Leadership on the front lines can drive customer advocacy
When contact centre agents go above and beyond to support customers, they not only create exceptional experiences but also inspire those around them, helping to cultivate a culture of excellence across the organisation. This quarter, our award winners have exemplified what it means to lead from the front lines of customer service.
Mishel at Holmesglen demonstrates remarkable emotional intelligence in her interactions, elevating both the customer experience and the organisation’s reputation. At Sydney Water, Samita leads by example, using her strengths to mentor new team members and foster a culture of growth and continuous improvement. Danielle at Curtin University brings positivity and expertise to every interaction, empowering her colleagues while delivering outstanding service to customers.
Each of these individuals embodies the values of leadership, service, and collaboration. Congratulations to Mishel, Samita, and Danielle on your well-deserved recognition—your impact is felt across your teams and beyond.
CSBA congratulates the January – March 2025 Most Customer Focused Agent Award winners.
Mishel Bodnar – Holmesglen Institute
“I am proud to nominate Mishel for the Excellence in Customer Service award in recognition of her outstanding communication, empathy, and consistent delivery of high-quality support to our students.”, exclaims David, Enquiries Manager at Holmesglen Institute of TAFE. “Mishel exemplifies what it means to provide not only accurate information, but also genuine care and professionalism in every interaction.”
One particular email highlights the impact Mishel has on those she supports. A prospective student responded with deep gratitude for Mishel’s thoughtful and professional advice. The student shared her personal journey – migrating to Australia, working in early childhood education, undergoing cancer treatment, and facing challenges with language and confidence. Mishel’s email had such a profound impact that the student took the time to reflect, reconsider her readiness, and express appreciation for the care and clarity with which Mishel communicated.
“This kind of response is rare,” explains David, “It speaks volumes about Mishel’s ability to connect with people beyond the transactional nature of enquiries. Mishel’s strength lies not only in her words but in the emotional intelligence she brings to her role. Her email communications strike a delicate balance between informative and compassionate, empowering students to make well-informed decisions while feeling seen and supported.”
In addition to her impactful communication style, Mishel consistently achieves excellent scores in her SenseCX assessments. This reinforces the consistency of her high standards and the value she brings to every interaction. David wraps up by saying that “Mishel is a quiet achiever who uplifts the reputation of our service and sets a standard we can all aspire to. Her dedication, skill, and empathy make her an exceptional candidate for this award.” We agree! Exceptional work, Mishel!
– The nomination was received from David Honour, Enquiries Manager
Samita Van Der Heul – Sydney Water Corp
“Samita has a naturally positive and happy disposition, which comes across in every one of her phone calls and emails.” notes Sydney Water Team Manager David Lee. “She positively greets each customer and really takes the time to listen to their concerns, displaying sincere empathy and a genuine desire to assist them with their enquiry.”
Samita is also one of Sydney Water’s future leaders and has been assisting in the quality assurance workspace. She along with the other managers, review and mark outbound emails. This has given Samita the knowledge of exactly what is needed to exceed our quality assurance expectations.
In a recent interaction, a customer called confused as to why she has received a bill when she had already paid the account, Samita immediately reassured the customer by stating ‘Not a worry I can assist you with that one today’. Samita noticed that the customer was being assisted by someone in the background and offered the option to authorise them on the owner’s behalf for future enquiries. This highlights how Samita goes the extra mile to make things easy for her customers.
Samita quickly confirmed the customer’s most recent payment and immediately spotted that the notice in question was likely from a different property or an earlier period. With her usual attention to detail, she guided the customer to check the issue date, confirming it was from a previous year. The customer was relieved and grateful for the clarity, thanking Samita for her helpful and professional support. This is just one of many standout moments that reflect Samita’s commitment to delivering exceptional customer service.
