Jim Kelley Receives PPB Customer Service Superhero Award

The Fixer | Jim Kelley |Production Supervisor 

Artistic Toy Manufacturing, Inc. (UPIC: ARTSTOY)

Allentown, Pennsylvania | Years At Artistic Toy: 2-1/2

Nominated by Katrina Marshall and Jim Socci, Artistic Toy Manufacturing, Inc.

Why Jim Is A Superhero: “Jim goes above and beyond every single day,” says Katrina Marshall, account manager at Artistic Toy. “His day rarely begins at 9 am and never ends at 5 pm—he often works early mornings, late nights and even weekends to make sure our orders ship on time. Jim doesn’t let his job title define who he is or what he does; he is often thinking outside the box by offering suggestions to the sales team or coming up with innovative marketing ideas. Our team always appreciates Jim’s efforts to help the company save money and cut costs in any way possible. He encourages his team to focus on quality over quantity, yet still manages to meet every one of our customers’ demands.” Jim Socci, president of the company, adds to the accolades. “Every superhero overcomes incredible odds. Jim Kelley has done just that. He started off as production associate [almost] three years ago. Over the past year he has demonstrated heroic levels of humility, strength and compassion. His heroic humility surfaced after leaving abruptly due to some differences with a team member. He apologized in such a way that we were happy to welcome him back and promote him to lead the department as the production manager. Jim reconciled his differences with his teammate and went on a mission to be a real leader in the company. His mantra is to never say no to an order because of tight delivery dates. He is a salesperson’s best friend because he does everything, from calling on friends or family to help on the production line to re-arranging production schedules to help avoid rush charges or expedited freight. He has real heart for Artistic Toy team members and an understanding for our customer needs. He is constantly double-checking the order entry team and evaluating their workload, recognizing they are the front of his production line. Without Jim we could not deliver world-class wow customer service.”

How Jim Saved The Day: One of the company’s toy shipments was delayed from its West Coast warehouse. Kelley developed plans A, B, and C and executed plan C, which involved him driving an hour each way to deliver the order to the client on time. In another order situation, an order was scheduled to ship to Canada from the factory in China. The shipping company misread the shipping documents and missed the sailing date. Instead of going back to the customer to tell them Artistic Toy could not meet its originally scheduled delivery date or pay extra for air delivery, he worked out a deal with the carrier to send it air freight. His strong relationships and commitment to the company’s reputation resulted in saving $1,500 in additional air-freight charges, delivering the products early and maintaining a flawless reputation with the client. Kelley continues to remind Socci and the team that they have missed only one client delivery date in nine years, and he doesn’t plan on missing another one on his watch.

Favorite Part Of The Job:“I love the fact that every day brings new challenges. The people I work with are absolutely amazing and I look forward to coming in everyday and seeing how I can help others.”

Most Valuable Lesson Learned: “There is always a way to make the impossible happen. I personally do not like ‘no’ as an answer and therefore I will never tell a customer no. If I cannot do it on my own, we have an amazing team here at Artistic Toy and together we will find a way to make the customer’s dream a reality.”

No. 1 Tip To Help Others Improve Customer Service: “Never say no. Sometimes all you need to do is think outside of the box and the answer is there.”

His Wish For One Superpower: “If I had one superhero power it would be to fly. Life would be so much easier if I could fly everywhere and avoid all the traffic and congestion. Plus, I would never have to be late for anything again.”

(Excerpt from November PPB Magazine Article "Making the Impossible Happen")