The Planet Blog

Drum roll, please … it’s a momentous day for The Planet!

This morning we’ve launched an awesome new Web site that will make it far easier for you – our customer – to learn about and purchase The Planet’s products and services. We’ve made the site easier to navigate, backed by a wealth of new features for visitors who aren’t certain which services are best for their business.

Prominently featured is our messaging based on “The Power to Choose.” We offer the broadest range of options in the industry. Whether you’re looking for dedicated servers, management services, fully managed hosting or colocation, you’ll find a solution that meets your needs.

You may have noticed advertising from The Planet on many new properties, as well as a new campaign that has The Planet ads showing up many places you have never seen us before, based on your having visited our site in the past … and this is just the beginning.

Go ahead and take a test drive through the new site and let us know what you think!

-Steve

A couple of months ago we sent out a survey to all of our customers to get a barometer on how we’re doing. The response rate was way better than we expected and way beyond typical survey response rates. So thanks to everyone who took the time to let us know what’s on your mind. It really helps us do a better job, which is always on our minds here at The Planet.

I’m going to throw this out and see what happens. If you have ideas about what we can do to grow our business with new products and services for our dedicated servers that are important to you, let me know. Like for instance are there servers our competition offers that we don’t and you want? Is there an application you’d like that we don’t provide?

For the first and best ideas that we decide to pursue, I’ll send a $250 American Express gift card. With your feedback, we can consider how we might be able to include it in our offerings and at prices that are spread across a lot of companies, which means a big costs savings for you. I’ll be sure to pass the credit along to those who provide the ideas too.

Thanks for letting me know what’s on your mind.

- Steve

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