Survey Advantage Press

For Immediate Release

Contact:
Michael Casey, Survey Advantage
401-560-0311 ext 103
mcasey@surveyadvantage.com

Printers Software™ Announces Partnership with Survey Advantage™ to Help Printers Preserve Revenue and Generate Leads

Sarasota, FL– June 10, 2010 – Printers Software Inc.(PSI), announced today a partnership with Survey Advantage, a service provider offering low cost customer loyalty and lead generation programs. Printers Software offers a full suite of estimating and production software modules for the commercial printing industry and is considered one of the premiere Print MIS vendors in North America. Now Printers Software users have an early warning and alert system to preserve recurring revenue if customer loyalty is slipping. In addition, the program identifies sales leads within each account generating referrals. Printers Software has developed the necessary functionality so users may use the industry leading CustomerPulse™ program offered through Survey Advantage.

“Our customers now have a way to effectively leverage customer information to drive sales and preserve revenue, two areas on the minds of every printing executive today.” said Nick Grieco, Vice President of Printers Software. “We are excited to partner with an industry leader like Survey Advantage, whose full service approach helps increase the effectiveness of client management for our users.”

“Printers Software did an excellent job streamlining the solution. The whole process takes users less than 5 minutes a month to administer. It doesn’t get any easier than that.” noted Michael Casey, President of Survey Advantage. Survey Advantage enables printers to keep a “thumb on the pulse” of each print buyer. The partnership with Printers Software streamlines the entire customer feedback process.

CustomerPulse™ automates the time-consuming and tedious tasks associated with maintaining an ongoing customer feedback and reporting process. Starting at $49/month this low cost, fully managed service gives printers another way to keep lines of communication open.

To view a recorded demonstration of Printers Software CustomerPulse select demo or contact Michael Casey at 401-560-0311 ext 103 or mcasey@surveyadvantage.com.

About Printers Software

Since 1979, Printers Software Inc. has empowered leading printers to maximize profits through easy-to-use, proven solutions and world class support. They are the first and most experienced company to provide software systems for printing management. Presidio™ is the latest version of our award winning, fully integrated system that improves efficiency, reduces costs and increases profits.

Their Estimating, Job Ticket, Job Control, Data Collection, Inventory, Accounting, and eCommerce applications are among the most widely used by commercial and in-plant firms of all sizes. They are a recipient of the coveted NAPL Industry Award.

About Survey Advantage

Survey Advantage is the leading provider of customer research, customer retention, and lead generation programs for the graphic communications industry. CustomerPulse™ and MarketPulse™ were designed in partnership with the industry to improve productivity by helping operations manage their customer relations and overall operational effectiveness. Additional information may be obtained at www.surveyadvantage.com/printers, emailing info@surveyadvantage.com, or calling 401-560-0311.

You may survey customers regularly, but how frequently do you analyze the results? Even more importantly, have you implemented any changes based on the feedback?

Bottom line is that you must take action on the results or don’t bother surveying. Surveying should be conducted for process improvement and expansion. It shouldn’t be to get that ISO auditor out your door and do it just to say you do something! Surveying is not an event, but an ongoing process.” Below are the top 5 questions we are asked when printers are setting up a print buyer feedback process.

Should I survey customers with every print order?

For repeat buyers we suggest surveying no more than every 90 days. If surveyed too often, regular repeat buyers will become annoyed and you will drive down loyalty. Also, in your email message state something like “You won’t get this survey more often than every 90 days if you buy from us regularly.” Tell customers upfront so they won’t assume the survey process is going to turn into a spam issue. If you are correctly managing the frequency of surveys to repeat buyers, you can anticipate a 20% to 35% response rate on a continuous basis. Let the feedback flow and let customers know that the survey is just another way to stay connected and responsive.

How many questions should I ask?

Keep the survey to less than 30 seconds (5-7 questions maximum). State In the email invitation that it will take less than a minute of their time and stick to that promise. Don’t say that it will take 30 seconds and then ask 30 questions. You may want to change the questions regularly and the invitation email to keep it fresh and inviting.

When considering the number of questions, be aware that there are two types of surveys. A strategic survey helps to map out necessary investments during the upcoming year. Customers appreciate this type of survey. If it’s positioned correctly and you promise to share the results with them, they will give you 5 minutes and answer around 20 questions. The second type of survey is the post-job survey or the 90-day pulse type survey to keep connected in an ongoing fashion. We suggest doing both because one is strategic and one tactical, but if budget and time is a constraint, go for the tactical survey asking customers for 1 minute to answer 5 or 6 questions and keep communication open all the time.

