1
00:00:05,810 --> 00:00:08,990
Intro:
A production of Pioneer Utility Resources.

2
00:00:09,140 --> 00:00:16,100
StoryConnect, helping communicators discover ideas to shape
their stories and connect with their customers.

3
00:00:16,850 --> 00:00:21,950
Megan McKoy-Noe:
Frontline storytellers: how to train your team on subscriber
experience.

4
00:00:23,000 --> 00:00:26,810
That's what we'll be talking about on this episode of The
StoryConnect Podcast.

5
00:00:26,840 --> 00:00:34,250
Hi, I'm your host, Meghan McKoy-Noe, one of the storytellers at
Pioneer Utility Resources, and I am joined by Scott Paul,

6
00:00:34,280 --> 00:00:37,940
customer services director at Beacon Broadband on the Oregon
Coast.

7
00:00:38,390 --> 00:00:41,420
It is lovely over there, Scott, I must say.

8
00:00:41,450 --> 00:00:43,760
Now we are not on the Oregon coast today.

9
00:00:43,940 --> 00:00:45,110
Scott Paul:
Down in Vegas.

10
00:00:45,140 --> 00:00:47,150
Megan McKoy-Noe:
We're in the desert today.

11
00:00:47,180 --> 00:00:54,260
I know, we are podcasting from the Calix ConneXions Conference,
so we like to say that any background noise that you may notice

12
00:00:54,290 --> 00:00:57,800
is ambiance to set the mood for sharing ideas there.

13
00:00:57,830 --> 00:00:58,670
Do you feel?

14
00:00:58,730 --> 00:01:00,630
Scott Paul:
I feel like, I feel like we're setting the mood.

15
00:01:00,630 --> 00:01:01,620
We're sharing some ideas.

16
00:01:01,650 --> 00:01:05,310
Megan McKoy-Noe:
Good. Good. Scott, thank you so much for joining us today.

17
00:01:05,340 --> 00:01:08,160
Well, I love Beacon Broadband.

18
00:01:08,190 --> 00:01:10,230
I've been a fan of y'all's for a while.

19
00:01:10,230 --> 00:01:18,180
You're a member of Pioneer, which is really fun through
Coos-Curry Electric, and you connected your first subscribers to

20
00:01:18,210 --> 00:01:20,160
broadband in 2022.

21
00:01:20,190 --> 00:01:20,760
Scott Paul:
Correct.

22
00:01:20,760 --> 00:01:26,880
Megan McKoy-Noe:
So talk to us about where you are now, what are your biggest
challenges and opportunities?

23
00:01:26,910 --> 00:01:29,760
Scott Paul:
Yeah. So right now we're at 4,000 customers.

24
00:01:29,790 --> 00:01:35,430
You know, right at that 2,000 mark at the beginning of this
year; now over right at the 4,000.

25
00:01:35,430 --> 00:01:39,090
So we've doubled our business in ten months and 14 days.

26
00:01:39,360 --> 00:01:44,430
It's been a rush. And so I think that's our biggest opportunity
is that we've gone so fast, so quick.

27
00:01:44,490 --> 00:01:50,610
We haven't had a lot of time to make sure we're doing it right
every single time.

28
00:01:50,640 --> 00:01:52,500
You know, so I think that's what we're learning.

29
00:01:52,530 --> 00:01:59,280
We're taking that big step back and trying to figure out how we
can perfect our customers' experience and what processes and

30
00:01:59,330 --> 00:02:03,950
procedures can we make sure we put in place to make sure
everybody has the same experience from start to finish?

31
00:02:03,980 --> 00:02:08,120
I mean, we've got a great customer experience, scored over 86%.

32
00:02:08,390 --> 00:02:10,790
But you know, we're not, that's a great score.

33
00:02:10,820 --> 00:02:14,840
And I think the national average for telecom is like in the 30s.

34
00:02:14,870 --> 00:02:18,170
And so 86 is good, but we can get better.

35
00:02:18,200 --> 00:02:23,990
Megan McKoy-Noe:
Well, and I think you're pointing out something that is true of a
lot of folks I've talked to at this conference.

36
00:02:24,140 --> 00:02:25,250
They were rushing.

37
00:02:25,250 --> 00:02:26,270
They were rushing and rushing.

38
00:02:26,300 --> 00:02:28,190
Right. And they got everything built up.

39
00:02:28,190 --> 00:02:31,970
But maybe they didn't bring all their staff along the whole way.

40
00:02:31,970 --> 00:02:38,780
And they're taking a moment just to stop and say, "Wait, what
could we do better?

41
00:02:38,780 --> 00:02:40,070
What works well?

