Montana Sen. Max Baucus said the effort that convinced DirecTV to put the call center in Missoula was a perfect example of something he has said over and over again.
“Anything of consequence requires teamwork,” Baucus said during his remarks to a packed auditorium in the spectacular, 74,000-square-foot building off Expressway and just below I-90.
Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer - also heavily involved in the DirecTV process - said people shouldn’t underestimate the impact that Baucus, Montana’s senior senator, has on putting such deals together.
And Tony Preite, who directs the state’s commerce department, said the DirecTV deal is a perfect example of a public-private partnership as an investment in the “collective futures of all Montanans.
“Montana now understands the need to invest in order to reap the rewards,” Preite said.
DirecTV’s Missoula call center is up to 334 employees, one-third of the way to its projected total of 1,000 expected by spring of 2007.
John Suranyi, president of DirecTV sales and service, had no doubt when asked what the key was to making the center happen.
“It’s the people of Missoula,” Suranyi said. “Our employees, they make DirecTV. Certainly the employee base is what makes it happen.”
Suranyi said he was impressed with the way the entire project came together with the construction and the hiring process staying right on schedule.
“I know that a lot of hard work and effort went into that,” Suranyi said. “We ended up with a fabulous facility.”
Mark Capel is managing his third call center after stops in Denver, Colo. and Big Spring, Texas, and he said Monday the thing that excites him most is the quality of the employees he oversees.
“We’ve got some people that are very dedicated to coming to work every day and being very positive about coming to work,” Capel said after leading one of several tours going on simultaneously in the new building. “And I think that’s really a testimony to the environment we’ve tried to create here from all levels of our staff.”
The new building includes two huge customer service areas - each divided into quadrants - along with spacious conference rooms, and a cafeteria and a workout room for employees. Since customers are “very passionate about their television” Capel said the company also has provided what he called a decompression room where employees can shoot miniature hoops or play arcade games to wind down from any stress they might feel.
Capel started out as one of those employees taking customer service calls and said he has taken a couple of things from that experience.
“I think the biggest thing is educating people on the business, showing them what it’s all about,” Capel explained. “Secondly, and probably most importantly, is treating people the way that you want to be treated by setting that tone, getting that expectation out there that this is a good place to work, that we are concerned about our employees … that you’re going to have a greater longevity … whatever city you’re in.”
Capel said the demographics of the nearly 350 employees hired so far is “very interesting,” across the board in age from 19 years of age to 60 plus with a pretty equal distribution within the group.
Capel also said about 95 percent of the people hired at the Missoula call center so far are from Missoula and the Bitterroot Valley, and he expects that to continue.
“I think these are some of the best employees I’ve ever interacted with,” Capel said, “and the expectation of us as an organization is that we will become the crown jewel.”
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