The premise

20-30% responding to the job survey, 10 to 15% of those responding sharing other services they don't currently buy from you, and 3% sharing a referral. Only customers who self qualify themselves in the survey as very loyal are asked for a referral.

The Goal

Identify and respond to problems quickly to preserve recurring job revenues, but also to identify opportunities to sell more into existing accounts and drive referrals with loyal customers.

Jim Quinn, Sir Speedy in Addison, TX, and Jim Brebner, Sir Speedy in Tacoma, WA, are successfully leveraging customer relationships to help them grow their business. By surveying their customers once their orders have been completed and shipped, they can quickly respond to problems, identify sales opportunities and generate referrals from loyal customers.

Surveying is made easy with printer MIS solutions by leveraging customer intelligence and workflow.

Both centers use a program offered by Survey Advantage called CustomerPulse, which seamlessly integrates with Printer's Plan and can be set up for PrintSmith users as well. There are solutions for many other MISs such as EPMS, Technique, Printer's Plus, PSI, and Print Leader.

Surveys give an opportunity to reconnect with customers and keep the pulse. It doesn't take much effort and investment for a solid ROI.

The Results

Jim Brebner shared, I love the customer feedback, and at $39 a month, it is totally worth it. We identify problem areas and fixed them, generate sales leads within existing accounts, and have expanded sales. Our sales team has another reason to connect with our customers and have meaningful conversations - whether to understand a problem or to discuss new services they've expressed an interest in. We look forward to incorporating the referral process into our survey program.

Don't just stop with customer feedback, but share with the team and set up a referral process as well.

Jim Quinn uses CustomerPulse and has added the referral process to help improve the customer's experience and drive referrals. By surveying his customers, Jim discovered they wanted his "CSRs to ask more questions relating to their projects." This provides a great opportunity to discuss marketing services. The referral component is equally effective: "We've met with five potential referral customers: two are scheduled for a salesperson to call, one referral placed a first-time order for over $1,000, and we're anticipating more to come on a regular basis." Jim also shares the survey responses with his employees during regular staff meetings.

This process works for both large and small printers, traditional printers and marketing service providers.

Any business with solid customer base should be keeping the lines of communications open and casting a wide net. Unfiltered, unbiased responses customer feedback is the surest way to keep the pulse of each customer on a regular basis and react quickly to problems. This does not replace face to face meetings or phone conversations and follow up, but does give a print buyer another way to share thoughts. Typically 25% of those filling out the survey share comments. That is a lot of feedback to help maintain a customer centric organization.

To learn more about CustomerPulse, please contact Michael Casey with Survey Advantage at (401) 560-0311, ext 103 and join us for a brief demonstration.