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Champions Of Customer Service
By: Audrey Sellers, Associate Editor
Issue: 2009may
PPAI Supplier Star Awardsm winners speak up on what it takes to be one of the industry’s customer service elite and how your company can join their all-star ranks.
No matter how you encounter it, an excellent customer service experience isn’t quickly forgotten. Just ask PPAI’s distributor members who voted for this year’s PPAI Supplier Star Award winners—they spotted excellence in customer service and proclaimed it to the industry.
Here’s how it works: Distributor principals and company personnel go online in July to make their top picks in each of 10 sales volume categories. They look at customer service, products, sales aids and delivery times. To be eligible for the award, suppliers must be PPAI members in good standing for at least three years. Once voting closes and all votes are counted, the supplier firm with the most votes in each sales volume category is named the Supplier Star, and the two firms receiving the next-highest number of votes take home Award of Merit trophies during The PPAI Expo.
Supplier Star Award winners are clearly doing something right—an industry full of distributors declared them the best in the biz. PPB set out to uncover their secrets to customer service success. Here’s the scoop straight from the winners of the 2009 PPAI Supplier Star Award.
PPAI Supplier Star: Tower Ribbons (UPIC: TOWERIBB), Topeka, Indiana
Sales Volume Category: S1-S2 ($50,000 to $100,000)
The customer service at Tower Ribbons is built on a foundation of family and relationships, something President Craig Miller works to sustain as a third-generation owner. “My grandparents and parents had a large influence on the current success of our company. It’s an honor as one of the third-generation owners to continue what they started,” Miller says.
Miller built his team from a “hardworking Midwestern employee base” and prides his company’s customer service reps on their willingness to develop solid business relationships and take care of whatever distributors might need.
Miller doesn’t leave the customer service work with his reps—he’s fully accessible as the company’s president. “A customer called my cell at 10 pm one Friday when I was at the airport picking up some friends,” says Miller. “He needed product the next day and was desperate. It struck me that he somehow got my cell number and asked me to help. I was able to get the merchandise he needed and made arrangements to meet him at my house the next morning in time for him to service his customer.”
This was just a part of the business relationship for Miller and his crew at Tower Ribbons. “Our philosophy is to make our customers comfortable. We want them to feel like they made the right choice in choosing Tower to take care of their needs,” Miller says.
Miller’s secret to success: “The only surprise your customer should get is over performance. This happens with training and putting the right systems in place. Customers simply want to be comfortable that they are going to get a quality product on time at a fair price.”
PPAI Supplier Star: Kool Pak, Inc. (UPIC: KOOLPAK), Hollywood, Florida
Sales Volume Category: S4 ($500,001 to $1,000,000)
Marc Zingler, president of Kool Pak, Inc., runs his business following the Golden Rule and empowers his staff to follow his lead. “The philosophy here is that we need to treat our customers the same way we want to be treated,” Zingler says. “Distributors need information, product availability and for products to be shipped on time. They don’t ask for much and we need to get it done.”
To get it done consistently for his distributor clients, Zingler ensures the entire staff is trained to provide customer service. “This is where our primary training is, and from there, employees specialize in different areas,” he says. “We all answer the phones and we all need to be in a position to answer customer questions and process the information.”
Keeping distributors happy is the ultimate goal at Kool Pak. “Distributors are the lifeblood of the industry,” Zingler says. “We do exactly what it takes to keep them happy. When a problem arises, we move quickly—same day—to re-do orders, re-print and re-ship. We think, ‘How would we like to be treated if we were at the other end?’”
Zingler attributes his company’s customer service success to a staff that truly cares. “We can teach our people about our product lines, the industry and how to resolve issues, but we can’t teach people how to care,” he says. “We look for people who care about themselves and the work they do.”
Once the right people are in place, the next step is to promptly handle each order with an eye for detail. “We work closely with distributors to make sure the data they give us is accurate. They need to know they’re going to be looked after and that the information is going to flow. We’re an event-oriented industry—either the supplier meets the end user’s needs for merchandise or the order has little value,” says Zingler.
Zingler’s secret to success: “Find the best possible people you can—people who care the most. Then educate them as best you can on your product lines.”
