Meet Gabriel, a Customer Satisfaction Manager at Herbies Seeds
Keeping Herbies Seeds running like a well-oiled machine takes quite a lot of work, which is done behind the scenes by our talented employees. In this new series of articles, we’re taking you inside Herbies’ headquarters to show you around and introduce you to the team.
First in line is Gabriel, our customer satisfaction manager. You’ve probably already chatted with Gabriel if you’ve ever sent us an email or left a comment on one of our articles. Let’s get to know him and his job a little better!
Starting at Herbies
Gabriel joined our team almost two years ago, in October 2019, after he had just graduated from university and Herbies moved to Spain. Surprisingly, Gabriel came to us following a job posting for our content team, and… he didn’t get the job! Not because we didn’t like him, though. Herbies’ talent acquisition manager at the time saw that his communication skills and talent with conflict resolution were through the roof, so he was asked if he’d like to take on the role of a customer satisfaction manager instead. Luckily for us, Gabriel said yes!
I always found it pleasant to help people, and the guys here were very friendly and helpful toward everyone, so… this is how it started.
On His Personal Stance on Cannabis
Of course, when joining a company like Herbies, you need to have an unshakeable stance on cannabis and see the potential in the plant. We as a team feel involved in showing the bigger picture to as many people as possible. Every year, more and more regions worldwide gain access to the right to grow their own cannabis, and we couldn’t be happier about it. From our side, we do our best to provide growers with all they need to start their journey: cannabis seeds and knowledge. Gabriel, among others, is responsible for the latter. When asked about his personal stance on cannabis, he said:
“Some people believe that cannabis products are a drug, but cannabis is an essential source of medical treatment that doesn’t cause chemical addiction. I personally don’t consume it, but I consider it to be a very efficient medicine. Besides, isn’t it a great hobby to grow plants? The satisfaction from taking it from a seed to a well-grown plant that’s taller than yourself? This is something amazing.”
A Day at Herbies Seeds
Every day at Herbies is like no other, as is natural for an international company that works from offices, warehouses, and home-based work stations scattered across the globe. Gabriel here must be one of the busiest people on the team. Every working day, he juggles e-mails, live-chat messages, reviews, and phone calls, all while reporting each issue back to the team.
A customer satisfaction manager doesn’t have a set schedule for the day – you just need to be there when someone needs you.
You can imagine that at times, working on a large-scale project like Herbies can get quite stressful. In our main office, employees have lots of ways to take the edge off, be it by playing Ratchet & Clank on PlayStation, having a round of air hockey, or doing yoga.
Gabriel has his own ways of dealing with stress! At the moment, due to COVID, he works from home, where it’s just him and his little helper, a vaporizer filled with tasty glycerol-based liquid and some nicotine. It’s funny, but everyone in the team actually gets to see Gabriel and his vaporizer almost daily, as both feature in his picture used for one of Herbies’ work chats.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I work from home now, which I find very comfortable. I do miss my team, but we meet in our free time to have a cup of coffee every now and then!
The Best Memory from Working at Herbies
Even though many of our workers are located in different cities and countries, the team gets to meet up every once in a while to get to know the newbies and catch up with everyone. Sometimes it’s a small event like a board games session for locals, but other times, the whole family of 50+ people come together to spend a day in nature or throw a huge themed party. When asked about his favorite memory from his time at Herbies, Gabriel instantly thinks of one such event: “Well, that would be our team going on a two-day vacation to ski! We had so much fun and lots of team-building activities there!”. Indeed, talking to your colleagues in the office or via Zoom is one thing. However, what really makes our team bond is things like seeing your boss get on skis for the first time – and then helping him out of the snow 10 seconds later!
The Best Part of the Job
Herbies is a place for bright individuals to find the best use for their skills and grow while doing something they enjoy. As a result, everyone’s view on the best part of working at Herbies is different. Here’s what it is for Gabriel:
“It’s when our clients are happy. This is what’s most important, right? Our clients are regular people, just like ourselves; if I’m of assistance to any of them, they feel good, taken great care of, assisted, and guided. I enjoy making them feel important to us – I find it most satisfying to know that we managed to help someone, since I really like to help people.
I also remember the time right after New Year’s when my colleague went on vacation and the season had already started. This happened along with the newly introduced strict border policies and many other obstacles I can’t mention. This was by far my most difficult two weeks of work, with just a single day off – but in the end, even though I was exhausted, I felt really happy and calm, as many satisfied customers and their smileys entered my email!”
It’s Not All Fun and Games
It never is! So, obviously, with the good parts of the job come the bad ones, which is just how it is. To learn what that fly in the ointment is for a customer satisfaction manager at Herbies, we asked Gabriel to talk about something that drives him mad:
“Well, as a customer satisfaction manager whose job is to help, I don’t really get “mad” – I just do my best to assist. But what really makes me feel uncomfortable is when I or our company itself gets blackmailed through fake reviews on TrustPilot. Many of the negative reviews there are made by people who made a mistake on their end, and we couldn’t assist them since it was out of our control. Even worse, some of them aren’t even our clients! Such injustice toward us after we do our best as a team to provide great service does make me feel bad.”
Top Questions Gabriel is Asked Most Frequently
Day to day, Gabriel gets asked a million questions about Herbies, our seeds, growing tips and tricks, and so on. He has already helped us come up with a special FAQ that has As to most of the Qs customers usually ask him. Anyway, there are some things that can never be repeated too many times.
Regarding tracking numbers not being updated…
The first and most obvious reason for tracking number issues is that the parcel is lost in transit, which none of us want to happen. The second reason might be that the tracking information just isn’t up to date – the parcel is moving, but tracking doesn’t show that. In these cases, once the parcel has almost reached its destination, you may get all the updates in one day.
Regarding parcels that are lost...
Because of the COVID-19 situation, which is still present and regretfully not yet resolved, parcels may be lost in transit. This is the main reason why we have a 25-day waiting period – because most of the parcels that have run into tracking issues are found and delivered within 25 days, which we start to count after the last tracking update.
Or seized by customs
If this happens, you will receive a package without seeds. The package itself will be re-taped with customs tape, and a letter from customs will be attached. Please send us photos of that letter and the package, and we will offer you a replacement or a full refund. This event won’t harm you in any way – the product may be removed only because it’s a biological material, and not seeds of a certain plant.
Gabriel’s Final Advice for Clients with an Issue
Contact us right away! Whoever or wherever you are, we’ll do our very best to help you. Most importantly, we always respond in a timely manner – rest assured that we’ll be there for you.
Nice Meeting You, Gabriel!
That was Gabriel, a customer satisfaction manager at Herbies. If you’d like to contact Gabriel and ask him a question yourself, send an email to [email protected] – he’ll be more than happy to answer.
What other positions and employees from Herbies should we cover next? Leave your suggestions below, because we want to keep showing you around!
Herbies Head Shop expressly refuses to support the use, production, or supply of illegal substances. For more details read our Legal Disclaimer.
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