Getting Face Time Through Client Satisfaction Surveys

That's the message Vince Lamb, vice president of managed services at Technology Integration Group, a $282 million solution provider based in San Diego, delivered to solution providers attending the "Customer Satisfaction Equals Profitability" breakout session held at XChange '07 in Orlando, Fla.

"We use our back-end customer satisfaction surveys to lead with as sales wedges for new business opportunities," Lamb told a standing-room-only audience of solution providers at the event.

John Krikke, sales manager at Krikke Computer Services, a three-person solution provider in Burlington, Ontario, said he plans to do a more formalized customer satisfaction survey and use it to better market his company.

"When you just talk to a customer and ask, 'How are things going?,' they'll say 'Great,' while they are writing a [purchase order] to your competition," Krikke said. "This is a way for you to use customer satisfaction surveys to stay in the customer's face."

Lamb said Technology Integration Group collects customer satisfaction surveys and then shares the data with customers during quarterly business reviews.

"Everybody is looking for a differentiator," he said. "The customer satisfaction surveys give you tangible proof that you are doing well and help you gain credibility with the client. When you meet with the client on a quarterly basis to share the results, it also helps you avoid the out-of-sight, out-of-mind syndrome."

Lamb also told solution providers that sharing customer satisfaction surveys with clients helps Technology Integration Group better position itself to go after higher-end services in existing accounts.

"A good customer satisfaction survey can help show the customers the differentiator of why he does business with you," Lamb said. "You can then use that together with the quarterly customer business reviews to talk about higher-end services."

Lamb said the key to using customer satisfaction surveys to increase profits is to appoint someone within the organization to oversee the process. "The process will fade away unless someone takes ownership," he said. "You have to hire a person to do that."

Lamb, too, said customer satisfaction surveys can serve as a change agent to help a VAR's service and salespeople change their mind-set from product to solution sales.

"They can serve as a cultural switch to help shift the mentality of your organization from a product to a solution sell," Lamb said. "It takes people out of the order-taking mentality of, 'I sold you something; I'll see you the next time you want to buy something else.' "

Solution selling and the ability to measure customer satisfaction will be key to Technology Integration Group's plans to move into global markets, a strategy that could double the company's revenue in five years.

Last year, Technology Integration Group started its initial foray into international markets by opening a new office in Heidelberg, Germany. The solution provider launched the location in Germany after hiring former Northrop Grumman employees who ran the European office for that company's reseller operations, said Technology Integration Group President and CEO Bruce Geier.

Northrop Grumman decided to exit the reseller business and Geier said Technology Integration Group jumped in to fill the void. The German location serves federal contracts at U.S. military bases in Europe and North Africa.

"Now we are talking about some projects in China," Geier said. "We are looking at what could be a huge marketplace."

Technology Integration Group is moving cautiously into global markets and does so only through partnerships with in-country solution providers or vendors, according to Geier, who declined to identify his Chinese partners until the deal could be solidified.

But he said having measurable and dynamic customer satisfaction numbers to back up the quality of your service offerings helps when looking for those in-country partners.

"It's in your best interest to partner with people who are already there," he said. "I'd hate to just go in cold turkey. But if you can strike a partnership, there are huge upsides. When you start looking at the Orient, there is a huge opportunity for growth. That whole Asia/Pacific region has huge growth that's going to happen in the next 10 years."