42
00:02:40,070 --> 00:02:47,600
What didn't work?" And they're taking a moment just to kind of
like one of those in magazines where you kind of rate

43
00:02:47,600 --> 00:02:51,080
yourself on stuff, you know, like dating profiles or whatnot.

44
00:02:51,110 --> 00:02:54,200
But for your broadband experience, how is this really going?

45
00:02:54,230 --> 00:02:57,380
You know, what kind of a broadband experience are we providing
for folks?

46
00:02:57,410 --> 00:02:59,500
So self-evaluation.

47
00:02:59,530 --> 00:03:00,700
It's a beautiful thing.

48
00:03:00,700 --> 00:03:06,580
So you call your folks the Beacon Broadband customer care team?

49
00:03:06,610 --> 00:03:06,970
Scott Paul:
Correct.

50
00:03:06,970 --> 00:03:12,010
Megan McKoy-Noe:
Which I like. It's not service because service is kind of a
little distant.

51
00:03:12,040 --> 00:03:14,020
Maybe it's something we have to take care of.

52
00:03:14,200 --> 00:03:20,080
"Care," I mean, I feel like you're going to give me a hug,
right, just in the title of your team.

53
00:03:20,080 --> 00:03:22,510
So I love that you have "care" front and center.

54
00:03:22,540 --> 00:03:25,150
Tell us a bit about what your team looks like.

55
00:03:25,180 --> 00:03:30,370
Scott Paul:
Yeah. So I have currently on my team, in-house employees for the
customer care support team.

56
00:03:30,370 --> 00:03:34,570
We've got five customer support representatives.

57
00:03:34,810 --> 00:03:40,210
Two in our Gold Beach office, three inside our Brookings office.

58
00:03:40,660 --> 00:03:44,830
Just a phenomenal group of individuals.

59
00:03:45,190 --> 00:03:49,690
We hired every one of them right out.

60
00:03:49,720 --> 00:03:51,790
No real customer care.

61
00:03:51,820 --> 00:03:58,390
I mean, they've done customer interaction jobs, but not
something from a full on customer support team.

62
00:03:58,790 --> 00:04:05,870
And then, as far as getting them going,

63
00:04:05,870 --> 00:04:12,380
understanding how the fiber broadband network really connects our
customers worlds.

64
00:04:12,410 --> 00:04:20,330
You know, whether it be telemedicine, telehealth, you teach
these CSRs the importance of how their customers lives

65
00:04:20,330 --> 00:04:23,330
are going to be impacted by what they do for them every day.

66
00:04:23,330 --> 00:04:25,040
They take that added time.

67
00:04:25,040 --> 00:04:28,010
And we didn't have a NOC team.

68
00:04:28,040 --> 00:04:31,280
And so we basically trained my CSRs up.

69
00:04:31,280 --> 00:04:35,510
Let's give them this added level of insight into technology.

70
00:04:35,510 --> 00:04:43,400
Let's get them trained on how to use Calix Support Cloud and how
to dive and help support a

71
00:04:43,400 --> 00:04:51,230
Wi-Fi network, how to set up an Alianza Adtran ATA through our
phone service and making them an expert

72
00:04:51,230 --> 00:04:54,590
in something. And so I've got Cassandra, who's my phone expert.

73
00:04:54,590 --> 00:04:56,930
I've got Tori, who's my TV expert.

74
00:04:56,930 --> 00:04:59,730
I've got Kayla, who's in charge of dispatching, making sure that
works.

75
00:05:00,030 --> 00:05:04,410
I've got Chris just left us for a new position.

76
00:05:04,410 --> 00:05:09,840
He's moved up to level three, and he was in charge of Calix,
and the Wi-Fi.

77
00:05:09,870 --> 00:05:13,350
Megan McKoy-Noe:
He's been promoted, and there's now an opportunity for growth for
someone else.

78
00:05:13,350 --> 00:05:21,300
Scott Paul:
100%. So I've got a phenomenal team that really puts in the
effort, but they've,

79
00:05:21,300 --> 00:05:27,480
I think they see the same aspirational growth for what they're
doing for their subscribers.

80
00:05:27,480 --> 00:05:29,160
And to be honest, our Coos-Curry members.

81
00:05:29,160 --> 00:05:33,000
I think being that member first mentality has really helped them
see that.

82
00:05:33,060 --> 00:05:34,260
Megan McKoy-Noe:
Definitely helps.

83
00:05:34,290 --> 00:05:39,150
So I'm curious, just to dig into it, how did you train them?

