Letter on the Third — October 2022

Dear Datamax Family,

Have you ever visited the “Creating Raving Fans” page on our website?

If not, I encourage you to check it out. “Creating Raving Fans” is of course our ultimate shared mission at Datamax. But just below the page’s headline, you’ll find the phrase “Expertise plus execution plus a whole lot of enthusiasm in everything we do.” Those three “E”s are huge: We must execute soundly to expect a positive result, and our enthusiasm goes a long way in enhancing the client experience. But in so many ways, Creating Raving Fans all starts with expertise.

Expertise is defined simply as “expert skill or knowledge in a particular field.” But in our field, I’d say it equates to more than that. Expertise builds credibility with our clients, and it certainly influences the faith they have in our services. Our collective “brains” directly impact our clients’ ultimate “trust.”

Expertise is about preparation.

Early in my career when I was selling office supplies, mechanical pencils were a big thing. Without a doubt, no matter what business you visited, someone was out of the lead that you filled them with. What did I do? I carried that lead with me into every sales call I made. It was a simple thing, but it showed that I was prepared, and it showed these business people that I was anticipating a need. Expertise begins with proper preparation and planning.

Speaking of preparation… Everyone ought to know their role. In sales, it’s in your best interest to be an expert on equipment and all the applicable software that comes with it. Any time a customer or prospect asks you “what does this machine have on it” or “what are the capabilities,” you gain trust when you answer those questions succinctly. Our service teams train throughout every year to prepare for our ATSP and Konica Minolta Pro-Tech certifications. When we post faster service resolution times, we’re gaining trust.

Expertise is about best practices.

Every month, we have a “Best Practices Group” meeting among several of our leadership and administrative personnel. So many times, I’ve seen leaders who make a decision about something that they don’t use regularly. In this meeting, we go through many of our internal applications (ConnectWise, eAutomate, Sherpa, etc.) and visit with employees who utilize them on a daily basis. We collaborate on any issues we’re having, listen to what they have to say, and do whatever we can to make us better. Through this group, we’re not just unifying our approach, we’re becoming experts.

Expertise is about perception.

How do our customers perceive us? No matter how YOU think you’re killing it out in the field, it’s ultimately about the customer’s perspective – and one way to keep our pulse on that is through metrics. Last year we launched a Testimonial Database that collects feedback we receive from clients from a variety of sources (post-service surveys, emails, letters, etc.). Each testimonial is tagged with specific attributes. These help specify what constituted the positive review (among them communication, and attitude/courtesy/professionalism). The second-ranked attribute and the one earmarked by nearly 50% of all of our testimonials is… you guessed it … “expertise.”

In life and in business, we constantly make decisions about whom to trust. More often than not, we trust the experts. Want to be as successful as possible in your role? NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Steve Young once said that “success is really about expertise,” and here at Datamax, I believe in that sentiment completely. I’d go as far as to say that Creating Raving Fans depends upon it.

The Best is Yet to Be.