What’s the secret to keeping customers?
Quite an important question we think, so who better to sit down with than our longest serving Corporate Account Manager, Dave Duffy. At Woodbank for almost 14 years, Dave looks after over 100 of our customers across Merseyside and Lancashire and is the man to turn to for everything Managed Print in his region.
Dave, with all your many years’ experience, what do you think makes the real difference to customers?
“ Being there. Like every one of our Corporate Account Managers I know my region really well, because I was brought up in the area and I live in it. That’s so important to our customers. That stability, helps us build and maintain strong relationships with them and, it means our knowledge of their business and the wider business community is strengthened because of our location. It also allows us to keep pace with changes and developments across the sectors we support.
So are those first steps with a customer important?
“If you asked me what the most important thing is we do with every new customer? From the very start, we listen, we don’t over promise and underdeliver. Unlike many of our competitors, we are lucky that we’re a tight team of people, everyone works hard to support each other and that means decisions can be made quickly to make things work. We’re able to be more flexible in our approach. We put the customers’ needs before our own.”
“We’ve been with Woodbank for over 10 years! When we were looking for a new provider, we didn’t want to feel or be treated as if we were bottom of the pile by a corporate monster. Dave and Woodbank’s Customer Support really look after us. They know us really well, we’re listened to and the support we get is brilliant!”
– Magda Zarzycka. Emery Planning.
Is adding value just a buzz word or is it real?
“For us, it’s completely real. To add value to any customer you have to give them a good reason to stay. Customer retention is not always about money, it’s about the value they experience and what you actually do for them. So many of our customers have been with us for many, many years. They know when they call us, the phone is just as likely to be answered by Janet our boss, as it is Louise in Customer Support, who if my memory serves me right, celebrates 20 years at Woodbank this year. WOW I forgot about that!
So how does Dave think he and his colleagues add value?
“ I’d say we add value because we are honest and want to give every customer the best advice and options for their business. For us a relationship with a customer is a proper partnership. You only retain your customers by making that extra effort and being, honest and yourself.”
So are you saying for you and Woodbank it’s not just a customer with a printer?
“Definitely. We’re not just a business that provides a product. We deliver the service and the ongoing support to our customers they and WE WANT to look after them.”
“ I’d say our customer retention is based on the values we have and how it fundamentally operates and, it has to be led from the top. We’re very lucky at Woodbank, Janet empowers and enables us all to do what we need to do, and what’s right for the customer and, in the long term that is what’s best for them and us. So much of our business growth is because our customers needs have grown and we never take that for granted.
And one final secret from Dave?
“Quoting Janet, the boss, who has instilled this in me and everyone and reaffirmed at Woodbank over my years working for her. ‘We never see a new customer as just a deal. We see them as a customer we want to keep for life.’ That sums it up really.”
If you’re a business looking to change your office printers, or it’s time to review and upgrade your managed print and document management, now is the time to take advantage of the cost efficient and great technology now available.
Contact the dedicated Account Manager in your region: