Recently I visited Casual Male XL in Canton, MA and toured their corporate headquarters. I was really impressed by the catalog showroom, located next to their call center hub.
Casual Male XL is transitioning its’ call center agents to become “wardrobe assistants”, where they have stocked a fully-inventoried showroom to provide the agents with a means of making stylish suggestions and complimentary add-on offers to customers placing orders. “It really helps to have all of the materials and colors in front of you,” said Christina Shortall, Call Center Director at Casual Male XL.
Casual Male XL has expanded quite a bit since it’s early days. They operate 5 different lines of business featuring upscale, contemporary & economical clothing, shoes accessories, all for the big & tall male shopper, a growing demographic.
Casual Male uses Virtual Observer to assist in training the agents, or “wardrobe assistants”, as Shortall’s staff of supervisors score calls and provide feedback and reporting back to the agents on where they can improve.
“Since Virtual Observer is very scalable, it helps during the peak holiday seasons, when both call volume and staffing spike,” Shortall added. “Virtual Observer also helps us in our training sessions, as we can play back calls so employees can hear themselves on the phone.”
Christina also mentioned big plans for the business, announcing plans for a combined superstore in Chicago, Houston, Memphis and Las Vegas this summer. The store, Casual Male DXL, is a new lifestyle super-store which caters to all big & tall men’s needs under one roof. We actually shared exciting announcements as I discussed the Virtual Observer product roadmap with her.
As I left, I felt very proud of the way Virtual Observer had helped Christina meet aggressive performance goals and how her team of supervisors and agents were handling their transition to becoming “wardrobe assistants”.
More information relative to the new super store announcement can be read here.
