Women ALIVE Ministries

An Indianapolis-based consumer ratings company plans to add to its growing membership ranks, thanks to investments totaling $53.5 million.

Angie’s List this week closed on $53.5 million from “two major investors,” who are not being disclosed, said Cheryl Reed, director of communications. She would only describe them as public institutional investors.

People buy memberships to gain access to Angie’s List ratings. The business provides service ratings in 200 cities in all 50 US states and in parts of Canada. A year ago, it started an online coupon service.

Membership grew by 50 percent last year, totaling more than 1.5 million, Reed said. The investments will be used to attract new members.

The company employs more than 500 employees, Reed said, and they work from about a dozen buildings on the Near-Eastside.

Founder Angie Hicks, Fishers, has a column in The Indianapolis Star.

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In my last post I talked about the importance of integrating social media into your small business strategy. Social media is not just changing the face of marketing, advertising, or media – it is also impacting the way small businesses qualify leads, drive revenue, even create and sell products. Today I focus on one of the key elements of this brave new world: listening. In the new vernacular its called social media monitoring. I prefer to think of it as a technology solution to what my mother told me growing up: God gave you two ears and one mouth for a reason.

Small and large businesses alike frequently fail to comprehend how social media can be used to hear the subtle, vital nuances of the market or worse yet, the not-so-subtle screams. They get caught up in amassing huge numbers of Facebook likes, Twitter followers, and high generosity scores. They forget to actually listen to what is being said. What does this look like in the real world? Take these two infamous examples from Dominos and United Airlines.

Lagging sales at Dominos inspired the company to get involved with social media. According to DailyFinance.com, the effort breathed new life into Dominos, more than doubling the companys profits, and increasing revenue by 8.1%. What made the campaign successful? They listened! They recognized and capitalized on the basic human desire that everyone wants to be heard and to feel like their opinion matters and built an entire campaign around it. They tracked things like nation-wide service ratings, taste preferences, and customer complaints and suggestions. They didnt bury them, they didnt cover their ears, they publicly listened and embraced what they heard, made changes to their product, and then incorporated the fact that they listened into the new marketing message.

Isolated instance? Still not convinced? Consider United Breaks Guitars. The song, essentially a complaint from an angry United Airlines passenger, was viewed over 9 million times. Four days after the video was posted, Uniteds stock price fell 10%, or about $180 million dollars in value. Can you afford that? Of course you cant. And the opportunity doesnt stop there. Listening is a must for defense, but its also good for playing offense. But you have to understand the context.

According to Steve Ennen, President and CIO of Social Strategy1, a company that specializes in monitoring social media opportunities, The technology itself isnt that important. It doesnt matter if people are talking on Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, or any other site. Whats important is that theyre talking about brands, products, and competition. It isnt about the light bulb. It is about the illumination. So, while Twitter, Facebook, and Linkedin may be good starting places, dont neglect niche social media sites like Yelp, OfficeArrow, and the various groups on Ning and Quora. Just go where people are talking.

Search these sites for keywords related to your brand, products, services, and other vital aspects. If you bake and deliver cookies in Portland, search for cookie delivery Portland. Read all the good and bad comments, and be on the lookout for potential customers, unaware that you even exist. Maybe an events planner is looking for a new vendor to give her an edge. Maybe an office manager is looking for a treat for his front-line staff. But dont stop there. Search for your direct and indirect competition. In our example, this might be vegan cookie delivery in Portland. Read comments by and about your competition, and use the intelligence to look for your competitions weak points. The end result will be a significant increase in lead generation, networking and business opportunities and, of course, sales.

If this all seems a little overwhelming, it is. But know that were in the middle of a change and this presents opportunities for those who choose to play, a threat for those who cling to the old ways. Small businesses have an advantage here: we are nimble. Those of us that start listening now will quickly grow accustomed to the new way of doing things and integrate it into their entire culture. Those who dont, even the big companies, are at risk of extinction. If you dont believe me, do a Netscape search on your Commodore computer and let me know what you find.

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To ensure an effective service without putting undue pressure on budgets, Customer Contact aims always to have the right number of team members in the right place at the right time. The organisation uses Q-Max workforce management software that takes a direct feed from the telephony system and produces forecasts of future workload. Managers can incorporate additional variables into the forecasts to take into account such factors as bad weather or periods of peak demand for services, in order to keep staff resources aligned with the expected call volumes.

