Judith Kerklo Email & Phone Number

Chicago, Il, Us

Greater Chicago Area

Leading the Global Customer Service team for an operation that specializes in electro-thermal treatment-purification; grinding, sizing and custom mixes; graphite and carbon sourcing; toll processing, and thermal synthesis of beta silicon carbide providing solutions to a wide range of markets: energy/thermal management, friction materials, oil drilling, metallurgy, and other industries. Overseeing team split between offices in Sweden and Illinois with frequent travel overseas. Guiding customer experience and service, managing and balancing the workload among team members, and driving increased sales through the management of key accounts. • Oversee all aspects of the company’s customer service policies, objectives and initiatives, designing strategies and standardized processes to support premiere service delivery, and handling of customer orders, inquires, incidents and complaints• Standardizing procedures and policies governing the processing of customer orders, inquiries, incidents and complaints, design strategies and processes to support and accelerate premier service delivery• Responsible for the success of company’s two key accounts – both high profile Fortune 500 global organizations - which make up one-third of the US division sales; managing sales forecasts, communications, invoice collection, and frequent in-person visits to strengthen the client relationship and ensure quality handling • Strengthening relationships with global supply chain and category and project managers, making decisions to successfully increase satisfaction scores• Collaborating with VP of Sales compiling customer feedback to improve customer service delivery, and communicate ideas and key findings to improve processes• Assisting in the development and management of department budget• Managed corporate restructuring and downsizing of the Customer Service team, reassigning account responsibilities and providing seamless service to customers in the process

Greater Chicago Area

Drove continuous improvements throughout customer service processes and systems for global brands. Directed significant organizational changes to improve customer service process and quality for high value clients that accounted for half of the total corporate revenue. Reorganized scattered teams and individuals with varying responsibilities into customer-based teams, providing continuity and improved responsiveness. • Played pivotal role in senior leadership integration teams after company purchase of several corporate brands, moving the customer service functions to the US office and aligning systems• Managed corporate teams for large global clients ensuring quality and satisfaction met for likes of Amazon, Wal-Mart, Bed Bath & Beyond, specialty retailers, broker accounts and import/export clients• Decreased staffing costs for order entry team by 28% following restructuring of various departments to develop multi-department customer teams• Identified need and managed overseas build of third-party logistics warehouse in UK to expedite customer shipping throughout Europe• Implemented process and software solutions to manage customer orders with office in China, shipping products directly from manufacturer to customer• Digitized product development files so consumer team could more quickly access client information, eliminating need to manually gather information from multiple sources, saving 3.5 staff hours/week• Redesigned promotional discount tool, eliminating redundant steps and improving responsiveness • Identified operation issue with major distribution and shipping operation taking shortage deductions for product that was shipped and received. Through root cause analysis, recovered $1M returned from Amazon against shortage charges, reducing shortage deduction rate by 24% YOY• Deep understanding of multiple roles in corporate and administrative structure, after being promoted multiple times through company ranks, starting in customer service

Greater Chicago Area

Led team of nine responsible for customer service, order management, billing, sales and broker commission payments and price maintenance for national contracts and regional routes for manufacturer and supplier of quality coffee to the restaurant and convenience store industry.• Developed company training and SOP materials including Billing and Inventory Control Manual • Developed and implemented performance standards and training for customer service teams – regionalizing assignments to deliver more personalized service to clients• Responsible for daily communication meetings with production and warehouse for continuous improvements to quality and delivery for customers• Established and implemented regular audit review procedures to assess pricing, increasing accuracy by 100%• Designed and implemented a billback procedure to create accurate customer invoicing, sales dollar reporting and green coffee contract usage reporting