![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/OTSEA-DBS2.jpg\")
Jeff Theilacker, left, President of Diversified Business Solutions, and Joe Prazak, Director of Service.<\/p><\/div>\n
DBS has served the greater San Diego area\u2019s small- and medium-sized business (SMB) community as an independent copier dealer for nearly 45 years, providing copiers, printers, multifunctional devices, managed print services, and document management software while using customer service as its overarching value proposition.<\/p>\n
The dealership has raised customer service to an art form, and its performance in this area has earned the company this month\u2019s BEI\/ENX Service Excellence Platinum Award. DBS has peaked at No. 14 among the 185 dealers tracked by BEI and enjoys an average response time of 1.8 hours.<\/p>\n
The firm, which debuted in 1973, was purchased by Jeff and Rachel Theilacker 11 years ago. DBS serves clients from the Mexican border north to Camp Pendleton and Oceanside. It sources and services equipment from vendors including Toshiba, HP, OKI and Lexmark, along with Square 9 and Laserfiche document management, and Kodak and Fujitsu scanners, among other gear.<\/p>\n
Toshiba is one of DBS\u2019 longest-running partners.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe copiers and printers we service are broad based,\u201d Theilacker observed. \u201cColor is beyond what I thought it would be, and customers are mostly buying color units. Toshiba did a good job structuring the way their devices were built that there were only two families of color, but each covers about a dozen models. That makes it possible for the customers to streamline the different speeds, but it also makes it easier on us, because there\u2019s only two families of parts we need to carry.\u201d<\/p>\n
With $3 million in annual revenue, DBS enjoys a rich mixture of small- and medium-sized clients including law firms, courts, government agencies, education, mortgage originators, accounting\/CPA firms and manufacturers, to name a few. The dealer isn\u2019t vertically driven; rather, it focuses on how to best assist the SMB set from the back-office perspective.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur service approach is highly flexible and customized,\u201d Theilacker explained. \u201cOur whole goal is to be the firm that can create a program that works for our customer. As an example, we do just-in-time ordering, so we literally hold no equipment stock here, aside from loaners and demonstration machines. One reason is it\u2019s an economically good choice. Another reason is, at end of each period, quarter, month or year, I don\u2019t have inventory I\u2019m trying to shove down someone\u2019s throat. They get to choose, with our help, what is best for their business. If there\u2019s an emergency situation, we loan them something until we get them the exact thing that they were looking for.\u201d<\/p>\n
Experience is a key factor in DBS\u2019 success. Many employees\u2014particularly the technicians\u2014boast at least 15 years in the field, with the Theilackers and Prazak bringing 25-plus years to the table. The client-facing employee is more than equipped to handle any and all needs.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not hiring 20- or 30-year-olds with zero experience, putting them in the field after they\u2019ve been here a month, and expecting them to take care of people,\u201d Theilacker said. \u201cWe put a lot of thought and effort into what we\u2019re putting in front of clients.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some observers may be surprised to know that an organization as successful as DBS has a technician crew of only six, but with a first call effectiveness rate of 63 percent, the results speak to their effectiveness. Another key element, aside from their experience, Prazak noted, is that technicians carry comprehensive inventory to increase efficiency and effectiveness.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe try to do everything we can to allow techs to get it right the first time, to help them and not hinder them,\u201d Prazak said. \u201cOur motto is to under-promise and over-deliver. Our first-call effectiveness is so good, we have techs waiting for calls to come in. Because of that, we have a good response time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Personal service is a philosophy that permeates all aspects of DBS\u2019 operation. An example of this: toner is personally delivered to customers rather than shipped from a neighboring state. DBS may come out on the losing end from a cost perspective, but the personalized approach builds equity in the eyes of the customer.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of our mottos is \u2018training for life,\u2019\u201d Theilacker noted. \u201cWe tell customers that when they get a new employee, call us and we\u2019ll come out and train them. We\u2019re trying to make them feel we\u2019ll do almost anything they need us to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
The upshot of offering the value-adds as part of the overall service proposition is that DBS can measure how much clients value their service. When clients opt out, they soon find the missing customer-care component has a measurable impact, and DBS enjoys a high percentage of return business.<\/p>\n
