Kevin Frederick, senior vice president of service operations.
If there is such a thing as a healthy obsession, a case could certainly be made for Cincinnati’s own Prosource, a 32-year-old dealership serving Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and West Virginia.
Prosource has developed a relentless, single-minded customer obsession that drives its operations, particularly on the technical service side. It’s a top-down philosophy that’s been embraced throughout the organization according to Kevin Frederick, senior vice president of service operations.
“Our team is intense and urgent—we get things done,” he said. “When a customer needs something, we do whatever is necessary to ensure we fulfill our commitment and get our customers where they need to be. Sometimes we go to crazy lengths to do that, but it’s what makes us different and special.”
Prosource’s “do whatever it takes” mantra and commitment to quality technical service, as evidenced by its 93.3 Net Promoter Score (NPS) for the month of July, has earned the dealership this month’s BEI/ENX Service Excellence Diamond Award. The Diamond designation is reserved for companies in the top five percent of all dealers nationwide.
The company has been relentless in building an empire, acquiring four IT businesses (Infitech, Alternative Computer Technology, hITech Computer Solutions and Technology Geeks), as well as Aaron’s Business Solutions, an office equipment dealership—all since 2013. In 2011, Prosource obtained DocuVision, which grew its document solutions capabilities. These deals, combined with aggressive organic growth, boosted Prosource’s annual revenues north of the $50 million plateau.
The growth spurt was fueled by a five-year growth and transformation initiative called the Prosource Flightplan, implemented in 2013. One of the foundations of the Flightplan, which consists of annual and quarterly goals, was the setting of three cornerstone objectives: to have the highest customer loyalty in the industry, to be the best workplace in the Midwest, and to become the fastest-growing company in the Midwest.
The company now enjoys double-digit growth in its three business units—office equipment, technology solutions and document automation (ECM). Its office equipment partners are Konica Minolta, Lexmark and Toshiba, with Dell, Continuum, Cisco, Sophos, and Datto providing IT capabilities, and Hyland Software and Kofax as their core ECM solutions partners.
“We’re showing solid growth in the office equipment space; we still see imaging as a growth center,” said Brad Cates, president and CEO. “We’re taking market share and expanding geographically. Our ECM business is a nice complement to both our IT and imaging businesses. IT has grown significantly and now accounts for 25 percent of our overall revenue.”
Prosource’s journey with the BEI program predates both Cates and Frederick. Cates utilizes the tools for statistical analysis, territory and equipment model analysis and performance, along with managing inventory and technical performance. The dealership also relied on the BEI program for its compensation plan, although the plan has since changed.
“It’s really a benchmark now to gauge our performance against other objective measures to make sure we’re always working toward improvement and best-in-class,” Cates said. “That’s everything from a technician’s performance on a device versus the whole universe of those devices, down to the parts we’re carrying versus what BEI says we need based on models. We are constantly using it as an evolutionary tool to improve our performance.”
Members of Prosource’s service team enjoy the great outdoors during a team-building event.
The BEI results are culled along with internal statistics and qualitative analysis that is crunched into a weekly scoreboard for each of the 50 technicians. Prosource uses these scoreboards as the backbone for its Technician of the Month award for being a top performer.
We’re not the cheapest and couldn’t be if we wanted to be, but the way we differentiate is by delivering an exceptional customer experience and being really intimate in the markets we serve
Brad Cates
Participation in the BEI program has provided numerous benefits across all the measured metrics: first call effectiveness, callbacks, hold for parts calls and inventory management. “Over the last three years, it has made a significant difference in letting us be outward looking and measuring our performance not just against our tech staff, but staff across the board,” Cates said. “Our team sees that, so they know when they’re successful and when they have room for improvement. With our best performers, they always take it as a challenge. So, it helps improve our productivity by conscious distribution of information.”
Prosource’s NPS has undergone an evolutionary shift. In 2012, its score sat at 85, but a 93.3 performance in July elevated Prosource’s 2017 year-to-date score to 91.2. The BEI stats have been critical in enabling the managers and technicians to be more collaborative in the decisions they’re making. BEI has also been instrumental in Prosource’s aggressive territory realignment program, which is evaluated every 90 days to ensure even tech distribution with machines in field.
According to Frederick, Prosource’s technical service approach goes beyond taking customer calls, logging requests and performing on-site repairs. How Prosource’s techs approach the job and their level of engagement with the customers is a true barometer of their performance and a differentiating factor in a competitive market. “Attaining a season-high NPS score in the heart of vacation season is a testament to their performance,” he said.
What about the “above and beyond” mentality? Frederick shared a story in which a technician was on site performing service for a restaurant client. The restaurant owner showed the tech his menu, which was more than a little unattractive. The menu was brought back to Prosource, where a designer gave it a makeover, reprinted it and sent it back to the customer. Both the copier and the menu were restored to proper working order. Another “job” that wouldn’t be found on any work order saw a group of Prosource technicians mobilize to help a nonprofit build a homeless shelter. On another occasion, they rallied together to help build a playground.
Cates noted that focusing on the customer experience is perhaps the single path that enables Prosource to break through in a price-driven market. “We’re not the cheapest and couldn’t be if we wanted to be, but the way we differentiate is by delivering an exceptional customer experience and being really intimate in the markets we serve,” he said. “We can take everything we do, every process, every comp plan and every measurement system, and put it on the internet for free. We would still be best-in-class, because it’s not the rules, but the people that make it different.” Frederick added, “Our value is just so much higher. And our customers tell us that every day.”
Prosource service team members participate in Bowl for Kids’ Sake fundraising event for Big Brothers/Big Sisters.
One of the greatest challenges confronting Prosource is the ability to not only find employees with electro-mechanical and technology prowess, but who are also willing to embrace its obsession philosophy. The company has been fortunate to nurture talented technicians, many of whom have enjoyed a long tenure with the firm. It is a team effort that extends beyond the techs in the field, with the managers, customer service phone reps and helpdesk team all helping to maintain that sense of urgency and responsiveness that clients have come to expect.
“People love working here,” Frederick said. “We have groups doing Tai Chi on Wednesday mornings and a runner/walker club that participates in local 5Ks. We do regular team outings that might include bowling, clay shooting or going to see a local sports team play. It’s very much a relationship commitment.”
One of the ingredients in Prosource’s secret sauce is its ability to keep its technical team tightly networked and informed. Frederick reviews the company’s financial statements with all 50 technicians at the beginning of the month, either in person or by phone. This transparency fosters a shared commitment to ensuring customer retention.
“It isn’t about being perfect and never having any problems,” Frederick remarked. “But we need to make sure that when we solve a problem, we solve it for the customer and make sure we don’t keep doing the same thing wrong over and over again.”
What few complaints the company receives are dealt with by Prosource’s escalation team. Any employee who feels that the dealer’s relationship with a customer is at risk can send an email to the team, which is also copied to Prosource’s 28 managers. Upon alert, one member of the escalation team has 15 minutes to take responsibility of the issue and contact the customer. The team then provides updates in Prosource’s management huddles (which are held every other day) until the complaint is resolved.
As Prosource continues to work on its trio of goals while looking to improve first-call effectiveness and response time, it will endure pricing pressures in a market that is seeing its share of consolidation at the manufacturer and dealer levels. Cates believes the eventual winners will be those who appreciate the value of capturing the hearts of customers, as opposed to just selling them hardware.
“If we’re doing the right things for the customer, we will continue to lead the markets we serve,” Frederick said.
