Here at Briteskies we live by our tagline, “trusted by our customers.” We of course love providing our customers with their ideal eCommerce or ERP solution, but the deliverable that is most valuable to us is the relationship we build with a client over the course of a project.
In order to stay true to this commitment to trust, we recently sent out a survey to our customers asking for feedback on their interactions with our team. We heard from a range of customers on different platforms, some of whom had been customers for less than six months, and some of whom have worked with us for five years or more. With complete anonymity they were able to tell us what we needed to hear.
We were so pleased to learn that the majority of clients who responded were able to see our commitment to building long-term business relationships, as opposed to treating each project as a short-term transaction. Responders’ overall satisfaction with their business relationships with our team was overwhelmingly high, and many said they would both recommend our services and contact us in the future about related projects.
Perhaps most importantly, most clients surveyed said that our team has brought value to their company through our work on their project. Improving the client’s business processes is, after all, the point of any eCommerce or ERP project.
As we sorted through the responses, one area we can improve upon became clear: communication. We realize we can never over communicate when it comes to certain project areas. Communicating effectively with clients when it comes to project challenges, issues, or delays is critical to project success and developing the strong working relationships that we strive to achieve. This feedback helped us realize that perhaps we were not always living up to one of our mantras: good news needs to be known, but bad news needs to be known right now, in the eyes of some of our clients.
We are doubling down on our efforts to become more effective communicators. We have all been there; communicating when things are going well is easy, but it can be a challenge when the news you need to deliver is not what the client wants to hear. We recognize that in those types of situations it can be uncomfortable for everyone involved, and rarely do these types of conversation come easy to people. To get the conversation started, our entire team met with Keith Strauss from Sales Concepts to learn how to better manage our relationships with clients. Keith focused on the best ways to deliver bad news. Our team talked through using some examples we have faced and even role played different ways to approach difficult conversations. Going forward, we plan to use these tips to help us clearly communicate any project interruptions as soon as we can, as well as identify a solution for those setbacks.
We are also working on rolling out an improved customer outreach program that will allow us to open lines of communication early and often throughout a project, so that making those uncomfortable phone calls is just a little bit easier. We intend to continue to monitor our efforts and adjust as necessary, because our clients deserve the best experience.
Thank you to everyone who responded to our survey. We heard you and are working to continue earning your trust.
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