Meet Becky Lollar!

I grew up in Bartlett, TN and attended Union University in nearby Jackson where I earned degrees in elementary education. I taught Kindergarten for three years then chose to stay at home with my two daughters.

After our first family trip to Walt Disney World, I was hooked! I now represent Magical Travel, an agency which specializes in selling Disney vacations. After four years, I am still thrilled to be helping clients make magical memories!

False Dichotomy

We know that the answer is often somewhere in between, but the fun of this section is that you have to pick just one!

Paper > Plastic

Personalization < Privacy

In-Store Shopping > Online Shopping

Transactional > Relational

Mac > PC

Customer Service < Customer Experience

Captain Kirk < Dr. Spock

Talk > Text

Dog < Cat

Movie Theater < In-Home Rental

Tell Us More About Yourself…

What was your first job and what did you learn about customer service in it?

My first part-time job was working at a summer day camp as an assistant counselor. Our primary customers were the parents of the children we were serving. In this job, I learned that meeting customer expectations is what really matters; if parents didn’t feel that we were providing their kids with a safe environment and planning fun, structured activities, they could choose other options.

My first full-time job as a public school teacher was no different; communication is the key to success. Parents have expectations that the teacher will enable their kids to progress at an acceptable rate. I had to learn how to plan and conduct conferences during which we would have constructive conversations about individual and parent-teacher “team” objectives and desired outcomes.

Tell us how one outside influence impacted your customer service or customer experience thinking. (For Ex. book, movie, sporting event, relationship, travel)

Our first family trip to Walt Disney World had a significant impact on my thoughts about the customer experience. In researching and planning for our trip I became much more aware of the Disney Parks’ reputation for excellent customer service. Our first trip gave me many opportunities to observe Disney cast members in action. I was pleased to learn that the Disney reputation is well-deserved; we had a wonderful time with our daughters as we enjoyed the attractions, our dining experiences, and our interactions with their favorite characters.

When your personal experience with a brand meets or exceeds your expectations you can recommend the brand’s products and services without reservation! I’m very happy to have a job which gives me the opportunity to recommend and personalize Disney vacations for my clients. I love being able to use my experience and training to help others explore and discover options that give them the most value for their hard-earned vacation dollars.

In your own personal experience, has customer service gotten better or worse in the past five years?

In my experience customer service has gotten worse. Many companies have lost the “personal touch.” They have chosen to outsource their customer support activities, believing that this is an opportunity to reduce costs without negatively impacting sales. Unfortunately, a lack of expertise or empowerment in the support function often leads to sub-par interactions which can harm a company’s brand reputation.

Fill-In-The-Blank

> I consider it a bad customer experience when I am placed on hold for more than 3 minutes.

> In five years, the most important social media channel for customer service will be Facebook.

> The best book I read in the last twelve months was I can’t pick just one.

To connect with Becky Lollar further visit her at Facebook page – Magical Travel.

Photo courtesy of Becky Lollar.