high touch

Finalists emphasize live people when reaching customers

by Elizabeth Martin   TECHNOLOGY and good customer relations don’t always go hand-in-hand. As anyone who has struggled to find a live person on the other end of the phone realizes, companies can easily use technology to alienate their customers.

But the finalists for Best Practices in Customer Relations have found ways to embrace technology and use it to improve their customer service.

Staying small, nimble
Maple Grove-based American Business Communication (ABC) helps companies manage their telecom services. The company acts on behalf of its clients in negotiating their telecom contracts and keeping their inventory, says Nita Singh, president and CEO.

She tells the audience that ABC’s choice to focus on customer relations came early, and not without an awareness of the tradeoffs needed.

“Companies make a choice early on whether they’re going to be market share-driven or customer share-driven,” Singh says. “We chose the latter.”

“We decided that in order to provide excellent service we couldn’t really be a huge company; we needed to be small and nimble,” she says.

As an example, Singh cites ABCs development of a Web-enabled system that allows clients to view services across all its vendors, rather than needing to approach each vendor separately. The system was in direct response to needs voiced by the company’s customers, she says.

Frequently, says Singh, the company will find substantial cost-savings for a client at the beginning of a relationship by discovering loose ends, such as unused lines that hadn’t been disconnected or services that had been ordered and were billed incorrectly.

However, Singh says the real value ABC provides is simplifying the lives of its clients. She recommends that other business owners emphasize a similar, more holistic goal.

Human touches
Help/Systems Inc., Eden Prairie, provides software for automated operations. The company prides itself on closing 90 percent of its customer support calls in 24 hours, 22 percent higher than the industry average, says Lori Koppelman, the company’s human resources manager.

Help/Systems is also committed to providing a live product expert for customers to speak with when they call for assistance.

“The human touch is a simple solution that we saw that everyone else was going away from,” Koppelman says. “We all know the irritations of trying to get a call or a problem resolved by ‘press one for this,’ ‘press two for that’ and being on hold for ages and we decided that having the personal touch was going to be the way that we did business.

“The key to our entire company is relationship marketing, so it didn’t take too much thinking to realize that was the key our customer service as well,” Koppelman says.

“For us, we decided it wasn’t all about saving money, that it was a good investment to invest money in our customer service.”

While the company’s product reputation is strong, Koppelman says that Help/Systems is probably even better known for its customer service. As a result, she says, “We continue to grow and add new customers, but probably more importantly, we keep rabid, loyal customers.”

Precise information
Customer loyalty is fostered by the practices of Vince Leeson, owner and president of Minneapolis-based Home Street Home Improvers.

The exterior home-remodeling company works to educate its customers and build its customer base through a combination of its business practices, a regular client newsletter, and involvement in Northeast Minneapolis neighborhood organizations.

“We take many steps to make sure that our customers and potential customers feel valued,” Leeson says.

For example, the company spends time “qualifying” each customer to make sure they’re a good fit for Home Street. Leeson is wary of customers who are simply looking for the lowest bid and admits that they will probably not choose Home Street.

Instead, Leeson has found that his best prospects are those homeowners who have discovered Home Street through paid referral services. “That tells me these people are a little bit more serious about finding someone reputable if they’re spending money,” Leeson says.

After setting up an appointment with Home Street for a consultation, customers receive a pre-appointment packet with product information and a reminder of their appointment. They also receive a phone call 24 hours before their appointment.

Once a customer has decided to hire Home Street, they receive a welcome letter detailing what they can expect during the work, and Leeson himself does a final walk-through after the completion of a project.

Leeson also works to be very specific in the information and estimates he provides.

“I can’t tell you how many times a customer has pulled out an estimate from another contractor that is vague,” he says, noting that when it comes to contractor estimates, if it’s not in writing, it may not happen.

The attention to customer relations has paid off, as Home Street won a Super Service Award in 2005 from Angie’s List, a referral service, and was named the 2006 Business of the Year (under 50 employees) by the Northeast Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce.

