The Employee: David Smith

Location: Fort Smith, ARK

The Fans: The Source

After logging more than 38 years in the copier industry, when he has the chance, David Smith just likes to get away.

Like anyone else, he needs a little peace and quiet from time to time. So on the weekends, David routinely makes his way East from Fort Smith, Ark. to one of the many lakes surrounding Magazine Mountain for some fishing. Catching a few is always great, but more than anything, it offers the Air Force veteran some Peace of Mind.

That same Peace of Mind he seeks – the elimination of stress, worry, and disruption – is what he likes to leave his customers with after each and every service call. And that’s exactly what he did for The Source in Sallisaw, OK. He did that and then some.

The Fan's Need

The call came in that the company’s copier wasn’t folding or stapling properly. But David doesn’t take anything for granted on what he sees on the service ticket.

“I like to go in and talk to the customer, and visit about what they want to see fixed. What you read in the call description may not be entirely what outcome they’re wanting.”

Upon discussion, there was more on the customer’s mind than just stapling and folding. There were a number of instances of network-connected workstations that needed to be optimized for printing purposes.

“He had some problems in the past with his network. We talked about some things that we could do, connect some different programs to different workstations, to really just make their life easier from a productivity standpoint,” David said.

The Team’s Approach

“I really, more than anything, just want the customer to be comfortable with the person there to fix the machine. I like to look at it as, ‘if I paid this money (on a service contract), what would I want to have from it?” David says. “A lot of people are on a budget. They don’t want to spend carelessly. My job is to make them feel comfortable about how we’re going to make everything work.”

What Made Them a Raving Fan?

Ask David, and he’ll say he’s just doing his job. That means never just a run-in, run-out. Instead, he starts with a valuable, mutually understood conversation about what the needs are, and then follows with three-decades-worth of expertise to provide resolution.

The customer had a little more to say, of course, in their survey response following the call. “David was the best tech I have ever had the pleasure to work with. Knowledgeable and professionalism should be his middle name,” the survey read.