Franck
Customer relations manager
I recognize every one of our members and customers and they also recognize me. So, I have a real human relationship with each of them, no exceptions.
Franck, who are you and what is your role at Parnasse?
I am a customer relations manager at Parnasse. My role is to reply to and instantly redirect our members' and customers' demands, no matter what the subject, or the means of communication: calls, emails and, more recently, Apple Business Chat. I not only take the calls, but I also take care of their demands myself at the same time.
So, my role is essential to the excellent service provided by Parnasse. I can assist members and customers who want to change packages, for example, give them technical advice, or simply activate an exclusive Parnasse option for their international travel.
How did you arrive at Parnasse?
I have had quite an unusual career.
I started off studying biology. Then I had an opportunity to work in the field of photography in Berlin where I met professionals in that area. When I came back to France, I joined the Photo Service laboratories which, at that time, was a premium service in the field of customer relations. In this company, I started out selling consumables for photography, before becoming a developer / filterer, and lastly the technical manager of a laboratory.
After that, I became a store manager at Orange's "Générale de Téléphone." I felt the need to challenge myself with new opportunities.
I wanted to get into customer relations. Parnasse was the entity that most interested me in terms of acquiring real expertise in excellent customer relations management. I have now been working at Parnasse for five years. I have also learned a lot about the technical aspects.
How do you fulfill the Parnasse brand promise in your work?
These days everybody has a very intimate relationship with their telephone: it represents the past with photos, the present with communications and the future with the diary. We have an irrational relationship with this tool, which makes it indispensable in our daily lives.
We need to be aware that the human element is increasingly indistinguishable from the digital world and this must be taken into account both when processing requests and during interactions with our members.
Whether the issue is related to connectivity, security, a breakdown, breakage or simply about uses, the message needs to be adapted to it.
Some customers will simply need technical support, while others will be experiencing a moment of stress, or even anxiety, and will need a very different sort of support.
They need to be listened to, so that they feel understood and are reassured at a moment that they consider to be critical. These feelings are really the difference I need to take into account on a daily basis in my relations with the members and customers.
This is the real difference between efficient processing and a truly quality customer experience.
The human aspect lies at the heart of my job. I have a more personal relationship with the members and customers than in other companies. I work in different ways to be able to offer them a made-to-measure service and personalized processing: the flow of the words, the attitude, the language charter, the editorial style and customer knowledge. I recognize every one of our members and customers, and they also recognize me. So, I have a real human relationship with each of them, no exceptions.
Parnasse offers our members and customers 24/7 availability. At the desk, we undertake to answer after a maximum of just two rings. When a member or customer calls us, they always reach a real person who will listen to them, and understand and reassure them, and who will even be able to process their request directly. In reality, the customer relations managers process 80% of the requests they receive completely independently, whatever they might be about.
And if they don't have the answer, they know who to go to in order to get back to the member or customer quickly and in person. I think of us as the "Swiss army knife" of Parnasse.
The members trust us. They can feel our commitment to our sole objective, which is to make them completely satisfied.
What is the most essential thing in your daily work at Parnasse?
The Parnasse Customer Relationship Management or CRM tool.
It is essential in my daily work. It allows me to directly recognize the member or customer who has contacted me, to see their full history with Parnasse, and all the exchanges that have taken place, in order to be able to offer them a made-to-measure and ultra-personal response.
Whoever answers their request, this tool provides a snapshot at any given time and enables the member or customer to feel recognized at Parnasse.
Tell us about your most memorable or unusual experience at Parnasse.
I have two quite complementary stories that perfectly illustrate the quality of service at Parnasse.
The first is more about the excellent relationship management provided by Parnasse to its members.
I am in touch with an English-speaking member who only wants to speak to either his coach or me because there is a real relationship of trust that has developed between us over time. When he calls and I am not available, I call back later to respond to his request. He prefers to wait rather than talk to somebody else. This member really needs this relationship of trust and uses the Parnasse service for this closeness and the recognition that comes with it. During the first lockdown he was stuck in Paris, in a big hotel, whereas he lives outside France. So, he was far from his family. So, his coach and I took the time to ask him how he was doing, to find out if he was able to communicate with people or if he needed any additional tools to make communication easier. In my job, you must never lose sight of the fact that the member is, above all, a human being. During this period, I therefore had informal conversations with him, different from the commercial relationship. These are things that can happen at Parnasse and give the relationships that we have with our members a slightly different dimension. This relationship of mutual trust, ultra-personalization and our availability is typical of Parnasse.
The second is more about service excellence, the made-to-measure experience and the peace of mind that Parnasse brings to its members.
One Saturday, I received a call from a member, an African diplomat who was going to arrive in Paris the same day before leaving on the Monday with the French delegation to go to another country far from Europe. He told me, before taking his flight to Paris, that his telephone was no longer working, that he had all his contacts in it and that his entire personal and professional life was stored in it. He seemed lost and anxious about getting through his trip. Once he arrived in Paris late on the Saturday evening, a technician was waiting at his hotel, ready to transfer his contacts directly to a new telephone. The member was able to leave on the Monday with the French delegation without a worry. That is the magic of Parnasse.
What does this experience bring to you in your professional and personal life?
Professionally, it's a real pleasure to work with teams that are driven by customer satisfaction. Because of this, I have no problems with forwarding the requests I receive from members and customers to multi-media assistance or the coaches, as I can be sure that they will be dealt with efficiently and kindly. There is real trust between the teams.
What's more, we learn a lot because all the functions are closely linked: working with technicians, coaches and departments other than mine helps me to acquire new skills.
Personally, we are lucky at Parnasse to be trained by the Parnasse Academy of Service on the "luxury" attitude to adopt, while still taking into account our members' need for responsiveness. It is this responsiveness that we must bring to our members and customers. It's the little extra personal touch that Parnasse provides and that gives me a lot in my daily life.
What are your reasons for working at Parnasse?
Working at Parnasse means being interested in people, whether when working with the different teams, or with the members and customers. But it also means always trying to achieve the complete satisfaction of all concerned.
When I went for the interview, I knew that Parnasse was the entity I wanted to join. I could feel that there was teamwork, exchanges and sharing between the teams, and that there was a common desire to achieve the same objective: our members' satisfaction.
If you are passionate about excellent customer relations and your priority is to make the human dimension the absolute priority, then Parnasse is a wonderful place to learn new skills and acquire a service culture.
Is the fact that Parnasse is Orange's exclusive brand important to you?
What's important to me is the fact that Parnasse is the Orange Group pioneer for customer relations. That allows me to make a positive contribution every day, and to be able to attend workshops that enable me to work with Orange and benefit from the Group's expertise.
In my job, the fact that Parnasse is an exclusive Orange brand enables me to add value to my answers and to give our members and customers a feeling of trust. They understand that they are different, valued, and that Parnasse offers them an exclusive service.
Share a quotation with us (that you have heard, experienced or that you simply like) linked to your job at Parnasse.
It's a quotation that I have always liked and that I apply in my daily life and also my job at Parnasse: "trust is gained in drops but lost in buckets" by Jean-Paul Sartre.
So, we must always aim at excellence in everything we do if we are to gain the trust of a member. On the other hand, it takes just one mistake to lose their trust, far quicker than it took to gain it. That is why it is necessary to give the best of yourself and pay attention to the smallest detail.
24 August 2021