ISE gives industry leaders and followers the chance to experience important trends in the AV industry and also serves as an opportunity to establish personal relationships with our users and clients. The future of AV as we know it is set at the event – and you don’t want to miss it!

The number one wireless screen sharing solution for business

2019 will be the first time Airtame formally presents at the exhibition. We’ve all visited ISE before. This year, we are ready to make waves with our product.

So, what is Airtame? Simply put, It’s the go-to, all-in-one wireless solution for screen sharing, digital signage, and screen management for all types of businesses.

Our USP? We are the most competitively priced enterprise-grade solution on the market, masterfully assembled on our native Scandinavian turf. Curious to find out more about the product? Check out our sales demo …

What’s cooking at Booth 14-M110?

All week we’ll be showcasing the Airtame solution with an interactive walkthrough of our product. Our sales representatives are ready to answer questions, present various use-cases, do general meeting and greeting with prospective clients, and host a few fun competitions throughout the week. We’ll even be giving away free Airtame merchandise.

You’ll be able to see Airtame 2 in action, get to know the latest Homescreen apps – and we’ll demonstrate the top-of-the-class cloud management platform, Airtame Cloud, that simplifies management, updating, and monitoring your devices.

We’ll be demonstrating how Airtame can convert offices into collaborative, effective places of work, and we’ll show you how to put an end to blank screens.

Join us – for free!

If you want to learn more about the wireless revolution and how to use screens better, we’d love to see you at ISE.

Haven’t got your ticket for ISE yet? We’ve got you covered. Head to iseurope.org to register for tickets and enter the Airtame invitation code 408962 for free entry to the entire week.

Visit us throughout the week  in Hall 14, booth M110 to learn more about the Airtame way. You can schedule a meeting with one of our sales representatives ahead of time too.

We’re getting ready to gear up and head to Amsterdam and ISE in just a few days. We hope to see you there!

The post See you at ISE 2019! appeared first on Airtame.

How many people have opened your email? How many sales did your team bring in? And most importantly, how much time do you spend creating spreadsheets and getting buried in reports? Wouldn’t it be easier if there was a way to display your data so that you know exactly what’s going on in your business at all times?

What is a dashboard?

The go-to solution you are looking for is dashboards. A tool that cuts through data clutter and helps you get down to what really matters. But more concretely, what is a dashboard?

Founder of Perceptual Edge, Stephen Few describes dashboards as a visual display of your business’ data that is essential to achieve your goals. This data is consolidated and showcased on a single screen so that it can be tracked and monitored at a glance. Truly helpful is the fact that the data is automatically updating itself without any assistance from the user. With the right dashboard, you can experience the satisfaction of leading your business to success.

I know what you’re thinking: so, how do I spot the right dashboard?

As the Partnerships Manager at Airtame, I’ve spent months researching dashboards that work with Airtame.

Provided that these dashboards have a shareable public link, you can copy-paste it into your Airtame’s settings, and your dashboard will display on the screen. Once your dashboard is up on a large screen, it becomes a wallboard, a term you might have heard before but never really knew what it was. The main benefit of wallboards is that they are highly visible and easy to understand for everyone around them.

Here I found not one but 27 dashboard services, that will easily help you showcase your company’s indispensable data on any office screen. To make your life easier, I’ve split them into Executive Dashboards and Social Walls, according to their focus.

Executive Dashboards

If what you’re looking for is the classic KPI dashboard that helps you keep track of your business performance, then Executive Dashboards are for you. This includes your accounting software data, your CRM, website analytics, or email system data for a broader perspective. Here are some recommendations:

Klipfolio

Used by more than 11,000 companies, and integrating data from Dropbox, Marketo, Moz, and so forth, our partner, Klipfolio makes sure that your web analytics, sales and finances, and project management goals are transparent throughout your company. I personally have a screen dedicated to Klipfolio dashboards in front of my desk and it really makes my life easier.

