Customers who respond with a "no" are contacted by the company's customer loyalty advocate, Imogene Schaeffer.

This annual customer loyalty survey is just one of the many ways Made2Manage focuses on its customers to run its business.

"Everything we do is focused on customer loyalty," Schaeffer said. "We listen to what our customers have to say about the software and services we provide. One of our core values is customer intimacy, and everybody here really believes in that."

By adopting customer intimacy as its core value, Made2Manage commits itself to knowing its customers well through positive relationships, results-oriented data, and expertise in their customers' businesses.

Two years ago, Made2Manage restructured its operations around its customers. The company adopted an account management model that gives customers a central point of contact for everything they need except support. The account manager is charged with becoming completely familiar with customers' businesses, helping them through issues, and providing recommendations about how products and services could improve customers' business processes and overall results, Schaeffer said.

The company also changed its product development process to ensure it was receiving input at every stage. It created Shaeffer's position and an education/support liaison position. And, it added new tools to the company's customer portal, www.m2mexpert.com, so customers could access a variety of self-service support mechanisms.

"Our priority, first and foremost, is to build a product that customers both recommend and help design." Schaeffer said. "That will drive quality and value."

Based in Indianapolis, Made2Manage has 2,150 customers worldwide. For 20 years the company has been delivering enterprise resource planning software and a broad range of services to more than 30 manufacturing sectors, including industrial and commercial machinery, fabricated metals, rubber and plastics, electronics, analytical and measuring equipment, furniture and fixtures, durable goods, and metals, wire and cable.

The company demonstrates its commitment to customer loyalty in a variety of ways. Schaeffer says 70 percent of Made2Manage staff members have customer-focused roles. Customer service awards are handed out at quarterly company-wide staff meetings, and employees can compliment one another with internal "Here's2You!" awards for excellent customer service work. The company measures employee performance based on its values and uses customer feedback metrics to set goals and objectives for staff.

"We realize customer loyalty has to start within our own four walls before we can expect our customers to believe we care about them," Schaeffer said. "When values permeate an organization's culture, they pop up and impact day-to-day activities. Employees voluntarily share customer success stories and remind one another when someone is not being customer-focused," she said.

Customers drive product development

One of the cornerstones of the company's customer loyalty efforts, Schaeffer says, is the feedback it seeks when it develops or enhances products. Made2Manage gathers information from customers through:

• The Change Request Management System
• The company's online and telephone support case management system
• Feature Teams
• Feature Feedback Surveys
• Interaction at customer events, such as user conferences or regional user group meetings
• Interaction with customer account managers

Any customer can submit a change request for a product or service through the customer Web site, www.m2mexpert.com. A Made2Manage team reviews these requests daily and prioritizes them based on the type of issue being raised and the number of customers that would benefit from a change.

When the company decides to redesign or create a feature, it forms a Feature Team, which is a group of about 20 customers who participate in helping to redesign the product. These customers work with Made2Manage developers and product experts, attending an average of six hours of meetings over a two- to three-month timeframe to provide input on the new design.

Once the redesign is complete, Made2Manage posts the prototype on the customer Web site for all customers to review the new design or enhancement. "All customers can provide additional input into the final development by completing Feature Feedback Surveys," Schaeffer said.

Education key to enhancing customer loyalty

Made2Manage supports its customers with a comprehensive online "university" available to them 24 hours a day. Last year 9,700 customers accessed one or more of the 899 courses the company offers through M2M University.

Most classes are offered in a live virtual format – customers log into a class at a certain time and can fully participate and ask questions of an instructor. Some classes are prerecorded and offered through a desktop streaming option. Although customers can't ask a "live" question during these sessions, they can send a question to an education consultant and receive an answer the next business day.

These education classes are free for all customers who have valid maintenance contracts with Made2Manage Systems and are accessed by users of all levels of expertise. Each participant is asked to complete a questionnaire after taking an online course from M2M University and give feedback about course content, instructor methods, and technical issues.

"We believe well-trained customers are key to a successful implementation and ongoing use of our software. They have fewer frustrations using our products and services and their calls to our support staff are minimized," Schaeffer said.

Customers benefit from comprehensive support and communication initiatives

Customers also can access telephone support from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern time, and access online support 24 hours a day by using the online case management system. On average, Made2Manage responds to a case request within 15 minutes, resolves an issue on the first contact 63 percent of the time, and resolves issues within 24 hours 74 percent of the time. Schaeffer notes that all of these statistics are well above industry averages for response-to-support queries.

Through the company's comprehensive customer portal, customers can also access answers to commonly asked support questions through the company's Knowledgebase, which houses answers to more than 10,000 customer support questions and direct questions to the "Ask an Expert" feature.

Made2Manage also sends a monthly newsletter to customers detailing product upgrades, new downloads available on M2M Expert, system tips and tricks, and other newsworthy company developments.

Account managers host regional user group meetings twice a year to provide training, education, and support services. The company also hosts an annual user conference focusing on system education, user-to-user networking opportunities, and new products and services.

Through the company's comprehensive database system, anyone working with a customer can access information about the customer's products and services, change requests, online case history, education classes completed, e-mails sent, and even the customer's answer to the customer loyalty survey.

"We know our customers well and because of that we can provide excellent service," Schaeffer says.

To learn more about Made2Manage access www.made2manage.com. To read customer testimonials about the company's products and services, access the Customer Profiles section of the Web site.