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CEO Blog

25/07/2018

Dispose of your call centre

If a company really doesn't want to know what their customers think, then an external call centre is a great solution to shield you....

If a company really doesn't want to know what their customers think, then an external call centre is a great solution to shield you. Such a call centre can be in Berlin or in India, that's legal. It doesn't even need to be an external service provider, it's easily possible to assign one of your own departments to call centre duty and ideally move them to a far corner of the company premises, wherefrom no feedback can be heard.

It is also very popular to direct the call through an automated phone system: "Press one to file a complaint, press two to place an order" and so forth. Oh and: "Please type in your 18-digit customer number and confirm by pressing the pound key."

This is requested from me each time, even though the phone system can identify me via my phone number after my first call.

After selecting whether you wish to speak German, English or Indian, it follows up with: "Your estimated waiting time will be: 18 minutes". Instead of playing some music, it is recommended to bug the customer with advertisements during their 18-minute-long wait.

Expectations would soar high, if one didn't know that the person on the other end of the line who is going to pick up your call does not identify at all with the company whose name they are going to tell you (and of which they are not even an employee in most cases).

If I finally get into a dialogue, the staff member is trained to calm me down, enter my problem into a statistic and maybe help me with three or four standard questions. If that's not enough for me, I'm lost.

So: Those employees who are in contact with customers (which is almost everyone at Jarltech, for instance, because customers don't bite) should be in the middle of the company, should be allowed to communicate with all other employees in the company, to suggest solutions to the company and to demand solutions. Because in fact, they are not paid by their boss, but by the customer.

The chance to satisfy a customer through a call centre seems much lower than with the company genuinely caring about him. And if feedback only adds to a company statistic, how much of it still finds its way to product development?

Please make your call centre a part of your company. Customer contact is the most important asset a company has. Where does the idea of outsourcing this even come from?

22/07/2018

Answering machines and reachability

When I founded my company with 16 or 17, I still had recorded announcements, or rather: an answering machine (for the millennials: back then, this was basically like...

When I founded my company with 16 or 17, I still had recorded announcements, or rather: an answering machine (for the millennials: back then, this was basically like a mailbox). Because I was alone in the office, you know, if at all (as I had to go to school occasionally). So, when I couldn't find anyone who had a free period to substitute for me or I was on the bus to a customer visit and my stupid C network mobile phone didn't have a signal in the middle of the Taunus, again despite the fact that it cost more than taking the bus , well, then a recorded announcement had to be enough. I didn't want to miss any customer. At least the text was individual and different every day, so that callers would feel they were being taken seriously and would at least leave a message. By the way: When I was reachable, I always found it embarrassing that everyone could hear that I was alone in my office. Therefore, I always turned on a cassette (for the millennials: that was the MP3 of the 90s) with typewriter sounds, telex beeps and phone ringing. This way, it sounded like a professional company :) Today on the other hand, I hate recorded announcements. Why can a company not make sure that someone picks up the phone when I want something from the company? Can't I expect a company to deploy personnel during the hours when customers call? Maybe this annoys me that much because Jarltech is almost paranoid about this: If we think that customers wish to talk to us at specific hours, then we're there. A local holiday in Hesse? October third in Germany? People in Spain or in England don't care about this. We schedule trainings either from 7 to 9 o'clock, from 17 to 19 o'clock, on Saturdays or divided by groups. There should always be somebody to pick up the phone in the right department and speaking the right language. Also please don't be fooled as a company director: "No one calls on a Friday afternoon, anyway. Nobody is on duty." Indeed, but no one is calling because people have accustomed to your company already being asleep. They know that they have to make their purchases at the competition on Fridays. Our turnover is the same on Fridays as on any other day. Switching on the answering machine at 13 o'clock is just insulting when customers still need us. And even if there are fewer calls, there are still people who want to talk to us. I always wonder about companies with a multi-million marketing budget, and then no one is there to answer the phone. Even at lunchtime, no department at Jarltech goes on a break all together. That simply isn't customer-friendly. Besides, it's not bad for a change to see people who are not sitting opposite to oneself all day. Of course it's nice to be at the open air bath on a Friday afternoon or to work from six to 13 o'clock and have the afternoons off. That's great, if you want to build your reputation on never being reachable. But if the customer is paying my salary, after all, he could be considering my behaviour to be arrogant and just make his purchase where they conform to his needs.

07/05/2018

The data protection regulation upsets me

At first I thought it would simply just go away. But it didn't go away. We all have to deal with it.

...

At first I thought it would simply just go away. But it didn't go away. We all have to deal with it.