Cyfe

An all-in-one business dashboard app, Cyfe’s goal is to help you make better business decisions by bringing all of your business performance data under one roof. However, to benefit from its full potential, you would have to sign up for a Premium account.

Curious to hear more? Check their tutorial.

Plecto

With varied integrations, such as Zendesk, Pipedrive, Podio, leaderboards, and custom recognition features, Plecto will drive your team’s motivation sky high. If sales are your main focus, Plecto is what you’re looking for. Also, I must say the pricing plan is quite eye-catching.

Want to check all of their features? Click here.

Datapine

Small, medium, large companies – it doesn’t matter. Datapine can provide you with accurate KPIs in the most professional way, be it management, finance, sales, or marketing-related. Plus, I really enjoyed their customer support. For example, booking a demo and understanding their product took no time at all.

Click here for a tutorial teaser of how it works.

Axosoft

Monitor your workflow, connect to an ever-growing list of tools and services, and make sure that all relevant stakeholders in your projects get the essential details with Axosoft. I would also add that these dashboards load very fast, so you won’t have to worry about delays in your content.

Tableau Public

By connecting and visualizing your data in a matter of minutes, Tableau Public can make you forget about the old-school spreadsheets and reports that used to clutter your life.

I like the fact that Tableau has a broad service offering. Also, they are pretty active in terms of social events. So if you have any doubts, you can always check if they’re holding an event in your neighborhood.

Want more insights on how to use it? Click here for some guidelines.

Cervinoboard

Integrating Facebook, MailChimp, Google Analytics and Adwords, and many more, Cervinoboard focuses on online marketing agencies. They deliver smart services that save a lot of time for agencies that wish to deploy and maintain large amounts of dashboards. A few newer services are still in beta, but this is a young startup to watch.

Dundas

A business solution that is able to monitor data from a wide range of industries. From banking and finance, education, government to pharmaceutical transport and logistics, retail, and so on. With more than 20 years of experience on the market, Dundas has dedicated over 7 of them to their dashboard project development.

However, if you want to explore their service offering, you should definitely consider signing up for a Premium account. If this sounds like a deal, get started with a free trial!

Zoho

Boosting your sales, managing daily activities, or stepping up your productivity game – Zoho has helped business professionals take care of all these for more than a decade. If I were looking for a very complex software provider, I would most likely choose Zoho.

Want to get a better sense of your data? Watch this video!

DashThis

Be it SEO, SEM, PPC, or social media, DashThis has got your back. It automatically gathers all your client data into one dashboard report.

If you are a digital agency, DashThis dashboards might be just what you’re looking for. But feel free to check their demo videos here.

AppInsights

Lets you easily combine the data your team needs and has customizable dashboards. What else is there? Oh, yes, the fact that it can be tailored to nearly every market from digital agencies to server admins and sales teams. Quite a tool for startups, I’d say.

Plotly

Incredibly user-friendly features and very intuitive dashboards. Not to mention the sharp design of their live graphs. Sometimes, it can take a while to load, but it’s worth the wait. The pricing plan: really appealing.

Learn more on how to use Plotly by clicking here.

SimpleKPI

The name says it all because SimpleKPI is just that – simple. And when it comes to monitoring your business reports, that’s what you want. The visuals are nicely put together and easy to understand.

Databox

Databox has a clever drag-and-drop editor that makes data visualization a breeze. It has a ton of integration options so you can connect all data sources, no matter where you want your information to come from.

Sisense

This AI-driven analytics platform offers ready-to-use business intelligence dashboard reports for a wide variety of industries. You can experiment with sample KPIs, data sources, and visualizations for topics such as social responsibility, education, SaaS, and more.

See all their options as well as dashboard examples here.

Screenful

Screenful is the easiest way to visualize and share your project progress using data from your existing tools. It integrates with the most commonly used tasks management tools such as Jira, Trello, Asana, GitHub, and Asana.

The visual dashboards allow tracking key production metrics such as lead and cycle times and help detect any project bottlenecks.

