Cultivating a Culture of Excellence, With Kristin Burdette

Kristin Burdette, customer experience supervisor at Loretto Telecom, explains her vision to consistently deliver excellent communications to employees and the community.

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Lead Tennessee Radio features conversations with the leaders who are moving Tennessee forward. Topics include rural development, broadband, technology, legislation, policy and more. The podcast is produced by the Tennessee Broadband Association.

Intro:
The following program is brought to you by the Tennessee
Broadband Association.

Lead Tennessee Radio, conversations with the leaders moving our
state forward.

We look at the issues shaping Tennessee's future: rural
development, public policy, broadband, health

care and other topics impacting our communities.

Carrie Huckeby:
Hello, I'm Carrie Huckeby, the executive director of the
Tennessee Broadband Association.

In 2022, Loretta Telecom created a brand new mission statement,
and the purpose was to help the employees and the

company focus on their operational goals so that as they
operated daily, they were thinking about the culture

of excellence and how they would deliver innovative, dependable
and affordable communications to their

customers. Kristin Burdette is my guest today on Lead Tennessee
Radio, and she is the customer experience supervisor

at Loretto Telecom.

She oversees sales, customer service, marketing and public
relations, which means she's a busy lady.

But she agreed to spend a little time with me talking about her
new role and the focus on a culture of excellence.

So happy New Year, Kristin, and thank you for joining me.

Kristin Burdette:
Happy New Year to you, and thank you so much for having me.

It's an honor.

Carrie Huckeby:
Thank you. You started at Loretto in June of last year.

So tell us a little bit about your background, the experiences
you brought with you that are going to help you in this

CX role.

Kristin Burdette:
Yeah. My background is a little bit different.

I studied at a leadership college, an international leadership
college actually, located in Sydney, Australia, for

about three years, which threw me into the creative world for a
short time before returning home to

Tennessee and working for local government in the County
Executive's Office.

There is where I had my experience in PR and marketing for about
two years, and I really loved that role.

Through that I gained, I feel like, a new perspective of
Lawrence County and honestly invaluable connections that I feel

like will guide me into my role here at Loretto Telecom.

Carrie Huckeby:
I bet that it was exciting to study in Sydney, Australia.

I've always wanted to go there.

Kristin Burdette:
Yes, ma'am, it was. It was a wonderful time.

Carrie Huckeby:
Well, in the past, when we talk about customer experiences,
companies have sometimes been guilty of thinking that only, you

know, the customer service or the front line is responsible for
customer experience.

But we've learned that it's every single interaction that goes
into that customer experience bucket.

It's your online billing system, your website, your
conversations with your GM, your installers.

It could be a conversation at the ballpark or the grocery store.

When your company created this new mission statement and this
culture of excellence operationally, what are some of

the ways that you ensured everyone in the company can stay
focused on the customer experience?

How did you talk about it and introduce it to the company?

Kristin Burdette:
Well, you're exactly right that the customer experience was
spread all across the company.

Number one, we have a very close leadership team, and we meet
weekly to review our progress.

We look for opportunities for growth.

And then to ensure that our culture of our teams is in good
health.

We believe that when we have healthy teams, people are
performing at a higher level and are also driven to protect the

company's mission. We're also looking to refocus our branding
this year.

So we're hoping to make sure that our marketing, the website and
all features are in line with our overarching goal, which is just

to ensure that each customer feels well taken care of and
receives the highest quality services.

Carrie Huckeby:
Fantastic. And I'm sure your leadership training in Australia has
been valuable with

these weekly meetings and just discussing how to lead your team
there at Loretto, right?

Kristin Burdette:
Yes ma'am, absolutely.

I mean, I'm only 27, so I came into a team that has a large
collective wealth of knowledge

and, you know, me being on the backside of that, what I did feel
that I could bring to the team was my leadership

background and just our team building skills.

Morale is everything.

You can have the skills, and you can have the day-to-day, but
without that extra push in the right direction and kind of

centering us around the right things, I just felt like I may not
know everything about telecoms just yet.

I'm still learning, but there are some things that I could bring
to the table with that.