Here's how it works. You apply for a job with me directly. I forward your application internally to the responsible department. We reject your application (which we would prefer not to do anymore, since that only leads to complaints). Then youll sue me in five years because a copy of your application is still in a back-up of my outbox? But you wouldn't sue me, would you? Because that would seem ridiculous to you, and because you have not been wronged.

First of all, thank you for your understanding. If you have suffered any damages because I inappropriately handled your data, then by all means, sue me. But as a result of a new data privacy regulation, there will soon be an authority that will check for days at a time every year to see if we correctly handled your application (and other data), or if perhaps there was some wrongdoing? And the auditors will additionally check this, as well as the employer's liability association, oh and also the social authorities, because an application document could "almost" be an employee document, so you will simply declare yourself responsible.

And as always, if the EU introduces an exaggerated regulation which in practice does not interest anyone in many countries (have a look at Austria, who already announced they will not prosecute violations), Germany will, of course, create a wonderful agency which will further limits our competitiveness. Just like in Germany will you find roughly 8 authorities and associations who check every year if our fire extinguishers are hanging properly. The nationwide additional fire burden due to the wasted paper of this auditor is likely to exceed the fire protection effect of these measures - and whether more people can be rescued by a properly hung extinguisher than die in car accidents while performing these checks, should urgently be clarified. I am also sure that more roofers fall from a roof and die during routine inspections of lightning protection devices, than people in office buildings who get hurt as a result of lightning strikes. But if the government does not require the inspection, then the insurance company will. Working in the background here as well are various other authorities, who could also attract lightning in case they get bored.

Back to privacy: Please keep calm, because it is not even clear who can take measures against whom and when. I can only delete a customer record once the retention period of the tax office has expired. Wait until the first time a tax office accuses a company of having deleted the data so precisely on the same day just to avoid further inquiries. What happens to liability processes that sometimes require older data? Like, what if my landlord now throws away my private lease for my flat from 20 years ago for safety's sake, even though I would like to have a copy, because I have to prove my whereabouts since my birth (without any gaps) for a move to Timbuktu (where there is no privacy regulation)?

So in the end it all comes down to the personal assessment which law is to be valued higher, and then in the courts. The deadline by which you must take action is 25 May. But that does not mean that you must have implemented measures by then. I guess a little patience could defuse the workload. Anyway, you should confidently ignore all e-mails from business consultants and law firms, as well as newspaper articles, that say "Your company could be fined millions if ...". Scare tactics do not help. No, I am not panicking, I'm just upset.

You also have to ensure that your data is secured sustainably long-term. Just how do you do that? What If I would know that, thanks to scientific prognoses, the first quantum computers will hit the market in three years, and there is no encryption software elsewhere that can save my data from this computing power? Then I act against my better judgement if I only put my data (encrypted) in a cloud.

Incidentally, Jarltech does not buy or sell any data, and we do not store any data in any cloud that does not belong to us and is completely controlled by us. The legitimate and meaningful exchange of data is, by the way, covered by the regulation - for example, for the transfer of data to a tax consultant or to a factoring bank. That is the interpretation so far. So if I let "common sense prevail, then I am doing everything right. The fact that I have to keep people busy for three days a year to document something that is logical anyway does not make it any easier.

It remains that only the state may (not theoretically, but practically) store and evaluate what it wants and when it wants. When will the tax office comment on how it is actually secured, to compare my data with "industry data" or why you have to get the complete accounting data transferred if you just want to "check" something? That worked for 100 years with random samples. They want to have the data simply because it exists! Isnt that enough for reasonable suspicion? Why does my data need to be stored after a tax audit? And how much compensation can I get if my auditor drops a USB Flash drive with all my corporate data out of the car at full speed right in front of the headquarters of one of my so highly valued competitors?

I would like to have a data privacy regulation that protects end users and companies, implemented equally in all EU countries and treated in court as well as with the state and its institutions. And not such half-baked crap that probably will not trigger a single spam e-mail or a single change in Facebook & Co's behavior. Wasnt that the point?

05/04/2018

Please move me!

When I started my career, my company moved at least every 2 years. But over the past 11 years we have stayed at the same location....

When I started my career, my company moved at least every 2 years. But over the past 11 years we have stayed at the same location. Not because we did not grow any further, but because we constantly bought (or expanded) land and buildings.

The result was a logistically poor (albeit likable) solution: a pretty patchwork quilt. One with height differences in the warehouse, foreseeable traffic chaos upon delivery and at the end, very cramped conditions. This exclusively called for flexible, capable and highly effective employees, in order to keep providing top distribution performance. And we found them, time and time again. Believe me, when we were low on manpower and had to hire temporary workers, several just ran for lunch. Why? Because at Jarltech (Oh dear!) work is done <>. There are very few corners to hide in. Therefore, the temps either worked with us for half a day all together, or they were almost certainly taken on.

