoyed the learning experience.

11:00 AM
Back to my desk after attending a very informative product workshop session. I have some orders to check that are sent by co-workers along with those accounts which have specific notes to double check as are very sensitive customers. Got enough time so entered some more web orders.

11:30 to 12:00 PM
I have lunch in the lunch room with some of my co-workers and watch the CP24 news. Then I take a 5 minute walk around our building. I am feeling refreshed after the walk and I am ready to get back to my work station.

12:05 P.M.
I am back at my desk, caught up on my emails, reviewed answers to a few staff purchases that were pending, made changes accordingly and released them for processing. Completed web report with the help of my two co-workers. Entered a few orders from some other ques as my group leader made me aware that they were busier.

2:00 PM.
It is now 2:00 pm and I am taking my afternoon break. Our breaks are necessary since it give us time away from looking at the computer screen for long periods. I have a cup of tea and take a walk to the lunch room.

2:15 PM
I am back at my workstation ready to get back in the queue again. I entered orders for an hour. Today was a good day for me as I did not have many issues with orders. I have had another good day at work.

3:15 PM
I like to check my emails before I leave for the day. If there are any staff orders emailed from Kansas I print them off so I can work on them the following day. I am leaving with a feeling of accomplishment and looking forward to tomorrow.

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Embroidery Coordinator

8:30 am
I like to begin my mornings by checking to make sure all orders that were scheduled to ship out the night before did in fact ship. Today all orders shipped on schedule….That's a good start to the day!

9:00 am
Now I'll check our daily reports for new orders that would have been entered by our Order Management Department. At this time I also ensure all orders I am responsible for are at the appropriate stage of processing; it helps me a great deal when I stay organized. Everything looks good; all existing orders seem to be at the appropriate stages.

9:30 am
Time to read my email. I see a few e-mails I have been waiting for. These are jpg files sent from our customer with their logo & embroidery instructions that I require for a couple of pending orders. At this point I'm ready to send the logo information to the digitizer for set-up and wait for the stitch out. I make my requests and update the order notes on each order. I think it helps to maintain accurate and up to date notes.

11:00 am
I've received the logo stitch outs that I requested yesterday. I thoroughly inspect the logo for quality to ensure my embroidery instructions were strictly followed. All stitch outs look great so now I can send them along with an approval form to the customer and anticipate their reply. Again keeping my notes updated on every order is very important, I want to ensure that nothing gets overlooked.

11:15 am
It's time for me to process the new orders I've received. I carefully go through all orders to extract the embroidery details. Some of the orders are repeat orders and I already have the logo details on file. That's excellent because now I can quickly send an approval to the customers requesting confirmation of the order details. I know our customer will appreciate a confirmation email as this gives them another opportunity to make any adjustments before production.

12:00 am
As I continue to process new orders, I can see that some of the orders came with artwork and specific embroidery details. I forward the artwork based on the instructions to our Pre-Production Team and request a logo set up. I have a few orders that are missing details, not a problem; I'll just contact the customer for clarification. It's always nice to talk to our customers

2:00 pm
Oops the embroidery department has been challenged with one of my orders. It seems the logo is too large to fit on the location the customer requested on our polo. I'll just call the customer and explain to them what their options are. I'm confident that between the two of us we will come up with a solution that our customer will be pleased with.

3:00 pm
Through out the day I prioritize additional tasks that may have come my way. The best way to prepare for these issues is, by "stay organized at all times". For example, I've just completed a return authorization for a customer who called to let me know that one of the jackets we embroidered has a broken zipper.

5:00 pm
I think I'm finished for the day. I've replied to all my emails, all current orders have been updated and I've responded to all my voicemails. Today has been a steady and productive day, just how I like it. Every day brings new and interesting challenges, and that's why I love what I do.

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