Catalogers of the Year

Once on the Headsets.com team, employees have access, via telephone, to a business psychologist who helps them flush out negative feelings or resolve communication problems they’re encountering with other employees. Faith also employs a voice coach, as well as a managerial and organizational specialist to help employees develop skills such as time-management. While speaking to these specialists is voluntary for employees, it’s mandatory for job applicants, says Faith.

This relentless pursuit to hire and train ideal employees no doubt has helped Headsets.com keep its staff turnover low and its customer-service ratings high.

Offers and Promises

Another way Faith and his team improve customer service is by making rock solid offers. For example, they offer a 60-day free trial on their highest-priced item, a $300 wireless headset. “This was a risky gamble for the company,” Masterman concedes. “Customers can return the product on the 60th day.” And yet the offer has performed well, he notes. “With our attention to local, specialist and live post-sales customer support, returns are very low. Customers are actively encouraged to call us should they have questions or concerns.”

Product support FAQs, Masterman continues, are not included on the company’s Web site. Instead, it prominently displays its toll-free number, and “98 percent of calls are answered by a live rep who is knowledgeable about the products and can answer any and all questions,” he says. “If a customer does want to make a return, he or she is given the same smile and ‘thank you’ as those who keep the product.”

Faith gives his customers several promises, including for example: 110 percent price protection in case they find an item for a lower price elsewhere; full advance replacement of products during their warranties; free telephone support; and a guarantee that the product will be compatible with the customer’s telephone.