In this issue
	Kutztown SBDC News Exploring the Ocean Depths- By:Chrystal Coffelt Customer Service Is Not Customer Serve Us-By Dan Goldberg Insights to Success

Exploring the Ocean Depths- By:Chrystal Coffelt

visit to the Shirshov Institute in Moscow - developers of the Mir manned submersible that explored the Titanic - inspired Scott Bentley of VideoRay to promote the world's first tiny, remotely-operated vehicle (ROV) - a swimming underwater camera. At the time of his visit, the Institute was working on a microROV that would be small enough to enter other parts of the Titanic and the WW II Japanese I-52 submarine. Bentley was fascinated and started investigating whether anyone was selling these cameras commercially. Bentley purchased the technology from a Canadian company in 1999 and started VideoRay with the dream of introducing divers and underwater explorers to an affordable ROV that could go places where no other ROV could go. His goal was to make ROVs more accessible to people who wanted to explore and capture underwater worlds on video for educational, aquaculture, research, surveys of dams and more. Bentley came to the KU SBDC to help expand his international reseller network in Europe and Asia Pacific. After taking the time to understand VideoRay's business, George Boehm, KU SBDC government procurement specialist, worked with Pennsylvania agents worldwide to put Bentley in contact with reputable regional dealers who would have otherwise been unavailable to him. Boehm presented Bentley, president of VideoRay with an Entrepreneurial Achievement Award at the Kutztown University's Small Business Development Center's 2006 Success Celebration. Today, VideoRay produces the fastest inspection- class ROV available today. It created a niche market and then became the largest and most successful company worldwide in that market. Click here for the complete article. »

Customer Service Is Not Customer Serve Us-By Dan Goldberg

Making customer care a top priority will give your business a solid foundation for growth All businesses need customers. Sometimes they're called clients or patients. Whatever term you use for the folks, or companies who keep the revenue flowing into your enterprise they all need one very important thing, care. Years ago I insisted that the people who worked for my company know a basic philosophical tenet. One that the company was founded on and one that could not be strayed from, "People Before Profits" was something that was extremely important to me, and the basis of what we, as an organization stood for. The customer came first, period. They were the ones who told others how well we treated them. They were the ones who would come back, time and time again to buy from us. They were the ones who helped us expand and who monitored our service. They were they ones who wore our products and premiums. They were the ones who paid our salaries, rents, utilities, and enabled us to buy more products to sell them. And without them there would be no business. To often in today's society we find that customer service, relations and care has evaporated like water that sits in a glass for days without anyone paying attention to it. And that analogy is what causes customers to run to competitors. How often have you walked into a department store, supermarket, boutique, law firm, accounting firm, insurance or doctor's office only to find that there's no one available to help you. You wait, scream out for help and still not a soul comes forward or worse, when they do, it's with an attitude that you're interrupting their activities, personal phone conversation, water cooler gossip or whatever. You finally evaporate from the premises. A customer just waiting to hand over your hard earned money but frustrated when you realize that no one wants to take it. And the amazing fact is that all of us, even the employees who ignore you at their establishments, hate it when it's done to them! The problem really gets bizarre when you discover that the competition isn't any better. In fact they pull off the coup de grace. They see you coming and walk in the back or pick up the phone make a call and when you ask a question they hold up a finger letting you know that you have to wait. HELP! Click here for the complete article. »

Insights to Success

is a monthly article sharing challenges/learning opportunities encountered by our clients every month relative to their day-to-day business activities. All Insights to Success articles come from our clients' submittals. The format for the piece consists of a brief introduction, the respective challenge, and the solution. A Reason to Return: Repeat Website Customers Boost Profits-by Merra Lee Moffit How do you keep people coming back to your website? Stay in touch! The trick is to create a message that interests them, is relevant to them, and convenient for them. The rewards to you are plenty! Staying in touch with what is relevant requires attention to detail. Provide both a link to your website along with your tag line and reminder of what you can do for them in every email whenever you correspond. To ensure that a newsletter gets read, make sure it has educational or entertaining articles in it, not just sales lures. Make sure your newsletter has a call to action and links back to your website. When someone fills out your website contact form, provide a well written, yet personal thank you with your signature block. Provide invitations to call, buy, or visit with new offers on a regular basis. Most important, update your website regularly so they have something new to see. The savviest of businesses estimate the time when the product will be consumed and send a coupon at that time. What if your product is not consumable? Send a tell-afriend coupon at the time when the customer is most likely thrilled and talking about your product. Why focus on returning customers? Profits. Your profit per customer increases with each repeat sale. The cost of corresponding to a customer is many times less than advertising to thousands hoping to get a new customer. A satisfied customer is very likely to buy again, increasing the probability of future profits. In addition to being personally addressed, newsletters and emails are quick to create so they can speed sales and improve inventory turns - another measure toward profits. Click here for the complete story. Please Email your Insight to Success articles to the Success Connection Editor Chrystal Coffelt at ccoff909@kutztown.edu.