Grow

Many services can’t offer a swift implementation but take months to get your solution up and running. Grow claims they implement 8x faster than competitors, meaning you don’t have to wait to get started with analyzing data. You can create role-specific KPI dashboards for an unlimited amount of team members, which is also a nice feature.

Geckoboard

Sometimes, one dashboard just isn’t enough. That’s why Geckoboards lets you display several different dashboards on the same screen. You can even add your own logo for a customized look and feel that matches your brand.

Target Dashboard

You can automatically merge data with this service. That makes it easy for you to get an overview of all metrics, goals, and KPIs without having to worry about the time spent trying to do it yourself. Target Dashboard includes support in their pricing plan, and that’s something we applaud. Bills can pile up when problems arise if support isn’t included, so that’s definitely something to look for when choosing a dashboard service.

Octoboard

With Octoboard, you can create public dashboards for easy sharing with other teams or clients. Octoboard also offers activity monitoring for brands and bloggers on social platforms. For those out there that want to glance at competitors while simultaneously looking at their own engagement, this is superb. That’s why I’ve put it as the last in the executive dashboard section because it would fit just as well in the next section; social walls.

Social Walls

Presumably, you want to track your social media lifespan or organize a kick-ass event. Social walls can help you stay on the pulse of your social media community – both in the office and at the conference center. These are some suggestions that caught my eye.

SocialWall Pro

SocialWall Pro provides social walls to reach, engage, and connect live audiences at events, meetings, conferences, brand activations, and online.

It’s a fully stacked solution, supporting all major social media channels, plus SMS, emails, and web messages. You can also use cool added features, like a gamification tool, sponsorship presentation, and performance analytics. 

Strea.ma

Want to keep track of your social media activity for a certain event or conference? With so many platforms out there, why not bring all of them into one easy-to-use display so that everyone can see your tailored stream of content unfolding in real-time? Start with a free trial and then you can decide among Plus, Premium, or customized plans.

Juicer

Meet Juicer, a social media aggregator that sets your filters up, moderates your posts, and analyzes your social media engagement. What’s more, Juicer has 18 integrations and a modest pricing plan.

Worth giving a try!

Walls.io

Unleashing your hashtags and building your social wall with data integrated from over 15 platforms is a no-brainer if you go with Walls.io. Keep your audience updated with Walls.io’s customizable next-generation social wall and your next event is sure to be a success.

Basic no-frills dashboards

Suppose you are only looking to create and share your slide decks. Or maybe you want to focus on showcasing your data through charts. Here are some no-frills options that work great:

Slides

Slides allows you to create and share great complex presentations online, in your very own browser without the need to download anything. See for yourself by clicking here.

Project Manager

On the hunt for real-time dashboards for your business? With Project Manager, you can combine powerful project planning and scheduling features with collaboration tools for teams, plan waterfall projects, and adjust due dates. Project Manager takes project planning to a whole new level, I must say.

Datawrapper

Into maps & charts? Then Datawrapper is the optimum solution for you. Back up your presentation with this great visualization tool and you might just get some applause by the end of it.

What’s your favorite dashboard? Who should I look into next on my hunt for great dashboards you can use with Airtame? Let us know in the comments!

Curious about what we do? Here’s a short video explaining how Airtame works:

The post 27 dashboards you can easily display on your office screen with Airtame 2 appeared first on Airtame.

At Airtame, we focus on delivering experiences through strong customer support and customer success. Airtame has experienced tremendous growth since getting started back in 2014, and for this to continue it’s vital to attract competent partners who will expect both support and success from us as we mature further.

But what do these terms mean? In a nutshell, customer support involves helping people to install and use a product in the correct way and solving any issues that come up in the process. And then there’s customer success, which has to do with managing the relationship between a company and the people who use its product and services. Providing customer support is a precursor for delivering customer success, and both should be considered indispensable.

It’s a mistake to use these terms interchangeably, but it’s also incorrect to consider them as independent of each other. Many of the goals of customer support and customer success overlap: achieving customer retention and loyalty, brand differentiation, increased customer lifetime value (CLV), return on investment (ROI), and reduced customer churn. In other words, you should care about these areas of your business.