84
00:05:39,180 --> 00:05:45,870
I know you said they're all experts in certain areas, which I
think is so important because it's hard to be a generalist,

85
00:05:45,870 --> 00:05:50,370
right? So it's also empowering them like, this is my space.

86
00:05:50,370 --> 00:05:52,950
This is what I know really well, and they can share it with
others.

87
00:05:53,520 --> 00:05:54,720
But how did you train them?

88
00:05:54,720 --> 00:05:56,790
Was it like staff training days?

89
00:05:56,790 --> 00:06:02,540
Did you do videos that they watched, or did you have folks come
in and work with them at the office?

90
00:06:02,570 --> 00:06:05,360
Scott Paul:
Yeah. So a little bit of all of those things, right.

91
00:06:05,390 --> 00:06:06,920
So it started off with a one-on-one.

92
00:06:06,920 --> 00:06:09,560
Let's let's sit down and see what you want to own.

93
00:06:09,560 --> 00:06:11,750
Because if you don't want to own it, I don't want to give it to
you.

94
00:06:13,700 --> 00:06:15,950
Yeah. It's not going to work out the way either of us want.

95
00:06:15,980 --> 00:06:19,970
So what is it that you want to be known for?

96
00:06:20,000 --> 00:06:23,630
Do you want to be known for fixing a problem?

97
00:06:23,630 --> 00:06:25,310
And you see that as a problem.

98
00:06:25,310 --> 00:06:28,970
And so you're going to make it just the best thing that could
ever be.

99
00:06:29,390 --> 00:06:30,710
"Um, no.

100
00:06:30,710 --> 00:06:32,990
That seems like too big of a lift for me." Great.

101
00:06:33,020 --> 00:06:34,820
Well, what is it that you're passionate about?

102
00:06:34,850 --> 00:06:36,230
What do you think you could impact the most?

103
00:06:36,230 --> 00:06:37,640
"I think this is." Great.

104
00:06:37,670 --> 00:06:41,180
Now, let's put together an action plan on what that looks like.

105
00:06:41,180 --> 00:06:45,950
From there, I really lean on my customer service lead, Kayla
Stebbins.

106
00:06:46,310 --> 00:06:48,230
She's a phenomenal young lady.

107
00:06:48,230 --> 00:06:50,720
And she's my eyes and ears on the team.

108
00:06:50,720 --> 00:06:52,670
So they go to her.

109
00:06:52,670 --> 00:06:58,910
She comes to me, but then we publicly recognized the strong work
they're doing and the follow up action.

110
00:06:58,940 --> 00:07:02,180
Right. So what have you done to accomplish A, B, and C?

111
00:07:02,180 --> 00:07:04,910
And then let's share that with the team.

112
00:07:04,910 --> 00:07:09,290
Let's do these little study groups where we're going to get
together as a team.

113
00:07:09,290 --> 00:07:14,780
And you're going to share what you learned this week to make
sure that everybody here takes a little bit away.

114
00:07:14,780 --> 00:07:18,710
And because they're all specialists, they all want to share that
insight.

115
00:07:19,370 --> 00:07:23,840
Now with that, I've said all those great, wonderful things.

116
00:07:23,840 --> 00:07:27,430
The one thing we're working on now, it's not a downside.

117
00:07:27,430 --> 00:07:29,990
I think it's eye opening for them, and it's a different kind of
development, right?

118
00:07:30,020 --> 00:07:32,270
That's development towards what we offer.

119
00:07:32,300 --> 00:07:35,570
Now it comes down to development at their core level for them.

120
00:07:35,570 --> 00:07:41,510
And that is just because you're the specialist doesn't mean you
can't help somebody else learn it.

121
00:07:41,510 --> 00:07:48,380
You can't hold on to it so tight that you choke the life out of
it, because then you never get to take a day off, because you're

122
00:07:48,410 --> 00:07:50,120
the only one that knows how to do it.

123
00:07:50,120 --> 00:07:51,650
Megan McKoy-Noe:
Share the love a little bit.

124
00:07:51,680 --> 00:07:57,150
Scott Paul:
So for over the last 6 or 7 months, that's what we've been
working on, is how do we make sure everybody's a specialist.

125
00:07:57,150 --> 00:07:59,940
Now that you're the expert, how do we make everybody a
specialist?

126
00:08:00,420 --> 00:08:02,820
So it's not just "Hey, they want to talk about phone.

127
00:08:02,820 --> 00:08:10,590
Here you go. Cassandra." It's hey, Cassandra, could you teach me
how to do this service so I can do it for the next customer that

128
00:08:10,590 --> 00:08:11,220
calls in?

129
00:08:11,520 --> 00:08:15,480
Megan McKoy-Noe:
Well, Scott, I really love what you're doing there.

