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Customer Service Week is an international celebration of the importance of customer service and of the people who serve and support customers on a daily basis. It is celebrated annually during the first full week in October. 

How Important is Customer Service?

Customer service is an integral part of any successful company, and at Kamps we repeatedly stress the importance of customer service to our employees. It’s our aim to answer the phone quickly, to be enthusiastic about meeting our customers’ needs, and to make sure our pallet shipping process is streamlined and error free.

Just how important is customer service to a business, and overall economic landscape?

We made an info-graphic (see below) with 3 quick facts that illustrates just how important customer service is: 

Core Components of a Successful Customer Service Strategy

So what does it take to provide excellent customer service?  Here are some core components of any successful customer service strategy: 

Know What You’re Selling

To provide excellent customer service, make sure your employees are trained on the products you sell – especially those who are your most customer facing staff. Educate them on frequently asked questions so they can be prepared to help your potential or current customer in any way possible.

Be Friendly

Customer service really does start with a smile. A warm greeting via phone or face to face shouldn’t be undervalued. Customer service associates are usually the first point of contact with the potential customer, and they should leave a good impression!

Listen

No, really listen – it’s that simple. Hear what your customers are saying, and look for signs of dissatisfaction and for ways you can help them. People feel respected when they feel heard. When they feel respected, their satisfaction levels will be higher even if things are not perfect or errors occur.

Be Respectful

Customer service is often emotionally involving and can be stressful, especially when dealing with difficult situations. It’s important to make sure your staff is trained on how to handle these situations and to make sure your customers always walk away happy. Customer service associates should always remain courteous and respectful – even during times of challenge!

This Customer Service Week we at Kamps want to recognize all of our team members who continue to provide the best customer service to our loyal customers and potential new clients. Without you we would not be able to deliver outstanding service nationwide. 

Ever wonder what it would be like to live a day in the life of a customer service team lead/social media manager at Kamps Pallets? Savanna gave us the scoop on what a typical day looks like for her in our National Sales Department.  

Savanna begins her day checking emails, of which there are usually about 50. A lot of her emails are coming from our pallet partners and customers communicating delivery logistics and requesting orders. Some of our national sales customers are open 24/7, which means that Savanna may have been answering emails throughout the evening, but her inbox will still be plenty full when she arrives in the morning.

Once emails are dealt with, she will check the shipping log and print off invoices, work on paperwork, and assist the sales staff with special projects. If this doesn’t take her to the end of the day, she uses what time she has left to work on content and scheduling for social media. 

After work, you might find Savanna at Costco, playing kickball on her summer league, or meal prepping for the week with her husband Ryan.

What can you look forward to when working in National Sales at Kamps? Savanna enjoys the variety of the position, building relationships with customers and pallet partners and loves the team she works with. 

According to Savanna, you need to be a multitasker, detail oriented and an optimistic problem-solver to be successful in National Sales. We see all these characteristics and more in Savanna who is dedicated to giving her customers the best service every day. We are happy to have Savanna on Team Kamps! 

At Kamps we know we know our business is not all about pallets, as important as those are. Our business is about providing our customers what they need when they need it, and only a part of that involves pallets. A pallet company is ultimately another kind of transportation facilitator, and this is why we place such an emphasis on customer service.

Kamps trains our employees to anticipate customer needs. We choose our staff based on their people skills and ability to act flexibly and decisively. We’ve made it easy for our customers to do business with us because we commit to delivering the pallet resources they need when they need it and picking them up when they no longer do. We look at every interaction as an opportunity to excel. 

During our training, we emphasize to our employees five key values for ensuring the Kamps customer experience. These are:

• Loyalty – We are here to develop an enduring relationship with our customers, one that is mutually beneficial. That means maintaining satisfaction over the long run, and the best way to accomplish that is to make every experience a positive one. Our employees have no control over what happens outside of their part in the chain of communication and service, but they can make that part as good as possible. That’s the goal.
• Service – We emphasize that the most important part of service is not what our employees say but whether they do what they say they are going to do. Our system has checks and balances to ensure accountability and limit mistakes, but we also tell our employees to acknowledge their mistakes. We’re human; we all make them. The important part is to fix them, promptly and to our customers’ satisfaction. Our motto is: “When things go wrong, make it right.”
• Respect – Our customers are the reason we are in business. Without them we cannot operate, and respect is crucial for developing a long lasting relationship.
• Communication – Our customer service training emphasizes the importance of listening well, speaking clearly, stating the specifics, and being prepared to repeat or clarify anything to a customer, if necessary. Communicating expectations of where, when, and how exactly Kamps will serve their needs from the outset goes a long way to eliminating mistakes within the process itself.
• Knowledge – Our customer service representatives know their business – pallets and service – so they can answer questions as they come up. 

The pallet business has certain complexities that we’ve discussed before, but providing good service isn’t one of them. The key is hiring competent and responsive people and giving them the training and support they need. That’s our secret. If your pallet company has disappointed you with unreliable service or poor communication, we would love to talk to you about the Kamps pallet experience and what we can do for you.

