Retriever's general support email address and helpline receive the majority of customer queries that come into Retriever in Finland every day. But the answers to the often tricky questions are not sought by an automated answering robot, but by a three-person first line team. One of these experts who solves customer challenges is Customer Manager Salla Wahlman.
How does the Retriever First Line team benefit the customer?
The First Line is often the customer's first contact with Retriever when they contact us themselves, either by phone, email or via the portal chat. We are therefore the main channel through which much of the support team's communication takes place.
When you contact us, you don't need to know who your designated contact is or who you should refer your case to. We will find out who the contact person is for them, or often solve the problem immediately during the call, chat or by replying to an email. We also support customer managers when they are on holiday, sick or otherwise away from work.
All members of our team are on hand every day to respond to customer queries to ensure a smooth and quick response. With us, you don't get an automated answer, but three experts who provide a personalised service to our customers.
Tell us about your job description. What is a typical day like for you?
Frist a typical day started at home throughout my first time working with Retriever. For a long time, visits to the office were sporadic, but now I'm in the office once a week. This is nice because it gives me the chance to see both my team members and other colleagues face to face. You get to catch up and have lunch together!
My working day is mostly spent following the inbox and answering customer messages from there. I also welcome new clients, hold introductory meetings with them and build media monitoring solutions that meet their needs.
Sometimes I also spend an annoying amount of time sorting out technical problems and putting out the resulting fires. We always aim to deliver the best possible customer experience, so when technology fails, we come to the rescue!
How and when did you end up working for Retriever?
I started working at Retriever on 1 April 2020, the same day that the coronavirus closed Finland. I had been looking forward to starting work, as I knew I would be able to start working with my predecessor and soak up knowledge from him for at least a few weeks. But what happened? Everyone moved to the home office and all training for the job was done remotely from then on.
I had previously worked in a media agency during my student days and always felt drawn to communications. However, life took me to a completely different line of work for many years. When I saw the job advertisement for Retriever, I immediately thought that this was the place for me.
What is the best thing about your job?
The variety of days! You never know what will come up on any given day. Some days are routine, others are more surprising. In the morning, you never know what kind of day you're going to have or what kind of client projects you'll be working on.
What is the most challenging part of your job?
From time to time, technical problems bring big challenges. We try to solve these as quickly as possible so that our customers' work is not disrupted. Sometimes the solution is sought by the whole team or even internationally with the help of Retriever's Nordic group. So it has been rewarding to receive praise from account managers and customers for the speed with which problems are solved.
Tell us about a recent success in your work.
Recently, we've been particularly busy with the transition to our new social media listening tool, Retriever Listen. Our whole team has been working on the customer migration and we have been praised for our fast pace, both within our own organisation and across the group.
Why should companies use media monitoring?
Perhaps the question should rather be, why shouldn't every company use media monitoring! Media monitoring can open up a whole new dimension of communication and can provide perhaps surprising insights on a number of issues. Of course, this requires professionals who know how it works. And we can do that!
What will be the main changes in media monitoring in 2023?
The world is changing and we are changing with it, as cliché as that may sound. Retriever's trump card for the new year is definitely the migration of all social media monitoring clients to the new listening tool, which will make social media monitoring much broader and easier. Listen gives you a whole new way to listen to social media and track, for example, your own visibility on it, compared to competitors or other organisations.
How do you spend your free time?
As a rule, my free time is taken up by life in the stables. My daughters and I own a pony, which we are responsible for the almost daily exercise and care of. In the evenings before going to bed I try to relax with a good book and in winter we spend time on the ski slopes with the whole family.
Want to know more?
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