Posts Tagged ‘partnership’
Customer Service is key right? So are you always going the extra mile?
Lately I have seen a few articles about small business vs. their big business competitors or David vs. Goliath. One common thread in a lot of the comments on these articles is customer service and just what the advantage is that small business has.
A main goal for a business should be customer service or 100% customer satisfaction, right? I realize that we live in a world where in many places customer service is lacking, it is one way we strive to be different, to be better.
Something we have encountered over the last year or so is partner firms going the extra mile to help their clients in anyway possible, even if that means referring them to someone else. Yes, you heard me, referring them elsewhere! And, no I am not crazy!
Face it, there are going to be times when your client comes to you with a request that is out of your realm, but a major factor for them. What do you do? Well, we have encountered a few different scenarios. One time our partner firm ignored their clients pleas for information on who worked on their project, the client had a specific need that they knew our partner couldn’t deliver, and they were OK with that, but were pleading for their help to be pointed in the right direction. Our partner refused to do so, but luckily their client found their resource on the first try, it ended up being the resource our client was trying to hide.
Another scenario we encountered, is a new partner came right out and said we know we don’t have the tools to offer our clients certain solutions, we would rather partner with someone or be able to offer them a referral than to loose the client! That’s putting your clients first.
And yet one last scenario, is a personal experience. We had a client make a request for something we had no experience in, but it wasn’t an unusual request either, since we work in a ever changing environment of tech. We asked for a bit of time to review the specs and offer a solution. In a short time it became apparent that due to lack of proper documentation from our clients vendor, we could not do what our client needed. We came back to them quickly and honestly, that unfortunately we couldn’t do the project. Our client while obviously was now faced with the task of finding a resource for this single issue, appreciated that we didn’t drag out the process, and that we were honest that it was beyond us at this time. They appreciated our honesty and recognized that we realized the importance of the issue to them and acted in a timely manner.
This is how I see it, you can either hide, and make excuses or stall when you cant help your clients or you can be a strong, confident business and not be afraid to say this is something we don’t offer, but we can with confidence refer you to our partner or help you find a competent resource and assist you in any way going forward!
Customer service is about putting your client first, it will gain you repeat business in the end, and maybe some new business from partner referrals. Go that extra mile!
How equipped are you to handle your clients changing needs?
Let’s face it, the current economy is changing the way most business’ function. Many are re-assessing their plan of attack, changing how they focus their marketing and advertising campaigns . While also making sure they are positioning themselves for the now as well as setting themselves up for the business world recovery.
Your clients needs are changing, so therefore, so are yours. If you run a Marketing, Design, Ad, PR or even social media agency you know that the way you promote your clients is moving in a new direction. Are you prepared to help them advance not only socially but technologically as well? Can you point them in the right direction of current web standards, or mobile apps? Even if that’s not your strong suit or specialty you should still be able to offer guidance, assistance or maybe even a partner to help.
Are you uneasy when it comes to discussions that are not in your typical list of services offered, yet fall under a similar category? For instance are you a marketing firm that doesn’t have a deep programming capabilities? Don’t be hesitant to get in the ring, programmers, especially web and mobile programmers go hand in hand with marketing firms and the like. Don’t feel as though suggesting a partner or business associate to help meet your clients needs is a sign of a weakness in your firm. Think of it as showing your strong suit, showing you understand how important all your clients needs are and that you are there for them and will help them in anyway you can. We believe it takes a strong, confident business to make effective partnerships or offer successful referrals. So next time you find your self out of your realm, or wanting to expand your services, reach out to your social network, or industry related firms to help conquer client needs. Face it, things just work better when we help each other!
Sometimes it does “Take A Village”….
We have all heard the saying “It takes a Village”. This saying can be applied to many things, from raising children to improving our climate and our world. But, it can also be applied to business. As we all know, running a business is a complex thing. We all strive to make our clients happy and deliver the best solutions we can. Sometimes in order to deliver the best solution we need to call on our Village or expand our Village.
There are many ways to make your Village work for you and your clients. SYDCON’s Village is vast, and growing everyday. Our Village consists not only of our staff and clients, but also our partners. In the current economy partnerships help us all help each other. Its hard to staff employees for every task you may have, especially when certain tasks are not a part of each and every job or client.
Our partners get a wonderful benefit from being part of our growing village. They can utilize our expertise when they need us, and we are off helping others when they don’t! They are not paying for a full staff of developers all year when maybe 1 in 5 of their clients have development needs. And, staffing 1 developer may not always be the answer, with so many languages and databases out there, working hand in hand with a development firm gives you the advantage of a staff at your fingertips for usually less than the cost of 1 developer.
Our partnerships work both ways too, since SYDCON is a custom development shop, we do on occasion have client needs that exceed our area of expertise, and our first reaction to help meet our clients needs is to reach out to our Village for support.
Having a deep and reliable Village will help us all. If we are to survive this economy we all need to work together, increase our services offered and better yet give our clients the BEST solution to their needs.
Interested in becoming a SYDCON Villager? We are always open to hear new ideas and welcome Villagers to our fold. Let’s talk about it!
Do you have web development needs outside of a new website?
If so, SYDCON Web Development can help. Yes, we are a custom web development firm, so one is safe to assume we offer web development! What we also offer is Application Development and Maintenance Plans designed to meet the needs of firms that do not staff developers full-time, or are looking for a new alternative (Partnership) because they may not have needs that require a full-time employee.
SYDCON offers a variety of solutions to meet your needs. Do you need regular maintenance, maybe 10 hours a week or 10 hours a month? Are you tired of trying to find a dependable freelancer who is available during business hours or is reliable? We can meet your needs, no matter how big or small, and in a timely, efficient manner. We can create custom applications to supplement an existing site or to streamline your business. We can edit code, tweak design elements or add functionality. Our language base is wide, ranging from PHP, ASP, .NET, ColdFusion, etc. Whatever your needs or ideas to make your business function better or increase your revenue, contact us to see how we can bring your ideas to life!
Check out our Services page at www.sydcon.com to see what services we offer that can benefit your business.