Carrie Huckeby:
Yes. Excellent.

They contribute to the whole picture, you know, whether you have
that telecom experience, that keeping

morale up and keeping everyone focused on this excellent
customer experience, it takes

everyone. So part of the customer experience is understanding
what your customer wants.

What are you learning that your customers there want?

What have you learned, and how are you learning that from your
customers?

Kristin Burdette:
Well, I feel like I'm learning something new almost every single
day about our customer base.

And even though this is my community, there's still so much that
I feel like I have not seen.

So one thing that stands out is our customers' desire to follow
our plan for building out fiber in Lawrence County.

We have so many current and potential customers that are just
waiting patiently for fiber to get to their area.

And some feel like there's no end in sight.

So people are really wanting to know the why behind the what to
kind of close that gap, and what's taking so

long for us to build out these grant funded projects.

And so my goal is to help our community understand and walk this
process with us.

We want to make this process as easy for our customers as
possible.

Carrie Huckeby:
What are some of the things that you are passing on to the
customers that keeps them following

that process?

Is it timelines?

Is it the process of how construction works with how long it
takes to bury the drop, and then it takes

the splicing the fiber and then it takes this?

What are some of the things that you're communicating?

Kristin Burdette:
Yes ma'am, timeline is a huge one.

So kind of, the CSRs know that it's really difficult to kind of
say, "Hey, guess what?

You're in this grant round, but we don't know exactly when we'll
get to you." So we try to be very upfront with the areas that we

are working to build in that year.

But we don't try to give close timelines for those because it's
really hard to meet those

sometimes. Weather can change that.

We might have to stop this process with a contractor and move to
another area for a short time and then come back, finish that

build. So we try to give open ended timelines, but that's where
we start.

We want people to know that, yes, you're in this timeframe, but
we're not 100% sure

how long it's going to take to build out each individual area
that we have.

So that's what we're trying to, I guess, focus on and kind of
clean up so that our expectations that

we're placing out there for the customers to have are not
unrealistic, if that makes sense.

Carrie Huckeby:
It does. And I can remember when I worked in marketing and was
involved with the fiber build, some of our territories were

five years out.

We, you know, we weren't going to build that area for five
years.

And although it was disappointing to them, I found that as long
as they knew what the expectation was, you know, and you just

kept sending them that information, they were okay with that as
long as they knew when it was, that it was five

years. So good.

Well, I come from a sales customer service and marketing
background, as I mentioned, a little bit.

So I'm curious, as you oversee all these disciplines, how do you
communicate this in your marketing and PR

messaging? In other words, if you've worked with a business, and
you've given them a great customer interaction,

how do you communicate that?

Are you doing testimonials, or how do you convey that in your
marketing messaging?

Kristin Burdette:
Testimonials is a huge one that we do.

We actually send out surveys and within that, we have
opportunity for our customers to leave comments

or opportunities for growth for us.

And in turn, we ask for their permission to actually share
those.

And so that is where I feel like we have seen a lot of our
feedback that has been

really positive and really encouraging, not just to our CSRs,
but to the field techs and to our inside techs

and even to the accounting.

People really have said to Loretto Telecom as a whole that we
are

moving in the right direction, and we're really appreciated.

So that has been super encouraging to see.

But as I mentioned above, we're taking time to refocus our
marketing content to be more customer

centered this year. And so I'm just hoping that the more
testimonials we have, that we can continue to weave

that in a bit more than we have.

I would love to see more individual interviews that we can do
with businesses or

individual people that come up that might have a place in the
community that could be a really great voice for us moving into

Lawrenceburg and other areas as we build this out.

Carrie Huckeby:
Yes. We can say as member companies how good our service is and
that we are focused on a culture of

excellence, but no one says that better than your own customers.

So that works the best.

Kristin Burdette:
Yes, ma'am.

Carrie Huckeby:
In the recently announced Tennessee ECD broadband funding,
Loretto was awarded almost seven and a half million dollars to

build there in Lawrence County.

So congratulations to all of you.

