Blogs

So far my blog posts have been focused on industry analyst articles and insights and experiences of utilizing gig workers from the business’s perspective.

This week I spent time connecting with three of our Sun Basket Experts to bring their perspective of being a gig worker for Sun Basket to light.

Before sharing their answers to my questions about their time helping other Sun Basket customers I want to start with a little demographic overview.

All three are women over 35, supporting the debunked myth from the article two weeks ago that gig work only appeals to millennials. They all have full time jobs and do the gig work for Sun Basket more because they want to than “needing” to. On average they have been subscribers of Sun Basket for two and a third years and have collectively spent over $20,000 on Sun Basket food. From a frequency of purchase one customer has purchased every week for the past 2 + years, while the least frequent purchased every other week across the past year and three quarters.

All three of them were part of our original Expert intake in February of 2018 and have answered customer questions every week since (one of them even while on vacation in Europe).

I asked them all these same five questions.
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Brett: When you first received the email about being a brand expert for Sun Basket, what attracted you to the idea?

Susan: I enjoyed Sun Basket and organic food fascinated me as my sister has an organic farm so when I saw the invitation I thought, “Yeah, I have a good understanding of the service and can help people, and help myself.”

Sharon: I love Sun Basket, had raved about it to my friends and referred a number of friends to start the service, so it seems like an interesting way to extend that.

Natalie: When I opened the invitation email I was excited to be able to help customers with their questions and clarifications about the awesome service Sun Basket offers.
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Brett: What do you enjoy about helping other customers with their questions?

Susan: I’ve been in the service industry my whole life, so helping others is something that is second nature to me. I really like being able to use my knowledge especially with “how to” type questions

Sharon: It is rewarding to be able to quickly help customers with a solution, especially as my regular job is very complex and solutions take a long time to get to. So I get a lot of satisfaction from these quick interactions.

Natalie: The best part in answering questions is that I get to also share some of my personal benefits using the service and also offer them some solutions when needed.
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Brett: Do you have any memorable interactions that stick out to you?

Susan: The ones that interest me the most are related to organics or a dish I have already made before.

Sharon: I like giving information when it makes people’s lives easier, it isn’t as fun giving “bad news” but I realize this has to be done as well.

Natalie: I have had so many great interactions and perhaps the ones I seem to recall in this moment are those from customerS who wanted to gift Sun Basket to family or friends.

Brett: When thinking about interactions you have had with my regular customer service staff, what do you “bring to the table” as a customer, that a regular customer service center employee can’t?

Susan: That true “how to experience” from being a subscriber. I went through many of these same questions that I had early on so can give my personal experience in addition to the knowledge base information.

Sharon: My personal experience and genuine enthusiasm for Sun Basket and its values. From my experience in my company, that doesn’t always come when you hire an employee.

Natalie: I believe each one of us in this line of assistance has wonderful things to offer and so I can't pinpoint anything in particular, beside my willingness, patience and knowledge to help customers for different needs.

Brett: In thinking more generally about this type of “gig economy” work, do you or would you do this for other brands if you were asked?

Susan: No, can’t really see myself doing this for another brand. I really know and love the Sun Basket product and what you stand for, that is why I enjoy it.

Sharon: Depends on the brand. It would need to be a good quality product or service, and I would have to have the bandwidth to do more of the work.

Natalie: Yes I would do this "gig economy" work for other brands because helping people this way is really rewarding and fun. It allows me to also share my experience with the brand if needed. Also I believe the fact that people know that they are talking to someone human makes a huge difference during the interaction with them.

I hope that you enjoyed reading the similarities and differences in their answers.

My call to action for you: If you have started using your customers to help support other customers and haven’t had the opportunity to reach out and talk with them I highly encourage you do. I would be fascinated to hear what your gig workers have to say.

If you are still wondering if your customers would want to do this work for your company, draw up a profile of the types of customers you think would be the right profile, then reach out to them and ask. They may surprise you.