Finding quality employees, not surprisingly, is among the toughest chores for DBS. Theilacker seeks out individuals who understand the value of customer service, rather than experienced candidates who exhibits indifference toward the philosophy. Knowledge can be imparted, but attitude is innate.<\/p>\n
The San Diego market is hotly contested from the dealer standpoint, but DBS has found its sweet spot within the SMB space. Still, the competition is practically knocking on DBS\u2019 door; one manufacturer purchased a dealership and moved the business into the same complex as DBS. That created more than a little frustration for Theilacker and Co., but instead of worrying what the competition was doing, DBS chose to concentrate on its core competencies and let the customer decide which was best.<\/p>\n
In doing so, DBS has sought out technologies to make its operation more effective. The fleet of filing cabinets is long gone and the dealership is utilizing software to enhance internal efficiencies and strengthen its go-to-market approach. As a smaller operation, DBS is nimble and responsive, and the firm has avoided the cardinal sin of trying to be all things to all customers. By focusing on the MFP business, along with support and software, DBS is able to score high grades in a concentrated core of offerings.<\/p>\n
The BEI program, first initiated at DBS in 2006, has gone a long way toward quantifying the company\u2019s claims of service excellence. Initially, the dealership used it as a measuring stick to get a better grasp on its cost-per-copy challenge. Prazak said the company had a difficult time obtaining benchmark figures from the manufacturing community. Through BEI, the dealer found areas where it could dial back its charges and other aspects where the firm could be more aggressive in its pricing structure.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we first got BEI and looked at their top performers, we were like wow, how can we do that, how can we get there?\u201d Theilacker said. \u201cIn the beginning, some of those numbers were shocking to us, because I thought some of our numbers were pretty bad. When we compared them to the world population, I thought we were doing a bad job, and we were.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s definitely been an uptrend from when we first got BEI until now,\u201d Prazak added. \u201cWe were performing well below the national average on a consistent basis when we first deployed BEI, and now we\u2019re consistently performing above average.\u201d<\/p>\n
First, DBS had to learn the ins-and-outs of BEI as a productive tool. The dealer instituted a bonus program, with first-call effectiveness as the highest level benchmark employees can be paid on. The uptick along the key metrics has bolstered confidence and satisfaction for customers, employees, and DBS management alike.<\/p>\n
But quoting performance stats won\u2019t quell the fears of a client battling a deadline. That\u2019s when the calm, reassuring voice of a trusted partner comes into play.<\/p>\n
\nThe FCE evaluation is based on BEI Services industry standard , not the popular version using total calls which is a less accurate measurement. For a detailed explanation and FCE calculation comparison tool, contact support@beiservices.com. <\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cWhen you call us, you get a person who will go out of their way to find someone who can give you an answer,\u201d Theilacker said. \u201cWe will call [a tech] on their cell phone, hunt them down in the office, find someone who can help. That\u2019s a big deal. We also have local supplies and parts; with most manufacturer locations, their parts and supplies are not in San Diego county and if they need a part, you\u2019re looking at a 24-hour turn time, minimum. Lastly, it\u2019s service and attitude. People hear it in our voices.\u201d<\/p>\n
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About the Dealership<\/strong><\/p>\n Why They\u2019re a Platinum Award Winner<\/strong><\/p>\n People of a certain age fondly recall the days when their parents would pull into a service station primarily to fill up the gas tank. A small cadre of service attendees would storm the car like a NASCAR pit crew, washing the windshield, checking fluid levels, and ensuring the tires were properly inflated. A smile and a hearty wave later, it was back to the open road. Sadly, customer service has endured its share of bad press recently, and quality service can be the exception rather than the rule in some business circles. \u201cIn the outside world, it\u2019s a struggle to find quality customer service in everyday business,\u201d said Jeff Theilacker, president of San Diego-based Diversified Business Solutions (DBS). Both Theilacker and Joe Prazak, the firm\u2019s director of service, believe that society as a whole has accepted this diminishing level of customer service as a fact of life. In some sectors, service is a premium offering. DBS has served the greater San Diego area\u2019s small- and medium-sized business (SMB) community as an independent copier dealer for nearly 45 years, providing copiers, printers, multifunctional devices, managed print services, and document management software while using customer service as its overarching value proposition. The dealership has raised customer service to an art form, and its performance in this area has earned the company this month\u2019s BEI\/ENX Service Excellence Platinum Award. DBS has