Managers Share Secrets of Success

Mike Pitkow, executive vice president, chief operating officer
Holt’s Cigar Co., Philadelphia
Merchandise: premium cigars and smoking accessories
Contact center employees: 12
Overflow/after-hours contact center: AnswerNet

Catalog Success: What are your top challenges as they relate to call center duties, and how do you overcome them?
Pitkow: First, maintaining a staff of premier service reps who know our products well and stay up on their product knowledge. Our call center is staffed mostly by women, and few women in general smoke cigars. And yet some of the customer questions they field are pretty tough, such as the different tobacco blends. So one challenge is keeping sales associates who can talk about the product and have been through the training.