Support that feels like
part of the surprise.

Prepared for
Judy Walker, TOPS Malibu
Scope
Customer service · dedicated and flex
Live
30 days from kickoff
Brands we run support for
Jacuzzi Sutro UTV Source Fan of a Fan Channel 5 Merch Champ + 10 years of DTC

01 / Situation A brand people hand down.

What's already working

1

Forty years of real gravity

Since 1983, from the Malibu gallery years to Henri Bendel and Neiman Marcus shelves, Madonna in the bubbler necklace, The Tonight Show, White House inaugural parties. The customers who unwrapped a Surprize Ball as kids are now buying them for their own. Very few brands ever earn a second generation. You have one.

2

Handmade in Oregon, and customers can tell

A hundred feet of crepe ribbon wound by hand, artisans in Oregon, trademarks that mean something: Surprize Balls®, Good Fortune Candles®, the Flying Magic Butterfly®. People who buy handmade write in like people. They tell you about the wedding, the graduation, the granddaughter. That warmth in the inbox is an asset most brands would pay for.

3

Search already brings the party to you

The site ranks on more than a hundred organic terms, with sparklers and sparkle candles out front, and organic search carries over 90% of your search traffic. People land on TOPS typing the exact words of a party they are planning. That is buying intent with a date attached, arriving free.

What we're taking on

1

Every order has a date on it

Nobody buys number sparklers for someday. They buy them for Saturday. Support for TOPS is deadline support: the address fix before the 1 to 2 day ship window, the "will it arrive by the 14th" email, the expedite question the night before graduation. A fast answer saves the party. A slow one is a refund and a story told at the party instead.

2

The celebration calendar surges

Graduation season, wedding season, the holidays and New Year's Eve spike the queue, then it breathes out. This July's traffic dipped double digits right on cue after grad season. Staffing a person for the peak means paying for the valley. Staffing for the valley means drowning in May and December. That mismatch is the whole puzzle, and it is exactly what this proposal is shaped around.

3

Three front doors, one small team

DTC email, a phone line that real customers really call, and wholesale through Faire plus your direct wholesale site, all landing on the same few people who also make and ship the product. And your promises are generous ones: returns accepted regardless of reason, order changes if you're told right away. Generous policies only feel generous when someone answers the same day.

02 / The models Two ways to staff it. You can run both.

A named person for the steady queue. A trained pod for the spikes.

Most support vendors sell you one shape and make your business fit it. A celebration brand needs both shapes at different times of year, so we built both, and they share the same training, the same quality bar, and the same management.

We size it from your real inbox in week one, not from a guess in a proposal. Start on the model that fits today's volume, move as it grows, and run the two together through Q4 if the season calls for it.

Dedicated Agent

1.0 FTE · yours

One named person whose whole working day belongs to TOPS. Not a shared queue, not a rotating rep. They learn the catalog product by product, the rituals behind each one, the wholesale side, and the voice: wonderment, warmth, and zero ticket-speak.

This is the right shape when the queue holds a full day of work most days, and it's the seat that can grow into phone-first service, wholesale account care, and the customer relationships a 40-year brand deserves.

  • Owns email, phone messages and wholesale inquiries end to end
  • Trained on your catalog, policies and brand voice
  • Flags product and shipping issues as they surface
  • Coached every week against a QA rubric you approve
  • Covered when they're out, replaced free if the hire doesn't stick

Flex Agents

Per resolution

A Charm-trained pod that answers your queue and bills by the conversation resolved. When graduation season triples the mail, the pod absorbs it without a single hiring conversation. In the quiet weeks you pay for what actually happened, and nothing else.

Same training library, same macros, same QA grading as a dedicated seat. The difference is the billing: cost tracks your celebration calendar instead of fighting it.

  • Scales up for May, June, November and December on its own
  • $2.50 per resolved conversation, on a monthly retainer
  • Trained on the same TOPS playbook before touching a ticket
  • Every conversation graded, misses coached the same week
  • Converts to a dedicated seat whenever volume holds
Both models, no extra line items Everything around the seat is included
Recruiting + vetting Onboarding Training library build QA rubric + weekly grading Coaching cadence Macro governance Absence coverage Workforce management Weekly reporting Seasonal forecasting

03 / Scope Every front door, answered.