As we know, as you talked about, it takes time to expand these
areas and to build and in

service. And you mentioned that it's very important to set those
expectations and communicate with the customers, and

when they're so excited to get broadband.

How do you ensure that everyone in the company, the installers,
the engineering, customer service sales, how do you

ensure that all of them stay on the same page?

Is that where those weekly meetings come in to play, or have you
found other ways to to keep everybody singing from the

same songbook there at Loretto?

Kristin Burdette:
Well, getting everyone on the same page is never easy, as we all
know.

But yes, our weekly meetings play a huge part in that.

So as a leadership team we meet on Fridays, and that is an
awesome time for us just to kind of regroup, figure out

where we're at, look at the things that we want to do and
implement and change, and also bring new information to the

forefront. So after that, on a Wednesday following, we meet with
our individual teams.

That's when we're able to input that top down information.

And our goal is that everything at the top is the same thing at
the bottom.

So it's widespread.

There's nothing being hidden there.

Or, you know, everyone is aware of what's taking place and what
we're working towards, you know.

And so communication is just our absolute number one priority
here at Loretto Telecom.

Carrie Huckeby:
Kristin, how many employees do you have there at Loretto, and how
many are in your management team?

Kristin Burdette:
So we have a total of 23 total employees, and there are six of
us.

Carrie Huckeby:
Good. Do you think that makes it easier with a smaller company,
or do you think those same weekly meetings, and then Wednesday

meetings would work no matter how large your company is?

Kristin Burdette:
I really do feel that we have a slight advantage because there's
not as many months that we have to

capture and kind of get our message into and make sure that
information is going out.

But I really do believe that when you have these data practices
like we have of meeting each week, coming together and hashing

out these conversations and getting out the new information, I
feel like it would work just as well in a larger company.

And I hope as we grow, we're going to see that actually takes
place.

Carrie Huckeby:
Well, you're definitely setting a good foundation for, as you
grow, to continue that good work.

And I love that mind's to capture.

That's so true. So beyond the day to day interaction with
customers, you're doing some really great work

providing an experience to senior citizens with your digital
literacy educational program.

And as part of the funding for the state and federal digital
literacy, which includes adoption, equity and

affordability, is key of ensuring all Tennesseans are connected.

Tell us how the program got started, and what does it mean to
Loretto and more importantly, to those seniors, that show up for

the class?

Kristin Burdette:
Well, this class is birthed out of a need that the Lawrence
County Public Library discovered.

We were asked to partner with them and provide a bit of insight
and instruction to the questions that seniors might have about

technology. And honestly, we very quickly realized that this was
a large need in our community, that there were

lots of seniors that were basically being left behind in this
world of technology.

They had the devices.

They had some knowledge, but they were basic functions on their
cell phones and on their laptops or tablets that they would

use that they weren't quite sure about.

And so coming in and creating a space was very important for us,
for not just for us as a team or

as the company, but for us to see that need and respond to it.

We're hoping that this is going to be something that's going to
continue to grow, continue to evolve, and hopefully be

something that will continue on and have a huge impact in our
community.

Carrie Huckeby:
Do you see being able to offer it to other age groups besides
senior citizens?

Do you do you feel like as we in the state of Tennessee study
digital literacy and see who's getting

left behind, that you'll be able to adapt that class to other
age groups?

Kristin Burdette:
Yes, ma'am. Absolutely.

This specific class is very beginner based.

I feel like we might could even offer different levels for
people to choose and different age groups or

even, it wouldn't necessarily be age group based, but need
based.

What are you looking for in that class and kind of cater to that
information?

The one that we'll be actually hosting in January is kind of
question based.

So we've asked people that will be attending to submit their
questions, and hopefully we'll be able to bring content and

information to help them with that.

Carrie Huckeby:
Good. Well, it's certainly a fantastic program, and I always
enjoy reading what's happening with that.

So I commend you guys for starting it and doing it.

And I know it's helping your community because you did mention,
I think, we did mention in our newsletter article that it's not

just your customers that's coming to that; it's the people in
the community, and you are answering a need

for consumers outside of Loretto Telecom.