“By paying close attention to how we use our team members, we can ensure that we meet our key performance indicators in a cost-effective and efficient manner,” says Councillor John Williams, Leader of Taunton Deane Borough Council. “With a combined pool of people to draw on, Southwest One can offer fast, consistent service even during periods of peak demand. The shared service is also more resilient: if one contact centre is unavailable for use, perhaps through a power cut or adverse weather, we can seamlessly switch communications and staff to the other centre.”

Consistent service

Southwest One has put in place clear Operating Level Agreements (OLAs) to guide the relationship between the Customer Contact team and front-line service delivery areas, for example, Roads and Transport at Somerset County Council. When any variance is identified, managers from both sides discuss the issues, looking at data from the CRM system to see what improvements can be made. “One of the key factors in improving customer service is to maintain a close and effective relationship with the front-line service delivery areas that actually serve the customers,” says Sam Pike. “With the OLAs and the management structure we’ve built around them, we can easily flag up areas for improvement and learn lessons for the future.”

Once the new contact centres were up and running with a single voice-over-IP telephony system, Southwest One deployed SAP CRM to manage customer interactions, and ran a six-week training course for contact staff ahead of the SAP go-live. “Introducing a single, standard CRM tool meant reduced software and training overheads and enabled us to ensure greater consistency in service levels,” says Sam Pike. “We’ve also ensured consistency between telephone and web access by creating a single repository for all content: the citizen portal. This provides content for both the County Council and the Borough Council websites, making all the services available in exactly the same form whether citizens visit a council office, call the contact centre or visit one of the websites.

“The Southwest One partnership has enabled us to achieve significant improvements in the quality of our services. In particular, the agreement has given us access to shared resources that would otherwise be out of our financial reach, allowing us to reduce operating costs even while boosting quality.”

Improved satisfaction

The creation of a single shared service has delivered significant benefits in terms of customer satisfaction. Across the most recent 12-month period, more than 80 percent of calls were answered within 20 seconds, and 86.1 percent of all customers reported satisfaction with the service, with 74.8 percent choosing one of the two highest service ratings (‘good’ or ‘very good’). The contact centre currently handles 37,000 calls per month.

For Taunton Deane Borough Council, the percentage of queries answered at the first point of contact has risen from around 58 percent to more than 95 percent, with Somerset County Council achieving an improvement from 76 percent to 92 percent. There have also been significant reductions in the percentage of calls abandoned.

“All the evidence points to a very clear improvement in customer service levels since we created the new shared service,” says Fiona Capstick. “In addition to saving money through greater economies of scale, Southwest One Customer Contact was designed to improve access to services and increase customer satisfaction – and we’ve achieved both objectives.”

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WALTHAM, Mass. amp; OAK BROOK, Ill. –(BUSINESS WIRE)– DealerRater and vAuto announced that eleven vAuto customers received DealerRaters 2011 Dealer of the Year Awards. Of DealerRaters total award recipients, vAuto customers represented one-third of the winners, which included the overall 2011 Dealer of the Year – Russell amp; Smith Honda of Houston, Texas. These results demonstrate a significant relationship between vAutos Velocity Method of Management and higher Customer Service Ratings on DealerRater.

DealerRaters Dealer of the Year awards are given to car dealerships located throughout the United States and Canada that have the highest PowerScore^TM in their brand category as well as one dealer whos PowerScore outranks all others. The PowerScore is determined using a Bayesian algorithm that factors the dealerships average DealerRater user rating and the total number of reviews written about the dealership on DealerRaters web site during the previous calendar year.

The significant overlap of this years award recipients with vAuto customers points to a relationship between vAuto users and customer service ratings on DealerRater.com, said Chip Grueter, president of DealerRater. Advertising a fair price from day one and reducing the typical adversarial negotiation process can result in happier customers and, therefore, higher service ratings on DealerRater.

vAuto is the nations largest provider of Internet-based, used vehicle inventory management systems. The cornerstone of vAutos Velocity Method of Management is that decision makers know a used vehicles real-time supply, demand and price sensitivity metrics when making stocking, appraising, and pricing decisions in their local market. The vAuto system has evolved into a suite of solutions that increase transparency, including RealDeal, an innovative price validation and delivery system. RealDeal.com is the industrys first live and objective price check on pre-owned vehicles.