Door Channel What it covers Rhythm
The email queue
Order status, product questions, returns and exchanges under your any-reason policy, and the date-rescue mail: address fixes, expedites, will-it-arrive-by-Saturday. Answered inside business hours, cleared daily.
Same day
The phone line
Real customers call the 541 number, often the older half of your two-generation base. Calls answered during coverage hours, messages returned before end of day, in a voice that sounds like TOPS.
Same day
Order changes
You promise a change if customers reach out right away, and you ship in 1 to 2 business days. Keeping that promise is a race, so change requests jump the queue and get flagged to fulfillment immediately.
First priority
Wholesale
Faire messages, direct wholesale applications, and reorder questions from your retailers. Wholesale mail carries more revenue per thread than anything else in the queue, and it gets treated that way.
Same day
The surge weeks
Graduation, holiday and New Year's mail: shipping cutoffs, where-is-my-order, last-minute gifting. Forecast in advance from your own seasonality, staffed before it arrives rather than after.
Forecasted
Social and community
DMs and comments monitored and surfaced, because sentiment shows up there before it becomes a ticket. Party planners and press inquiries routed straight to you.
Monitored

04 / Systems What we build while we run it.

A helpdesk that fits your Shopify store

Email, phone messages, Faire and social in one screen, with the order sitting next to every conversation. If you already run a helpdesk we inherit and tidy it. If support lives in an inbox today, we set one up without losing a single thread. Built in your accounts, and yours to keep.

A response library in the TOPS voice

The recurring questions, answered once, beautifully: sparkler shipping, candle care, wholesale terms, the any-reason return. Written to be read aloud, approved by you before anything reaches a customer, and maintained so it never drifts into ticket-speak.

QA grading, every week

Conversations scored against a rubric you approve: accuracy, warmth, resolution, and whether there was a natural moment to do more for the customer. Coaching runs on what the grading finds, so the queue gets better every month instead of staying merely handled.

The celebration calendar, forecasted

Your seasonality mapped against volume, read weekly, so surge coverage is arranged weeks before graduation and holiday mail lands. The second-seat or heavier-pod conversation happens on a forecast, never in a pile-up.

One page, every week

Volume, response times, what people asked about, wholesale threads worth knowing about, and anything the queue started saying this week that it wasn't saying last week. Short enough to actually read, with a recommendation on it.

AI where it helps, invisible to customers

Internally, AI drafts, classifies and scores so your team moves faster. Nothing a customer sees is machine-written unless you decide otherwise, and nothing changes without your sign-off. A handmade brand should never sound automated, and yours won't.

05 / Timeline Live in 30 days, ahead of the holiday queue.

1

Numbers and setup

We pull real volume from your inbox and phone log, size the right model against it, and stand up the helpdesk. You see the sizing built on actuals, not estimates.

2

Build

Response library drafted in your voice and sent for your approval. QA rubric written. On the dedicated model, the search runs on a brief you've signed off.

3

Train and shadow

Your team trains on the TOPS playbook and shadows the live queue, with your current process as the source of truth so nothing about the brand gets lost in handover.

4

Live and measuring

The queue is owned, the weekly readout starts, and the holiday forecast is already running. Kickoff this month puts all of this in place before Q4 volume arrives.

06 / Proof We've run this shape before.

Sutro

Connected water monitoring · subscription hardware
The situation

A physical product with a learning curve, a subscription attached, and a hard seasonal peak when pool season opens. The quality of an answer decides whether the renewal happens.

What we did

Built the tiering, the training and QA architecture behind it, and ran the operation at scale through the seasonal swings.

100,000
tickets a year, run
Why it's relevant

Education-heavy support on a product with a hard seasonal peak. Different category, same shape as carrying TOPS through graduation season and Q4 without the queue ever showing the strain.

