Print IT Reseller - issue 52

PRINT IT RESELLER.UK 45 “We also gain new customers precisely because of referrals, particularly in the education sectors. People talk, and they often need to know that their colleagues and peers trust a supplier. We’re proud that people talk of RISO and its people in such a way that they want to do business with us.” Lars Hargaard: “We are renowned for the quality and reliability of our products and offer a free three-year on-site warranty across the range, which is over and above the industry norm. From the moment our customers register their new product, we ask them for their feedback and continue to do this over the life of the product, alongside updates and information on how they can get the best from their purchase. “This ensures that we can pick up on any issues and resolve them quickly and efficiently. Through this customer care programme, we have naturally gained other customers or had the opportunity to share customer endorsements that have led to us acquiring new business. “We have many long-term customers – many part of our managed print services (MPS) programme. This enables us to keep in touch and visit on a regular basis, making recommendations as their business grows or changes. This ensures their print function is always optimised and they are not losing money through inefficient contracts or using the wrong device – or the right device in the wrong place.” Zana Gradus: “The entire business is built around the customer journey and our ‘WHY’ is to achieve customer excellence, hopefully the clients will talk about the level of service they receive and become our promotors for winning new business. The account managers are targeted to win new business however, our greatest wins come through referrals from our existing clients – our best promotors.” Mark Smyth: “Getting off to a good start is essential. Customer experience happens from the moment we engage with a client and continues across all touch points from pre-sales, delivery and then service. Once the sales professional has won over the client, it’s important we continue to meet and exceed their expectations. “Once you have demonstrated the ability to consistently deliver high quality products and services, you build trust, and that’s the enabler to go on and add yet more value. When you reach this level of trust, you have the potential to leverage your exceptional service by requesting a testimonial or case study and that’s often the key to demonstrating your capability to new clients in the same sector or industry. “With corporate, public sector and large wins, we wrap an entire team – consisting of project managers, professional services consultants and architects, service management etc. and process around the client, and through the implementation process we introduce a service delivery manager. The customer experience is then very effectively managed and we work hard on building trust through this approach.” Adrian Low: “It is so evident in business that customer experience and by proxy, word-of-mouth, can be very favourable or extremely detrimental to a brand identity that may have taken decades to build. At Midshire we continually review our communication channels, the work never stops. This past year we completely overhauled our website, taking it from a brochure site to a site specifically designed to take our customers where they need to go, to get what they need. “When it comes to recommendations, we tend to see a lot of referrals in the education sector. This is normally based on our consistent and effective delivery of service for schools and universities, particularly when it comes to responding to existing customers’ emergency calls.” Simon Hollister: “Hollis Technology is committed to developing a clear customer experience vision, a set of principles or guides to ensure excellent service delivery and provide the best advice possible. We are embedding these principles into Hollis Technology’s business culture and making them a core part of training for new and existing staff. We are also focused on understanding who our customers are, to better understand their needs and ensure all communications are aligned to their expectations. Referrals continue to be a key part of our business and we try to capture customer feedback during interactions, follow-up calls and post engagement surveys. This insight drives continuous improvement to further optimise the customer experience. “This includes the use of Trustpilot to give our customers an opportunity to convey their opinion online. This has given us a further opportunity to call and thank these customers for providing positive feedback and ask if they can recommend us to anyone. It also allows us to address any negative feedback and convert this to a positive. This approach has resulted in new and incremental sales including a major managed service contract.” Scott Walker: “Your customer experience is a full 360 degree journey. From the first call, to the first meeting… down to review meetings, courtesy calls, feedback emails and even going the extra mile when they don’t expect it. I’ve personally had a number of new clients due to direct referrals due to transparent and honest communication.” www.paebusiness.com www.purposesoftware.co.uk www.brother.co.uk www.kyoceradocumentsolutions. co.uk www.xerox.com www.riso.co.uk www.oki.com/uk/printing www.systemstechnology.co.uk www.visionplc.co.uk www.midshire.co.uk www.hollistechnology.co.uk www.zenoffice.com Referrals continue to be a key part of our business and we try to capture customer feedback during interactions, follow-up calls and post engagement surveys VOX POP Scott Walker Mark Smyth Lars Hargaard