The purpose of this article is to share about how we’ve learned to incorporate and prioritize both support and success, as well as manage the exchanges between them.

The motivation for writing about this topic is twofold. First, we want to communicate how we handle relationships with leads and customers. Second, we want to offer inspiration for other fledgling B2B companies who are at a crossroads in understanding how to implement support and success to keep advancing in a meaningful way.

Before sharing our journey and how things look at Airtame today, it’s first necessary to understand the differences between support and success.

Making the distinction

Back in the day: The evolution of support and success at Airtame

How we do customer support today

Transitioning from support to success

How we do customer success today

Looking to the future

Making the distinction

The purpose of making the distinction is to be able to grasp how the needed processes, skills and mindsets can vary between customer support and customer success.

Having the right people in place is a good point of departure. When selecting candidates for support, hiring managers would do well to look for someone who is a natural problem solver, a great listener, patient, and tech-savvy. Playing a part in support requires the skills to communicate with and between product developers and end users.

When it comes to success, you’d likely want someone with strong presentation and interpersonal skills, and experience with relationship management. They’d need to comprehend technology from a customer’s point of view, to act as a consultant when advising on the best use case for a prospective client.

It’s important to keep in mind that these characteristics are by no means mutually exclusive. They instead reflect the particular demands of support and success. This can be further understood when looking into the nature of the processes and perspectives that are common to support and success:

It’s once again relevant to note that these dichotomies don’t have to contradict each other. They rather represent two sides to a balanced approach. An example is how our team has guidelines for how quickly we should get back to customers via live chat, and how long it should take to solve an issue.

While markers are in place, there is some wiggle room regarding how much time to spend with a given customer. It’s much better to take an extra few minutes to introduce yourself in the beginning and be 100% sure that all is well by the end of the conversation.

We don’t want to risk sacrificing social etiquette and quality support for the sake of speed.  At the same time, it’s good to have at least an average response time to shoot for.

In the case of Airtame, both support and success are encompassed in the Customer Success team. The choice of name reflects our emphasis on long-lasting partnerships with the businesses and schools that partner with us.  That said, we do not undervalue the vital role that support plays.

We believe that success will never actually be possible if it’s divorced from support. It’s taken us some time to develop our approach and manage the complexities of giving separate attention to both, as well as managing the interactions between them.

Back in the day: The evolution of support and success at Airtame

Airtame started production back in early 2014 upon the success of an exciting Indiegogo campaign that raised over 1,500,000 USD. In the beginning, what was originally called the Customer Support team focused on communicating with backers who had funded us on Indiegogo.

Once Airtame was launched, most support issues concerned shipping delays. The team worked in a reactive mode most of the time, concentrating on solving logistical and technical problems. Work became more effective when Zendesk was introduced, as we could create macros such as saved replies to send in response to FAQs.

The focus was on increased efficiency, but this soon developed to emphasize a more proactive approach. We switched from Zendesk to Intercom, as the later offered a more extensive range of tools, including the possibility to create onboarding flows.

Asking for feedback

The team began reaching out to users to ask them for individual feedback on their experiences, while also getting the message out that there were ways to make Airtame more advantageous by updating its software. This assisted in growing customer retention, as many people dusted their Airtames off once they got wind of the latest progress.

In addition to providing email contact, we got live chat up and running on our website, and started calling customers to get a more personal feel for their use case and pain points. A big step was to input customer information into Pipedrive, which has since served as an excellent tool for keeping track of potential and existing customers and their use cases and preferences.

The team collectively worked on comprehensive documentation to be used for training new hires as well as onboarding new users.

Involving people from different departments, including sales and marketing, resulted in valuable ideas for growth. In fact, it was someone from our sales team who pushed the fact that Airtame was well suited to serve educational institutions as well as businesses (our primary target at the time).

The first-ever follow-up message was developed in collaboration with someone from our marketing team. We wanted to increase the number of onboarded and active users. Product improvements were pivotal to achieving this, but so was expanding the scope of how we interacted with users.