PPAI Supplier Star: Admints & Zagabor (UPIC: ADMINTS), Bellmawr, New Jersey
Sales Volume Category: S5 ($1,000,001 to $2,500,000)
It’s all about making customers feel appreciated at Admints & Zagabor. Brett Hersh, president, says customer service is a top priority across all departments and that it goes light years beyond simply being polite. “Everyone understands that their communication with the customer is representative of the company,” he says. “We thank customers for their business and let them know we appreciate them. We make sure they know they could choose another supplier but they chose us and we’re grateful for that.”
Hersh and his staff put a personal touch on each order by calling customers to see if there’s anything else they can do. They also send a thank-you card and a sample of the job so distributors can see the actual product that’s going to the client. “We go through a big expense to do this, but it’s worth it,” Hersh says.
Another way of showing appreciation is by making it a standard practice to ship early. “In today’s world where everything is rush, rush, distributors always want to overnight things,” Hersh says. “If we can speed up our production internally, we’ll try to ship early to save the customer money.”
When shipping goes awry, Hersh and his team move swiftly to fix the problem. “We recently had a customer who was in dire need of a product. We messed up on the ship date, so one of our customer service people jumped in the car to make the 2½-hour drive to hand-deliver the product,” Hersh says.
It makes sense that staffers are willing to go the extra mile and show customer appreciation because Hersh works to create a family environment. “Everyone has their own personal lives and stresses,” he says. “We try to be as flexible as we can with regards to people’s needs. We have monthly incentive nights out—we’ll go bowling or to a sports bar. It’s just for employees; not spouses. This way everyone can see their co-workers on a different level. The closer people are, the better they work together.”
Hersh’s secret to success: “The customer comes first. That’s the bottom line. Customers have to know you appreciate their business, so make them feel that way.”
PPAI Supplier Star: ETS Express (UPIC: ETSE), Oxnard, California
Sales Volume Category: S6 ($2,500,001 to $5,000,000)
You won’t hear the word “no” at ETS Express. Adam Kovar, director of sales, says this is because everyone at the company is committed to finding a solution for customers—even if it doesn’t involve ETS Express.
“The way things are right now, you can’t simply say no,” he says. “We always look into the situation and see if there’s something else we can do. Maybe it’s partnering with another supplier or directing the customer to a competitor. We want to give answers. That’s ultimately what it’s all about. The more we give answers, the more the customer will say, ‘Go to ETS. They took care of me and I’m sure they’ll figure something out for you.’”
Kovar and his colleagues are never far from their customers, whether they’re greeting them at tradeshows or touching base on the phone. “We’re firm believers you have to be in front of the customer physically—not just with e-mail blasts and advertising. You have to be talking to them face-to-face and on the phone. It’s that out of sight, out of mind mentality,” Kovar says.
An outside sales team of multiline reps keeps their finger on the pulse by weekly visits with distributors and by attending shows inside and outside the industry. “We’re constantly going to shows to see what fashion trends are coming up,” says Kovar. “We don’t want to be the me-too of drinkware but be fashion-forward as far as colors and designs.”
Distributors can access a design book on the website that lets them add a logo to any design and show it to end users. “It’s been enormously successful because it took the thinking out of it. We’re constantly looking for ways to make it easier for distributors to come to us and sell our products,” Kovar says.
Kovar’s secret to success: “It all starts with a great customer service manager. You have to get the right people on the bus. Also, it’s important to educate them on the industry so they’re not robotic in their answers. The more they understand, the better they’ll be able to do a great job.”
PPAI Supplier Star: World Wide Lines, Inc. (UPIC: WORLDWID), Covington, Tennessee
Sales Volume Category: S7 ($5,000,001 to $10,000,000)
Distributors have come to expect a certain kind of small-town hospitality from World Wide Lines, Inc., from familiar voices greeting them by name to dedicated staffers working on a holiday to finish an order. “An advantage we have here is that we’re from a small town,” says President Kim Newell. “Everyone has a strong work ethic. They care about their jobs and they do whatever it takes to get the job done.”
On the day before Christmas Eve, a customer called in with an urgent need for 3,000 decorated plates. Newell rounded up the crew and worked Christmas Eve and part of Christmas Day to run the plates. “The customer always comes first. Everything we do revolves around the customer, whether you’re in the factory or the office,” she says.
Many of the employees have been with the firm for 20-30 years and work with new hires to train them on customer service and product lines. “Our customers know they have people here that have been here for a long time that they can talk to,” Newell says. “It’s a continual process keeping up with their needs.”