Finally our logistics department, which is made up of many subgroups, is moved into a space which is three times larger. I was really concerned, though, that <> works smoothly over a weekend, like it did 11 years ago. But lo and behold, the spirit was preserved. I am extremely proud that our logistics department has managed (without outside help) to change buildings over a weekend. I'm very proud! Internal help through the full deployment of our IT and ERP departments was, of course, required. Overall, it was truly a masterpiece. No customer noticed that Jarltech had moved.

However, I can hardly keep secret that our logistics gurus had truly put in a lot of preliminary work so many things had secretly moved in advance. A few days before I had the impression that the company was already moved. I was repeatedly assured that this was not the case. :)

The results are already noticeable. After just one week of operation the picking times have significantly dropped. Our refitting area finally has room to live! The advantage in incoming goods is even greater. Plus, if we need 1,000 square meters of high-shelf space because a packaging manufacturer makes a good offer, no problem! And, there are no external storage areas anymore, in which complicated goods have to be brought in by truck.

AND, because it's sooo much fun, we did a move again the following weekend, just like it was 11 years ago. In fact, our warehouse in Dubai City has also tripled in size, but at a level similar to that of Jarltech Europe 11 years ago. And that also (thanks to the use of the team) easily worked over one weekend.

15/01/2018

More expertise in 2018

Just like at the beginning of every year, it's time to have a quick look back at what we achieved together in 2017....

Just like at the beginning of every year, it's time to have a quick look back at what we achieved together in 2017. For the first time in one year, Jarltech has generated orders for more than 250 million euros, which corresponds to a growth of more than 16%. A big thank you here to all our dealers, employees and suppliers!

To keep this momentum going we have greatly expanded our capacity, and hope to move into our new campus in March. But it is not just the logistics department which will be greatly sped up. Our refitting department is also increasing its space tenfold. More and more dealers are having us install their software onto POS computers or mobility terminals, or make modifications to products. And since we are sometimes talking about 100 devices which simultaneously need to have software installed, we need a LOT of space. After all, our favourite motto "That has to be sent today." also still needs to apply to customized devices at all times. Plus, our technicians and logistics staff need to be highly flexible, which they are.

For this year, too, we foresee significantly positive development for our market. Particularly the trend from "cloud computing" towards "fog computing" requires more intelligence at every work space, which does not hurt hardware sales.

In 2018 Jarltech is pleased to present new vendors and is expanding the portfolio to include additional technologies in the Auto-ID/POS sectors. More information will follow in the coming weeks. We are not talking about having more "me too" products on stock, but rather, to occupy niches in which professional dealers make money. It might happen that special products from our customers may only be purchased upon the completion of a training session. This is to prevent dealers in niche products from destroying each other's profit margins, and then in the end an order being won by a dealer who cannot support the product afterwards.

All in all, a positive trend continues: our technical training sessions for our vendors are regularly fully booked this is a big change in comparison with previous years. Specialist shops clearly rely on expertise to differentiate themselves from the competition. The training frequency for the Jarltech team has therefore also increased, so that we can "keep pace" with our customers.

05/12/2017

Marketing reloaded

Starting now our communication will be a little fresher. Perhaps there are even a few ideas here that you could use in your company.

...

Starting now our communication will be a little fresher. Perhaps there are even a few ideas here that you could use in your company.

Have you seen our Zebrilla on zebrilla.jarltech.com? For this campaign we sketched a Zebrilla and had it built. This larger than life figure is a combination of zebra and gorilla, for presenting the new Zebra ET5X Series with Gorilla glass. The stream shows our Zebrilla 24 hours online as it prints raffle tickets on a label printer for all resellers who place their order for the new tablet PCs with us.

On Thursday (7 December) at 10 a.m. I will keep the Zebrilla company and read an excerpt from the new devices' manual. This way, the monkey doesn't feel so lonely, since two monkeys are better than one. I hope you'll tune in! :)

Then there is our new "Premium Distribution Machine". Totally cool. It was a huge hit at the GITEX exhibition in Dubai. You simply insert a euro into the machine and the machine then gives you back a five euro banknote. Of course it is glued onto a flyer explaining in great detail why dealers are able to make more with less with Jarltech's value-add services. You do understand, of course, that we have to somewhat limit access to the machine. :) Soon you will see it for yourself at the bar in our Showroom at the new Jarltech headquarters.