Ask, then take action
Stork Twin City Testing Corp., a St. Paul-based materials testing and inspection firm, has met its customers’ needs by providing a wide array of information online. Its portal for customers, called StorkView, allows customers to access their accounts and download reports from anywhere they have an Internet connect.

“We find that our customers who travel or are in different time zones really appreciate the online, real-time results on their desktop,” says Gregg Hohenstein, chief operating officer.

Along with the online portal, the company’s Web site provides an online reference center where users can download white papers and technical articles and subscribe to the company’s quarterly newsletter, Storklink.

Last spring, the company began a customer service initiative it calls “Stork Service Excellence.” Stork sent out a survey to half of its customer database and then brought in outside consultants to evaluate the company’s customer relations practices. The company then held a retreat and established action items in 30-, 60- and 90-day windows for employees.

Hohenstein attributes the company’s customer relations success in part to its commitment to treating fellow employees like customers.

“I firmly believe that if you practice every day treating each other as a customer that that’s really reflected in how you’re treating your outside customers as well,” he says.

You’ve got to be you
The Wild Institute’s Chris Heeter is a speaker, corporate team builder and wilderness trip leader. But Heeter, the company’s founding director, has struggled to find her marketing niche.

In the beginning, she wanted to believe the adage, "follow your heart and the money will come." But today she’s revised that approach.

“I think it’s a better, more holistic approach to say, ‘Start with your heart, use your head, work your butt off, and build it from there,' ” Heeter says.

“In the beginning, I carefully wrote my trip calendar, I faithfully mailed it to my small mailing list. I expected them to receive it, to open it, to read it, to sign up, and I was done,” admits Heeter. But when business was slow, she realized it wasn’t that simple.

One of Heeter’s most successful customer-outreach attempts to date has been her weekly nature-based poems called Wild Thoughts. The idea started as an informal one. Heeter would send poetry based on her passion for the natural world that she had written to a few friends.

Those friends passed it on, and the concept grew until she now has 800 people who have asked to receive the poems once a week. This, she says, is an example of her first “life lesson” for the group: “Use technology to convey your passion.”

Tweaks to her marketing approach along the way included marketing materials with a head shot wearing a blouse “that I didn’t really like” and copy with a lot of corporate jargon.

The experience of being forced into a persona that didn’t fit brought Heeter to her second revelation: “The more I’m me, the more I’m hired.”

Today, Heeter begins many of her corporate presentations by playing the native flute, although she admits that the initial impression makes some people uncomfortable in corporate settings.

“Their eyes get really wide and they’re afraid we’re going to sing Kumbaya,” she jokes.

FINALIST RUNDOWN

» American Business Communication, telecom services manager: customized an electronic tracking tool called “telecom expense management” that measures key metrics.

Nita Singh is president and CEO: 763.416.1100; nita.singh@ambuscom.com; www.ambuscom.com

» Help/Systems, provides software for automated operations: customer service program closes 90 percent of support calls within 24 hours, 22 percent higher than industry average.

Lori Koppelman is human resources manager: 952.563.2723; lori.koppelman@helpsystems.com; www.helpsystems.com

» Home Street Home Improvers, exterior home remodeler: educates and builds customer base through newsletter and involvement in Northeast Minneapolis neighborhoods.

Vince Leeson is owner and president: 612.490.7671; vince@homestreetimprovers.com; www.homestreetimprovers.com

» Stork Twin City Testing, materials testing and inspection: established five customer service programs, including secure online portal and client survey with workshops.

Gregg Hohenstein is chief operating officer: 651.659.7402; gregg.hohenstein@stork.com; www.storksmt.com/tct

» The Wild Institute, speaker, corporate team builder and wilderness trip leader: publishes “Wild Thoughts,” monthly newsletter starting with a poem inspired by nature.

Chris Heeter is founding director: 763.479.3954; chris@thewildinstitute.com; www.thewildinstitute.com