To fine-tune relationships with customers, Newell monitors calls and sends surveys. “We try to maintain what our customers want by talking to them first,” she says. “We’ve done this for 60 years, so we know building partnerships with customers begins with first understanding what they need from the partnership.”
Newell’s secret to success: “Put the customer first by catering to his or her individual needs. To really take care of customers, you can’t assume they all have the same needs and treat them all the same.”
PPAI Supplier Star: Maple Ridge Farms, Inc. (UPIC: MAPLE), Mosinee, Wisconsin
Sales Volume Category: S8 ($10,000,001 to $15,000,000)
Tom Riordan, CEO of Maple Ridge Farms, Inc., works to create a customer service culture where every single employee is dedicated to the same goal: producing high-quality products and delivering them on time, every time.
“We want every customer to feel as if we have exceeded their expectations,” says Riordan. “Customer service is not a department, but a company-wide philosophy. Over the last 30 years, we’ve developed a culture where everyone is on the same page, dedicated to the same goals and has the Maple Ridge Farms can-do attitude instilled in them.”
All employees complete a rigorous customer service training program where they learn policies and procedures and how the promotional products industry works. “We want to give them an understanding of why we do the things we do,” Riordan says.
A “Make It Happen” team comprised of experienced employees from each department groups together when a customer service issue arises to correct the situation as quickly as possible. For example, when bad weather threatened to delay a delivery, the team contacted the carrier to see if the order could be expedited. When that wasn’t an option, the team jumped in and decided the best choice was to re-run the order and ship it overnight. The company had the gifts in time for its big party.
Riordan and his staff glean feedback from customers at tradeshows, on the phone and through extensive surveys on anything from overall satisfaction to flavor preferences. “When we were experimenting with some new brownie recipes, we sent samples of the new brownies to customers and asked for their feedback,” he says.
Riordan makes sure employees are always clued in on this feedback by posting notes on a bulletin board and forwarding e-mails to everyone. “When our customers take the time to thank us, we share our sincere appreciation for the hard work everyone provided to make it happen,” Riordan says.
Riordan’s secret to success: “Treat every customer as if they were your only customer by listening to them and adapting your business model to meet their needs. Go above and beyond on everything you do.”
PPAI Supplier Star: Ariel Premium Supply, Inc. (UPIC: ARIEL), St. Louis, Missouri
Sales Volume Category: S9 ($15,000,001 to $20,000,000)
Communication is king at Ariel Premium Supply, Inc., says National Accounts Supervisor John Short. “Distributors need to know what’s going on with their order. Did we get it, do we have the artwork and everything we need?” he says. “It’s really about making sure the distributor gets taken care of.”
To make sure this happens, everyone at the company is trained in providing customer service. “You never get away from customer service no matter what you do, so it definitely involves the entire company,” he says. “When I’m out traveling to major shows, I talk to customers about new products and answer any questions they may have.”
Short says good internal communication begins with a customer service staff that’s treated as a valued part of the company. “When I travel and see other suppliers winning customer service awards, I know they obviously must be doing something right. I think it really comes down to empowerment, incentives and recognition and an overall requirement of making the customer service team feel like they’re an important part of the process.”
Since customer service people are on the front lines of interactions with distributors, Short says it’s important to get consistent feedback from them. “Change is inevitable. Talk to your customer service staff and find out what ideas they have,” he says.
Short’s secret to success: “Make sure your customer service people are taken care of. You have to do things to incentivize them and make them happy. If they’re topnotch and well cared for, they’ll go above and beyond for your company.”
PPAI Supplier Star: Gold Bond, Inc. (UPIC: GOLD0008), Hixson, Tennessee
Sales Volume Category: S10 ($20,000,001 to $50,000,000)
“Customer service is not a department within our company; it’s a mindset,” says President Mark Godsey. “First-class customer service is only achieved when every individual involved in the customer experience does an exemplary job. Exceeding the expectations of each customer is a goal shared by all Gold Bond staff.”
He says distributors consistently rave that Gold Bond responds quickly and offers a large selection of products and processes. “When distributors call on customers and present our products, they go with the full knowledge that we’ll deliver product that will not only please the customer, but prompt future business. This is the bond and partnership we focus on,” says Godsey.