We also took a leap with our Update magazine and turned it into an audio book. This time, I am not the one doing the reading, but rather the voice actor of Marty McFly from the movie "Back to the Future", which was an excellent fit with the cover of our Update magazine.

On Facebook you have probably already seen our monster poster, with which we have facelifted an ugly wall on our new building. The poster measures an impressive 12 x 18 metres and definitely deserves the title "monster". I still am amazed by it when I visit the building.

Even our reception area has been designed by a renowned artist. The drafts alone have already wowed everyone who has seen them. In the middle hangs a large neon installation, which drives the theme of the room's decor. I won't reveal any further details before the grand opening.

We're not finished yet. Moving on, art printed on direct thermal paper will soon be a topic. Once again, having a superb in-house marketing department more than pays for itself. From comics to social media advertising up to product and model photos for our 400-page catalogue, the Update magazine, web offers and even giveaways ? we do it all in-house. That makes us faster and hopefully separates us a little bit more from our beloved market players.

30/10/2017

Golden Rules For Vendor Conferences

This seems to be a recurring theme in my blog. In 2017 we visited quite a number of vendor events, both great and not so great....

This seems to be a recurring theme in my blog. In 2017 we visited quite a number of vendor events, both great and not so great. My dear vendors, we love you dearly and we also think very highly of the opportunity to network. But please make it as easy as possible for us!

1. No exotic locations arrivals! In Europe it is easy to travel to Frankfurt, Berlin, Vienna, Stockholm, Milan, Copenhagen, Paris, London and so on. Unfortunately, it is not so easy to get to Mykonos, Cyprus, Malta, Faro, etc. It is usually your event agency who recommends these locations, and always either right before or right after the summer season flight schedule. That is precisely when it is very inexpensive, but hardly any airline still flies there.

2. No exotic locations efficiency! Yes, you are the most important vendor in the world, but your customers also know other people. In reasonable city locations it is possible to even meet in local offices or to visit customers in the vicinity. Remember, you want distributors who think efficiently.

3. The best local hotels! Your event agency books the hotel. That is bad, because these people know exactly where their best profit margin lies. Plus, these hotels are often under renovation or not popular at this time of the year. If nobody else wants to stay there, then we do not either.

The hotel should have at least 5 stars. Yes, that is expensive. But then, in case of doubt, let the guests pay. You want the top decision makers to come. And they need the best Internet, sometimes room service here and there, to have a shirt ironed or perhaps even want to receive a customer. And how often have we stood in the evening in front of a hotel bar which closes at 22:00 hours. Not good for networking!

Oh yes, and if the conference is in such a hotel, each of us has an excuse for why he needs to stay there. If your corporate heads in the US headquarters consider the hotel too expensive for your own people, then book the lower quality place next door for your own people. But why does your customers CEO, whom you want to impress, unfortunately suffer just because the hotel budget is not high enough for your technicians?

4. Conferences and dinners in the same hotel Your customers do not want to ride the bus. We all do not go to school anymore. And we want to go to our room in between, and sometimes even skip one of the conference sessions. This is bad if the hotel room is far away by bus.

5. Ever heard of Late Check-Out? If your conference lasts until 14:00 hours, then you make a deal with the hotel that guests may use their rooms until then. This is possible! It does not make a good impression when your best customers are sitting on their suitcases on the second day of the conference, because the check-out has to be in advance.

6. Stop using PowerPoint We gladly look at your numbers on a few PowerPoint slides. But then please stop it! Instead, give us products for touching, please. And none of the people who come to your conferences are interested in technical data. Then invite product management.

We want to know how we and our resellers will make more profit margins, with you. And also, how we can improve the cooperation with you and where there are new markets. And that's what you have to tell us, nothing else.

We also like to learn more about your strategy. But if you want to engage in secrecy in this direction, then we will also tell nothing about our strategy.

And if you show numbers, then please make it stuff that we do not already know from your website. We are competitive animals. We want to know how we stand in comparison to our competitors, so give us the information!

7. One-on-one discussions One-on-one discussions with decision makers, please. No distributor or dealer of yours discusses his marketing plan or gives you great ideas in a room with his competition. Oh yes, and please bring the decision makers with you. If your conference is so important, then a senior manager from Japan, USA or wherever else can come, too.

8. Fun, fun, fun Yes, it's fun to do a city tour together, go to a whitewater park or climb a mountain. Right. That is: with your own family! But not with you. Each of you is always planning a half-day for something "fun". That only causes us problems with the tax office. Please give a recommendation on what you can do after the conference. Save the money and instead book the better hotel.