“Samita is consistently used to buddy new starters and existing staff requiring more coaching.” David continues, “She is also one of our Subject Matter Experts who has assisted with onboarding the last 8 rounds of new starters. She is clear and concise in her customer interactions, and this flows through in her coaching style! She tackles complex enquiries and difficult conversations with ease, she is empathetic and understanding but also able to provide the facts in an informative manner.”
Samita not only provides exceptional customer service but also ensures that she is meeting her KPIs and helps others to as well! Great job Samita!
– The nomination was received from David Lee, Team Manager
Danielle D’Cunha – Curtin Connect | Curtin University
“Danielle has been an amazing Officer and diligent with her work and the students that she services.” Says a colleague of Danielle’s who wishes to remain anonymous. “Over the last couple of weeks, I have had the pleasure listening to her phone calls and her service each time is fantastic.”
Danielle uses the SenseCX measures constantly where she reassures the callers, has clear and precise advice or instructions for students and adjusts her tone and language depending on if it is an experienced student, a new student, and/or a language barrier.
“The way she carries the calls are always so positive and by the end of the phone call, it makes me feel re-assured and on the right path, and I’m not even the one calling!” remarks the colleague. “She is patient and answers all the questions students ask, even if the phone call gets to the tedious 30 minutes, her tone still remains friendly and helpful.”
No question is too hard for Danielle. She will exhaust all resources, knowledge bases and chat to other teams to find the answer and ensure a smooth experience for the student by avoiding passing them off elsewhere. Her commitment to ownership and follow-through ensures a seamless, supportive experience every time.
“I personally enjoy when she comes back to her desk, and she lets me know of the information she found out.” muses the colleague. “The way Danielle handles complex enquiries is truly magic and I wish and hope eventually I gain these skills too. She is cool, calm and collected and is happy to take her time to reassure or explain anything to the student or caller and by the end of the call or face to face service, the person leaves feeling great, they almost have a pep in their step.”
Danielle truly can handle it all. She’s never deterred, always delivering outstanding service, even following up the next day if a caller needs to be connected with another team. She takes the extra step to stay on and log a detailed, helpful CRM note that supports future interactions. Whether managing a difficult call or speaking with a cheerful customer, Danielle brings the same professionalism, grace, and kindness every time. She consistently goes above and beyond, warm, reassuring, and incredibly knowledgeable thanks to her commitment to chasing down answers. Whether on the phone, face-to-face, or through CRM, Danielle remains focused on delivering the best possible experience for every student.
Her colleague concludes “Danielle is a great team player, always ready to help others (has helped me billions of times) and extremely reliable and great at her job! I really hope to see her rewarded for this, she deserves it and her work shows with great feedback provided by students/parents/clients and even on GOOGLE reviews!”
Hearing all this we wholeheartedly agree! Way to go Danielle!
– The nomination was received from Emily Duffell, Training and Quality Assurance Advisor
Nominations are open for the April – June 2025 awards
We’re currently accepting nominations for the April – June 2025 CX Agent of the Quarter awards and encourage all of our clients to nominate agents and frontline staff whose work deserves to be celebrated.
The awards are about celebrating the members of your team who work to create better customer experiences and nominations can be based on a variety of different reasons including:
- Excellence in the use of a specific SenseCX measure.
- Consistent improvement in SenseCX assessment scores.
- Embracing a SenseCX behaviour for the first time – moving the dial away from 0%!
- Sharing tips or information with the team about how to achieve specific SenseCX behaviours.
- Embracing a new technique or behaviour to enhance the experience for customers.
- Handling a complex enquiry really well.
- Showing a genuine passion to improve a customer’s experience.
- Transcending customer expectations – going above and beyond for a customer.
- Finding the perfect balance between people and process for the good of a customer.
- Showing real leadership and judgement to reflect your organisation’s customer-focused culture or customer promise.
- Stepping up to report an issue that was impacting customer experience.
- Finding a creative and/or innovative way to solve a customer’s problem.
To nominate a member, or members, of your team simply complete this nomination form.
