Staffing around the clock, Laplink Customer Experience Representatives are PC setup pros dedicated to providing how-to guidance on any aspect of PCmover. We sat down with Customer Service Center supervisor John Erwin to learn more about what he brings to Laplink’s stellar customer experience.
Tell us, how did you get into the customer service industry?
John Erwin: When I was a child, my family owned a small car and truck battery shop. And when I was about ten, my mother started bringing me into the office with her. She taught me how to greet and speak with customers, how to ask questions that would help me learn about them and better understand their needs. I helped my mother in the shop until I graduated from college, and I’ve worked in the customer service industry ever since, and I love it.
It sounds like customer service is in your blood! What is one of your favorite personal success stories?
John: After college, I worked with a local distributor and surprised them all by making a huge sale in under 20 minutes! They were so impressed. No one in the customer’s entire history had ever made a sale that big that quickly! It was wonderful to see my passion for customer connection help facilitate a successful experience for everyone.
How did you come to work with Laplink?
John: It’s a funny story, actually. It was my wife who first applied to Laplink. She is a certified Apple technician. In the interview process, she learned that Laplink works primarily with PCs and Windows-based devices. And while it wasn’t a good fit for her, she immediately thought of me, since I’m a Dell certified product trainer. The rest is history. Prior to Laplink Software, I worked with several other agencies in the area, providing customer service and technical support for companies including Doritos, Dell, Macy’s, and a few others.
What’s most important to you in your work?
John: Integrity and honesty are my first priorities in everything I do. I don’t want anybody to have cause to doubt my authenticity. I take a lot of pride in what I do. And since our entire team works remotely, rather than in a monitored call center environment, it’s even more important that we are personally motivated and practice honesty. Honesty and integrity are also the basis of good communication with our customers.
What is your guiding philosophy for managing the Laplink Customer Service Center?
John: I believe that to take good care of our customers, we must also take care of each other as a team. Even though I’m a manager, I don’t treat my team as my subordinates; I treat them as my coworkers — like family. When mistakes happen, I check in with them and offer them help and guidance where I can. But I also touch base with them on a personal level when everything is going well. If the queue is light, I’ll take a few minutes to chat with coworkers and ask them how they’re doing. And that is so important. For example, one of our agents just recently lost her mother. Another agent needed to find a doctor for her toddler with a medical emergency. And on the positive side, one of our agents is getting married soon! Whether agents are going through something good or bad, I try to offer an attentive ear, empathy, and understanding — qualities we can better offer to our customers because we practice them among ourselves.
What do you enjoy most about working for Laplink?
John: It’s not just about tech support at Laplink. We build relationships. We facilitate personal connections, levity, and humor in situations that might otherwise feel arduous to those who don’t perform PC migrations every day. I can tell we’re helping people make good memories when they use our product, which is very rewarding. Many of our interactions end with praise and gratitude for our product and for our help. It just doesn’t get any better than that.
"It’s not just about tech support at Laplink. We build relationships. We facilitate personal connections, levity, and humor in situations that might otherwise feel arduous to those who don’t perform PC migrations every day."
What do you envision for the Laplink Customer Service Center in the next few years?
John: I would like to see us expand and be able to offer customer service in many different languages. We currently operate primarily in English. But PCmover products are translated into 17 languages, and it would be my dream to have representatives on our team who could offer customer service in all of them!
Get to know us
Laplink Software, Inc. has been a global leader in consumer, SMB, and enterprise PC migration software for nearly 40 years. We have earned the loyalty and trust of millions of organizations and customers worldwide. PCmover software saves time and budget, reduces migration risks, and increases efficiency. Only PCmover’s proprietary technology includes full selectivity that transfers data, applications, and settings from an old PC to a new one, even if the two PCs run different versions of Windows. Laplink Software is a privately held company founded in 1983 and is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington. Need to consult a PCmover expert? Contact us — anytime!