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Birthday Wishes to one of our newest Customer Care Coordinators Courtney Heath. Courtney enjoys spending time with her husband and two beautiful girls (ages 4 and 6). They spend a lot of time drag racing or boating down at Table Rock Lake in Missouri. She also enjoys wrenching on their project cars in their spare time (even her girls like to do this haha). Happy Birthday Courtney. We hope you have a wonderful birthday!

Birthday wishes to Senior Partner Craig Zabel.  Craig loves to take family vacations and especially enjoys lounging on the beach. He enjoys Golf, staying fit with exercise, and home improvement projects!  

Happy birthday Craig. We hope you have a wonderful birthday weekend.  

Nicole Schmitz celebrates her 8-year work anniversary at Z&Z Medical on October 16th. She works at our home office in Cedar Falls as a Customer Service Representative. Nicole can do almost any job in the daily operation in the office at Z&Z. Some of these duties would be, creating customer orders, processing orders, answering product questions from customers, processing returns, bank deposits, phone calls and all customer relation issues. The main duties that she focuses on are, coordinate and process customer returns, processing customer purchase orders, answering customer questions about products and bank deposits. Nicole is our lead office personnel and also functions as an Assistant Manager to the office staff.

Nicole is one of the friendliest people you would ever meet. She takes her job very seriously and always performs her job at a top notch level. But she does that and still finds a way to have fun at her job. She always arrives to work with a smile and a very positive and uplifting attitude. Even if she is feeling under the weather, she does her best to stay positive to get through the day. She loves to laugh which is evident in her quick-witted humor that she brings to every conversation. I think if Nicole had a motto, it would be, “If you can’t find something to laugh about, why get out of bed”. To her, every day is a good day.

Nicole is from Iowa and has two daughters, Kayla & Holly that keep her busy. Kayla is in college and Holly is just entering high school. Nicole is a very strong fan of the San Francisco 49ers, and the Iowa Hawkeyes. She loves following and supporting her teams. She also enjoys vacations to visit her brother in Oregon and trips to Vegas, supporting her daughter in local and national cheer competitions and spending time with her family here at home.

Z&Z Medical is proud to have Nicole as part of our very successful team and one of our longest working employees. Thanks Nicole for bringing a smile to our office and being on our team.

You could probably pinpoint the top traits of a rotten boss at the drop of a hat, right? Everyone’s had one of those. BUT… A great boss creates an environment based on integrity, trust, respect — and one that encourages feedback, innovation, and creativity.  Here at Z&Z Medical – we’ve got the best of the best - Kevin, Craig, and Brian!

They have a clear vision for the company and know how to set clear performance expectations. They are always available when we need them and provide consistent feedback and coaching to make us better. They care about the well-being of everyone here and show respect to all.  They even share personal experiences that demonstrate their vulnerabilities showing us the human side of being a manger and leader. 

They make work fun and foster a team environment. We are so lucky to have this team leading Z&Z Medical.  Happy Boss’s Day to you all!

This week is Customer Service Week and we thought it would be appropriate to talk briefly about how good customer service is achieved at Z&Z Medical. As a business owner we always like to brag about our companies and sometimes the stories can get a little exaggerated. But I have to say that the following comment is no exaggeration about our company. The number one comment we get from customers about Z&Z Medical is, “I love your customer service”. We read it on Google reviews, get emails and phone calls with that comment and hear it from customers that were referred to us form someone that made that comment about Z&Z. It’s a very satisfying feeling to know that our people do what ever it is that produces that comment so often. Now I wish I could tell you the formula we use that causes our people to offer such good customer service, but I honestly don’t have that information. So, I’ll do my best to explain my assessment of where this attitude comes from.

First and foremost, I believe much of it comes from being located in the Midwest region of the US. And not only the Midwest but also a small town, less than 40,000 people. We are made up of farmers and small businesses that run at a lower stress level than many major populated cities. We are raised to talk to our neighbors, say “hi” and wave and even offer a helping hand to someone in need. We don’t sit in long lines of traffic or waiting lines at the coffee shops that often cause stress levels to rise which are then carried right into the office and our daily work. Our nature is just a little calmer and friendlier than you find in crowded cities and our attitude toward life is just a little more relaxed. This natural attitude helps to offer a little more patience to customers and the desire to go the extra mile to ensure we meet the needs of our customers. It seems to come naturally and not something that we have to be taught. That’s not to say that we don’t have a temper or don’t get angry. It just seems that our boiling temperature naturally runs a few degrees below someone that deals with the hustle and stresses of big city life.

Another area that helps to offer good customer service is the atmosphere that we all project in our office every day. I know the office can be a source of tempers and conflicts of personalities, but the owners and supervisors always project an attitude of getting along and working together to get through the day. Rarely will you ever hear someone raise their voice to a co-worker or subordinate. The attitude in the office is one of kindness, acceptance and getting along with the group. With this attitude in the air, it makes it hard for someone not to adopt that same outlook toward their job and the customers. They see this approach is how we treat people around here and it makes them want to fit in by doing the same. Once you adopt that attitude toward your co-workers, it becomes natural to treat the customer the same.

And finally, I think one of the most important things when it comes to offering good customer service is to always reply to a customer request and doing so in a timely fashion. I am amazed how such a simple thing as answering a customer’s question is so overlooked. By replying to the customer, it gives them a sense that someone is working on their problem. This seems like such a simple thing but I cannot tell you how many comments we get thanking us for calling them back or emailing a response and also for following up so quickly. In this time of staff shortages and low worker morale the customer is so pleased by just getting a response to their issue and knowing that a real human is working on it.

One last thought, the next time you are dealing with a sensitive customer service issue, try to look at the situation from the eyes of the customer. Just like you, they too have stress, deadlines and worries in their day. Wouldn’t it feel good to be the one that takes just a little of that stress or worry off their shoulders for a few minutes. Never miss an opportunity to make someone’s life a little better.