Tag: customer service and support

Do you ask your Software Vendors the Right Questions During the Selling Process?

December 10, 2013 I try to make as many visits to prospects, both to show Dovetail’s commitment, and also to get a sense as to what is going on in the market segments we compete in. During these presentations we talk about who Dovetail is and then go into a detailed demo of our product. Most of the questions the prospects ask relate to our product – what does our product do, how does the implementation work, and how good is the security of our product. All good questions, but they may not tell you everything you should know about the vendors competing for your business. Here are a number of other questions customers should ask and why they are important: 1) Tell us how you deal with the problems that will develop during implementation, and give me an example? We…

U.S. Info-Comm Reduces CRM-Related Maintenance Cost by 50% with Dovetail Support Suite

December 6, 2011 Nothing makes us happier here at Dovetail than hearing success stories from our customers. So when U.S. Info-Comm (USIC) President Stephen Stark agreed to participate in a case study, I jumped at the chance and wanted to share some of the highlights from their Dovetail Support Suite for Customer Service implementation experience with you. USIC, a technology and service provider specializing in telecommunications, data network support, and large-scale deployments, migrated from their proprietary CRM system to Dovetail Support Suite earlier this year. Stark noted that our team was able to complete the entire migration within just a few weeks and preserve custom business functionality, workflows and legacy data within their CRM, which meant less disruption to day-to-day business processes and minimal re-training requirements for their staff. Freeing USIC from their outdated CRM system and implementing Dovetail Support Suite enabled them…

Customer Service – Is it the Technology or the People?

June 16, 2011 I love great debates, Coke or Pepsi, boxers or briefs, or how about the most recent one, Did the Miami Heat choke or Did the Dallas Mavericks win it? (I’m bias since I live in Dallas and love the Mavericks.) Another one that is ongoing is, What makes for great Customer Service, is it the Technology or the People? I have written before on this subject, and we at Dovetail think about this issue on two levels. One is like anyone else providing Customer Service to their customers, and the other is as a provider of Customer Service software, and for us, the line between the two often blur. I recently read a blog post on this subject written by Esteban Kolsky, called Guess What Customer Relationship Management is All About? Esteban is part of the team putting on…

HR and Customer Service – Lacking the Love?

November 11, 2010 For years now, Company executives have said that providing superior customer service is critical to their organization and that they were focused on providing just that. But to the people running customer service and the agents responsible for taking care of those customers, they often see this edict as hollow words as customer service is looked at as a cost center, a group asked to do more with less resources. HR executives might feel the same way. What do the same Company executives say about their employees? That people are the most important asset of the company, and you better treat them right if you want a successful company. Yet, ask that HR executive whether they have enough resources, or the right technology to ensure they are taking care of their employees, and they too, like the customer service department,…

Great vs Bad Customer Service, and Technology Could Help

October 13, 2010 I have written a number of times about how good technology doesn’t ensure good customer service. If companies don’t put into place good policies or give their employees the ability to solve customer problems, technology can’t overcome that. Well, it can also be true that technology can “help” ensure good customer service. I say help because it doesn’t guarantee it, it just increases the likelihood of success. I think many of us have had experiences where we are talking to customer service or technical support, and it turns out that the agent doesn’t have all the information he/she needs to assist you. They either have to transfer you to a different department or put you on hold for a long time while they try to track down the information from a different department. I have experienced this not once, but…

We Provide Superior Customer Service! So What, Don’t All Vendors Say That?

August 20, 2010 We are in the process of re-designing our website. One of the great qualities of our company we wanted to highlight in our new website is our commitment to our customers, and how we truly do provide Superior Customer Service. It has been our highest priority since the inception of the company. We understand how the customer service process works and we incorporate this knowledge and experience into our own software, process, and structure when supporting our customers. In a recent independent survey of our customer base, 100% of the respondents described themselves as: Dovetail Software "champions" Likely to recommend us to others Likely to repurchase Very satisfied with the product and the company So we are proud of our Customer Service. But here’s our dilemma. Check out the other software vendors. Probably every one of them says they provide…

Why is Dovetail better? Ask our Customers

July 4, 2010 We at Dovetail Software are in business to make money like other CRM vendors, but I think our approach to generating revenue is different than our competitors. Our philosophy is to take care of the customers and their success will ultimately enable us to maximize our revenue over the long haul. To this end we often provide free consulting to our customers or we might blog about customizations or solutions that might benefit our customers. We just completed a customer installation and another example of this was cited by our newest customer. Since we can’t announce this sale yet, I can’t name individuals, but you can still see what makes Dovetail different. The customer was talking to our installer at their site and said to him: “I can look at your blogging and tell you value your customers and customer…

Ever Wonder What Happens to Your Customer Surveys

June 23, 2010 I don’t know about you, but I would prefer a provider not pretend they care about what you have to say as opposed to claiming they care, and then don’t follow thru. We are conditioned to providers not doing anything after the purchase such that we don’t give it much thought when they don’t. More often than not, I don’t respond to providers’ requests for a survey response, but sometimes, because they have a great way of asking for it, or something really good or bad happened, I do respond. So now the provider has raised the bar, especially when they ask, “Can somebody follow-up with you if they have additional questions?” or “Would you like someone to follow-up with you?” And people remember ….I remember that I had an issue at the Ritz-Carlton, they provided a follow-up survey, I…

Happy Father’s Day to Me

June 21, 2010 You know you are going to have a great day when you combine a day of being waited on along with great customer service. I woke up today to some Father’s Day cards, some presents, and a menu to order from IHOP. When my wife ordered breakfast, she reminded the person on the phone to put the strawberry topping on the French Toast. When the person on the phone asked her to explain, she told the person that last time we got this item, they didn’t put the strawberries on top. When he heard that the previous order wasn’t right, he said, “no problem, they should have gotten it right last time, and this order was on them.” He had no idea whether this actually happened, we didn’t ask for anything, yet this was the way he handled it. Great…

What Does it Take to Provide Superior Customer Service

September 30, 2009 I recently read a blog post on Why Small Companies Are Better at Customer Service by Anthony Tjan. In his post Tony points out, “The key difference in these experiences is the common sense and empathy of the small local company. Too much customer service — especially in large companies — has devolved to standard operating procedures and scripted answers delivered with artificial calmness.” I agree that the key differences Tony points out are critical, but they wouldn’t completely explain why companies provide good or bad customer service. It also takes the right culture within the company to ensure that customers are serviced well. We are all aware of Zappos and their unwavering focus on superior customer service. They aren’t a small company; yet, many companies attempt to emulate their customer service. So what is it about Zappos that…