Relevant: The most powerful term in the Datamax Lexicon.

The first word in the Datamax tagline is certainly not there by accident. 

“Relevant” became a significant word for Datamax five years ago, when President Barry Simon decided to redefine what constituted Datamax’s differentiators. He grew tired of either guessing at what that was, or having a competitive advantage the customer/prospect didn’t truly value.  After a lengthy research and data-driven process to help define what those values were, the word “Relevant” today patterns our cultural make-up. It shapes our everyday communication with clients, and helps define, for us, one of the ultimate questions we all struggle with in business: “Why us?”

Additionally, the word “Relevant” works in perfect harmony with (and was born out of) an initiative known as the Datamax Competitive Advantage Program. This program ushered in a new era for the organization and revolutionized our perspective as an organization. 

“In the past we would ask ‘What’s our vision and mission?’ or ‘Where do we want to be in one year, two years, and down the road?’  The question we’ll ask going forward is … ‘What do our customers want this year, next year, and beyond?’ Simon said.

The Competitive Advantage Program is – for each and every one of us – a guidebook for what makes us different and what makes us (you guessed it!) relevant.

 “Previously, there was a lot of ‘blah blah blah’ to how we differentiated ourselves. The question of ‘what are the things that make us different’ was a legitimate question to reevaluate,” Robert Caldwell, Vice President of Marketing, said. “What we were doing before was deciding what our competitive advantages were ourselves, instead of customers defining what it is that they value. We had it backwards.”

With the help of Jaynie L. Smith, author of “Relevant Selling,” and her team, thus began the exhaustive task of creating a program that:

1. Defines what it is our customers really value.
2. Allows us all to clearly communicate a relevant message
3. Tracks the data supporting that message to help us continually improve, and
4. Builds customer confidence and keeps us competitive for the long run.

Defining Our Competitive Advantage

So what is a competitive advantage?  A competitive advantage is a “differentiator,” something that is quantifiable and delivered as an attribute that is greater than “>” the competition. As Smith clearly states in her book (a large inspiration behind this initiative), “If it’s not relevant to the customer, it doesn’t matter.”

A Competitive Advantage must reflect six specific elements:

1. Objective, not subjective.
2. Quantifiable, not arbitrary.
3. Not claimed by the competition.
4. Not a given or a cliché.
5. True, past tense or fact.
6. Relevant to the customer! (there’s that word again).

Finally, this Competitive Advantage must be validated through “customer-focused” research. We must, beyond a reasonable doubt, find which of our attributes makes an impact on our customer’s buying decision.

Until that happens, we’re still guessing.

Finding Our Competitive Advantage

Caldwell and a team of Datamax managers worked closely with Smith and Smart Advantage, Inc. to conduct research to find out what it is our customers value, starting with a list of 28 attributes. These included qualities such as “provides accurate invoices,” “resolves issues quickly,” “able to repair copiers on first visit,” etc.

A double blind survey, one in which neither the participants nor the experimenters know who is receiving a particular treatment to prevent bias, was performed to evaluate and define what essentially the customers want from a business technology provider. The survey included buyers and prospects from all across the United States.

What were the findings?

The Top 3 Datamax Customer Wants:

1. They said they want us to resolve their issues quickly.
2. They said they want high speed response to their support/service requests.
3. They said they want their equipment repaired on the first visit.

The Next 3 Datamax Customer Wants:

1. They said they want their orders delivered accurately.
2. They said they want us to provide accurate invoices.
3. They said they want us to deliver their product and supplies on time.

The survey results satisfied Smart Advantage’s “Confidence Level” and “Error Rate” statistical objectives to ensure research validity, a crucial element for Caldwell in implementing the findings.

“What you’re trying to end up with is a confidence level in your data, and that is a function of your approach,” Caldwell said. “The ultimate goal, after we got the results back, was assessing what the results were and leverage the data to improve the way we operate on a quantitative level.”

Utilizing Our Competitive Advantage

Once the team knew the appropriate metrics to be measuring (response time, invoice accuracy, etc.) based on the data collected, they then needed to determine how they were going to get that data.

Caldwell, with the help of Roy Faries and others, developed the Datamax Competitive Advantage Database (DCAD), which serves as a centralized/supporting competitive advantage data repository. This software, which updates statistics quarterly on each individual branch’s  data on Response Time, First Call Completion, First Call efficiency and many other attributes, was designed to be easily sortable and reviewable internally.

Ultimately, it provides key talking points that could very well put the competition on the defensive.

“We put a light on all those metrics. There’s accountability in those areas, and we know whether we are getting better or not,” Caldwell said. “And externally with prospects, our dialogue is much richer. When the customer sees this level of information, and we’re willing to share it granularly, that’s a great foreshadow of what they can from their trusted technology partner moving forward.”

You’ll see the metrics on our website, sprinkled in marketing collateral and sales tools. You see them inside the office on company screens. But for Caldwell, these attributes and everything they mean to our customers falls back on that essential word that kicks off our tagline.

“What matters most is what matters to customers,” Caldwell said. “(With this program), we moved into that word “relevant” in everything. More than anything, we want to remain relevant.”