Q&A with MJ Verhovc, Head of Customer Support
Introduction
Get the inside scoop from MJ Verhovc, Head of Customer Support at White Label Casinos. From building a top-notch team to keeping customers happy, MJ shares his leadership secrets that keep his team and the business running smoothly. It’s not just customer support, it’s a winning strategy. But don’t take our word for it.
Question Time
1. You’re known for your hands-on approach to team building. What inspired you to sit down one-on-one with every support agent when you joined White Label Casinos?
Experience. I see leadership as an upside down pyramid. I’m not on top of everyone, I’m carrying everyone on my shoulders. To be able to lead a team you need to understand the needs and unique talents of your team. Humans are not machines. Everyone is different and the challenge is to figure out how you can make a well-oiled machine out of these individual cog wheels. A good leader will know how to utilise individual traits. A bad leader will expect everyone to be the same. Getting to know everyone and making time for that was my top priority when I joined. I cannot promise any results if I don’t know what I’m working with.
2. Tell us a bit about your background in leadership training and how it’s shaped the way you lead the Customer Support department at White Label Casinos.
A lot of people just stumble into leadership based on seniority or luck without understanding what it takes. And then they are often on their own doing what they think is right or emulating what they have experienced themselves in their careers becoming mere ‘checkbox’ leaders by any means necessary, focusing solely on the results and not the ‘how to get there’, leaving their team without guidance or perspective.
I like to say ‘a car with a flat tire still can drive’, so there is often this ‘no need to change the tire’ mindset that leads to high employee turnover. I came from a trainer background before transitioning into leadership myself over 10 years ago. Since then, I have mentored a lot of talent that went on to become successful leaders and managers in their own right and even started their own companies. You can’t expect results without providing the tools and support needed.
My main focus used to be communication and that’s my passion and something I apply on a daily basis. It’s never what you say, it’s always about how you say it. Everyone knows that in advertising, no ad just says ‘this is the product, these are the specifications’. As humans, we want to know ‘what’s in it for me, why does it work that way, how does it make me feel’, and the same goes for leadership. Respect, empowerment and trust are the keys to a happy employee and in my line of business that translates directly into customer satisfaction.
Another big part of successful leadership is transparency. In order to accept things, we need to understand ‘why’. Anyone using ‘because I say so’ or ‘do it or else there will be punishment’ to get things done will not be successful in the long run and will completely alienate their team and get a group of mindless drones without initiative or intellectual involvement in return. It’s important to explain why things are happening and when you can’t for whatever reason, this is where the trust you have built before comes into play. A ‘I can’t tell you details due to XY’ beats a ‘don’t ask just do it’ any day.
3. How would you describe the importance of customer support at White Label Casinos? What role does it play in shaping the player experience?
I tell every CS agent ‘you are the face and ears of the company’, and I mean it. You can spend all the money in the world on marketing, but the moment a player comes to speak to us, it’s a make-or-break situation. A bad interaction can drive customers away and bad news travels fast. Many companies merely see CS as ‘something you need to have’, underestimating the importance. A customer rarely contacts CS when they are happy and everything works fine, so there is always an underlying issue that needs to be solved. The customer is already agitated, so hiding behind a ‘find the answer yourself’ FAQ or badly done chat bot leads to high customer frustration.
On the other hand, a personalised conversation focused on finding a solution is quite literally customer retention. And again, word of mouth. It is an integral part of the brand’s reputation. And let’s not forget, a skilled CS agent will know how to adjust the tone and language to the customer’s needs. There is no ‘one size fits all’ solution you can just copy paste on some board and have the customers figure it out themselves. That’s where a good CS agent is needed.
”Respect, empowerment and trust are the keys to a happy employee and in my line of business that translates directly into customer satisfaction.”
MJ Verhovc, Head of Customer Support
4. White Label Casinos recently integrated Zoho as a new Customer Support tool. What excites you most about this change? How do you see it enhancing the player experience and improving client satisfaction?
I’m excited about providing my team with a smooth and intuitive tool that allows them to work more efficiently. Like I said earlier, it is important to provide your team with the tools needed and to make sure they have an environment in which they can thrive. Zoho will allow us to focus more on quality and customer satisfaction, with boosted reporting and analytical capabilities.
5. With team members based in LatAm, Europe, and the Philippines, maintaining strong relationships across different time zones can be a challenge. What’s your approach to staying connected with your global team?
I work pretty non-linear and don’t believe in a 9-5 for myself. It’s important for me that my team knows that I’m there for them and I also ‘come to them’ and don’t expect them to get up at 3 am just to have a meeting with me. We have team leads and seniors working in 24/7 rotations, so staying in touch and having a good team atmosphere is imperative.
6. Describe your leadership style in three words.
Empowering, nurturing, guiding.
“I see leadership as an upside down pyramid. I’m not on top of everyone, I’m carrying everyone on my shoulders.”
MJ Verhovc, Head of Customer Support
7. There’s a stereotype that “anyone” can be a customer support agent, but you’ve mentioned you strongly disagree. What makes this role unique, and what do you think it really takes to excel?
‘Anyone’ can do customer support in the same way anyone can win a marathon. Most of us have 2 functioning legs? All you need is training and then you’re good to go, right? There is this misconception that since everyone can take phone calls or do chats or message on social media, everyone is also capable of doing a customer support job. But just look at any comment section on the internet. Does it look like everyone has enough self-awareness and objectiveness to talk to ‘strangers’? I don’t think so.
But as such the position is often treated as some sort of entry level student job you do on the side when you don’t want to work at a fast-food restaurant. While it can be that for some people, I do believe a certain inherent talent or predisposition surely pays off. Combine that with proper in-depth training and you have a winner.
Another misconception especially in more technical aspects is that knowing a lot about something automatically makes you qualified to pass on this information. Again, for most people it’s not only about getting to the solution, but much rather how the journey there made them feel. The solution is great but worth nothing if it was an unpleasant experience. Why would we come back? A good customer support agent understands that. I also don’t believe that merely being chatty or extroverted is enough. That’s the other extreme. What is needed is balance and that’s what I’m looking for in an agent.
8. What qualities do you believe are essential for a customer support agent, and how do you help your team develop these skills?
What is needed is an understanding of communication and psychology, the ability to connect and adapt and a curious mind to investigate and help. It often helps to be bilingual because then you come with an inherent understanding of different perspectives. Our language shapes the way we perceive the world, in an international environment that often can cause misunderstandings.
Take for example ‘let’s meet at half five’. Depending on your background, that can either be 16:30 or 17:30, so who is in the right? A skilled agent will know of these pitfalls and work to avoid them. I always make sure to offer my team access to all the knowledge needed to perform well in their jobs as well as conduct soft skill trainings and more in–depth coaching regarding transcultural communication and personality types.
9. What’s the most rewarding part of working in Customer Support, especially in the iGaming industry?
Definitely solving issues and seeing things work as a result. The positive feedback we get from our customers is direct proof that we do something right. And then there is of course the exciting challenge of working in an everchanging environment that requires you to keep learning and keep adjusting. As ‘language fan’ I personally absolutely love the international nature of the industry.
Quickfire Round:
A massive thanks to MJ for his insights into what it’s like running a global Customer Support team at White Label Casinos and for kicking off our brand-new series.
Stay tuned to learn more from White Label Casinos’ leaders.
Next up is Niamh Carberry, our Head of Marketing.
