Dan Collins
President

Q.  You've been at TMP Direct for about 20 years.  What changes have you seen in the call center business?

A.  It's a more mature and sophisticated business now.  Marketing professionals have long understood what good customer service can do for intangibles such as a company's reputation.  Now marketers increasingly understand that good customer service effects important business metrics, too, such as sales, cross-selling/upselling, customer retention, customer loyalty, product quality, advertising ROI, etc.

Q.  What else has changed?

A.  In a funny way, maybe not that much has changed.  I grew up in Paterson, NJ, which was an early industrial city, and we did all our food shopping at the corner grocery store.  It was truly a mom & pop store.  We were on a first-name basis and they understood our preferences.  They knew when there was a new baby in the household and that my mom made homemade pizza on meatless Fridays.  Today's consumer product companies are trying to have the same relationship with their customers as the mom & pop store — except on a different scale, with different technology, in a different environment. That's a challenge.

Q.  If you were the ruler of the universe, what would you change about the way companies view customer service?

A.  Business metrics can be very sophisticated.  Every expenditure needs a business case.  And while we can prove that good customer service does improve customer satisfaction and customer satisfaction often leads to customer loyalty which in turn impacts sales, finding the exact formula for cost-justifying customer service is tricky.  The one metric that businesses must remember to include in the formula is the human element.  It most all cases, the customer just wants to be treated fairly, as does the company.  It's as simple as "do unto others as you'd have them do unto you."  This is a simple yet efficient guiding principle for most businesses —because as consumers, we all appreciate prompt, accurate, efficient customer service from the companies we choose to do business with.

Q.  What do you like most about TMP Direct?

A.  We have a great group of people.  Really excellent.  We've got key people who have spent almost their whole career with us, intermixed with new blood who have only been with us a few months.  This is an exciting time for TMP Direct.

Q.  I know you love it at TMP Direct, but if you could do anything, what would your dream job be?

A.  I'd be a professional football coach.  A coach of a Super Bowl championship team would be awesome, although it's not about the championships, it's more about the team.  I have been a volunteer coach for a variety of sports due to my two sons, who are in high school and middle school.  I am very involved with them and their sports.  A coach can have tremendous influence on an individual and an organization.  A small handful of men have had a significant impact on my life and many have been coaches.  In many ways I feel I am the coach of the TMP Direct team.

Q.  If you could go anywhere or do anything on vacation, what would you do?

A.  I was just talking with my family about this.  We want to go on a safari in Africa. We'd really like to see what life is like on the African plains.

Q.  Tell me something about yourself that people are surprised to learn when they find out?

A.  I was an art major at William Patterson.  I was schooled in graphic design with a minor in marketing.  I also did a lot of work with ceramics.  I expected to work in an advertising agency on the creative side as a graphic designer or art director, but once I was there I discovered I liked the marketing and strategic end of the business better.  Then one day a college fraternity brother told me about a new company start-up.  I did some freelance work for them.  Then I came on board.  That company became TMP Direct.  It was very hands-on and small in the early days, so I've had almost every job in the company at one time or another. 

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