Our customers mean the world to us- to our past, our present and our future
Our customers truly do mean the world to us. They’ve shaped where we’ve been, where we are today and where we’re going. Through their participation with us at our annual user’s conference and the twelve months in between, we gain critical input into product enhancements and features to improve our customer’s value and use of the Swearingen RIS. Without their input the Swearingen RIS would not be the product it is today. Our customers are also critical to our future as without their strong support and endorsement we could not land new customers.
Today I’m writing about the importance of customer referrals and customer participation in the success of Swearingen Software. If you’re one of our long-standing customers, let me thank you again for your support. If you’re not a Swearingen RIS customer, maybe you should be – visit our website www.swearingensoftware.com and read what some of our customers have to say.
CUSTOMER REFERRALS
Checking out referrals is probably the most important due diligence activity that you will ever perform during the RIS selection process. Your facility is about to make a huge investment in dollars, time and energy. It just makes good business sense to talk to their existing customers because referrals are the absolute best way to get the skinny on vendors and their products. Unfortunately, when you ask a RIS vendor for a list of referrals, what do you get? Most vendors will give you a very short list of less than five referrals. Guess what? Those referrals will NEVER tell you something bad about the product or the company because those are the vendor’s ‘A’ list with whom they have some type of referral agreement with. On the other hand, a vendor who gives you a large list of referrals (20 or more) are much more likely to have great products and thus, happy customers.
Bottom line: Want to get the real scoop on a RIS vendor? Ask for a list of at least 20 referrals and talk to at least two people per referral site. Yes, this can be time consuming but all the time that you spend, up front, doing your due diligence will pay tremendous dividends later on.
CUSTOMER PARTICIPATION
Most vendors have a users group and an annual user’s conference. It is important to verify this because customer participation in a RIS product is crucial to that product’s long term success. Here are a couple of questions that will tell you volumes about a particular vendor:
1) What percentage of your customers attend your annual user’s conference? The average user’s conference attracts roughly 20% of a vendor’s customer base. If the level of participation is less that that, it should be viewed as a red flag because it means that the customers do not consider the conference worth while. On the other hand, if the participation level is above 20%, that means that customers believe that the conference has significant benefits.
2) Do you hold customer brainstorming sessions during the conference? The reason behind this question is simple. Who uses the RIS, you or the vendor? Then, why should the vendor decide which new features to put into their software? In an ideal world, the customers should be able to vote on future product enhancements. The next related question would be, “What percentage of ideas that received a majority of customer votes, actually get implemented into your RIS?” Maybe the vendor accepts customer ideas but does the vendor actually follow up on them? Another important related question is, “What is the average amount of time that it takes to implement a customer voted request and is there a cost associated with it?”
Bottom line: Are customers allowed to participate in product design and direction (and to what degree)? This will let you know just how customer-focused the vendor really is.
I welcome your comments and responses.
Randall