Janet DeArmond: demoted to the top of Customer Service Review

As filed – without edits – last week for today’s edition of the Philadelphia Business Journal.

IN 1999, JANET DeARMOND FOUNDED Customer Service Review Inc., a consulting firm specializing in customer service training in Wayne. Somewhere after spending 14 years as the company’s president, she left.

She’s back.

“There was an opportunity. I know the company. I love it. Probably the most engaging years of my career i spent here,” DeArmond said. “I know the clients. I know the business.  I really missed it.”

So after to attend to personal obligations, Liz French, the company’s current president and CEO, who was a vice president under Dearmond, brought her back into the fold.

“I’ve always stayed in contact with Liz. We both have a lot of respect for each other,” she said. “There are no strong egos here.”

It started on a consulting basis in December. Things have gone so well that DeArmond has come on full time to  lead training and development efforts.

“Being gone for three years gave me a different perspective on things,” she said. “I’ve learned how much I really enjoy this business.”

The company depends on a staff of 50, most of whom work from home, keeping overhead down. In the few years since DeArmond was at the helm, technology-use has ballooned in the industry, making their virtual office easier to realize.

“It has really changed in the last three years,” she said. “Liz has done a great job.”

In her new role, DeArmond wants to bolster the staff and improve their product.

“My biggest goal is for us to continue to grow and make sure the talent pool that we have enables us to do that,” she said.

For a company that develops customer service talent, training programs and offers third-party monitoring, there are many directions from which expansion can come.

“There’s a lot of room for growth out there.”

Does DeArmond think she’ll ever find her way back to leading the company she founded?

“Maybe one of these days.”

See other examples of my reporting here. See similar pieces for the Philadelphia Business Journal here.