UTV Source

Powersports parts and accessories
The situation

A support operation carrying heavy cost on a helpdesk that had grown by accident rather than design, with a catalog complex enough that agents were guessing.

What we did

Restructured their Gorgias instance, rebuilt the tiering, staffed dedicated agents with QA and coaching around them, and handed management back when they wanted it.

25%
labor cost reduction
Why it's relevant

Proof that the system around the seat, the macros, QA and forecasting, is what controls cost. The same discipline is how a small team stays small while the brand grows.

Fan of a Fan

Creator merch · drop-driven ecommerce
The situation

Drop-driven volume that spikes hard on launch days and goes quiet between them. The purest version of the surge problem TOPS faces every graduation and holiday season.

What we did

Staffed 10+ support agents, built the AI CoPilot and the Gorgias setup, and ran full workforce management across seven years of drops.

10+
agents staffed and managed
Why it's relevant

Spiky volume is our home turf. The flex model in this proposal is the same machinery that absorbs launch-day mail for creator brands, pointed at your celebration calendar.

07 / AcceptAccept, sign and start, right here.

Recommended

Flex Agents

$1,000/mo

A Charm-trained pod that bills $2.50 per resolved conversation on top of the retainer. Cost tracks your celebration calendar: heavy in May and December, light in the quiet weeks.

  • $2.50 per resolved conversation, billed monthly
  • Scales for graduation, holiday and New Year's surges on its own
  • Trained on the TOPS playbook before touching a ticket
  • Helpdesk setup on your Shopify store, yours to keep
  • Response library written in your voice, approved by you
  • QA grading on every conversation, coaching the same week
  • Weekly one-page readout with a recommendation on it
  • Converts to a dedicated seat whenever volume holds

Dedicated Agent

$2,750/mo

One named person whose whole working day belongs to TOPS. Trained on your catalog, your policies and your voice, with coverage and coaching around the seat.

  • 1.0 FTE named to TOPS, full time
  • Recruiting and vetting for your category
  • Owns email, phone messages and wholesale end to end
  • Onboarding, product training and the response library build
  • Coached weekly against a QA rubric you approve
  • Coverage when they're sick or on leave
  • Free replacement if a hire doesn't work out
  • Weekly reporting and seasonal capacity forecasting
Order summary · updates live
Total recurring
Total due today
ORDER FORM

Client: (fills from your signature) · Contact: (fills from your signature) · E-mail: (fills from your signature)
Selected Package: · Add-ons: none · Service Fees: , payable in advance per Section 7 · Billing Option: · Amount Due at Acceptance:
Onboarding Fee: , one time · Initial Service Term: months from kickoff, followed by month-to-month. Address and phone are captured on the onboarding form.

Services: Charm is a customer experience business process outsourcer providing TOPS Malibu customer service staffing and operations per the selected package: trained support agents under the selected model (Dedicated Agent or Flex per-resolution), helpdesk setup and administration, response library and training build, quality assurance, coaching and workforce management, with weekly reporting.

MASTER SERVICES AGREEMENT

This Master Services Agreement ("Agreement") is entered into as of the acceptance date recorded on this page (the "Effective Date"), by and between Charm, registered as Didin Customer Service, LLC ("Charm"), located at 1220 E. Henry St, Tempe, Arizona 85281, and the client identified on the Order Form above ("Client").

1. Services

Charm provides customer service operations for Client: staffing of trained support agents under the selected model (Dedicated Agent or Flex per-resolution), helpdesk configuration and administration in Client's accounts, response library and training development, quality assurance grading, coaching and workforce management (the "Services"). Under the Flex model, a "Resolution" means a customer conversation brought to a completed answer by Charm's agents; resolutions are counted and billed monthly alongside the retainer. Charm performs the services in a timely and workmanlike manner. Scope changes require written agreement before work begins, and Charm may charge reasonable costs associated with such changes.

2. Charm's Representations and Warranties

Charm has full power and authority to enter this Agreement; performing it violates no other contract; lead sources infringe no third-party rights and promote no prohibited content; and performance complies with applicable law.

