Testimonies to Excellence
For one company, the success of its expansion overseas has been dependent upon a sound, reliable and honest approach to customer service. Becky Done spoke to Derek Buchanan, CEO of Episys, to find out more.
Hertfordshire, UK - based Episys is a global IT solutions and services company providing expertise, products, services and support for signage, labelling and mobile systems to clients across the globe. It counts such major names as Macy's and Bloomingdales among its overseas customers yet just a few years ago, the company was very much a UK - centred operation with a customer base to match.
When Derek Buchanan became CEO of Episys in 2003, he knew he wanted to make the leap into overseas markets-but he had a less than traditional approach towards doing so. "Over the years I‘ve taken businesses Into different parts of the world. As you go along you make mistakes he says. "but you learn from those mistakes. So when going into new territory l do have some fairly precise methods that l think are quite unusual in terms of the way companies traditionally go into new markets."
For most companies, an overseas market is a significant opportunity to grow revenue and profit through greater market share-but Buchanan believes the favoured route to achieving this is often misguided. The traditional way is usually to raise finance for going into that market based on a business plan that business is usually predicated around setting up an office and hiring people, maybe doing some marketing events, trade shows, etc," he explains. “Quite often, the companies end up doing all of that and come back having spent the money and not actually having achieved what they set out to achieve in terms of customers or revenue. And l thought about that and I thought, 'There's probably a different way of doing that."
Buchanan‘s way of entering new markets is notably different. ln North America, for example all too often a graveyard for UK companies attempting expansion - his approach was to search out what would be regarded as an iconic brand. which in this case was the retailing giant Sears, which has around 3,900 stores across the US and Canada. Our approach was to go to them with a compelling offering that has been proven to save money, lift sales and increase consistency in communication with the customer, explains Buchanan. "So instead of spending money on people and marketing and trade shows, we took our offering into Sears and actually invested that money with them on the basis of providing a quality solution that met their objectives."
Following the success of that initial partnership, Sears was then able to provide support in public relations and referencing activities as Episys approached other companies with the weight of such a major retailing brand providing crucial credibility in a foreign marketplace, lt's just spending the marketing budget in a different way, Buchanan asserts. “With the outcome being that you've got a customer that is very recognisable within that market. That‘s your foundation and by achieving it you then can move out into greater market share."
As a result of using this model, Episys now enjoys relationships with some of North America's largest retailers aside from Sears. Macy's and Bloomingdales, clients include Home Depot. Bon-Ton and Belk.
With names of such prestige on his client list, Buchanan is aware that the smallest details matter. “Something that people often forget is that you've got to make doing business with you easy.” he insists. So when I go to the US or Australia or any other country, I don't talk about time zones for example and any telephone numbers should be written in the local number...these are quite basic things. A lot of companies tend to fly to a territory that they fancy entering, have lots of meetings and then fly back but without actually making it easy for things to happen lor the local people. There's usually an indigenous alternative, so if you really want to enter [that market] you've got to make it easy. lt’s a bit disrespectful to enter a country and not think about those things.”
This should apply to your product as well. says Buchanan. ‘When you are designing a product design it to be international. Make sure the language and the way in which different cultures present and read text and intormation is designed into your product so that it becomes easy to go into that market. If you want to go into a new market like China or India where obviously there’s many different graphical and language sets that you need to be able to manage, design that in and then that makes it easy for you. Buchanan cites the example of UK retailer Halfords, which has recently made the move into the Czech Republic.“They've done so with the same software that they're using in the UK, but it’s used in the local language and that’s just done by the design of the product" he explains.
For Episys, these seemingly small considerations form part of a much wider customer service philosophy. "l am passionate about customer service," Buchanan asserts. “You can't build a business based on customers providing references unless you actually do look after them." He relates a tale from the start ot his career, when he was only 17 and working on a helpdesk answering queries from government departments. One day he received an official letter from one of his customers which contained a purchase order for £400,000. Down the corridor were salespeople who Buchanan describes as being "a lot older and louder'. so why the purchase order was addressed to him was a mystery "l thought l'd done something wrong.' he says, ‘so I called the guy who sent it and said,
‘I think there's a mistake.’ He said. 'No there's been no mistake - we want you to be our account manager. We only see the salespeople when we want to buy something; but you look after us all of the time.'"
Buchanan has carried this philosophy with hlm to this day, embedding it firmly into the Episys ethos. “That's really the culture of the company. lf you're open and honest with your customers and actually look after them, they’ll be willing to provide references."
Episys has such firm belief in the strength of its customer service that it holds an annual event to which both existing and potential clients are invited with all the presentations provided by real customers. “We mix our customers and prospects together freely because again, that's an indication that you don't have anything to hide and you're comfortable with the way in which you look after your customers."
And this translates into that all important support when entering new markets. 'I think it`s very important that if you‘re going to develop in a market you absolutely need local. indigenous references. lt's much more personal if they can talk to people who are in the same country and facing the same economic challenges."
For many companies. customer service tends to be a reactive, rather than a proactive affair, but this is not the case at Episys. Its Ever Been Disappointed? programme solicits information from both clients and staff concerning instances where the company's service could have been better. "Everyone has been to meals or been on journeys that didn't quite live up to the standards they were hoping for. l wanted to give people the opportunity to tell me if we'd let them down or disappointed them."
But Episys takes a positive approach to any negative experience reported. ‘Culturally, there's always a reason for why people do things. If a customer sends in a card saying they’ve had a bad experience. we'll find out how it happened and our processes will be changed. Your company gets stronger by learning when it makes mistakes, rather than these things going on unnoticed. We‘re all human, we all make mistakes but if we make them, it's good to know about them, so we can actually do something about them."
Employee wellbeing ls key to facilitating this, Buchanan has found. "At our company, it's very important. Our employees are shareholders in the business, we have quarterly meetings with everyone where we look back on what‘s happened, we all know what we're trying to do, we have fun." Episys also runs what it calls its Red Carpet Days, of which the aim is for any employee to be eligible for recognition of their efforts. Not simply senior management, colleagues nominate somebody from another part of the business and around half a dozen people get a letter sent to their home saying why they've been picked for the Red Carpet Day. lt’s normally something very special like a nice restaurant and they have wrapped gifts on the table which are actually very personal. lt's recognising that it's not just about a job.”
This positive culture is clearly paying off. l would say that we have just had our best 12 months, which have been the most significant in terms of business levels and new wins. Buchanan reveals. “l think the reason for that is our customers are willing to talk about the fact that these systems save them money, make them more efficient and lift their sales. ln an [economic] environment like this, that‘s exactly what people want to hear. lf I didn't have referenceable customers. If l didn't have anybody that people can go and talk to. I would be worried and probably be having a difficult time."
Moving forward. Episys is on the lookout for partners that can help to expand the business still further. 'Now that we have our customers in the markets that we're in, we need to look at how we can increase our market share, which is just about putting additional resources into those markets. Possibly the next one for us is the Middle East—we're actively talking to people in that region. because there is obviously a significant amount of retail there and a significant number of iconic blue chip brands, which tend to be run locally under some form of franchise arrangement. So that‘s a market that we're now keen to move into.'
For many companies, a bells-and-whistles marketing affair is the only way to approach new territories. Not so for Episys - it is simply not required. The testimonies of its customers speak for themselves.