How Tommy John Built A Customer-Obsessed CX Team with Max Wallace and Kara Randle
Max Wallace and Kara Randle are doing the kind of CX work most brands talk about but rarely pull off. They have built a team that delivers comfort not just in the product but in every single customer interaction. Max has been with Tommy John for over a decade, Kara for six years, and together they have scaled the function without losing its soul.
They joined me on Above the Fold to talk about what it really takes to grow a support team that stays close to its customers, why “first response time” is not the hill to die on, and how CX can be a revenue driver instead of a cost center.
Here’s what we got into.
Career Pivots That Stick
Max did not set out to work in CX. He actually started in law school. Kara’s first gig was at Walgreens. They both found themselves drawn to the kind of work where you get to shape how people feel about a brand. That instinct has kept them in the industry for years.
Scaling Without Losing The Soul
Tommy John made the decision to outsource some of its support in 2016. For a lot of brands, that is the beginning of a disconnect. For Max and Kara, it was the opposite. They treat their BPO team like in-house coworkers. They visit, train together, and keep open daily communication. That is how they have scaled while still delivering premium service.
Training That Never Really Ends
Their SOP playbook is 100+ pages, but the real secret is ongoing updates, refreshers, and product samples for agents so they can speak from experience. “They’re the product experts,” Kara told me. “They need to be able to make the right recommendations.”
Metrics That Actually Matter
Yes, they track CSAT. They also look at revenue per interaction, NPS, and conversion rates from service calls. The goal is not speed for speed’s sake. It is solving the problem well. As Max put it, “Quality trumps all.”
Automation, Used Wisely
They use automation for low-hanging fruit like quick FAQ answers or pulling tracking info. They are careful not to push it so far that it strips away the human touch that defines their CX.
Voice Of The Customer In Real Time
Instead of waiting for a quarterly report, they keep constant feedback loops with product, site, and marketing teams. Agents flag issues the moment they see patterns and leadership decides whether it is worth a deeper investigation.
The Hot Take On CX’s Value
Retention is not just a marketing thing. It is a CX thing. “We’re not a cost center,” Kara said. “We keep our customers happy, and without happy customers, you don’t have a business.”
If you want to know what it looks like to run a truly customer-obsessed team at scale, Max and Kara are proof that it is possible. It starts with staying close, even as you grow.