130
00:08:15,480 --> 00:08:18,540
And I haven't heard of a lot of other folks explaining it like
that.

131
00:08:18,810 --> 00:08:25,590
You know, we've been talking a lot at Calix about persona
marketing and focusing on the subscribers, but I love the way

132
00:08:25,590 --> 00:08:32,010
that you're focusing on strengthening your staff's core skills,
seeing them as people, finding things that identify with their

133
00:08:32,010 --> 00:08:39,810
personal brands, what do they want to take ownership of, and
then also helping them learn how to share their passion

134
00:08:39,810 --> 00:08:41,100
and teach others.

135
00:08:41,130 --> 00:08:46,830
I mean, that's huge just for career development and for
strengthening your team.

136
00:08:46,980 --> 00:08:48,510
I love that you do that.

137
00:08:48,540 --> 00:08:54,060
I mean, I've been around for a long time, Scott, and I haven't
heard a lot of other folks really investing like that in their

138
00:08:54,060 --> 00:08:54,570
teams.

139
00:08:54,570 --> 00:08:57,360
Scott Paul:
I hope that I think it's a great thing.

140
00:08:57,360 --> 00:09:00,270
I wish you had heard it more.

141
00:09:00,330 --> 00:09:01,860
I can tell you one example.

142
00:09:01,920 --> 00:09:02,700
Megan McKoy-Noe:
Maybe we don't talk about it.

143
00:09:02,700 --> 00:09:03,840
Scott Paul:
That's it. Yeah, yeah.

144
00:09:03,840 --> 00:09:05,700
One key example.

145
00:09:06,000 --> 00:09:09,390
We have a individual that came from a marketing background.

146
00:09:09,390 --> 00:09:10,620
She owned her own marketing business.

147
00:09:10,650 --> 00:09:17,490
Her name is Erin. She had her own marketing business, and I was
like, we don't really have an onboarding packet.

148
00:09:17,520 --> 00:09:23,670
Like we have onboarding material, but it's over here, and it's
over there, and it's over here.

149
00:09:23,670 --> 00:09:25,500
You've got this marketing background.

150
00:09:25,500 --> 00:09:27,810
Why don't you put together us an onboarding packet?

151
00:09:27,810 --> 00:09:29,880
And it is beautiful.

152
00:09:29,880 --> 00:09:32,430
So leverage their strengths too.

153
00:09:32,640 --> 00:09:35,700
If you're going to do it, leverage what they're great at and
what they're passionate about.

154
00:09:35,820 --> 00:09:41,370
Megan McKoy-Noe:
I love that. Is that onboarding package something you might share
with folks?

155
00:09:41,370 --> 00:09:43,260
Scott Paul:
I will have to fine tooth comb it.

156
00:09:43,560 --> 00:09:48,930
It does say proprietary on front, but there's definitely parts
I'd be more than willing to share with anybody who asked.

157
00:09:48,930 --> 00:09:52,080
But if it's proprietary to Beacon, I might have to peel it back
a little bit.

158
00:09:52,080 --> 00:09:56,170
But yeah, I think the meat and potatoes.

159
00:09:56,200 --> 00:10:01,840
Megan McKoy-Noe:
Yeah, just the idea. And to see the way that you all are
approaching this because again, I think you are focusing so much

160
00:10:01,840 --> 00:10:09,790
on your staff and bringing them, strengthening them,
strengthening their ability to tell their

161
00:10:09,790 --> 00:10:12,340
personal stories and to connect with the team.

162
00:10:12,340 --> 00:10:18,190
You're building a wonderful culture there at Coos-Curry and
Beacon Broadband, so that is exciting.

163
00:10:18,220 --> 00:10:26,200
I also have seen from the outside that your subscribers
recognize what you're doing, like it's

164
00:10:26,200 --> 00:10:27,580
hitting home with folks.

165
00:10:27,580 --> 00:10:35,530
So I kind of dug in the archives with Ruralite magazine, which
we love, partnering with Coos-Curry Electric on, and you have

166
00:10:35,530 --> 00:10:40,390
a column in there every now and then just to give updates on
what's happening with Beacon Broadband.

167
00:10:40,390 --> 00:10:46,750
So I found a column where you shared a quote from a subscriber,
and I wanted to share it with our audience.

168
00:10:47,050 --> 00:10:48,310
This is the quote.

169
00:10:48,700 --> 00:10:54,020
"The installer helped me understand my equipment properly."
Okay, that's that's fine.

170
00:10:54,320 --> 00:11:02,150
"He was kind and used his brain to explain technical things at
my level

171
00:11:02,150 --> 00:11:10,070
of understanding." He used his brain, I think is a key phrase in
that quote.

