To us at Gillco, Customer Service is more than a department. Excellent customer service is our mission in everything we do. Justin Heman, Customer Service Representative, uses confidence, communication and patience to ensure every Gillco customer is treated respectfully.
Learn more about Justin’s background and why he loves working with our customers!
1. Give us a little background on yourself! Where are you from? Hobbies? What did you do before Gillco?
I was born in Northern California and grew up in the Bay Area. My family later moved to Southern California when I was 12 years old. I went to San Dieguito High School Academy and then California State University, San Marcos where I graduated class of 2016 with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication. My first job while going to college was being a server at a retirement community in Carlsbad. It was here that I gained an interest in helping people and providing them with a service. It helped me build rapport with residents who I would see on a daily basis and get to know them on a personal level. My next adventure was being a Loss Prevention Officer with Fry’s Electronics. Soon after I was promoted to the Customer Service Supervisor in charge. There I led the Customer Service team and train store associates on how to provide better customer service. After years of dedication to Fry’s Electronics I made the decision to further advance my customer service skills at Gillco Ingredients.
When I’m not working I enjoy spending time with my fiancée, friends, and family. I also enjoy all things technology and video games.
2. How long have you been at the company? What does your position at Gillco Ingredients entail? What does a typical day look like for you?
I have been with Gillco since September 2019. As a Customer Service Representative my primary goal is to provide exceptional customer service to Gillco’s customers, prospective customers, and other companies that Gillco works with on a day to day basis. Alongside that I monitor the customer service email, answering any and all inquiries that come through whether they are logistics issues, document requests, revised orders, or just general questions.
A typical day for me begins at 8am. I start the day like many others, checking my emails. Once I have reviewed and answered any urgent emails I take a look at the customer service case list for the day. I will oftentimes write down my own to-do list of tasks I need to accomplish during the day. This can be anything from calling a customer to revising an order to sending a tracking update. I also help assist the order processors of the customer service team in case they need an order entered or if a customer needs to be advised of anything. As the day comes to a close, I usually take that time to send any tracking or status updates to customers and make sure I hit everything on my to-do list.
3. What are some of the challenges for you in this role?
Knowing how to handle customers is an integral part of every business. I enjoy the challenge that some customers can present to you. The best way to approach these challenges is by letting the customer know that you are there to help them, you’re on the same team. You want them to achieve their goal just as much as they do. While not every challenge is a clear cut issue, it presents the opportunity for you to grow and expand your customer service knowledge. When dealing with these situations, I have found that confidence and patience can help ease a customer’s concerns. We treat every customer the same, whether they only order a bag of product at a time or several truckloads of product within a month. Each customer also has their own unique requests and instructions for their orders. Knowing how to handle each one takes a certain finesse that we pride ourselves in managing.
4. What is the best part of your role/why do you like working at Gillco?
Part of what I love about working at Gillco is that every day is different. While I have a schedule that I adhere to every day, the issues and situations that present themselves are different most of the time. The way that you would take care of one customer isn’t necessarily the same way you would take care of another. Customers can have very specific preferences for their orders and I like to ensure these preferences are met accordingly. It’s the problem solving and goal oriented work that I enjoy the most. It’s incredibly gratifying when you’re able to solve an issue for a customer or give them good news. The office culture at Gillco is always extremely positive and helpful. We all take pride in our work and want what’s best for our customers. I feel very fortunate to be in this position and to have such an incredible team of coworkers backing me up.