Millie Camacho

Millie Camacho, director of customer service, has worked at Vanguard for 22 years, taking on progressively more responsibilities.

At 8:46 on the mild, bright morning of Sept. 11, 2001, Millie Camacho's computer died, causing her to swear silently at Vanguard Direct's information technology department. During her first 16 years at the printing distributorship, then located in Lower Manhattan on the 18th floor of a historic building at 90 West St., Camacho had wanted a desk with a window overlooking the city. She got her wish earlier that year, but wasn't looking out of it when American Flight 11 slammed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center.

Camacho, Vanguard's customer service supervisor, says she heard what sounded like a car backfiring. The noise paled in comparison to the thunderous boom she and other Vanguard employees heard during the World Trade Center parking-garage bomb of Feb. 26, 1993. Now when Camacho looked up, the scene surprised her: Small flames and black smoke rose from the North Tower a few hundred feet to the north, and paper rained down like confetti. The South Tower, less than 100 yards away and slightly to the northeast, stood unharmed. Curious, she rode an elevator to the lobby and stepped outside for a smoking break. Some jerk hit Tower 1, she remembers thinking. Some plane must have flown off course.
...
Camacho went back inside and rode the elevator up with five other people.

At 8:46 on the mild, bright morning of Sept. 11, 2001, Millie Camacho's computer died, causing her to swear silently at Vanguard Direct's information technology department.During her first 16 years at the printing distributorship, then located in Lower Manhattan on the 18th floor of a historic building at 90 West St., Camacho had wanted a desk with a window overlooking the city.She got her wish earlier that year, but wasn't looking out of it when American Flight 11 slammed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center.

Camacho, Vanguard's customer service supervisor, says she heard what sounded like a car backfiring.The noise paled in comparison to the thunderous boom she and other Vanguard employees heard during the World Trade Center parking-garage bomb of Feb. 26, 1993.Now when Camacho looked up, the scene surprised her: Small flames and black smoke rose from the North Tower a few hundred feet to the north, and paper rained down like confetti.The South Tower, less than 100 yards away and slightly to the northeast, stood unharmed.Curious, she rode an elevator to the lobby and stepped outside for a smoking break.Some jerk hit Tower 1, she remembers thinking.Some plane must have flown off course.
...
Camacho went back inside and rode the elevator up with five other people.At 9:03, as it reached the 15th floor, she heard an earsplitting shriek and a thunderous crash.

United Flight 175 had smashed into the South Tower at 586 mph.
...
Camacho had walked north to Grand Central Station and hailed a cab.
...
Camacho, who now was commuting almost three hours each way, had access to two computers for her 8-person department.

Cover story continued... | Team Player – Millie Camacho, Vanguard Direct
...
Millie Camacho, customer service manager at Vanguard Direct in New York City, has been in the print business for 21 years.Today, she handles about 10 clients a day - all have been with Vanguard a decade or more - and between $600,000 - $700,000 of business a year.She also manages a team of CSRs, each of whom touch $1 million to $3 million of business annually.Throughout her years at Vanguard, she's learned more than just a few tips and tricks to good customer service. Club Selection Asking the right questions, Camacho says, is essential to penetrating an account."Last week, I got a call from a woman who wanted envelopes delivered to a mailing house.I asked her, real friendly, 'What're you putting in the envelope?' She was stuffing brochures.So of course I asked her, 'Who's doing the brochures for you?'" Sometimes, the customer will inquire about new products, Camacho says, and that's an easy sale to make.But most times the CSR has to be thinking on his or her feet about what the client is doing and needs next. Middle of the Fairway Good CSRs also know the company's products so they can make the right suggestions."Another customer called me because he wanted log books for the Long Island Ferry," Camacho says."Actually he had no idea what he wanted.I sent him some samples because we've done jobs like that before, for hospitals and the police department, and he ended up ordering five other books."Always suggest a product, Camacho advises.If you don't know what to suggest, ask another CSR or a manufacturer. "I think I've got a lot of experience from working in this business so long," Camacho says.
...
Once you've got the notes, Camacho says, you have to remember where you put them."If I didn't have an organizer on my computer," she says, "I couldn't survive.Even when I make computer folders, I make a desktop directory telling me where I filed it."Camacho, who confesses she's not this organized at home, makes a color-coded file for each client that she can access while on the phone.When she has an item for follow-up - and almost every client merits follow-up, she admonishes - she will make a note on the calendar."I'm serious," she says, "so many things happen all day that you're going to forget."

Sand Wedge! When something goes wrong, Camacho advises, the CSR has to maintain composure to maintain the business."The hardest part is when your company doesn't provide what the client needs," she says.
...
"We had a problem with a client once where the plant printed the form numbers on the wrong form, which the client needed the next day," Camacho says.
...
Over time, Camacho says, a CSR begins to build a reputation with a client, through good times and bad."Most of my clients are easy to deal with only because I've been dealing with them for so long.They know that if there's anything I could do for them, I would do it."By establishing a reputation of trust and dependability, the customers are open to Camacho's product suggestions and eager to do business with Vanguard. "You treat the clients like family," she says."If I don't hear from a client in a few weeks or a month, I call them and ask how they're doing.Sometimes we send cards or emails, because so many people are too busy to talk on the phone."Recently, Camacho saw a Vanguard production employee who reminded her of a customer she hadn't spoken with in a while."After she left, I sent him an email.Then, the next day, he calls me with an order."Simply touching base with clients often jogs their memory for a need you can fulfill.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, some clients may try to hog a CSR's time, constantly calling with quote requests or asking complicated questions.Camacho, however, maintains that her time is never wasted.

"At times, of course, you can tell they're not serious by what they say or who they claim recommended them," she says, "But you really never know.

Millie Camacho, whose career with Vanguard spans more than 20 years, was named Director of Customer Service.