Employee Stories
Customer is No. 1
Scott Roberts
Supervisor, Customer Interaction Center "You have to embrace them and their needs and be willing to do what it takes to help them find a solution. That's what we do here, and our customers have noticed."
Scott Roberts came from the "restaurant life." His nights, weekends, and holidays were spent ensuring each and every customer who entered the restaurant he managed had the best experience possible. But, after 15 years, Scott was ready for a change and a new kind of customer, so he started at Nelnet, serving borrowers in the call center.
"When I first came here, I was surprised and excited to see such a focus on the customer experience," Scott says. "Obviously, this was something I had a lot of experience in, so I was happy to be able to bring my skill set here and put it to work in a different way."
What Scott noticed was Nelnet's first and most important core value—the customer is No. 1. This philosophy is apparent in the atmosphere of every department in the company, including those that serve internal clients.
"The reason that you're in business is because of the customers, so you have to treat them with the utmost importance and respect," Scott says. "You have to embrace them and their needs and be willing to do what it takes to help them find a solution. That's what we do here, and our customers have noticed."
Though there are several metrics that grade a customer's experience with an associate, Scott says truly great service sometimes gets a call back. An associate on Scott's team recently provided such exceptional service—a customer called back to thank her properly.
"That's a perfect example of what we strive for," Scott says. "Obviously, it's not going to happen every time, but when it does, I'm very proud of our dedication."