Case Study: Spring Communications
(Salt Lake City, UT)
Better Business Decisions, Communication and Customer Loyalty – Spring Communications' Keys to Retail Success
One look at Inc.com's brief profile of Spring Communications – listed at No. 349 of the 2006 Inc.500, a list of the fastest growing companies in the U.S. – makes a number of facts clear:
- It sells wireless products across Utah and Colorado.
- It's growing fast: 3 year growth is 394%.
- Why it's growing: "The company pursues prime retail space aggressively. Some stores have moved as many as four times to find the best possible location."
What this online profile doesn't tell you is Spring Communications was founded only five years ago, in 2001, and began as a six-location retail operation in Utah and Colorado. And these six locations weren't stores – they were mall carts.
A little added context makes Spring's rise to retail success much more impressive. But apart from staking out real estate, what has this company done to get where it is today?
Better Business Decisions
One key factor in Spring's remarkable growth has been software technology. In May 2006, Spring introduced a revolutionary retail management system to its employees: RetailiQ.
Spring CEO Jason Ellis says RetailiQ immediately changed the way the company handled data. "We reached a size and a place in our organization where visible access to data became very important," he says. "RetailiQ streamlined our operations, but more importantly, it improved our access to data, which enabled us to make decisions to better run our business."
RetailiQ's ability to track sales and performance data across multiple store locations no doubt played right into Spring's strategy of nailing down the prime retail spaces available. It also helped tighten their inventory and staffing, not to mention improve sales and customer service.
"RetailiQ is really the backbone for where we are today," says Ellis. The company has been so impressed with the results they've obtained through RetailiQ, it has implemented it into its sister retail business (selling Apple products), called Simply Mac.
Improved Internal communication, Sales Contesting
Ellis says his company uses RetailiQ for leadership and decision making, but also to give employees a better understanding of how the business is running.
RetailiQ's Intranet is key touchpoint for sales staff, particularly during competitive sales contests. "Our employees can use the system to keep up on where they are performance-wise, versus their fellow co-workers."
Spring has a strong reputation of offering good compensation and performance incentives to its employees. Ellis says RetailiQ has helped develop their unique performance-based sales culture. "We're aggressive but we're also very conscious not to take ourselves too seriously."
Building Customer Loyalty with Exceptional Service
A casual self-consciousness helps Spring employees focus on their top priority: their customers. Ellis explains that RetailiQ helps staff deliver consistent customer service, both in-store and in the ‘Customer Loyalty Centre.'
Every customer who buys a phone at a Spring retail store gets a call from the company's Customer Loyalty Centre within three days, to make sure he or she is happy with the purchase and with the functions of the phone.
Spring goes even further. Forty days after each phone activation, Customer Loyalty Centre staff uses RetailiQ to evaluate customers' first bills. If there's an avoidable overage – say $40 worth of daytime calling that could be eliminated with a plan that costs only $10 more – they'll suggest the alteration to the customer. And if approved, staff makes the necessary billing changes – it's all painless and saves the customer money.
"Our customers are unbelievably happy with this service," says Ellis. "And for our carrier partners, it drives down churn."
When referring to customer profiles and billing histories, RetailiQ has made once cumbersome processes quick and easy, Ellis adds. "RetailiQ enables our Customer Loyalty approach. In the past, we would have had stacks of paper – we wouldn't be able to do it."