172
00:11:10,070 --> 00:11:17,810
It's really powerful that your subscribers are recognizing that
your staff is like thinking things through and thinking

173
00:11:17,810 --> 00:11:19,610
from their point of view.

174
00:11:19,640 --> 00:11:26,120
Sometimes I don't know about you, Scott, but I slip into jargon,
and I don't even realize it.

175
00:11:26,120 --> 00:11:33,530
I forget to explain things in a way that connects with folks
that don't know what I'm talking about, right?

176
00:11:33,560 --> 00:11:35,660
So how do you train your team?

177
00:11:35,690 --> 00:11:37,970
I mean, they're specialists in different areas.

178
00:11:37,970 --> 00:11:41,000
How do you help them to use their brains?

179
00:11:41,360 --> 00:11:42,440
Very important part.

180
00:11:42,470 --> 00:11:42,890
Scott Paul:
Very important.

181
00:11:42,920 --> 00:11:47,180
Megan McKoy-Noe:
And make it easy to understand how broadband works, to tell their
story?

182
00:11:47,840 --> 00:11:51,830
Scott Paul:
So because they're experts, it's easy for us to get in the lingo.

183
00:11:51,860 --> 00:11:53,850
I mean, bandwidth.

184
00:11:53,880 --> 00:11:55,230
I don't care what bandwidth is.

185
00:11:55,230 --> 00:11:59,550
I want to know that that's the amount of cars that can drive
down the freeway at the same time.

186
00:11:59,550 --> 00:12:01,290
Capacity. Same thing.

187
00:12:01,320 --> 00:12:02,970
It's upload and download.

188
00:12:02,970 --> 00:12:09,750
Like you can drive somebody crazy just trying to talk about how
the internet works, but we know it, and we're passionate about

189
00:12:09,750 --> 00:12:09,900
it.

190
00:12:09,930 --> 00:12:10,110
Megan McKoy-Noe:
Yeah.

191
00:12:10,140 --> 00:12:11,310
Scott Paul:
So share that.

192
00:12:11,310 --> 00:12:13,890
But share that with somebody who wants to hear that.

193
00:12:13,890 --> 00:12:18,450
Don't share that with somebody who just wants to know if Netflix
buffers on Friday afternoons.

194
00:12:18,450 --> 00:12:26,130
So I think it's giving them the tools to answer as many
questions as they can, but also doing it in a way that

195
00:12:26,130 --> 00:12:29,190
connects with that individual that's asked that specific
question.

196
00:12:30,420 --> 00:12:37,050
And my team does a great job listening to their customers so
that they can listen to what the customer's needs are, and then

197
00:12:37,080 --> 00:12:38,850
answer that question in return.

198
00:12:38,880 --> 00:12:44,130
The fact that it might require a 2.4GHz network to hook your
printer up.

199
00:12:44,670 --> 00:12:45,840
Megan McKoy-Noe:
That just went woo.

200
00:12:45,870 --> 00:12:47,310
Scott Paul:
Woo right over their head.

201
00:12:47,670 --> 00:12:50,160
The printer doesn't print when I click the print button.

202
00:12:50,190 --> 00:12:51,600
Let's make that work for you.

203
00:12:51,600 --> 00:12:53,720
Are you in front of it? Let's walk through how that works.

204
00:12:53,720 --> 00:12:58,520
So yeah, we know why it needs a 2.4 internally at Beacon.

205
00:12:58,550 --> 00:12:59,660
The customer doesn't care.

206
00:12:59,660 --> 00:13:00,980
They just want to click the print button.

207
00:13:00,980 --> 00:13:05,810
So that's what I think we've really done, and my team does a
great job on, and even our install.

208
00:13:05,810 --> 00:13:08,480
So we've got installers as well under my department.

209
00:13:08,480 --> 00:13:10,430
And I've got a great group of guys doing that.

210
00:13:10,910 --> 00:13:13,550
But it's, I think it starts with listening.

211
00:13:13,550 --> 00:13:21,290
We got to listen to what our customer's needs are, so we can use
our brains and our knowledge to solve that problem and then

212
00:13:21,290 --> 00:13:23,810
talk at them the way they want to be talked to.

213
00:13:23,840 --> 00:13:25,550
Megan McKoy-Noe:
Or talk with them, not at them.

214
00:13:25,580 --> 00:13:32,840
Scott Paul:
That's 100%. Everybody's got a passion, but they can bore you if
they share their passion.

215
00:13:32,900 --> 00:13:36,950
So let's be passionate at their level and finish the
conversation.

