The Seapine View

Top flight customer support can create a sustainable competitive advantage for company’s that are able to deliver the right customer care.  Delivering superior customer support may sound easy; however, it’s not.  In fact, according to a survey by Harris Interactive and RightNow Technologies 85% of consumers say they’ve sworn, shouted, cried, smashed things, or experienced chest pains while waiting for help on tech-support call lines.  In other words, many support organizations are not doing it right.       

In my marketing role at Seapine I’m very thankful to have a world-class support organization standing behind our brand.  The Seapine Customer Support organization is staffed by individuals who are truly customer-focused, and their efforts positively impact our customers.  That impact was recently reflected in our March customer satisfaction surveys.  The attached is an amusing and fun message that originally went out only to Seapine employees.  I’m going to take a chance and share it with you:

You’re invited to view a short presentation titled Seapine Software Customer Support:

http://www.brainshark.com/seapine/Great_Customer_Support

OK, OK …my impersonation of Harry Caray isn’t world-class, but now you know why I’m excited about our customer support.  Great support is part of a quality customer experience.

Not long ago one of my marketing students asked “Will it play in Peoria?”  I don’t often hear that question anymore, but every now and then it surfaces.  If you have experience in marketing you may remember the real story behind that famous query.  You see, during the heyday of American vaudeville, the answer to that question determined whether a show would be a hit or a flop. The thinking was that if the show wasn’t acceptable to those in the heart of America’s heartland, there was no chance it would make it anywhere else in the country.  If it didn’t receive a strong approval, one of two things usually happened: The show was rewritten, or it was canceled. Later, the question was adopted by marketers as an informal phrase to stress the importance of making sure that your product or service addresses the needs and desires of your targeted market.

Interesting story Alan – but what’s your point?  Well, we recently asked the question; “Will Seapine play in Munich?”  And the answer is YES!  In fact, Seapine has acquired the business from QA Systems GmbH, a German company that has, over the past five years, distributed Seapine products. The German subsidiary will be called Seapine Software Europe GmbH, and the Munich office will be headed by Robert Riccetti, business development manager for Europe.  Building customer loyalty through quality is a long-term commitment and the establishment of Seapine Software Europe GmbH reaffirms our commitment to provide a quality customer experience for our customer base in Germany.

Trade shows and conferences can be effective vehicles for software vendors to both connect with and listen to customers.  In fact, if you attended the 2008 Game Developers Conference or SD West I hope you visited our booth and gave us the opportunity to meet you.  As we look to the future, our goal is to provide even more opportunities and channels to both listen to and connect with you – our valued software user community.  We’d also like to provide an easy way for you to network with more than just the handful of Seapine employees who attend conferences.

So, in the spirit of both connecting and networking, we invite you to join the new Seapine Software User Group on LinkedIn and/or Facebook. This action represents our initial move to both leverage the emerging power of social networks, and the beginning phase of building a formal Seapine Software User Group. Our user group efforts will start with these social networks, and gradually connect to a formal Seapine Software User Group site that we will host. In the longer term we will also organize traditional face-to-face user group meetings – starting off with regional road shows.

You may have a few questions. For example ***

1. Do I have to join LinkedIn and/or Facebook to be part of this new communications network?

2. If I do join will I get spam?

3. How does this impact the Seapine “User Forums” and support processes on Seapine.com?

The short answers ***

1. Yes. You do need a LinkedIn profile and/or Facebook profile to join a group that is associated with a social networking site.

2. No, spam has not been an issue.

3. No changes concerning customer service and support.  The purpose of these groups is not to work around the Seapine customer service processes or procedures. If you need technical support you should continue the established process which is to email your issue to support@seapine.com or call the support phone number for your region.

Like many of you we’re still learning a few things about social networks – like how to use them for the best possible customer experience.  With that in mind let me share our social networking group charter:

A LinkedIn / Facebook group for the Seapine Software User Group community. The purpose of the Seapine Software User Group is to open and expand conversation among Seapine’s associates and our colleagues using Seapine’s application lifecycle management (ALM) solutions. Opportunities to learn about and share resources related to Seapine applications as well as ALM in general will provide additional professional development benefits.

Following are the links to join LinkedIn and Facebook:

LinkedIn:

http://www.linkedin.com/e/gis/57703/093D49724592

Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=8301473755

These groups are by invitation only.  So, if you decide to join simply click the link and provide your name, company, and the Seapine applications you are using so that we can verify your Seapine customer status.

I hope to see you in the groups.  If you have questions feel free to send me an email (seea@seapine.com).