Tips from Small Business Success-Mike Shevelev
Since many small businesses are having trouble in today’s economic climate, I thought you might like to hear some marketing tips from successful small-business-owner, Mike Shevelev.
Mike is the president of Trisys, a software company that delivers call accounting and call recording solutions to address compliance, call-center performance, security, and remote workforce supervision.
Since the company has been in business since 1984 and has over 30,000 facilities using their products, I got the inside scoop from Mike on his success. Here’s what he had to say:
Tell us why you started the business.
We started as small businesses became increasingly concerned about telephony costs as a percentage of cost of business and looked for ways to manage phone time for various types of employees and professionals. As the technology became available within phone systems, we saw an opportunity to provide a management software solution to take advantage of it.
It looks like you found a need and filled that niche. What kind of marketing and PR techniques have you used to get the word out about your business and why?
Primarily, we relied upon word-of-mouth, based on superior customer-service, for our startup marketing strategy. Now, our vertical markets span school systems and leading universities, insurance and banking, hospitals and government agencies, hotels and assisted living facilities, non-profits, and retail.
We found that taking new customers by the hand, no matter what type of vertical they reside in, and supporting them heavily during the first few weeks, really made a difference in how they felt about us and how willing they were to recommend us.
What PR and marketing tactics have worked the best for you and why?We asked each new customer, once they had been with us for six months, how happy they were with the products and if they could recommend another company that might have use for our software. We also asked if we could use their name as a reference. This personal approach has worked well for us since the beginning.
Since then, we have hired a professional, public relations company to help with exposure and company recognition. We know that we don’t have the time, the energy, the focus, or the knowledge to deal with the media in the right way.
We need to spend our time selling and supporting our product line and developing new products rather than promoting our company in a broad sense. Sometimes the best marketing strategy is to let others do what they do best.
That’s a good point, Mike. Well, if you had to start all over again with your marketing and PR tactics, what would you do differently and why?
If we had to start over again, we would have made more of an effort to document the stories of how our product line is used by our customer base, and we would have kept better track of the recommendations we’ve received. It would have been effective to put those up on our Website, both for credibility and as an idea “spur” for prospective clients.
What advice do you have for other businesses just starting out?
Our advice to anybody starting out is to hold your customers’ hands and never let go. They are your life’s blood and their satisfaction is the key to your success.
Thanks for your insights Mike! It sounds like part of your success has come from filling a needed product-niche, providing excellent service, using testimonials to your advantage, and hiring the right team-members to help you reach your goals.
If you’d like to find out more about Mike and his company, visit www.trisys.com.
And if you have questions about boosting sales, awareness and credibility with PR and SEO copywriting, please write to me here or at www.rembrandtwrites.com.
July 25th, 2011 at 4:05 pm
We as well have just started leveraging our existing clients for referrals and testimonials. In a short time it has paid great dividends in several ways. The obvious being customer are your best salespeople. It is very easy to start a conversation with someone who has contacted you because they have being told you have a great service.
It has also helped us improve our customer service. When we asked for feedback, we got good and bad. We took the bad to heart and used it to improve what we were doing.
July 25th, 2011 at 4:09 pm
Hi Cal,
Thanks for your note, and I’m glad to hear you are taking advantage of customer testimonials to bring in more sales. Many business owners overlook the importance of these testimonials!
Melanie, rembrandtwrites.com
July 25th, 2011 at 5:28 pm
Congrats on your success Mike!
I’m just starting a small business and will definitely use your suggestion to document how clients use my product for future testimonials and examples.
July 26th, 2011 at 2:19 pm
Thanks, but am just starting, even getting that first client not easy, everyone is demanding job samples, all looking for the experienced. How does one get off the ground?
July 26th, 2011 at 2:33 pm
Hi John,
Thanks for your note. If you don’t have any experience yet, you can look at doing some free work to build your portfolio and get a client testimonial. Starting a new business is not easy, but if you provide quality work, you will get noticed, and sales will start to increase.
All the best,
Melanie, rembrandtwrites.com
July 29th, 2011 at 6:51 pm
Thanks Mike for opening up to us. He took a great approach, since you should capitalize on the exposure you can get from existing customers. They will help you to expand and tell you what you need to improve. They build your strength.
July 31st, 2011 at 12:40 pm
Just good to see businesses remembering that the customer is key, and are willing to offer that committed and personalized service that Mike does. A satisfied customer is one for life.