Peter Marcely is the Delivery Lead at Trama, an online trademark registration provider. Similar to many online businesses that wish to be successful on a global scale, Trama has to ensure to provide good customer support, an issue further complicated by the complexity of the field of online legal services. In this interview, Peter shares how his team walks clients through the complex process of obtaining a trademark and how often people check whether he is a real person.
You are a Delivery Lead at Trama, what exactly does it mean? What are you responsible for?
Basically, I am responsible for ensuring customers have a smooth experience across the whole process, from their first contact with us all the way to receiving their trademark registration certificate. In practice, this means I focus on cross-department collaboration and designing internal processes, and I also lead the departments that are in direct contact with the customer – sales and support.
Regarding support specifically, I make sure that not only are we helping our customers resolve any issues they might have but also that their voice is carried throughout the company and their feedback is used to make our services better and more understandable so that the next customer won’t face the same problems.
What do you offer support with, specifically?
Regarding the requests themselves, this varies, sometimes we get an email or a phone call with one question or request, but we also offer consultations, which go into more depth. In general, I’d say we try to assist the customer at any point during the process, which can be before, during and even after the order. This also varies quite a bit since we prepare and file the application after the payment, so sometimes we have people reaching out to us after they have paid. But whenever it is, we try to be helpful and give customers that feeling of human touch and that if they reach out to us, they can rest assured that they will get help.
What do these consultations look like? What can I learn there?
It depends on what the customer needs to discuss, but it usually revolves around the registration process or their verification result. I should explain – on our website, we offer a free check where our legal team verifies whether the name or logo meets the criteria to be registered. We then send the assessment, which may also list potential risks. Many clients decide to proceed with the information, but some require further explanation, for which we offer free consultations.
So then we schedule a call, and we usually talk about their options, maybe we recommend they add a logo to the word trademark as well, or we suggest looking for a different name altogether. Sometimes we try to clarify the risk, first the risk of rejection by the intellectual property office and then the risk of opposition by holders of already existing trademarks who might oppose the registration based on a perceived similarity between the two brands.
So to sum it up, we try to answer any questions the clients might have so that if they choose to proceed with the registration, they can do so confidently and know what to expect.
Do you ever find people wary of Trama since it’s an online business?
It’s not too often, but sometimes those questions arise, and I think it’s primarily because people are used to legal services being delivered in person. Plus, it’s not something you do every day, you only seek a lawyer for serious matters. So I think that some people are missing this aspect with us, and they try to be extra cautious, but on the other hand, the benefits we are able to offer as a global online service far outweigh the personal contact, so once they make sure we are legit, they continue with us.
What do they ask you to make sure you’re a legit business?
Sometimes they ask us whether we’ll actually reach out to them after they’ve paid. I think it’s just the general distrust towards online services, where you don’t have any guarantee. Luckily we now have enough references to present, which helps a lot.
Amusingly, sometimes they ask us whether we are real people, for instance, on chat. Or the verification result that I mentioned features the lawyer who prepared it, so sometimes they ask us whether the person is a real lawyer or even whether they are actually a real person. So then we clarify that yes, it’s a real person and a real qualified lawyer, not just some bot (laugh)
But in general, I find that when clients reach out and see that the support person is friendly and knowledgeable on the topic, their distrust melts away.
It’s probably safe to say the general public isn’t very knowledgeable about trademark registration. Does this create a communication barrier between you and your customers when you try to explain some concepts to them?
The fact is the barrier is definitely there. This is not a service you seek daily, and many entrepreneurs will only ever get one trademark. But I think that when they come to us, they already know the basics – why is it good to have a trademark, what it protects you from, etc.
But what they don’t know are the specifics of the process, i.e. how long it will take, how much it will cost, what problems may arise during the process, whether there might be any later fees, etc. Or the differences between the intellectual property offices in various countries. For example, some offices might reject your application if it’s too descriptive, and some might not. This is something the customer has no way of knowing.
To be able to help your customers, you had to learn a lot about these specifics yourself. How did your learning curve go? Is there something that surprised you about the process?
At the time it was obviously a very new topic for me, but I have to say that in Trama, we have people who really know what they are doing and whenever I needed something explained, I always had someone to turn to. And if I asked the same question twice in two weeks, my colleagues would understand that I am still learning, and they wouldn’t just say, “but I already told you this”, they would patiently explain it to me again. So this has helped me a lot.
And regarding what surprised me, I think I expected the process to be simpler. Now I know it takes hard work to get it done. But thanks to this realization, I’m now able to explain it better to our clients.
Do you feel like your work in support has ever made a difference in a client’s life?
I’d like to believe so. Many times we have customers thanking us for being helpful and what is always pleasant is when we have a customer who, in the beginning, is lost in the process, but then we are able to walk them through it. In the end, when they get their trademark, protect their brand and thank us, that’s a really great feeling. We have had a few of those.
Based on your experience with clients’ cases and questions, if you could give one piece of advice to entrepreneurs seeking to protect their brand, what would it be?
I’d say that when you have a business, its brand is really the most important asset you have, so protect it sooner rather than later. Sometimes I see people knowing what trademarking a business name or logo means, but they’re putting it off, saying it can wait, we’ll deal with it once we are big enough. But sometimes that’s too late, and once you’re successful, you’ll find there are already copycats you have to deal with.
Or sometimes we have people seeking our help saying they have had their business for many years, but they found out someone has registered that trademark already, and now they don’t know what to do. While sometimes this can be resolved, it’s always easier when you think about it in advance.