Phoebe Viggiano, Synergy Business Development Manager

As a furnished housing professional for more than 10 years, Phoebe Viggiano thought she understood her industry fairly well. But it wasn’t until she took an outside sales role that she truly began to understand the importance of customer service to the furnished apartment experience.

Phoebe spent her first seven years serving as an inside sales representative at another furnished housing provider, but became an account executive for the same organization at the start of 2015, primarily handling housing programs for insurance companies and their policy holders. Her role of finding housing solutions and supporting families dealing with catastrophic circumstances reinforced the necessity for fully-supportive housing programs.

“The customer that you are working with is dealing with a catastrophe on their part or something terrible,” Phoebe says. “It’s all about the delivery of service. You have to be able to find a hotel the day housing is needed, while at the same time you have to identify a home rental that matches their policy and expectations. All of this needs to be done in a tactful, calm manner that reassures the guest at a time when there are few reassurances in their lives.”

Phoebe now brings that passion for customer service to Synergy Global Housing, as a Business Development Manager, joining General Manager Rob Eisenberg at the new Synergy office in New York City. Her approach to service delivery was exactly what Synergy was looking for when it started searching for its first sales manager in New York.

“Phoebe is an outside-the-box thinker who is focused and passionate about the guest experience,” says Mary Younger, Vice President of Sales at Synergy. “That’s exactly who we are at Synergy. We build from the ground up, and that’s something she’s done within the Insurance Industry. Our entire leadership team saw her passion and enthusiasm when we met her. She’s culturally aligned with our approach to the guest experience, and we’re excited about what she can do for our customers in New York.”

Phoebe says she’s excited to bring her knowledge of the New York market to Synergy as the organization looks to establish its first on-site team along the United States’ East Coast. As a native of the New York area, she understands the importance of delighting her guests in The Big Apple.

“Customer service is the premier differentiator in a market like New York,” she says. “Where you see a difference in housing providers comes from how they provide their customer service. How supportive are their arrival instructions or how responsive are they with maintenance requests? These issues are what truly impact the guest experience and determine the best provider in a market. We’re building a team of experienced customer service providers that are going to make our guests and clients feel like they are truly taken care of.”

The ability to build something new was one of the reasons Phoebe chose to join the Synergy team as it begins to establish a physical footprint on the East Coast.

Being able to build a customized housing solution to the specific needs of the customer, without any restrictions due to existing furniture packages or legacy inventories, is just as appealing to a customer-service professional like Phoebe as it is to Synergy’s clients and guests.

“There are no bad habits to have to overcome,” Phoebe says. “You can put your inventory where you find new business, instead of having to drive people into buildings because it’s where our existing inventory is. We’re going to find the ideal location for each of our clients, based on what works best for them.”

For more information about our New York offerings, contact Phoebe at 1 800-600-1115 or email pviggiano@synergyhousing.com.