216
00:13:38,000 --> 00:13:39,770
Megan McKoy-Noe:
Do you have any notes?

217
00:13:39,770 --> 00:13:47,060
Do you use, like some folks have for their CSR teams, they'll
have scripts that they use for things?

218
00:13:47,060 --> 00:13:51,200
Do you have any tools like that to help folks or?

219
00:13:51,200 --> 00:13:55,960
Scott Paul:
Yeah, so Kayla's put together just basically, for like a new
order that's coming in.

220
00:13:56,290 --> 00:14:01,780
She's put together like a "Do they want the triple play?" Do
they want the single play?" Where's their existing router

221
00:14:01,780 --> 00:14:06,790
located?" But, it's very just to help our installer know a
little bit more.

222
00:14:06,790 --> 00:14:09,430
But that empowers the installer when they show up.

223
00:14:09,460 --> 00:14:15,010
"Hey, I heard your Spectrum router or your X company router is
up on the third floor.

224
00:14:15,130 --> 00:14:17,830
Let's get up to the third floor and see if that's the best
location.

225
00:14:18,730 --> 00:14:24,940
Or did you have a different idea of where it was going?" But oh,
the customer service team listened to me.

226
00:14:24,940 --> 00:14:30,070
They gave you the tools and resources you needed to then ask me
to solve my problem.

227
00:14:30,100 --> 00:14:36,400
Megan McKoy-Noe:
Okay, so they've got kind of a guide how they can set up other
team members for success, which is important.

228
00:14:36,430 --> 00:14:39,880
Do they have like words to never use?

229
00:14:40,240 --> 00:14:44,860
Scott Paul:
I think I've just beat it into them that we're not allowed to use
the word "no." Right.

230
00:14:44,890 --> 00:14:52,070
There's a difference between "not possible," "no," and
"absolutely not," right?

231
00:14:52,190 --> 00:14:53,960
Let me look into that.

232
00:14:53,990 --> 00:14:55,460
What a wonderful idea.

233
00:14:55,490 --> 00:15:01,220
I haven't had come across that just yet, but let me put it in
front of some leadership and find out what solutions we have.

234
00:15:01,220 --> 00:15:08,540
So if I am across the room and I hear, "no," it's like the one
bugaboo that Scotts got, you don't say no to Scott.

235
00:15:08,570 --> 00:15:14,150
You say "yes," or you find a different way to to distance
yourself from that situation.

236
00:15:14,150 --> 00:15:15,320
My team is very aware of that.

237
00:15:15,350 --> 00:15:19,220
Like we are member first, and we don't tell people no.

238
00:15:19,310 --> 00:15:22,790
It might not be possible, but "no" never comes out of our mouth.

239
00:15:23,150 --> 00:15:29,630
Megan McKoy-Noe:
I love that you're always looking for solutions, not closing
doors on anyone, which is so good.

240
00:15:29,630 --> 00:15:30,710
Scott Paul:
I want all this underground.

241
00:15:30,740 --> 00:15:32,420
Great. It's $20 million.

242
00:15:33,170 --> 00:15:34,250
It's not a no.

243
00:15:34,250 --> 00:15:36,170
It's just going to cost you a lot of money to put it in the
ground.

244
00:15:37,550 --> 00:15:44,750
Megan McKoy-Noe:
So you talked briefly about this earlier with the team sharing
their strengths with each other.

245
00:15:44,780 --> 00:15:52,050
Do you have any other mentoring opportunities to really help
your team strengthen each other and learn from other people

246
00:15:52,050 --> 00:15:57,720
across Beacon Broadband and maybe at Coos-Curry, or even outside
of your group?

247
00:15:57,840 --> 00:16:01,770
Scott Paul:
I know, I was just saying, I don't think I have anything extra
inside of my team that I'm doing.

248
00:16:01,800 --> 00:16:08,490
I mean, we definitely challenge team builder ideas and contests
and things to have fun inside work, but I do challenge my team to

249
00:16:08,520 --> 00:16:12,870
step out of their role and find something that they can be
passionate outside of work.

250
00:16:12,870 --> 00:16:20,010
And so Beacon Broadband, just with the help of Bill Gurski, our
sales and Marketing vice president, launched Connected Senior in

251
00:16:20,010 --> 00:16:21,180
the city of Gold Beach.

252
00:16:21,510 --> 00:16:25,350
Connected Senior, yeah, I hit you with something fun.

253
00:16:25,350 --> 00:16:33,300
But Connected Senior is we've got the largest elderly customer
base in the

254
00:16:33,300 --> 00:16:37,410
state of Oregon and Curry County, the county of, you know,
Coos-Curry Electric.

