Maria Boos
Practice Lead, Functional Communications
Practice
“Real customer focus means making it easy for your customers to do business with you.”
Opening an account, enrolling in a plan, paying a bill—customers carry out these activities every day. All too often, they are confused and overwhelmed by the communications that are meant to help them with these core functions.
Maria and her team streamline and simplify functional communications to enhance customer experience.
EXPERIENCE
Addison, Director of Business Development
Siegel & Gale, Practice Director, Simplified Communications
EDUCATION
Carnegie Mellon University, MA Professional Writing
Carnegie Mellon University, BS Industrial Management
AFFILIATIONS
National Association of Women in Communications
Decision
“The sale is only the beginning of a customer relationship.”
Companies invest tremendously in marketing and sales materials, but what happens after a customer signs on and discovers the challenges of actually doing business with a company? Complex customer communications speak volumes about a business and a brand. At Sullivan, we challenge our clients to focus not only on the point of sale, but also on the many ongoing points of decision in a customer’s experience. By considering the entire continuum of the customer relationship, we help our clients deliver on their brand promise in all types of communications.
EXPERIENCE
Addison, Director of Business Development
Siegel & Gale, Practice Director, Simplified Communications
EDUCATION
Carnegie Mellon University, MA Professional Writing
Carnegie Mellon University, BS Industrial Management
AFFILIATIONS
National Association of Women in Communications
Approach
“With system-generated communications, it’s easy to lose sight of the end customer.”
Even when companies know something is wrong with their customer communications, they often just don’t know how to fix the problem. Regulatory requirements, legacy systems, and business silos can seem like insurmountable obstacles to achieving high-quality communications.
With a relentless focus on customer needs, we integrate plain language writing and information design with an understanding of our clients’ regulatory, operational, and business constraints. As a result, we develop clear, effective customer communications that respect all requirements for implementation.
EXPERIENCE
Addison, Director of Business Development
Siegel & Gale, Practice Director, Simplified Communications
EDUCATION
Carnegie Mellon University, MA Professional Writing
Carnegie Mellon University, BS Industrial Management
AFFILIATIONS
National Association of Women in Communications
Industry
“It’s not just about customer focus—it’s also about the bottom line.”
It’s inevitable: document proliferation leads to cost proliferation. Creeping costs result from redundant mailings, inefficient processes to produce and manage documents, and increased calls to customer service. At worst, complex documents lead to litigation and negative press.
On the flip side, when customers understand their communications, they make payments faster, complete forms correctly, happily serve themselves online, and make fewer calls to service centers—all of which add up to big savings.
EXPERIENCE
Addison, Director of Business Development
Siegel & Gale, Practice Director, Simplified Communications
EDUCATION
Carnegie Mellon University, MA Professional Writing
Carnegie Mellon University, BS Industrial Management
AFFILIATIONS
National Association of Women in Communications
Predictions
“What’s good for the customer is good for the business.”
Practically speaking, good information is good customer service. It’s a lot less expensive to keep an existing customer than to acquire a new one. When customers are given accessible, clear, valuable information, they are far more likely to buy additional products and services, and to send referrals your way.
EXPERIENCE
Addison, Director of Business Development
Siegel & Gale, Practice Director, Simplified Communications
EDUCATION
Carnegie Mellon University, MA Professional Writing
Carnegie Mellon University, BS Industrial Management
AFFILIATIONS
National Association of Women in Communications