Follow-up and onboarding communications fostered a lot of feedback, which was then fed back into the pipeline when molding how we did support and success, as well as marketing and product development.

Keeping customers satisfied

Although many of our pioneering initiatives were time-consuming, they were necessary to learning what to pursue in the future.

In the beginning, these projects helped to improve support metrics such as customer satisfaction, which came into effect started responding faster and with more concise answers based on streamlining information. We never ceased to abandon support efforts. The impact over time was rather that the team grew in size and maturity, and so they broadened their priorities to cover success metrics.

Regarding success, we started asking people how likely they’d be to recommend us so we could assess our Net Promoter Score (NPS). The data this generated was both quantitative (in the form of a numerical score), as well as qualitative (in the form of explanations that customers would provide for the ratings they chose).

Incorporating this level of insight opened up new possibilities for understanding customer value, as well as how we could improve functionality and onboarding instructions.

At this point in our journey, we had gotten on the right track to a long-term success strategy. A decision that was symbolic of this transition was when we changed the name of the team from Customer Support to Customer Success.

How we do customer support today

Support continues to be a critical part of the Customer Success team’s responsibilities today. Delivering high-quality support contributes to maintaining a unique reputation, as our target audience will opt for those who offer the best experience.

Assisting our customers in using Airtame, and solving any issues they encounter, takes place in both our Copenhagen and New York City offices.

In both locations, we work in an open space office, to make support run smoother. We can easily and quickly assist each other if a question or issue come up that is outside of our expertise. At the same time, there are extra rooms outside of our primary workspace, so that we can sit somewhere quiet to concentrate fully on a given call.

All team members in charge of support strive to ensure that any technical issues that arise will not discourage our customers, but conversely, offer an opportunity for our partners to feel even more comfortable in doing business with us.

• Reacting

  We strive to respond to customers in a timely and precise manner. Depending on the specific need and level of urgency, they have various options for how to get support. As we have people working in both Copenhagen and New York, we’re able to offer phone and chat support for business hours in both regions. If an issue is timely (e.g., someone setting up for an important conference), then they can reach out to us on our live chat, and, if necessary, we can call them to walk them through how to solve a given problem. Being able to react fast in a calm and collected way helps to reassure users and earn their trust.

  Customers can also book a call in advance. We offer welcome calls, set-up calls, technical calls, and Q&A calls. We use Intercom for live chat and email support, Calendly for booking calls, and AirCall for contacting people who’ve scheduled a call.

• Focusing on solving problems

  Problem-solving can range from figuring out why the sound is not coming out of someone’s TV when streaming a video to Airtame, to findings solutions to shipping delays. For troubleshooting technical issues, it’s necessary to be methodical in eliminating possible causes/solutions until you find the right one. Such tasks require a holistic knowledge of the entire company and who’s doing what when, to know which coworker to loop when a situation that can’t be solved individually.

• Focusing on satisfaction

  We track our Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT), which is a measure of how well we’re doing. To get the data that indicates the CSAT, we ask customers how satisfied they are at the end of a chat session. They have the option to respond on an emoji scale

• The CSAT is taken into account for the entire team at the end of each week.  We can also take account of our own CSAT, to get a general idea of how happy customers are with the individual service we’re providing. People can leave comments, and we make sure to follow up with both unhappy and happy support cases. Generally speaking, having more hands on deck facilitates shorter response times and better support experience, meaning a higher CSAT. However, within a support context, it’s essential that “what’s everyone’s job doesn’t become nobody’s job” so that someone is always manning the various communication channels.

• Focusing on the short-term

  The long-term is a cumulation of a whole string of decisions and advances made today. It’s vital to look ahead, but not at the expense of neglecting the demands of today. We offer welcome and set up calls as a way to focus on the beginning of the customer journey, ensuring that they have a smooth start. When we ensure a good start with the product, including straightforward installation and setup, that puts us on a good path for a long-term healthy relationship.