The word leadership can mean different things to different people, but if there is one thing that all great leaders do, it is to inspire and motivate their teams to work as one towards a goal. Kamps Detroit leadership knows that.

One of our own, Eric Lee, Operations Management and Development Specialist, shows us that leadership is an act of habit, not just a title.  One of the things he did to inspire his team, was to have T-shirts made for the employees that says “We are Kamps Detroit” on the front and each individual’s name on the back.  He was inspired by the movie “Miracle” for this idea.

This movie was based on a true story. In it a college coach needs to bring an inexperienced team to the 1980 U.S. men’s Olympic hockey tournament. They were to face the Soviet team which was a favorite and seemingly invincible in those years.  The U.S. team ends up beating the Soviet team which just proves how much of an impact a worthy leader has.

The famous quote that was used in this movie is: “The name on the front is…a lot more important than the one on the back.” This represents a way of leading and inspiring people in the workplace on the sports field and in any other environment where teamwork is required.  Like John Quincy Adams said, “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” 

We at Kamps want to encourage you to take the words from that hockey coach to heart.  Even if you are not in a leadership position, you can still inspire others to work hard and “become more.” Eric Lee undeniably motivated us with his story and his devotion to his team and to Kamps. You never know what difference you can make in someone else’s life with your actions, words and attitude. 

Let us always remember that it is the name on the front that matters the most.

In our ongoing series of highlighting Kamps Pallets’ talented staff, we’d like to introduce Darren who is Assistant Plant Manager at our Niles location. At first glance, one might not see many similarities between working at a pallet company and working at a senior living community. In his time so far as an assistant plant manager, Darren has noticed a few.

Darren worked as the executive director of a senior living community managing and supporting nurses and other members of the staff. Darren focused on setting the bar high when it came to work performance to give the best care to his “customers,” which in this case happened to be the residents.

Darren’s supervisory duties and day-to-day tasks have changed considerably, but some of his key principles have remained the same. Most important: Expect the best from your employees so that your customers also receive the best. 

Darren started as an operations management trainee in Grand Rapids and spent the first two months sorting pallets. Darren recognizes the importance of knowing your pallets and what a huge impact sorting can have on the rest of the operations process and ultimately the success of the business. 

On a typical day in Niles, you may find Darren doing morning stretches with the production employees, sitting in a sales meeting, or working the entire day on the bandsaw. Not only does Darren enjoy the variety of his tasks, he believes spending time out on the floor is critical to building a good relationship with the production employees. 

We are so glad that Darren jumped across industries into the pallet business and that he brought along his commitment to setting high standards for our employees. His experience working with people and for people makes our company a better place to work and a better pallet supplier.

Mold on pallets is a very common problem in the wood packaging industry. This is especially problematic for our food industry customers, as the food safety requirements for pallets are becoming increasingly strict. Given the range of conditions the pallets at our Kamps plants across the country endure, it is particularly important we do everything possible to help prevent mold growth or react quickly to destroy it if molding does occur.

Where Can You Find Mold?

It’s hard to believe that mold spores are in the air around us almost all the time, looking for their new home. They are, though.

Mold only needs the right conditions to grow and proliferate. Mold spores need oxygen, food, and moisture to grow – if one of these three ingredients are missing, mold will not grow. The food mold seeks to consume are the pallets themselves. 

Common Misconceptions About Mold Control

Heat treatment is often looked as a solution for mold on pallets, but, surprisingly, it’s not.

While heat treatments kills wood borne insects, it does not prevent the growth of mold. Heat treatment helps draw out the moisture in pallets and brings it to the surface.

As mentioned, moisture is one of the key ingredients in the mold growing formula. Once the pallets are taken out of the heat treating chamber, they are now the perfect breeding ground for mold growth. With the moisture on the surface, they merely wait for a mold spore to land upon them. 

How To Prevent Mold Growth

Sealing Wood from Oxygen

A common treatment to help combat mold is using chemicals to help seal the wood from oxygen.

This creates a strong barrier and decreases the possibility of mold growth. 

Keep The Pallets Dry

Most importantly, however, the pallets need to be kept dry as possible and in an area that ideally experiences good airflow if possible.

Without moisture, mold cannot grow.

Make sure to store pallet material and finished pallets under cover or inside your warehouse to keep pallets dry and less susceptible to mold. There are also industrial grade fans that can be used to keep areas well ventilated.

Once the pallets leave your facility and are now at your customer’s warehouse, the chance for mold growth doesn’t stop! Customers should unload and load trucks as quickly as possible.

Also, do not store wooden pallets on a trailer. Again: do not store wooden pallets in trailers. Trailers quickly turn into incubators for mold growth because of the humidity and lack of airflow in these enclosed spaces. 

At Kamps, we utilize these strategies to help our customers nationwide avoid mold on our wood pallets.

If issues do arise, we are able to quickly react and get replacements to our customers to ensure there are no interruptions to their production. If you have issues with mold growth, please let us know so that we can help right away!

Quick summary of our guide to share or hang in your warehouse:

(click image to expand & save)

Update: This page was initially published 6/26/19, and updated on 1/29/20