Can anyone give me insight into this role? Honestly, I don’t think I want to be in stores anymore, but being a redeployed WFH isn’t quite the same as a typical day-to-day because there really isn’t any structure.
Am I going to be coached every single day? Will there be metrics I have to hit? Is it even more emotionally draining than working in the stores?
Thanks.
Having been in Care for over five years and spending most of that as an Advocate, you get all the calls. Specialists get the explain my bill calls, you get everything else. Pros take care of the high value customers (routing) and more disconnect calls but each groups stats are based around what is expected. The customer care position has become more sales focused in the last two years but with no sales incentive except to keep your job and get a good schedule as its Performance + Tenure 50/50 when bidding and now since its all Home Based then the bidding is with the entire nation, not just the call center one is assigned to. I am in another department now but still am part of my old care team's chat and everything is the same, they are announcing how many people they got to move up in plans, how many insurance adds, and how many revenue generating features (that count towards their Rev-Gen stat) they have acquired. Credits have started being monitored far more closely this year. It's a weird focus of 'obsessing about the customer' while obsessing about how much money the customer can add to their bill so STI goes up and most importantly that Revenue Generation stat stays high as to not end up being coached to it. Sales folks seem to have no problem with that one except equipment doesn't count. It's all about what's on the customer's billing going forward from your call. Selling them five Iphone Maxes means absolutely nothing. Selling them Insurance and stepping them up to a higher costing plan especially an unlimited is what matters.
I did Sales and Customer Service Advocate. You will get coached 3 times a month. I got out of being an Advocate pretty fast and went into messaging. So if you apply yourself, you might not be taking calls for too long. You will be taking a pay cut. They offered me less after commission so be ready for that. It is a consistent paycheck though which is nice. If you go into different departments in the call center world, you will get a raise. There are metrics to hit and the metrics change pretty frequently. They aren't crazy difficult but I used to check how I was doing consistently so it can get stressful. Being on calls all day can get draining. You will definitely have bad days for sure. Also, what schedule you get is based on your tenure and metrics. They will take your tenure based on when you started with Verizon though. So if you are really not happy in sales, I would give it a shot. Its stressful but wasn't as bad as I thought.
It boils down to preference. If you enjoy being tethered to a headset all day and sitting in front of a computer taking one call after another about how terrible Verizon is and customers b!itching and complaining about everything under the sun and demanding discounts then you will enjoy being a customer advocate. People act very differently over a phone than they would face to face. At least with a store you can walk around and customers for the most part are pleasant. If you choose care advocate be prepared to gain alot of weight from being sedentary all day too.
@wya+160H9Gov: It was only a 5K difference.
@xfm+160H9Gov How did the telesales pay compare?
@aeb+160H9Gov: Hey, I really appreciate such a detailed response. I am really worried about the adjustment overall, but this was helpful. Thank you.
@fqk+160H9Gov: Believe it or not, I just got my compensation comparisons between the 3 roles — Telesales, Care Advocate, and SS — and the pay is the same for SS and Care Advocate.
If anything, Care sounds like a safer bet because when you’re in the store, you only really have the potential to earn less. That’s my point of view anyways. Quotas will be insane, stores won’t be hitting their at-risk probably 6 months out of the year. It seems risky to move to another store, but the relocation package is tempting, just not sure if it’s worth it.
I was told no pay cut but when I asked about commission I wasn't given an asnwer... soooo
An advocate is a mid-level customer service rep. It doesn’t take the super difficult calls like pros and cords get, but it also doesn’t get the really easy stuff like specialists get. It will likely be an abundance of “explain my bill” calls and some tier 1 troubleshooting.
Coaching varies by supervisor. You should get some sort of informal coaching daily but formal coaching 3x a month. You will be coached to metrics such as call length, surveys, repeat calls and credits.
I would say likely less emotionally draining than a store.
I’m sure it doesn’t pay the same either
This is the exact conversation I had with my employees. I advised them to reach out to HR or an actual CSA to find out what the job really entails since we had the “cliff note version” of WFH CSA. I would assume Performance Reviews would be based off of call times and how many calls one does a day, but I can’t really say. Plus the hours could be drastically different since CS is technically open till 8pm. Schedules would also be different, as well. Hope you find what you’re looking for because I too am curious.