Excellent service givers pay attention to the person and situation at hand.
They listen for the things that the client isn’t saying.
- Linda Byars Swindling

Can you remember an instance when you experienced exceptional customer service? When the end result made you feel really good and left you with a long-lasting positive impression?

You know when you have had an excellent customer experience and you know when you haven’t. Providing excellent products and services at competitive prices are expected in today’s marketplace, but this is only one part of the equation. The deciding factor between using one company over another tends to rely on the relationships that have been established and how the business makes the customer feel. This is the differentiator when providing high quality customer service.

How do you make your customers feel good?

1. Listen to their needs. Hear what they are saying and understand what they need.
2. Be genuine, honest and sincere. When customers are upset, they need to know that you care.
3. Only promise what you can deliver. If you tell customers that you will follow up with them, then do it. Set the expectation and follow through.

We all know what it’s like to be a customer and how it feels when we experience great customer service. We want more of it. Do your customers feel good?

This year’s CompTIA Breakaway is buzzing with excitement.  And I am proud to say that OnForce has a huge presence at the show and is actively involved with several events this week.  What I’m equally excited to report is that Breakaway is well attended with thousands of VARs, vendors, and distributors of all sizes, who are actively participating in breakout sessions, panel discussions, and peer-to-peer groups.

However many of these organizations are now facing the reality of our economy and are gaining new perspective on what that means for them.  Many are realizing that there is a lack of infrastructure to help them succeed during this time.  And with this tough reality, comes many questions on how to remain profitable, while weathering this storm.  Several questions/themes my team has heard this week include:

• How can my company continue to grow?
• Can I reinvent my company so we come out of this time successfully?
• Does my company need to make transitions in order to remain profitable?
• And if so, what do we do next?
• Should my organization adopt a vertical strategy?
• Do we explore new markets?

These are just some of the things we have heard.  Companies here are asking the right, albeit tough questions this week and they are looking for that silver bullet that can help them emerge from this time.  And CompTIA is bringing everyone together at Breakaway to find the right answer.

Personally, I believe that whether there is one silver bullet that can help everyone, still remains to be seen. Companies need to continue to look for opportunities to grow and sustain their business – and that is going to take some time and may be different for each individual organization.  But tell me what you think.  Are we going to emerge out this tough economy soon? Will companies start to become profitable again? Is there one answer for everyone? I would like to hear your thoughts, so please share them here.

The OnForce pros are a valuable asset to our community. Over the years, we have worked to ensure that our service providers have the highest quality of technicians to leverage for all of their CE and IT requirements.  While the OnForce Pro Online Community remains strong, we decided to create a Pro Advisory Council. The ProCouncil consists of five top OnForce PowerPros who have leveraged the platform to grow their individual businesses over the years.  PowerPros are those who have demonstrated strong performance and have met certain criteria, including completing 50 work orders on the platform; taken various OnForce training; and obtaining at least a 95% rating. These members work hand-in-hand with us and provide honest feedback about the OnForce marketplace and ways we can improve.

I enjoy speaking with our pros and I try to engage them in conversation every chance I get.  Feel free to meet our Pro Council and hear from them what they hope to accomplish in the next year. They all had diverse things to say, but a couple of themes came through loud and clear: 1 – the OnForce Marketplace helps them grow their business, and 2 – our Platform has room for improvement on how it operates.

I believe we are only as good as our OnForce pros, so as we work with the Advisory Council, I want my team can get honest feedback and learn from their experiences.  We want to hear how we can improve the platform for them and our service providers, alike.

I encourage you to meet our Advisory Council and listen for yourself how they hope to improve OnForce in the coming months.

I attended the EHX 2009 show in March which was held in sunny Orlando Florida along with several members of my team.  We had a chance to speak with our OnForce Pros who have been on the platform for several years as well as new folks who were interested in joining the OnForce Pro community. I always enjoy speaking with our service professionals to hear their stories and to ask for candid feedback about OnForce.

I heard that even as we are facing tough times, our Pros are still seeing steady business come through the platform. And the good news is – not much has changed in two months.  More and more work orders are coming through on a daily basis and our Pros are reaping the benefits.  I trust that our marketplace will continue to grow and our innovation will help us overcome these interesting economic times.  There is still a lot of business out there, and I firmly believe that as we continue to improve our platform, OnForce and our Pros will come out on top.  The outlook is still a bit brighter. With that, I thought you’d be interested in hearing the OnForce stories directly from the Pros themselves. I hope you enjoy the video from EHX.

Recently, I attended two trade shows that together represented both sides of the OnForce marketplace, giving me and the team a great view of what the needs are across the services market. The Everything Channel XChange Conference in New Orleans was filled with solution providers both large and small, and the EHX 2009 show, sponsored by CEPro, in Orlando had a large portion of our technicians and service providers there.

Both shows proved to be educational and gave us invaluable information into the marketplace.   In New Orleans, we enjoyed more than just the good food and great jazz music, but we were able to sit down with buyers who are looking for new ways to not only meet their bottom line, but increase their business.  After participating in several boardroom sessions where we were able to talk face-to-face in small groups, my team and I learned several lessons:

• Solution providers are still willing to find ways to create more top line service revenue opportunities, but at zero cost.

• We also heard that saving cost continues to be a big priority.  That was great for us to hear, since OnForce helps providers create top line growth opportunities by adding service offerings and expanding reach and cost save thought leveraging the OnForce Pro marketplace.  Our demo room had lines of service providers waiting to talk to us about how to get started!

EHX was all about our service technicians, our OnForce Pros.  The temperature wasn’t the only thing that was high in Orlando – everyone at the show seemed to be in a good mood.  We are now at 12,000+ pros strong, and it was good to see the show in full swing and meeting technicians who have been on the platform for years. After meeting several of you, I reflected on the main themes that came up as part of the show:

• Our pros love us – and those who have been on the platform have continued to see their business grow.

• We do have good news – while we are in a down economy, many are able to use our marketplace to expand their current business with new work orders every day.

• People are using the platform to gain new certifications and enter new areas – one area that has grown in leaps and bounds is the high-end TV area.

One thing is clear: yes, we are in trying times and that is where innovation wins.  OnForce is always looking to help our buyers meet their customer demands and expand nationally, while assisting our pros gain new business and increase their knowledge base.  The two shows showed us that there is still business out there and that while we may be facing an interesting business climate, the outlook is definitely a bit brighter.

Additionally at these shows, I also began to reflect on some of the predictions we made at the end of last year. If you’d like to hear about our 2009 predictions again or learn about the results from our year-end OnForce Services Marketplace Index (OSMI), please watch the video below.  I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.  And stay tuned for our Q109 OSMI report that will be coming in April.