peaked at No. 14 among the 185 dealers tracked by BEI and enjoys an average response time of 1.8 hours. The firm, which debuted in 1973, was purchased by Jeff and Rachel Theilacker 11 years ago. DBS serves clients from the Mexican border north to Camp Pendleton and Oceanside. It sources and services equipment from vendors including Toshiba, HP, OKI and Lexmark, along with Square 9 and Laserfiche document management, and Kodak and Fujitsu scanners, among other gear. Toshiba is one of DBS\u2019 longest-running partners. \u201cThe copiers and printers we service are broad based,\u201d Theilacker observed. \u201cColor is beyond what I thought it would be, and customers are mostly buying color units. Toshiba did a good job structuring the way their devices were built that there were only two families of color, but each covers about a dozen models. That makes it possible for the customers to streamline the different speeds, but it also makes it easier on us, because there\u2019s only two families of parts we need to carry.\u201d With $3 million in annual revenue, DBS enjoys a rich mixture of small- and medium-sized clients including law firms, courts, government agencies, education, mortgage originators, accounting\/CPA firms and manufacturers, to name a few. The dealer isn\u2019t vertically driven; rather, it focuses on how to best assist the SMB set from the back-office perspective. \u201cOur service approach is highly flexible and customized,\u201d Theilacker explained. \u201cOur whole goal is to be the firm that can create a program that works for our customer. As an example, we do just-in-time ordering, so we literally hold no equipment stock here, aside from loaners and demonstration machines. One reason is it\u2019s an economically good choice. Another reason is, at end of each period, quarter, month or year, I don\u2019t have inventory I\u2019m trying to shove down someone\u2019s throat. They get to choose, with our help, what is best for their business. If there\u2019s an emergency situation, we loan them something until we get them the exact thing that they were looking for.\u201d Experience is a key factor in DBS\u2019 success. Many employees\u2014particularly the technicians\u2014boast at least 15 years in the field, with the Theilackers and Prazak bringing 25-plus years to the table. The client-facing employee is more than equipped to handle any and all needs. \u201cWe\u2019re not hiring 20- or 30-year-olds with zero experience, putting them in the field after they\u2019ve been here a month, and expecting them to take care of people,\u201d Theilacker said. \u201cWe put a lot of thought and effort into what we\u2019re putting in front of clients.\u201d Some observers may be surprised to know that an organization as successful as DBS has a technician crew of only six, but with a first call effectiveness rate of 63 percent, the results speak to their effectiveness. Another key element, aside from their experience, Prazak noted, is that technicians carry comprehensive inventory to increase efficiency and effectiveness. \u201cWe try to do everything we can to allow techs to get it right the first time, to help them and not hinder them,\u201d Prazak said. \u201cOur motto is to under-promise and over-deliver. Our first-call effectiveness is so good, we have techs waiting for calls to come in. Because of that, we have a good response time.\u201d Personal service is a philosophy that permeates all aspects of DBS\u2019 operation. An example of this: toner is personally delivered to customers rather than shipped from a neighboring state. DBS may come out on the losing end from a cost perspective, but the personalized approach builds equity in the eyes of the customer. \u201cOne of our mottos is \u2018training for life,\u2019\u201d Theilacker noted. \u201cWe tell customers that when they get a new employee, call us and we\u2019ll come out and train them. We\u2019re trying to make them feel we\u2019ll do almost anything they need us to do.\u201d The upshot of offering the value-adds as part of the overall service proposition is that DBS can measure how much clients value their service. When clients opt out, they soon find the missing customer-care component has a measurable impact, and DBS enjoys a high percentage of return business. Finding quality employees, not surprisingly, is among the toughest chores for DBS. Theilacker seeks out individuals who understand the value of customer service, rather than experienced candidates who exhibits indifference toward the philosophy. Knowledge can be imparted, but attitude is innate. The San Diego market is hotly contested from the dealer standpoint, but DBS has found its sweet spot within the SMB space. Still, the competition is practically knocking on DBS\u2019 door; one manufacturer purchased a dealership and moved the business into the same complex as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":166,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2195],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23995"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/166"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23995"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23995\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24001,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23995\/revisions\/24001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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