There is a new way to be successful in the used car marketplace based on Velocity, says Keith Jezek, vAutos president. The superior scores for vAuto dealers supports that the Velocity strategy achieves both profitability and customer satisfaction. RealDeal also gives dealers a powerful way to prove their pricing to shoppers, and when shoppers feel confident with their price, more deals are closed. Increased transparency is a key success factor in driving customer ratings.

About vAuto

Headquartered in the Chicago suburb of Oak Brook, IL, vAuto also maintains a research and development center in Austin, TX. vAutos innovative Live Market View technology allows dealers to manage their used-vehicle inventories based on actual supply-and-demand for their specific market. Today, more than 3,000 dealerships across the country use vAutos pricing, appraisal, stocking and merchandising systems. Dale Pollak, vAutos founder, is the author of two books featuring best practices and strategies for the used car department,Velocity: From the Front Line to the Bottom Line and Velocity 2.0: Paint, Pixels amp; Profitability. vAuto is a wholly owned subsidiary of AutoTrader.com. Additional information about vAuto is available at www.vauto.com or call 877-828-8614.

About DealerRater

DealerRater was founded in 2002 as the first car dealer review website worldwide. With more than 300,000 people joining the DealerRater user community each month, DealerRater is fast becoming the worlds #1 online resource for anyone seeking third-party information on automobile dealerships. DealerRater features more than 38,000 US and International car dealers, 250,000 user reviews and over 1,000,000 classified ads. DealerRater attracts more than 3 million consumers every year who visit the site to search for car dealerships, read current reviews, write their own descriptive reviews, and find car deals – all for free. Car dealers are rated on the criteria of customer service, quality of work, friendliness, price and overall experience. In addition, DealerRater offers qualified car dealers a Certified Dealer Program as a reputation management tool to help them grow their online presence and achieve higher SEO rankings across the Web. Today, over 3,000 dealers are members of DealerRaters Certification Program. For more information, visit www.DealerRater.com or call 800-266-9455.

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NEW YORK (TheStreet) — Jackson Hewitt Tax Service (NYSE:JTX) is trading at unusually high volume Friday with 5.9 million shares changing hands. It is currently at four times its average daily volume and trading down 43 cents (-24.7%) at $1.31 as of 3:16 pm ET. Jackson Hewitt Tax Service has a market cap of $48 million and is part of the services sector and diversified services industry. Shares are down 20% year to date as of the close of trading on Thursday.

Jackson Hewitt Tax Service Inc. engages in the computerized preparation of federal, state, and local individual income tax returns in the United States. It offers tax return preparation services and electronic filing services.

TheStreet Ratings rates Jackson Hewitt Tax Service as sell. Among the areas we feel are negative, one of the most important has been a generally disappointing historical performance in the stock itself. You can view the full Jackson Hewitt Tax Service Ratings Report.

For more information on Jackson Hewitt Tax Service Inc. click any of the following:

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NEW YORK (TheStreet) — Liquidity Service (Nasdaq:LQDT) hit a new 52-week high Friday as it traded at $17.49 compared with its previous 52-Week high of $17.32. Liquidity Service is changing hands at $17.49 with 13,124 shares traded as of 9:36 am ET. Average volume has been 148,600 shares over the past 30 days. Liquidity Service has a market cap of $449.2 million and is part of the technology sector and internet industry. Shares are up 20.7% year to date as of the close of trading on Thursday.

Liquidity Services, Inc. operates an online auction marketplace for surplus and salvage assets. The company enables buyers and sellers to transact in an automated online auction environment offering approximately 500 product categories. The company has a P/E ratio of 43.5, equal to the average internet industry P/E ratio and above the Samp;P 500 P/E ratio of 23.5.

TheStreet Ratings rates Liquidity Service as a buy. The companys strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its robust revenue growth, largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures, good cash flow from operations, solid stock price performance and notable return on equity. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had sub par growth in net income. You can view the full Liquidity Service Ratings Report.

For more information on Liquidity Service Inc. click any of the following:

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NEW YORK (TheStreet) — United Parcel Service (NYSE:UPS) hit a new 52-week high Friday as it traded at $75.21 compared with its previous 52-Week high of $75.19. United Parcel Service is changing hands at $75.17 with 644,865 shares traded as of 10:22 am ET. Average volume has been 3.8 million shares over the past 30 days. United Parcel Service has a market cap of $54.4 billion and is part of the services sector and transportation industry. Shares are up 3% year to date as of the close of trading on Thursday.