If I can only ask one question, what should it be?

“How likely are you to recommend us to colleagues and friends?” This is the ultimate question and there is an entire book dedicated to this question called “The Ultimate Question.”

What are the biggest mistakes I should avoid when surveying customers?

1. Waiting too long between surveys. I spoke to a printer last week that hadn’t surveyed customers in 10 years. He got good results, but when I asked why he waited 10 years he said it took too much time. Using today’s technology, surveying should not be that time consuming. Just read Lori Fuller’s case study from University of Nebraska at www.surveyadvantage.com/printers
2. Making the survey too long.
3. Making the process too complicated so it isn’t done continuously.
4. Assigning the wrong person to manage the process. I have seen “gaming” of the system where an internal person doesn’t survey certain customers because they don’t want to hear complaints. That’s a bad reason not to survey. You need to hear from everyone.
5. Not continually monitoring the process. If management doesn’t watch the process and the person assigned looks at surveying as an optional task, it might not get done regularly. Or it may stop and management never realizes that it has stopped. Gathering and monitoring customer feedback starts at the top and must be part of the culture of the operation — not just another task thrown out there.

Once the information is gathered, what should I do?

The best, most successful printers contact every customer who responds to the survey. That is right, every one. There is a story behind every survey even the glowing ones. Thanking those customers with great comments shows you listened and appreciate their comments. If you get a referral call, thank them so you get more referrals. Thankfulness breeds more good work. Those who are neutral about the experience should be asked how you can change to get top marks. Comments that are positive should be acknowledged and once again respondents should be thanked for their time and candidness. Negative survey results are typically the ones that gain the most attention, but there is usually more opportunity to sell to those customers who are happy and will share with you other services that they buy elsewhere or provide a referral. Remember contacting respondents builds loyalty, and they are more likely to fill out the survey once again later in the year.

The best, most successful printers also share the glowing comments with their teams to build moral. Post it on the lunchroom bulletin board. Managers can tell an employee that their efforts are appreciated, but it means so much more to get it from the customer directly. Approximately 95% of survey comments are positive. Don’t bury them in the customer feedback database. Share them. In addition, the best printers put questions on the survey that probe for other selling opportunities. Keep the survey to around 5 questions, but build one question in to learn what services they are buying elsewhere or to ask for a referral.

Don’t just look at surveying as a reactive, passive process. It can be a selling process as well.
Take the compiled information and do something with it. Just today I spoke with a printer who had 30% of his customers share what they bought elsewhere. Sadly, he hadn’t followed up on any of them because he was so busy in production. He did say over the next few months he is going to make a conscious effort to pursue those leads to expand client share. The good news was that he followed up on every referral and closed two new accounts.

Another great strategy is to print out the survey results weekly and review them with your team. Discuss what customers are saying and together come up with a game plan. One printer does an annual survey and then goes through all the nearly 300 responses, does his own SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats), and delegates at the account level and strategic execution level. This printer has done this for 4 years now and has had tremendous success even in a weak Michigan economy.

If sending out a survey is the first and last step, you are dropping the ball at the most important time. Put the information to work for your business. If conducted properly, surveys are indispensable tools for growing your business, enhancing performance and making informed decisions about the allocation of resources.
For more information, read printer case studies at http://www.surveyadvantage.com/printers

Today Printer’s Plus released a second way to support the Survey Advantage CustomerPulse program.  Besides launching directly from Printer’s Plus, printers now have the option to let Survey Advantage manage the process for them.  Please view the new process by reading the recent document released by Printer’s Plus. Printer’s Plus Release

In the September 25th issue of the On-Demand E-Newsletter issue, Survey Advantage President, Michael Casey, shares with the community effective ways of implementing best practice surveying processes to stay connected with print buyers.

Read the article

Survey Advantage now is offering busy managers the ability to view recorded trainings focused on customer retention, client share expansion, and referral generation, on-demand.  Many times managers and business owners are unable to make the specific days and times of our webinars due to their busy schedule. 