The Gold Bond team is dedicated to providing expedited production times and follows the motto, “Where service is everything.” It’s common for staff in all departments to oversee an order through all stages of production.
“When a standard production order came in fairly late one evening, Linda in our mail room decided to route the order through rush service because standard production time wouldn’t make the event date,” Godsey says. “Melissa, the service representative, immediately contacted Mark, our golf manager, to let him know the rush order was coming and confirmed the ship date with the customer. The order was processed, the artwork was set up and proofed within an hour and delivered to our screen room. Our shipping manager, Stan, stopped the truck to confirm the shipping instructions were followed to the T.”
Godsey says the best part is that this is a fairly typical scenario for Gold Bond. “As we’re on the road talking with distributors, we hear over and over that someone on our team went to the wall for them and made a delivery date, created a piece of art or took special care to make sure their customer was happy,” he says.
“That’s the gold standard and that’s what has created deep relationships with our distributors,” Godsey continues. “They know that when they are in a bind—it happens to everyone now and then—we will go to the wall for them, mobilize the team and do everything we can to deliver a quality product on time.”
Godsey’s secret to success: “Listen to customers. It’s that simple. If we don’t know what our customers want, we can’t exceed their expectations. I tell myself every day that we are here to serve our customers and take care of one another. When we do that, the rest falls into line. It isn’t just price and quality. Its price, selection, quality, service, teamwork, gestures of appreciation, customer relationships and doing what we say we will do—every day, all day long.”
PPAI Supplier Star: SanMar Corporation (UPIC: SNMR), Preston, Washington
Sales Volume Category: S11 ($100,000,001 to $250,000,000)
At SanMar, President Marty Lott encourages his staff to “tell the truth and be nice.”
“This means when we say a product is in stock, it needs to be in stock. From there, we need to pull the right product, in the right size and color and it needs to arrive on time to our customers. Throughout the process, the customer needs to feel taken care of,” Lott says.
To Lott, being a stand-out supplier isn’t just about meeting customer needs—it’s about truly caring for customers. “Once on board at SanMar, customer care representatives complete a dynamic training program that provides them with the knowledge to serve customers every day,” he says. “Everyone in the company needs to seamlessly work together to deliver the right product, with the right message at the right time. This means everyone along the way is responsible and invested in delivering a single shipment to a customer.”
Lott admits that sometimes things don’t go as planned and mistakes are made. When this happens, his team does everything it can to correct the situation and ensure the customer feels the least impact.
“We listen to customers in any way we can—through our Customer Care Team, Territory Managers, Tradeshow Teams and electronic surveys. In addition, our Executive Team is constantly traveling to meet with customers, whether at tradeshows or individually at their businesses,” he says.
Customer satisfaction is directly related to employee satisfaction, Lott says, so he strives to create a positive environment for employees. “The longevity of our employees’ tenure speaks to a work environment where employees want to be. That makes me incredibly proud,” he says. “We get more compliments on our people than any other part of our business. We hire great people, provide them with quality training and offer a positive work environment. That directly affects our customers’ experience with SanMar.”
Lott’s secret to success: “Caring for the needs of customers is foundational. Customers want to state their needs and then have someone on the other end who’s happy to provide solutions. Part of creating a culture of care is ensuring that the entire supply chain is functioning smoothly. In order for a single transaction to arrive to a customer, every part of the process must be precise.”
Ten Ways To Deliver World-Class Customer Service
Wondering the secrets to outstanding customer service and how you can apply them to your business? Take a tip (or 10) from John R. Di Julius III—he wrote the book on it, titled What’s The Secret? To Providing A World-Class Customer Experience. In it, Di Julius explores the 10 things world-class customer service companies have mastered.
Use this checklist to see if you score 10 out of 10 on Di Julius’ list of must-do customer service actions:
1. Develop a service vision that explains why your business exists.
2. Create the right internal culture by attracting, hiring and retaining only the people who have a service DNA—a desire to provide more.
3. Require staff to follow a set of nonnegotiable experiential standards, such as never doing a cold transfer and always using the customer’s name.