United Parcel Service, Inc., a package delivery company, provides transportation, logistics, and financial services in the United States and internationally. The company operates in three segments: US Domestic Package, International Package, and Supply Chain amp; Freight. The US The company has a P/E ratio of 20.9, below the average transportation industry P/E ratio of 21.4 and below the Samp;P 500 P/E ratio of 23.5.

TheStreet Ratings rates United Parcel Service as a buy. The companys strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its solid stock price performance, impressive record of earnings per share growth, compelling growth in net income and revenue growth. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company shows weak operating cash flow. You can view the full United Parcel Service Ratings Report.

For more information on United Parcel Service Inc. click any of the following:

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I wanted to share two recent experiences with my family’s automobiles and the ensuing manipulation of the Customer Satisfaction process.

A few months ago, we had one of our cars serviced. We were then told to fill out the Customer Satisfaction form with perfect scores for the Service department!

Recently, we bought a new car. The experience left something to be desired, and I said so in the Customer Sat survey. Yesterday, the sales rep left a message on our home voice mail stating that she was very upset that I had not rated her well. She then blamed us for ruining her day!

What’s going on?

Do these major automotive companies have so little faith in their cars, dealers and service departments that they have to manipulate the process? Surely the manufacturers know this is going on. So why aren’t they taking action?

Do manufacturers and dealers have a common goal of making the customer satisfaction ratings look good for advertising purposes?

Back to my story. In the first instance, we had the car in for routine maintenance. The next day, we received a call from the dealer asking if everything went well. We said yes. The rep then told us that a survey was coming in the mail and that we should answer all the questions with a “5″ for satisfaction, as that would really help out the dealer. So much for the value of the service department customer sat data!

Now for the story about the new car purchase.

Everything was fine except when we picked-up the car. This is always an exciting moment, but it was spoiled for my wife and me. First, our sales rep could not show us how to operate the brand new, high tech navigation, climate control and surround sound music systems, all of which were major selling points for this car. No one else was available to help. That left us frustrated and disappointed.

Then, as we were at her desk signing the final documents, our sales rep and her associate had a heated argument about some office issues that had nothing to do with our purchase. We sat there in the middle of their verbal cross-fire.

Two weeks later, when the customer satisfaction questionnaire arrived by mail, it seemed to offer an anonymous response since my name wasn’t on it. I answered the questions and explained that this had not been an optimal experience. However, because our sales rep had emphasized that she wanted to get good ratings, I was much more diplomatic than I should have been.

Imagine my reaction when my wife played the voice mail from the sales rep thanking me for having ruined her day and her ratings.

How else can these companies improve except though customer feedback? And what about the implied confidentiality of the survey I returned?

The Takeaways:

• Take a careful look at your customer sat process. Are the questions the correct questions? Will they get you the “right” answers or the real answers?
• Are there opportunities for employees to manipulate the process, to get the “right” results?
• What is done with the results? Are they used internally to ask the tough questions and make changes, or are they fodder for advertising slogans and sales brochures?
• If your customer sat questionnaires say or imply that responses will be confidential, then honor that, so customers won’t feel punished for taking the trouble to submit honest feedback.

Author: Ernan Roman is President of the marketing consultancy, Ernan Roman Direct Marketing.  Recognized as the industry pioneer who created three transformational methodologies: Integrated Direct Marketing, Opt-In Marketing, and Voice of Customer Relationship Research.

Clients include Microsoft, NBC Universal, Disney, Hewlett-Packard and IBM.

Ernan was named to B to Bs Whos Who as one of the 100 most influential people in Business Marketing by Crains B to B Magazine.

His latest book on marketing best practices was published in October, 2010, and is titled: Voice of the Customer Marketing: A Proven 5-Step Process to Create Customers Who Care, Spend, and Stay.

Ernan is also the co-author of Opt-In Marketing: Increase Sales Exponentially with Consensual Marketing and author of Integrated Direct Marketing: The Cutting Edge Strategy for Synchronizing Advertising, Direct Mail, Telemarketing and Field Sales.

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