255
00:16:37,440 --> 00:16:39,270
It's one of the big counties we have.

256
00:16:39,390 --> 00:16:47,010
And because we have an older population base, we wanted to find
a way to help educate them on how to use a

257
00:16:47,010 --> 00:16:54,940
computer. And so Bill came up with these Connected Senior, where
we bring senior citizens in to learn how to use

258
00:16:54,940 --> 00:16:58,840
a computer. And they're trained by seniors in high school that
have tech backgrounds.

259
00:16:58,840 --> 00:17:01,720
So you got senior citizens being trained by seniors in high
school.

260
00:17:02,350 --> 00:17:05,770
But they're led by my CSR, Cassandra.

261
00:17:05,950 --> 00:17:13,930
So you've got step out of your comfort zone, give back to the
community, and that's where you make your mark long

262
00:17:13,960 --> 00:17:20,650
term. So that's where I challenge my team outside of building it
internal, build it outside.

263
00:17:20,680 --> 00:17:22,180
Megan McKoy-Noe:
Yeah, I love that.

264
00:17:22,180 --> 00:17:23,980
And the seniors and seniors.

265
00:17:24,070 --> 00:17:25,420
Scott Paul:
The Connected Senior program.

266
00:17:25,810 --> 00:17:26,560
You could do a whole –

267
00:17:26,710 --> 00:17:28,120
Megan McKoy-Noe:
Connecting them together. Oh there's so much there.

268
00:17:28,150 --> 00:17:30,430
Scott Paul:
Bill's around here. I'm sure he'll come talk to you about it.

269
00:17:31,360 --> 00:17:33,310
Megan McKoy-Noe:
No, it is beautiful.

270
00:17:33,370 --> 00:17:40,330
Now, you've talked about how they have their specialists, and
they know their story and how to connect with folks.

271
00:17:40,330 --> 00:17:45,220
How do you keep them up to date on what you're sharing in
Ruralite magazine, on your social channels?

272
00:17:45,220 --> 00:17:51,870
What's going on in the community to make sure if a member hears
something or a subscriber or something that your team knows what

273
00:17:51,870 --> 00:17:53,250
messages are being shared?

274
00:17:53,280 --> 00:17:57,780
Scott Paul:
I mean, we're a communication company, and so we got to be
communicating with each other.

275
00:17:57,810 --> 00:18:00,090
Megan McKoy-Noe:
It doesn't always work that way though.

276
00:18:00,120 --> 00:18:01,650
Scott Paul:
It's impressive.

277
00:18:01,740 --> 00:18:05,520
But I think understanding how they like to be communicated with
was important at the beginning, right.

278
00:18:05,550 --> 00:18:08,100
Do you like text? Do you like Teams chat?

279
00:18:08,130 --> 00:18:10,080
Do you want public coaching?

280
00:18:10,110 --> 00:18:11,370
Do you want private coaching?

281
00:18:11,370 --> 00:18:16,920
That was something that I learned with one of my team members is
that they do not want to be publicly celebrated.

282
00:18:16,920 --> 00:18:18,960
I was always told, "Celebrate in public.

283
00:18:18,960 --> 00:18:23,520
Coach in private." This individual was very much the opposite.

284
00:18:23,520 --> 00:18:25,710
You can do whatever you want if you're yelling at me.

285
00:18:25,710 --> 00:18:29,370
But if you're giving me praise, we do it behind a closed door.

286
00:18:29,370 --> 00:18:35,610
And so, but if you understand that about your team, you
understand how that individual likes to be communicated.

287
00:18:35,610 --> 00:18:37,920
And then it depends on the message, right?

288
00:18:38,340 --> 00:18:43,350
We recently had a situation where we had an escalated customer
call in.

289
00:18:43,380 --> 00:18:46,650
Customer was very upset, and the team was like, I want like
passionately.

290
00:18:48,140 --> 00:18:51,690
It was a bad call, but I want to cancel this customer.

291
00:18:51,720 --> 00:18:54,720
It's like, "Well, hold on, let's take a giant step back.

292
00:18:54,750 --> 00:18:56,400
That sounds awfully close to "no.""

293
00:18:56,430 --> 00:18:58,920
Megan McKoy-Noe:
I was gonna say, don't cancel customers.

294
00:18:59,070 --> 00:19:00,870
Scott Paul:
So let's talk about the interaction.

295
00:19:00,870 --> 00:19:08,010
What happened? And obviously, she trusted me enough to vent that
frustration to me and not to the rest of her team, because that's

296
00:19:08,010 --> 00:19:09,390
only going to bring the whole team down.