We have released several 7 to 8 minute, recorded trainings to explain how to survey using different printer MIS installations; PrintSmith, Printer’s Plan, Technique, Enterprise Print Management Solutions, Printer’s Plus, and a session on how to survey using all other MIS installations.   To view the on-demand library and select your specific printer MIS, visit www.surveyadvantage.com/printers.

We are planning to release several new trainings in the future focused on our other verticals; marine services, association research, business services, parking facility feedback, manufacturing, education, finance, and healthcare.

At this year’s convention Survey Advantage will highlight two new programs;  CustomerPulse for Printer’s Plan 2010 and CustomerPulse for PrintSmith.  Survey Advantage now works closely with both MIS providers to help franchisee owners survey customers after print jobs are completed.  Survey Advantage has worked closely with franchisee owners of all Allegra Network’s the brands; Signs Now, Allegra Print & Imaging, American Speedy, and Insty Prints, offering  owners customer loyalty, lead generation, revenue retention programs that are affordable for the small business owner.  

Survey Advantage invites all attendees to visit us in booth 525  for a demo.

Phoenix, AZ:  Survey Advantage introduced three new printer programs to several members during an introduction July 27th at the headquarters of Printing Industries of Arizona.  Survey Advantage will offer CustomerPulse, HealthCheck, and MarketCheck to PIAZ members interested in revenue preservation, client share expansion, and lead generation.  CustomerPulse is designed to help printers obtain immediate feedback after jobs are completed while HealthCheck and MarketCheck are designed to help printers during strategic planning and ISO 9000 process improvement efforts.

In San Diego, CA during Franchise Services annual owners conference Survey Advantage and Printer’s Plan co-presented the newest version of Printer’s Plan and how surveying customers after jobs just got easier within the application.  The new features of 2010 now flag the last time customers were surveyed to help manage survey frequency.  In addition, the smartlink of Survey Advantage pulls in the job number from Printer’s Plan enabling printers to quickly and effectively follow-up with customers.

Print ‘09, the largest printing show in North America, will be in Chicago from September 11-16th.   Survey Advantage president Michael Casey has been asked to lead a presentation on Monday, September 14th from 2:15PM to 4:00PM.   Please read the overview below or visit www.myprint09.com for more details.  

Topic: Creating and managing a customer retention strategy

On average 5% of a printer’s revenue is directed to the marketing budget to capture new customers through tradeshows, advertising, and get your name recognized on the cluttered field of printers.  Printer’s with an effective, deliberate customer retention strategy benefit from lower marketing expenses through higher client share and customer referrals.  Rarely does a printer lose an account completely, but many will lose client share if they don’t have an effective early warning system in place when a specific job goes out with a problem.  This session will discuss ways printers have implemented programs to retain customers by driving loyalty, proactively gathering print job feedback, customizing services, and making their customers feel unique and special.  Multiple studies have proven how much more profitable it is to grow revenues with existing accounts versus pursuing new accounts.  Retaining customers is the best way to keep your business healthy, reduce marketing budgets, and drive referrals to your door.

What you will learn
• Effective customer retention strategies
• Printer loyalty programs
• Printer referral programs
• Printer loyalty benchmarks to shoot for
• The importance of surveys
• Best practice survey techniques
• Low cost customer feedback process
• Customer service processes to consider

Presentation for Executive Management, Owners, Customer Service Directors and Managers, Sales and Marketing Directors and Managers

From October 29th-31st, 2009 the National Association of Quick Printers will hold their annual conference in Austin, TX.  Survey Advantage has been asked to present a session and moderate a session.  Below is a summary of each session.  Please visit www.naqp.com for more details on the conference.

Session 1: “Leveraging Customer Feedback to Expand Client Share, Drive Referrals, and Preserve Recurring Revenues”  Mike Casey, Survey Advantage

Learn how printers have implemented processes to preserve recurring job revenues, drive referrals, and uncover opportunities to expand client share. Learn how to fully leverage your existing relationships to grow your business. This session will also cover ways to streamline the process by using technology and customer information you already have in your operation.

Session 2: “Panel: How to keep customers coming back for more” Moderator, Mike Casey, Survey Advantage

A prerequisite to being a printer today is producing quality on time. And everyone has solid customer service so there goes that differentiator! Your peers will share how they create and maintain loyal relationships by making their customers feel unique and special and change the game for competition knocking on their customer’s doors. Learn what successful, profitable printers are doing beyond shipping quality on time with great customer service. Learn the little and big things they do that keep customers coming back every time.