Customer service is pivotal at Lunarpages and with such a large team of Customer Service Reps (CSRs) the job leading them is a demanding and hectic one.  Earlier this week I sat down with Greg Keil our Customer Service Manager and asked him some questions about himself and his role at Lunarpages.

So tell us, what is your official job title here at LP?

Greg:  Customer Service Manager

Greg, I know you’re always incredibly busy, but fill us in on your day to day tasks.

Greg:  My day always starts with a short meeting with one of my floor supervisors. We go over the day’s tasks and any issues that may have come up during the previous work day. Next it is straight into running reports. Since I administer the phone system for our customer service division, I check the previous day’s stats including our average handle times, our service levels (which include how many calls were answered within one minute of being received in our phone queue), and more importantly, how many calls did we not answer.  We have just purchased software that will allow us to capture any call that is not answered and have one of our customer service representatives call that customer back right away.

That takes us through the first cup of coffee…so it’s off to the kitchen for more.

Next, it’s time to prioritize all other tasks that need to be done that day and schedule them around meetings.

Working for Lunarpages doesn’t usually allow for much down time since our industry is very fast paced.  I work in the call center itself and am close to all of our customer service & billing reps and the respective department supervisors.  There is always something new coming up that requires my attention.  Having an open office and communication allows for me to meet with any staff member whenever needed.  Many of our discussions turn into policies and procedures that in turn help our customers enjoy an increased positive experience.

Have you worked in any other departments at Lunarpages?

Greg:  I started out as a level one customer service representative in the trenches with everyone else.  When my supervisor left the company, I was promoted to fill his position. The same thing occurred when my manager left. I now oversee the customer service and billing departments and assist the manager of the customer care department.

What did you do before Lunarpages? What made you decide to join our Family?

Greg:  My background is in medicine believe it or not. I used to work as a cardiovascular technologist specializing in electrophysiology, implantations of automated defibrillators & pacemakers, and angioplasties.  I left the medical field for a number of reasons, primarily because the Hippocratic Oath seems to be a thing of the past (yep…there’s a tragic story behind that).

I moved into the preventative side of medicine and found that it was more fulfilling to help others before they got sick.

I began designing and developing a few personal websites and began building some for friends. Soon I found myself reselling web hosting and really enjoying it. I found an ad one day online for a customer service representative at this place called Lunarpages so I looked into it further.  Turns out the main office was exactly 1.23 miles from my home.  I applied and was in the next day.  I figured I would slide right in and be able to assist with any issue that came up. Boy was I wrong.  I soon realized I knew about 5% of how this industry really works.  Now that I have been here for a few years, I KNOW I made the right decision when I filled out the application!

What do you like to do in any other spare time you find?

Greg:  Spare time? What’s that? Well, I do have a few passions…family, bodysurfing, fishing, hunting and traveling.  In fact I’m off to Kiribati in June to celebrate my brother’s 40^th birthday. Just the two of us stranded on an atoll in the middle of the Pacific ocean for a week!

If you weren’t working here, where do you think you’d be?

Greg:  Boat captain somewhere on the East Cape, BCS, Mexico

You work at our Anaheim Corporate Office, tell us about the most entertaining employee there.

Greg:  There’s a ton of them…really!  Everyone is unique in their own right.  We’ve got it covered from sports to salsa.  That’s right, I said ‘salsa’.  Currently I am the keeper of the salsa bar.  Rather than storing documents or manuals above my desk, I hold the collection of all things blended with peppers.  Oh yeah, back to sports…although this was not the year for baseball in SoCal, we are all about the ANGELS!  Now…I’ll probably get something thrown at me from the dodger fans that sit behind me, but I’ll take one for the rest of us. If I were to tell of all the entertaining folks around here, you’d need another blog.

Can you share some interesting information about the Anaheim Corporate Office?

Greg:  The office was previously owned by a man who used to work with some of the Anaheim Angels baseball players. There are still plenty of Angels items around including stadium seats in our lounge area.  Our call center used to be a professional batting cage (complete with infield clay from the stadium up the highway).  That sounds funny huh?  It’s actually true.  When the baseball players would come to work out here, they would step into the batting cage here to work on their swing.  Unfortunately it had to be removed.  We tried lobbying to keep it, but the answer was: batting cage or call center to work in.  We ended up choosing call center.  Thankfully the gym stayed and we all have access to it. Those of us that work in the Anaheim office are very lucky to have such a beautiful office to work.  Seriously, no suckin’ up here…this office has some unreal amenities!

If you were offered one million dollars or the ability to have one superpower for the rest of your life, what would you choose and why?

$1 million please.  That would allow me to help a lot of people while still being able to enjoy some myself.  See here

And now for some usual LP Fun, what (or who) is your favorite and why…

Animal?

Greg:  Any kind of game fish – because it always means that I get to spend some serious quality time with my brothers and some of our friends.

Superhero?

Greg:  Aquaman – sure his power was the ability to swim at length underwater and talk to fish…and that right there is pretty lame…maybe it has something to do with my affinity for the ocean.

Place to live?

Greg:  Laguna Beach, California. Lots of beaches, each with their own character, great climate, and a very relaxed atmosphere.

Place to vacation?

Greg:  Los Barriles, BCS, Mexico; Huahine, Tahiti; Dominican Republic

Season of the year?

Greg:  Indian Summer (August – October) – no more tourists to crowd the beaches/surf, it’s the beginning of hunting season, warm weather, and all major sports are being played.

Website?

Greg:  Just one?  I’ve got tons, but the ones that I seem to be visiting most lately are:
http://www.thevillagesci.com/ – traveling there next summer (it’s gonna be a LONG 9 month wait)
http://www.panoramio.com/photo/10291994 – cuz that’s the lodge I will be living in for a week!
http://magneticaircars.com/ – although it may sound like a crazy idea, I love the concept!

And now for the expected pimping:
http://lunarpages.com
and more importantly:
http://support.lunarpages.com – why? Because my support crew can’t be matched!

Book?

Greg:  Only if I want to fall asleep

Movie?

Greg:  We could be here for days…Animal House, Caddyshack, The Bourne Series, anything Monty Python, The Usual Suspects, Seven, The Shawshank Redemption, David Lynch (Blue Velvet, Mulholland Dr., Lost Highway), The Spanish Prisoner, The Salton Sea…and the list goes on…

Celebrity?

Greg:  Don Knotts  – The Incredible Mr. Limpet?  Mr. Furley? Anyone?  Joking…I don’t get involved in the whole celebrity deal.

Hobby?

Greg:  bodysurfing, fishing, hunting and traveling

Video game?

Greg:  Not enough time in my day and personality too addictive to be a gamer.

Thanks for taking the time to chat Greg!

Next month we will interview another member of the team.  Who would you like it to be?