3. Client Responsibilities

Client has full power and authority to enter this Agreement; performing it violates no other contract; and contact data Client furnishes has been diligently verified as serviceable and current.

4. Content

All creative campaign assets are created by Charm. Charm may request existing content from Client to leverage in Campaigns. Client grants Charm a limited, non-exclusive, revocable, royalty-free license to use Client's marks solely to perform the services, ending with the Campaign or this Agreement. Client retains all rights in its intellectual property.

5. Placement and Approvals

Before going live, Charm sends the response library and any customer-facing templates for review. Client has a 24-hour window to object; silence is approval. New macros and templates follow the same review window before first use, and nothing machine-generated reaches a customer without Client's prior sign-off.

6. Term and Termination

The engagement runs an initial term stated on the Order Form (the "Initial Term"), then month-to-month. Fees for the Initial Term are committed at acceptance; neither Party may terminate for convenience during it. Either Party may terminate for material breach uncured within fifteen days of written notice. After the Initial Term, either Party may terminate on thirty days written notice. On termination, Client pays fees accrued through the effective date; if Client terminates for Charm's uncured material breach, prepaid fees for whole unstarted months are refunded.

7. Payment and Invoicing

All fees are payable in advance. The onboarding fee and first monthly period (or the discounted Initial Term fee, where paid-in-full is selected) are due at acceptance and presented for payment on this page through QuickBooks. Client authorizes payment by card or bank transfer through Intuit QuickBooks Payments; card and bank details are held by Intuit, never by this page. Subsequent monthly fees are invoiced in advance of each monthly anniversary of kickoff, invoice delivered seven days prior. Paid-in-full reflects the discount stated on the Order Form; the onboarding fee is not discounted. Late amounts incur 1.5 percent per fourteen days past due, and the program pauses seven days after written notice of nonpayment.

8. Data Access

Charm retains access to Client data to perform the services. Client may view and export all Campaign data at its discretion.

9. Confidentiality

Each Party protects the other's Confidential Information with at least commercially reasonable care, uses it only to perform this Agreement, and limits disclosure to those under equivalent obligations. Standard exclusions apply (public information, prior knowledge, independent development, rightful third-party receipt, Campaign materials and metrics). Trade secrets are held indefinitely; other Confidential Information for five years. Legally compelled disclosure requires reasonable prior notice.

10. Non-Compete

Charm shall not use Leads provided by Client for the benefit of competing ventures, during the term and for one year after.

11. Indemnification

Each Party indemnifies the other against losses, including reasonable attorneys' fees, arising from its breach of this Agreement.

12. Governing Law

Arizona law governs; exclusive jurisdiction lies in Arizona courts.

13. Severability

Invalid provisions do not void the remainder; the Parties negotiate replacements in good faith preserving original intent.

14. Successors and Assigns

No assignment without written consent, except to a merger successor, asset purchaser, or commonly controlled entity.

15. Independent Contractors

Charm performs as an independent contractor. No partnership, joint venture, agency, or employment is created.

16. DNC Compliance

Both Parties comply with all applicable Do Not Call and Do Not Contact regulations, maintain lists against registries, honor DNC requests promptly, and keep required records.

17. Waiver and Remedies

No waiver except in signed writing. Remedies here are in addition to those at law or equity.

Electronic Acceptance

Acceptance through this page, together with the typed name and the recorded SHA-256 hash of the Order Form and this Agreement as displayed, constitutes a binding electronic signature under the U.S. ESIGN Act and UETA. Charm: Didin Customer Service, LLC, by Chris Booth, Owner.

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1 · Onboarding form →

Ten minutes. Brand voice, ICP, suppression, access.

 2 · Book your kickoff →

The onboarding discovery session.
3 · Slack invite

Arrives with your kickoff confirmation.

08 / Next step

Let's make this the year the queue feels easy.

Accept above and we start this week: real numbers pulled, the model sized to them, and your support live in 30 days, before the holiday mail arrives. Or bring your questions to a 30-minute call first.

Book the kickoff →