9. Awards We are very pleased to receive the award for best growth and best marketing at every vendors' conference. Thank you very much! But these awards do not fit in any luggage. Especially because Jarltech always gets so many. How about handing over the pieces and collecting them again? "We have already arranged for the award to be sent to you afterwards". That's service!

10. Personal interests If your CEO or European boss does not come to to your presentations - or is present, but is just looking at his laptop or his mobile phone instead of listening - then the session is not interesting. Just terminate it. Your corporate people do everything to look good in the eyes of their bosses. Then also plan your lectures like this.

11. Timing You want your resellers and distributors to network at the bar in the evening? Okay, but then maybe the session should not start at 8 o'clock the next morning.

12. Products And once again, because it matters soooo much: Leave us alone with products when there is nothing really disruptive to report. We read data sheets and test products better in our own lab. It gets tough when a technician explains to guests what a 2D barcode really is or in which markets one may use a mobile printer. Hello, what have we been doing for the past 25 years? That's almost rude. And it happens again and again! Please also leave out the slides about which projects you all won in Namibia, Argentina, Taiwan or anywhere else. You can send it by e-mail, then we can even forward it to the sales department.

13. Time frames If there's nothing new to tell, then make the meeting shorter. You do not have to use "gap fillers" just because somebody has come up with the idea that such a meeting always has to last two days.

All of these points come from a mix of experiences: nobody needs to feel addressed personally. Always keep in mind that as a vendor, you save on travel expenses by having us coming to your events, instead of the other way around. You have control of our limited spare time, so please make it as nice as possible!

14/09/2017

Jarltech: mega expansion

I am happy to share with you today that the holding company of Jarltech Europe GmbH has acquired an additional property in Usingen, the former "Usingen Factory" of...

I am happy to share with you today that the holding company of Jarltech Europe GmbH has acquired an additional property in Usingen, the former "Usingen Factory" of Zumtobel Lighting GmbH. That means Jarltech Europe acquires 30,000 square meters more space. On the property there is 12,000 square meters of logistics hall space and roughly 2,000 square meters of office space, meaning a fourfold capacity increase.

Here too we are as fast as always: starting tonight the Jarltech lettering over the property will be lit, and renovation work has also already begun. Before the years end the new premises will be equipped with the most modern telecommunications infrastructure, and a connection to the existing Jarltech premises. The new property has its own gas turbine, which will soon be supplemented by large-scale solar panels.

We are especially proud to broadly expand our refitting services department (staging) and our technical support in the future. Thanks to the new warehouse materials handling technology, package delivery is also accelerating. Let's tackle it!

The entrance area is being largely designed by Städel professor Tobias Rehberger, laureate of the Goetheplakette of the city of Frankfurt, as well as winner of the Golden Lion of the Biennale di Venezia, among other things, with an extensive neon installation.

My sincere thanks to Zumtobel for the uncomplicated and pragmatic negotiations, which have allowed us to take action quickly. Jarltech is delighted about this gigantic expansion, which we are opening with a great celebration at the end of the year with all the employees from Europe.

15/08/2017

Please hide well when you call the company while on holiday!

A help desk for those who carry their mobile phones on holiday, and even occasionally have business talks: 50% of employees find that people who use their mobile...

A help desk for those who carry their mobile phones on holiday, and even occasionally have business talks: 50% of employees find that people who use their mobile phone for business purposes while on holiday are merely pretending to be important and cannot relax.

This sounds harsh for all those who accept calls at the resort simply because they have already relaxed before their holiday :) namely, who did not care about the fact that they are represented correctly 100% during their absence. Or that perhaps it would not be made known that perhaps not all processes are 100% perfectly documented, and a quick call might prevent this from coming to light.

On the other hand, should an employee have a bad conscience if he answers a colleagues question more quickly by telephone, instead of insisting on the "I am on vacation, please take of it yourself attitude? Particularly in companies where there is not a standardised procedure for every process, the people working there are able to live with it.

Meanwhile, there was a breakthrough, from the latest survey which was reported about today. Of the 50% who find it terrible to answer a business call or an email on holiday, 95% of them do not get reimbursed for roaming charges and mobile data usage. This is the real reason for the refusal, but it is just as "uncool", because the employee does not renounce the company while on holiday, but, rather, the employer and the colleagues do him...

You should distinguish between employees who "have" to use to their mobile phones on vacation (whether they are legally permissible or not) and those who want to" or are even happy to be allowed to". In my opinion, a compulsory answer while on holiday is totally inappropriate if it is not paid extra. But just because one personally finds foreign charges to be too expensive, it is probably a little exaggerated to condemn others who would like to know what colleagues and customers are doing. The solution for everyone: relax!