Jamestown, RI– June 19, 2009 – Survey Advantage Inc, announced today a partnership with Technique Group, the developer of commercial printer MIS solutions. Technique users now have the ability to generate referrals, identify areas to expand client share, and preserve recurring revenues through continuous customer feedback and reporting. By developing the necessary tools Technique has enabled customers to work closely with Survey Advantage to implement the CustomerPulse™ program. On-line reports are delivered daily to deliver leads, monitor performance over time, and benchmark with the industry.

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To learn about and obtain copies of the AMI Boater Satisfaction Benchmark report you may visit https://www.marinaassociation.org/ami-publications.php. The study benchmarks facility satisfaction, customer service satisfaction, customer loyalty, and marina services quality.

This weekend a colleague asked a myself and a few fellow business owners if our customers were asking for discounts after work was complete. His customers were telling him they could pay him immediately if he took another 20% off the bill or he would need to wait for payment. This is for work he already had done!! With the recession he added that his closure rates on bids went from 50% to under 10% and he was desperate. He is in a competitive, commodity market, but something isn’t right here. He is taking the 20% off the bills and discounting, but his business is not doing well. You could see the worry on his face and I am sure the customers are as well.

I suggest if customers are asking for discounts that you change the scope and give options. Give three different scopes of work with three different price points, but then hold firm on the work being done. You must do this to stay healthy and your customers should respect this. People love options and the customer will understand that with options there are varying levels of product.

There are typically three things to look at with any project scope; price, timeframe, and quality. Keep to these three sides of the triangle when bidding and discussing jobs with customers.

Before finding yourself in an unprofitable situation, the best businesses find ways to differentiate themselves and offer unique and special services and products. Customers will be happy and your business will remain healthy.

Last month Allegra Networks, a 400 plus unit franchisor, published an article in their quarterly franchise magazine, Connections, sharing lessons learned from around the network. The article explains how Eileen Rogers and Ted Raymond, owners of the Allegra franchise in Scottsdale, AZ, focused the business on multi-channel marketing, including variable data printing and personalized URLS, while making the shift to a marketing services provider. In addition, Eileen and Ted explain how customer feedback became part of their strategy.
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Jamestown, RI, March 23, 2009 – As part of its commitment to help printers develop profitable, highly responsive, customer-focused organizations, Survey Advantage ( www.surveyadvantage.com), a customer research and loyalty firm, has released a new report for all CustomerPulse™ customers. The report tracks customer loyalty and a referral rating continuously, and benchmarks real-time with other printers.

“It is great that the different printing industry MIS systems are incorporating CustomerPulse™ into their customer management processes. This enables printers to select jobs and contacts to send a survey in just five minutes a week. With low administration time the printer can now get the same customer intelligence the hospitality industry has been collecting for years. Now any size printer can obtain feedback after jobs are shipped helping them gauge loyalty, promote referral programs, and drive improvements.” said Michael Casey, president of Survey Advantage.

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Marine service providers are encouraged to compare how they are meeting the needs of boaters with others in the industry.

Jamestown, RI, March 6, 2009 – As part of its commitment to help marine service providers develop profitable, highly responsive, customer-focused organizations, Survey Advantage (www.surveyadvantage.com), a customer research and loyalty firm, has released their 2008 benchmarks for marinas and boatyards. This benchmark report was designed in cooperation with AMI and ABBRA, the two major associations serving the marine services industry. The report tracks four key areas: facility quality, marine service quality, customer service, and boater loyalty.

“We hope this benchmark will help marine service providers understand their competitive position in the market and set goals for expansion and improvement. Marine service providers now have the same customer intelligence the hospitality industry has been collecting for years. Any size operation can obtain feedback after jobs, transient stays, or from seasonal and annual customers to drive improvements and referrals.” said Michael Casey, president of Survey Advantage.

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Pictured from left, Joe Gardner, Michael Casey,
and Peter Gardner at Curry Printing

Four NAQP members were awarded top honors at the NAQP Owners Conference, held in Chicago, Illinois. The Survey Advantage NAQP awards recognize printers who offer the highest levels of service quality, product quality, customer loyalty, and client share as measured by clients and print buyers. The awards focus on how customer’s rate these four aspects of the customer relationship.

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Middleboro, MA – August 11, 2008 – Enterprise Print Management Solutions (EPMS) announced today that Survey Advantage has become a Strategic Partner. EPMS, the developer of the Enterprise print management system, has added the integration to Survey Advantage’s Customer Alert directly into the Enterprise Estimating/Order main module. Users are now able to select orders and launch electronic job surveys from within Enterprise directly. Printers are alerted immediately upon survey completion with feedback about the level of customer satisfaction with a job or jobs. On-line reports are delivered daily to monitor performance trends over time, and industry benchmarking helps to analyze performance objectively.

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During the month of May, 2008 Survey Advantage conducted a pilot with four Sir Speedy franchise owners as part of a corporate pilot program with franchisor Franchise Services. After this successful pilot, Survey Advantage’s three print buyer feedback and benchmark programs have been adopted by Franchise Services and will be rolled out at the upcoming national convention to be held in Fort Lauderdale, Florida July 10th and 11th, 2008. Programs will be demonstrated during the exposition.

Findings from surveys ran with over 1000 print buyers in the early part of 2008 will be published in the May and June issues of American Printer Magazine.  Results will include print buyers demands for additional products and service, as well is what is most important to them in selecting a printer.