May 17 – Haddon Township, N.J. – For 50 years, the Society of Consumer Affairs Professionals in Business (SOCAP International) has represented a collaborative community of best-in-class customer care experts across multiple industries. After repeatedly hearing positive things about the organization, VSA Prospecting CEO and Founder Valerie Schlitt decided to join last year, and the membership is already paying dividends.
Earlier this month, Ms. Schlitt attended the prestigious SOCAP Spring Symposium in Columbus, Ohio. The event attracts two primary audiences: 1) representatives from large, well-known corporations looking for ways to improve their customer service; and 2) companies whose products and services help enhance the customer experience.
VSA’s membership in SOCAP coincides with the company expanding its inbound call center services last year. VSA now offers full-time inbound service for any client that requires it, in addition to its traditional outbound lead generation and appointment-setting capabilities.
“We’ve been historically an outbound lead generation organization and recently made the decision to grow our inbound presence,” Ms. Schlitt says. “For years, people told me about this organization, and when we decided to increase our focus on inbound, I knew SOCAP could be a valuable resource for us. As we grow in sophistication with inbound, I’ve found it a wonderful way to see what other advances in technology we can make to help our clients.”
In addition to the networking opportunities, expert panels, and a lot of discussion about ChatGPT, the symposium was a chance for Ms. Schlitt to socialize with SOCAP’s famously friendly members. The organization has a reputation for its camaraderie and for welcoming new members with open arms.
“They’re just really nice, pleasant people,” she says. “By the second or third day, it felt like they were all my best friends. I think because they come from a customer service orientation, they want to be positive and serve others.”
Ms. Schlitt even left her mark on the event, winning a quiz about compliance. She credits VSA’s strong emphasis on compliance and data privacy for her first-place finish.
Previously, Ms. Schlitt has been an active member and leader with such organizations as PACE (Professional Associations for Customer Engagement) and AA-ISP (American Association of Inside Sales Professionals), and she hopes to become similarly involved in SOCAP.
“I’ve been hearing great things about SOCAP for years, but we really didn’t have a big need for it,” she says. “Once we decided to focus more on inbound, it just seemed like a natural fit and a great way to learn more about what other people in the industry are doing.”
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About VSA, Inc.
VSA is a premier telesales and customer service firm founded in 2001 that supports companies with outsourced B2B lead generation and inbound customer service programs. Becoming an extension of its clients’ sales, marketing, and customer service teams, VSA helps achieve sales growth targets and service goals with high-end, complex products and services and multi-step prospecting approaches, regardless of the industry. The company has more than 200 employees in offices in New Jersey and Philadelphia, counts several Fortune 500 firms as clients, and partners with some of the country’s leading B2B marketing agencies.