Encouraging Online Customer Feedback Keeps Ventura Transfer Company Focusedlong
When Brian Oken became the President and Chief Executive Officer at Ventura Transfer Company in 2003, Oken’s mission was to deliver the best in customer service and satisfaction within the transloading industry. His business philosophy has been implemented on a variety of levels including: elevating VTCs brand identity, improving sales processes, and enhancing operations via Kaizen Lean Thinking and Rapid Continuous Improvement. One significant effort Oken brought forward is an Annual Online Customer Survey. For two years now, VTC has asked customers and prospects what are their important issues and how can VTC help to meet their goals and objectives. The approach and responses were different with each Online Customer Survey, and 2005’s engendered a whopping 15% response.
In 2004, VTC used the Online Survey to gain more customer knowledge by finding out what was top of mind to customers, via a questionnaire and offering a free coffee mug for participation. “We learned what is vital to our customer’s success and bottom line, and quickly implemented these findings into our customer service philosophy. We also learned that less is more. Last year’s survey had 22 questions that customers had to fill out which took a bit of time. For the next survey, we reduced it to three questions and offered an incentive of a gift certificate to Home Depot. The results doubled. We went from a 7.2% response rate in 2004, to a 15% response rate in 2005,” said Oken.
The survey revealed that good customer service was the single most important deliverable with respondents. Grabiner/Hall, the agency of record for Ventura Transfer Company, managed, designed, and provided the distribution and tracking of the Online Customer Survey.
“The survey gave us a wealth of knowledge of what’s crucial in the minds of our customers for improving our services and predicting future trends within the industry,” said Oken. “We have worked hard to improve our customer service and performance by initiating The Great Place To Work and Lean Thinking concepts within our business model. When I read a survey comment: ‘VTC is doing a terrific job and the customer service level has significantly increased recently,’ I know our internal efforts are paying off and that the customer benefits tremendously.”
ABOUT VENTURA TRANSFER COMPANY
Ventura Transfer Company, headquartered in Long Beach, California manages the transloading and distribution of products shipped in bulk throughout the United States. Founded in the 1860s, it was the first bulk handling and transportation company in California. Ventura Transfer Company owns and operates a network of nine railcar transfer terminals in California and Arizona. In addition, Ventura Transfer Company operates two warehouse locations in the Los Angeles area, and a full-service ISO container depot located in Long Beach. For more information please visit www.venturatransfer.com.
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