297
00:19:09,420 --> 00:19:11,640
And let's walk through that individually.

298
00:19:11,640 --> 00:19:12,990
Let's talk about how this goes.

299
00:19:12,990 --> 00:19:19,470
So you start peeling back the layers, and the customer was just
expecting one thing and something else happened.

300
00:19:19,470 --> 00:19:23,100
And when you investigate it, you realize we did kind of mess up.

301
00:19:23,100 --> 00:19:27,270
And yeah, he may have been upset, but let's role reverse this.

302
00:19:27,300 --> 00:19:29,400
What would you have been if the same thing happened?

303
00:19:29,400 --> 00:19:30,870
So nobody's perfect.

304
00:19:30,900 --> 00:19:38,820
Nobody's flawless. But giving them that insight on let me coach
you on what you missed and help you understand what the

305
00:19:38,820 --> 00:19:39,960
other side is.

306
00:19:40,440 --> 00:19:46,140
I think is developing them to take my spot hopefully one day
because that's the end goal, right?

307
00:19:46,170 --> 00:19:47,220
Get promoted.

308
00:19:47,250 --> 00:19:48,570
Let them take your spot.

309
00:19:48,570 --> 00:19:50,490
Megan McKoy-Noe:
So I love that.

310
00:19:50,490 --> 00:19:53,700
And it goes back to what you started out the whole conversation
about.

311
00:19:53,940 --> 00:20:00,090
It's about building trust with your team so that you can have
those conversations and all grow through it together, which is

312
00:20:00,090 --> 00:20:01,140
beautiful, Scott.

313
00:20:01,170 --> 00:20:04,380
I love that. One last question before I let you go.

314
00:20:04,410 --> 00:20:06,750
I'm having so much fun with you.

315
00:20:06,840 --> 00:20:07,950
Scott Paul:
So am I, Megan, I love it.

316
00:20:07,980 --> 00:20:09,030
Megan McKoy-Noe:
Thank you for doing this.

317
00:20:09,030 --> 00:20:16,140
But what advice do you have for utility pioneers who want to
strengthen their customer service teams

318
00:20:16,140 --> 00:20:17,250
storytelling?

319
00:20:17,850 --> 00:20:21,660
Scott Paul:
It's a great question.

320
00:20:22,080 --> 00:20:28,350
I think you ask your customers and understand what their
impression is of you.

321
00:20:28,770 --> 00:20:35,670
I think it's very valid that what you think might be really,
really working, isn't really, really working.

322
00:20:36,000 --> 00:20:37,830
And so we do that often.

323
00:20:37,830 --> 00:20:45,450
What else can, the way we end every conversation coming into
Beacon Broadband isn't "Thank you so much for calling in." It's

324
00:20:45,450 --> 00:20:47,310
you called in for this.

325
00:20:47,320 --> 00:20:48,820
You called in for that.

326
00:20:48,820 --> 00:20:50,740
We did this, and we did this to solve it.

327
00:20:50,770 --> 00:20:54,640
What other things can I do to help make your Beacon experience
great?

328
00:20:55,540 --> 00:20:56,380
Megan McKoy-Noe:
Love that.

329
00:20:56,410 --> 00:20:58,210
Scott Paul:
So find those extra pieces.

330
00:20:58,210 --> 00:21:01,030
You don't need to take a survey every thirty months or three
days.

331
00:21:01,450 --> 00:21:03,070
What else do you have?

332
00:21:03,100 --> 00:21:06,940
And so taking it to that next level, I think.

333
00:21:06,940 --> 00:21:10,480
Don't settle with patting yourself on the back.

334
00:21:10,480 --> 00:21:12,790
Always challenge yourself for that next thing.

335
00:21:12,820 --> 00:21:14,050
That would be my advice.

336
00:21:14,080 --> 00:21:16,450
Megan McKoy-Noe:
Oh, that is wonderful advice.

337
00:21:16,480 --> 00:21:19,990
Thank you so much for sharing your story with utility pioneers.

338
00:21:20,020 --> 00:21:20,440
Scott Paul:
My pleasure.

339
00:21:20,440 --> 00:21:26,440
Megan McKoy-Noe:
He is Scott Paul from Beacon Broadband, and I'm your host, Megan
McKoy-Noe at Pioneer Utility Resources.

340
00:21:26,710 --> 00:21:30,010
And until we talk again, keep telling your story.

341
00:21:30,610 --> 00:21:37,870
Outro:
StoryConnect is produced by Pioneer Utility Resources, a
communications cooperative that is built to share your

342
00:21:37,870 --> 00:21:38,680
story.