Coates opens National Operations Centre in Sydney

The NOC will provide a nationally consistent customer experience, with an initial focus on digital enquiries and Bunnings orders

Coates has launched a National Operations Centre (NOC) in Sydney to provide consistent, high-level customer service across the country. Located at the Coates corporate head office in Mascot, the NOC will primarily service all online enquiries and manage customer orders made via Coates’ partnership with Bunnings, as well as managing outbound communication with new and existing customers.

“Providing a differentiated customer experience is a core pillar of Coates’ strategic vision to be the market leader in safe, smart and sustainable equipment solutions,” says Emmanuel Georgoudis, NOC Manager at Coates. “Delivering a consistent experience for any customer in Australia is key to improving our customer service and ensuring every interaction with Coates is a positive one.”

For new customers, the NOC will play an essential role in the onboarding process. “The team will be the voice, or the virtual face if you will, of Coates so customers have a point of contact. They can call us directly from anywhere in Australia and then we can direct their query to the right branch or team,” explains Emmanuel.

Recruiting talented customer service professionals has been a top priority, says Emmanuel. “We’re building an elite team, so we went through a rigorous interview process to get the right people. For me, it's really important that the team bond and are happy. If they work well together, they’re going to provide great customer service and you can always hear the smile through the phone.

“Our new starters have completed an intense six-week training program, including two weeks of classroom-style training to learn what we do at Coates, who we are and what we can offer, followed by extensive branch training and visiting our specialist teams to touch the equipment and really get a thorough understanding of the end-to-end solutions we provide,” Emmanuel explains.

Emmanuel is also prioritising ongoing training and monitoring of the customer experience to ensure the team are providing an effective solution for every query. “We've got customers calling, emailing or contacting us via the website with a diverse range of enquiries, so we need to respond with the right solution the first time, every time,” he says.

The NOC will complement Coates’ four existing Customer Service Centres (CSCs) in Sydney, Brisbane, Perth and Melbourne.

“The CSCs will continue to service our Platinum customers and projects from a local level. They’ll also continue to manage a portfolio of customers virtually and support our on-road sales team to enable faster turnaround times on quotes to customers and allow the sales team to have more face-to-face time with customers,” says Emmanuel.

The NOC has been established with further growth in mind, he adds. “As we grow, we'll be taking on additional functions across the business to help our customers, support our network and deliver consistent customer experiences for any customer in Australia,” Emmanuel says.