Kristin Burdette:
We actually don't have very many customers that are attending our
class because it's in Lawrenceburg.

And Lawrenceburg is not currently one of our ILEC serving areas.

So that will actually be a CLEC for us.

So, it is very fascinating to see people want our service so bad
in those areas, and we're definitely working

to serve them. But it's just neat to see that a lot of them are
not our own customers.

Carrie Huckeby:
Well, you've been doing this about seven months, and we've just
kicked off a new year.

Are there customer experience initiatives that you plan to put
in place this year or things you want to try?

Kristin Burdette:
Yes, ma'am, There are. I have to say right off that I stepped
into a really great team.

As I mentioned before, there is a wealth of knowledge between
these ladies.

They've been here for quite some time, and they're awesome at
what they do, but my focus for 2023 is to challenge them to lean

more into more of a sales initiative without compromising our
customer service, obviously.

I would love to see us focus on some of our lower penetration
areas that have had some for some time, but

our hope is with the extra focus and concentration that we'll
begin to see higher take rates and growth.

And I think it will just be great to challenge these ladies into
something that is outside of their comfort zone.

I'm all about let's do something that feels uncomfortable, and
let's do something that gets us out of the norm, that might

create or generate new opportunities and ideas.

So I'm very excited to see all the will happen in 2023.

Carrie Huckeby:
Well, I'll ask you to expand on that a little bit, because you
know that switching from

customer service, answering, being reactive instead of proactive
in customer service,

that's something we've been talking about for years.

What do you think some of the challenges are?

Is it sales, the word "sales" that kind of scares everyone, or
just not being comfortable

being proactive in that conversation?

How are you going to tackle that?

Kristin Burdette:
I think it is definitely the case that when I say sales, or I'm
encouraging the ladies to

maybe lean more into that area of this role, they tend to lean
back.

And I think it is because it comes with this used car salesman
mentality where they

just feel uncomfortable because the people that they're talking
to are their aunts, their uncles or their cousin or they have

some relationship because we are in such a small area.

And so something that I'm really trying to refocus our minds on
are we're helping people

by also having a sales mentality.

We're giving them the opportunity to make the decision on their
own without making it for them.

And with customer service and wanting to, I guess, bring the
best offering to someone, that's

also, I guess, our perspective of them and what they might want.

Rather than laying out the suppliers, laying out all the options
and saying, this is what we have.

This is what I recommend based off of my professional
experience, but I would like you to know top down what we offer

and what we have accessible to you.

So that that's switching that mindset from a used car salesman
to customer service and sales

really go hand-in-hand because we are creating a service that is
going to be the foundation for Lawerance County.

Broadband is the way of the future.

So us moving in this direction and allowing people to take part
in it, isn't doing something that should go bad.

It should actually feel wonderful.

So I'm just trying to switch that mentality a little bit.

Carrie Huckeby:
Yes. And I completely understand that.

And we used to talk about in training, too, that if you don't
know what your customer needs, and we talked about this earlier

in the podcast, finding out what your customer wants, finding
out what they need, you are their solution

provider.

Kristin Burdette:
Absolutely.

Carrie Huckeby:
Yeah. And you have to start that conversation somewhere.

Well, I look forward to talking to you again this time next year
and see how that goes and the progress you've made and some

of the things that you've done to make that happen.

So I'm excited for you, and I look forward to talking to you
again next year.

So anything that you want to add before we wrap up?

Kristin Burdette:
I just want to say thank you so much and thank you for all that
you've done to make this possible.

And what the Tennessee Broadband Association is actually doing
for Lawrence County.

It's a wonderful thing.

So thank you so much.

Carrie Huckeby:
Well, I appreciate that.

So thank you, Kristin, for your time.

I hope this year is fantastic for you, your team and Loretto
Telecom.

My guest has been Kristin Burdette, customer experience
supervisor at Loretto Telecom.

You've been listening to Lead Tennessee Radio, produced by the
Tennessee Broadband Association, cooperative and independent

companies connecting our state's rural communities and beyond
with world class broadband.