At The Planet>, we talk a lot about our commitment to customers. It’s one we take seriously since we know its businesses and livelihoods on the line. Talking to customers one-on-one is a great way to learn about how we can become an even better service provider. Before we announced our “new” company in January, we talked to quite a few customers. We wanted to hear first hand about their experiences using our services, what they liked – what we could do better – and also gauge what’s on their minds. We learned a lot in the process.

We also asked some customers if they’d be willing to participate in success stories about their companies. We’ve been blown away by the outstanding responses. So many people have been willing to spend time telling us about their companies and also providing quotes for our press releases. It goes a long way in helping us tell our story.

And sometimes the results pay off in a big way.

Doug Turpin, the IT director at Atlantic Bay Mortgage Group, has been a terrific supporter of The Planet. He stepped up to the plate on a success story and a press release quote. In turn, an eWeek reporter wanted to talk with Doug about how he uses our services and how he relies on The Planet to run his IT infrastructure.

A reporter at the Wall Street Journal saw the eWeek story and called Doug and The Planet’s PR team. Last week, the Journal ran a feature on Doug and Atlantic Bay. We’re very proud to be included in the story and even happier for Doug and his company.

Here’s what Doug told us:

“When The Planet approached me about a success story, it was an easy yes. The uptime and reliability, along with the technical support and general professionalism, have been awesome. And I know what it’s like to work with other companies that don’t have the same standards. I was happy to speak with eWeek but never dreamed it could lead to a feature story in the Wall Street Journal. That never would have happened without The Planet.”

While not all results are like this, Doug’s help paid off in a big way for him and his company. So congratulations to Doug Turpin and his team at Atlantic Bay Mortgage. We can’t promise these results every time, but it’s pretty cool when newspapers like the Wall Street Journal want to know about our customers.

If you’re interested in working with us on a success story, contact Yvonne Donaldson or Erin Tsang in our PR Department.

- Steve

I find myself in unfamiliar waters with the launch of our new corporate blog today … this is new to me and very uncomfortable … I am used to dealing with customers, face-to-face and one-on-one … or making speeches to large audiences … i have never liked communicating through the written word … this new world of the masses and forums and blogs is strange … I do not like “hanging out there” … control freak I guess … but also because it takes me so much time to put my thoughts down on paper … a very very big time consumer … of which like you … there never seems to be enough time … (in my next life I want to come back and study the sciences so I can work on slowing down the rotation of the earth, therefore giving people 28 or 30 hours in the day) … oh well … my marketing team has told me I must join the 21^st century and get on with it … don’t get me wrong … I love talking to anyone who will listen about our company and what we’re doing … i will talk for hours about our plans and dreams and progress here at The Planet … but as I have already said … it has usually been through speeches and personal meetings with customers … but … here goes …

Anytime you merge two large companies there are going to be challenges … and we’ve made no secret that we’ve had a few … simply said … we’re trying to take the best of the two, compare it with anything on the outside and pick the best of breed in all we implement … we knew making these changes would not be easy but ultimately it would allow us to deliver better products and services to our customers …

we are driven to become the best at what we do … we realize that we need the best trained employees and tools to accomplish this … we are willing to spend the money to do this … and we’re already spending a chunk of dough on training our teams and buying tools that a world-class company must have …

we’re attacking the customer support and technical support areas first … we went out and hired a top-notch industry expert who has built many large, highly efficient world-class customer support centers for Fortune 500 companies … Jim Picone is the guy … the support centers he has built are easily 10’s of times larger then our needs … so we gave him an offer he couldn’t refuse and had him pick his family up and move them to Houston … we are thrilled to have him and as a lot of you have already mentioned in the forums and notes to me … there is already a difference … and we have just begun …

we have consolidated the dallas and houston call centers into one … we have invested in a system that now allows us to record and monitor the quality of our responses to the service calls so we can evaluate the rep’s performance and provide on-the-spot coaching and training … we are buying an entirely new phone system that lets us collect and review stats for the first time … it is hard to deliver world-class services if you don’t know how many calls you are getting and what hold times customers are experiencing … (hopefully that phone system will be installed within the next 8 to 10 weeks) … we are also evaluating a crm system … more work to do here … should be making the decision shortly … all of this is part of the millions of dollars we told you we are going to spend in order to build a world-class experience for our customers … you will see great strides with customer service each and every day … we are moving as fast as we can …

we are in the process of increasing our wages so we can keep and attract top talent … we are implementing a program to test our current and future technicians allowing us to have three levels … we will have criteria for them to work toward and goals they need to accomplish before we promote them … we are putting this in so our employees will view working at the planet as a place they can grow and have long term careers … in the past we paid poorly and taught them the basics and then they left for more pay … churn hurts and we want to keep our good employees … we will help by paying for them to get certifications … we will provide tuition reimbursements … and we will create a culture that rewards good work and customer focus …

Throughout the company we’re creating a culture that focuses on customers, ownership, integrity, trust and passion … a lot of powerful words but it is our rallying cry … we will prove it to you day by day … baby steps first and then great strides …

We have a lot to do … but we’re moving and we’re headed in the right direction …

so wrapping up my first entry (and it only took 2-½ hours) … let me thank you for your business … we all appreciate your business … we realize that you pay our salaries … thanks for the feedback you give us … keep it coming … it makes us work harder and run faster …

thanks for reading …

“Be careful … it’s a jungle out there …”

- Doug