Bamberg, GERMANY - "That's it?" The lady sitting across from Karin Stiefler seems surprised how easy her request was resolved. "Awesome, thank you!" the customer says, grabs her form and leaves. Within two minutes, she was ready to move on and out the door.
Karin Stiefler is a traffic manager and in charge of the Personal Property Office (PPO) at U.S. Army garrison Bamberg. She and her team received almost 700 Interactive Comment Cards, or ICE comments, in the last six months, with an almost incredible total rating of 100 percent customer satisfaction.
"I love challenges," Stiefler says.
And in her position they come around on a daily bases. PPO handles moves and official travel. Currently, 100 shipments a day are not unusual.
"At times we used to schedule 300 household pick-ups a day," Stiefler says.
Then our conversation suddenly gets interrupted: Stiefler's team member walks in: "A move has been cancelled on Friday, but the movers showed up this morning," she says, and Stiefler immediately grabs a folder, makes a phone call, and manages the problem.
Stiefler has worked at the Bamberg garrison since 1977. It was a family tradition; both her parents were garrison employees, and two brothers worked at USAG Bamberg as well. Even her daughter was temporarily employed on-post, as well as her ex-husband.
In her current job as traffic manager, there's a constant buzz of activity outside her office. Customers walk in with piles of paperwork. Many Soldiers and Families have "pcs'd" lately, while units were moved to Grafenwoehr and Vicenza, Italy, and back to the United States, preparing the garrison for its closure in 2014.
Stiefler and her team members spell customer service with a capital C. The boxes filled with hundreds of their yellow comment cards have nothing but positive comment cards.
"The staff was super nice and answered any questions. A very smooth process," says one card. "A+++ service! They make the impossible possible!" says another one. "Excellent," "awesome," "professional," "knowledgeable," "courteous," "wonderful," "outstanding" -- not a single comment card mentions mediocre or average customer service.
"This was probably the most thorough briefing in my 15 years and 7 PCS moves," a Soldier wrote.
"I understand the stress our customers go through," Stiefler says.
Summer is always a peak time for moving. Furlough days, redeployments and personnel shortages haven't made it easier. Strategic planning is the key for a successful move, Stiefler says, and a lot of that is happening in the background, done by her "worker bees," as she says. There's a saying that crosses your mind when you spend some time at the PPO: Take a job you love and you never have to work a single day.
Soldiers come by to say good-bye before they fly out, Stiefler says; some leave a present for the PPO team and Karin Stiefler.
"When a customer leaves with a smile, that's the best 'Thank You' I can think of."
Social Sharing