4. Develop systems to personalize customer experiences and engage and anticipate their needs.
5. Strive to provide a consistent customer experience.
6. Harness the power of ideas and learn how to execute them.
7. Anticipate service defects and have protocols in place to make them right.
8. Maintain constant awareness and branding of how to be a hero to your customers.
9. Measure your customers’ experiences.
10. Walk the talk.
Roll Out The Red Carpet For Your Customers
Celebrities expect it, but wouldn’t it be great if everyone got the VIP treatment? Donna Cutting, professional keynote speaker and author of The Celebrity Experience: Insider Secrets to Delivering Red Carpet Customer Service, says any company can master this all-star treatment. Here are her tips to red-carpet-worthy customer service:
Make the customer feel like a VIP. “Whether customers are on the phone or in front of you, make them feel like the most important person in the room. This could mean smiling, looking them in the eye, remembering their name or personally thanking them.”
Revamp your current customer service policies. “Get rid of the practices that don’t wow your customers and commit to a series of customer service standards that you never waver from. It might be that you’re committed to quicker response times. How quickly do you answer e-mails and phone calls? It might be owning a customer’s request from start to finish, sending handwritten thank-you notes or making thank-you calls. These are things to wow customers.”
Connect with customers on a personal level. “The high-tech world we’re living in takes away from customer relationships. Go out of your way to build personal relationships with them so they know you’re glad they’re there. You can add human contact to your website with something as simple as photos. This helps people feel like they belong to your family, your club, and they feel more loyal to you. People like doing business with people they like but if there’s no human contact, there’s no loyalty to do business with you.”
Treat employees to a red carpet experience. “If you want your employees to treat your customers well, start by treating your employees well. How do you get employees who have never experienced red carpet customer service to deliver it? Treat them to a red carpet experience in the way you work with them—it’s how you treat them, appreciate them, train them. When they see you’re committed to them, they’ll be committed to your customers.”
Cast Your Vote For The 2010 PPAI Supplier Star Awards
Distributors, now’s the time to be thinking about the stand-out suppliers you’ll vote for in the 2010 PPAI Supplier Star Award competition. Voting begins in mid-July—just go to www.ppai.org, click on Members, Sales and Marketing Solutions and Industry Recognition. Scroll down to PPAI Supplier Star Award to access the online ballot, which is open until July 31.
To thank you for your vote, PPAI will include your name in a drawing for a chance to win up to $400 reimbursement on airfare to The PPAI Expo 2010 in Las Vegas. The winner will be notified by the end of September.
Need help with the online ballot? Contact Melissa Bontrager at MelissaB@ppai.org or 972-258-3042.
Front And Center: Where The PPAI Supplier Star Award Trophies Call Home
Once the glitz and glam of the PPAI Awards Dinner & Presentation in Las Vegas is over, where do the winning suppliers showcase their trophies? PPB caught up with some of this year’s winners to find out.
Brett Hersh of Admints & Zagabor: “The Supplier Star Award gets a special spot up front next to our catalog because we want to give it the most exposure possible. It’s the only award we bring to all our tradeshows. We also wear the black ribbon beneath the badge holders around our necks imprinted with: Supplier Star 2009. We are very proud of this award and consider it the most prestigious award in the industry.”
John Short of Ariel Premium Supply, Inc.: “Our Supplier Star Award is located in our awards cabinet in the front lobby/reception area of our building.”
Adam Kovar of ETS Express: “Our Supplier Star Award is proudly displayed at the receptionist’s desk so visitors, customers and employees see it as soon as they enter the lobby. All of our other awards are on the lobby wall, but the Supplier Star Award is displayed on its own.”
Marc Zingler of Kool Pak: “All our awards are on a shelf in my office. They show a commitment to the industry and they show that the industry has recognized our commitment to it. The awards show our visitors our continuing efforts to give our customers the kind of service they expect.”
Tom Riordan of Maple Ridge Farms: “Our new facility includes a break area that houses our Maple Ridge Farms Museum, a room where employees and visitors can take part in the company’s history. We display all our catalogs, our first fire-branding machine, employee and customer memorabilia and our awards collection. Our Supplier Star Award is the focus of the awards collection. It’s surrounded by our 12 [PPAI] Awards of Merit, nine ASI Distributor Choice Awards and various other industry awards.”
Craig Miller of Tower Ribbons: “We display our Supplier Star Award in the production area since this is the highest-traffic area in our plant. We want employees to see it every day; we feel this award is a tribute to them. Their performance has had an impact on our industry for a long time and now they can see something tangible that supports it.”
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