In brief:
- Army Veteran Phillip Wright has served the Exchange for 19 years.
- Wright experienced Exchange support firsthand while deployed
- He works with MILITARY STAR® customers to “solve for yes”
One in a series honoring the Exchange’s 131 years of family serving family
Who he is: Phillip Wright, Customer Contact Team Manager, MILITARY STAR® Customer Contact Center
Years at the Exchange: 19 years.
Military connections: Wright is an Army Veteran. He enlisted in 1993 and served as an engineer. He later transitioned to the Army Reserve in 2004, serving as an instructor, including a role at the 7th Army Noncommissioned Officers Academy at Grafenwoehr, Germany. He has deployed to Bosnia and Kosovo twice, as well as to Poland, Egypt and Iraq.
His father is an Air Force Veteran, who served for 20 years and retired as a master sergeant. Two of his nephews also serve—one in the Army and one in the Navy.
Early Exchange memories: “I’ve either been a customer or employee with the Exchange pretty much my whole life. My mom also worked for the Exchange on a couple bases where my dad was stationed. She worked at the main store BX at the Air Force Academy and at Torrejon Air Base in Spain.”
Memories of support: “This was around 2002. We were doing a multinational exercise in Bulgaria along with the British and Macedonians. The Exchange sent a mobile field Exchange to provide snacks, drinks and stuff. I remember there was only one person with the trailer and she knew that we would only be in the compound in the early morning, afternoon and evening. Instead of sticking to regular business hours, she curated hours for when we were back. I thought that was really nice and really cool of her to do.
“I was in Iraq from early 2003 to about March or April 2004. I was in the first push to get into the country. The Exchange brought Burger King into Baghdad. The line was around the corner. The only thing on the menu was a Whopper and fries, but it was the best-tasting Whopper I’ve ever had, after four months of eating MREs.”
What brought him to the Exchange: “At the time, I was in the Army Reserve and I needed a job in between my orders. The Exchange was the most flexible place to accommodate that. I was doing my time in Grafenwoehr and I got a job in the garden center.”
His Exchange career: “I think I’ve had a progressive career. I’ve worked my way up from being a customer experience associate to a shift supervisor, then I made the transition back stateside to this job, working at the call center. Within the call center, I started as a regular call center agent and moved my way up to team lead, then team manager.”
Solving for yes: “Day to day, you can’t take anything personally. On day one, they told me no one is calling to ask how your day is going or anything like that. Nine times out of ten when they call, it’s an issue. You need to have the communication skills to be able to handle that issue. If the caller calls in mad, then take it down a few notches. When they disconnect the call, they feel better after dialing your number. That’s the ultimate goal. You do that by taking care of their needs or the reason why they contacted you in the first place. It’s something I really love doing.
“On the backside of it, you need a lot of organization skills and really have to know how to multitask. You could talk to somebody on one screen, then on another, looking up the answer.
“We have a saying. ‘We are trying to solve for yes.’ We try to solve problems without breaking any rules. A lot of times, I try to get the caller to be part of the plan. That way, it comes off as more of a team effort than just me saying, ‘Well, here’s a list of things I can do for you.’ If it is something I can’t solve right off the bat, then I’ll tell them to give me a couple days, let me get in touch with my people and see what we can do for you.”
Family serving family: “We like to think of ourselves as one big family and we’re also serving the other part of our family, the U.S. service members and their families.”
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