  One of the most important short-term goals is to guarantee that the very first streaming experience is great, as this offers the best chance of someone staying engaged over time. To maintain high results at the critical start of the customer journey, we make sure current and new employees are aligned and onboard for calling customers to transmit necessary information.

• Answering questions

  The resources that we use for quickly answering questions include articles from our help center and saved replies. When people reach out to us via email or live chat, we’re able to refer them to relevant articles tailored to their inquiries swiftly. We use saved replies when writing back and forth on Intercom, which is highly efficient when responding to FAQs. These include questions about what devices work with Airtame, what the options are for digital signage, and how Airtame differs from home entertainment products, such as Apple TV.

• Focusing on efficiency

  Our customers are busy and, to appear competent, it’s necessary to assess performance regarding efficiency. Other than satisfaction scores, we also take into account how many customers have reached out to us, and how long it took on average to close each conversation.

  We also look into how many welcome calls, technical calls, Q&A calls, set up calls that we get. On the one hand, more support cases can represent how our community of users is growing. On the other hand, we also need to be critical and consider whether an increase in set-up calls, for example, reflects that fact that we need to improve upon our setup instructions.

• Working Independently

  It’s great to know that your team has your back. At the same time, we also emphasize personal responsibility and growth. When recruits get started, they start helping customers within their first week at Airtame.

  We’ve each found that this is the fastest way to learn about the company and the product. Of course, no one is an island, and we also prioritize supporting and keeping each accountable – by tagging each other in pending conversations, sending reminders, and requesting advice.

• Keeping track of costs

  For purchases made through our website, we offer a 30-day risk-free trial, meaning that customers can return devices and get a full refund (excluding return shipping costs). If we fail to provide exceptional support during the first month that a customer is testing out Airtame, all of the effort made on behalf of our team (and other teams) will have resulted in lost revenue.

  Airtame is not for everyone, and a crucial step to avoiding returns is to be clear when leads reach out over chat and Q&A calls. It cuts down on costs if customers that don’t “fit” our product find out right away, rather than after their Airtame arrives. We keep track of items that are returned or replaced, as well as logistical costs, to keep costs down.

• Sticking to our instinct

  Being rigid can be a good thing when you don’t want to let standards slip. We aim to be soft on people (both customers and coworkers) and tough on problems. This way we’re continuously raising the bar, while simultaneously reducing wasted time and effort.

Transitioning from support to success

Things move from one-on-one support to success as soon as people start collaborating and applying a situation to more than the immediate problem or request. There is a multitude of instances where support converts to success.

For example, if we notice numbers going up a lot for set-up calls, we take into account whether this is to do with selling a significant amount of Airtames within a particular period. We might also consider whether an increase in set up calls is due to unclear instructions within the onboarding email flow. This is done by tracking relevant data on common issues and bugs (a part of support), to collaborating with developers on how to improve the product and user experience (a part of success).

We also receive feedback on each help article, giving users three options to rate whether or not the content answered their question.

These transitions exemplify how assistance and education are meant to feed into nurturing, activation, and upselling further along in customer success initiatives. These will have the more long-term aims such as ensuring optimized email flow tailored to different user profiles and sharing use cases and best practices.

How we do customer success today

Aside from offering ongoing support, the spotlight is now on finding meaningful ways to generate revenue and provide value through customer success management. To achieve this, we engage in a variety of projects and initiatives:

• Staying proactive

  Being proactive often means being the one to start a conversation. A lot of resources go into reaching out to both leads (people who are interested) and users (people who already have Airtame). This is mostly done through email campaigns, as well as through social media.

  We seek out feedback on an ongoing basis, which informs future communications as well as product development. We’re also not shy about asking happy customers to help spread the word with reviews, testimonials, and referrals.

• Focusing on goals

  A key goal of customer success is to concentrate less on fixing bugs and more on improving the overall user experience. This approach requires a lot of skill, as well as plain old trial and error. This thinking applies to product development as well as onboarding customers, employees, and resellers. An overarching goal is to have the right people in place and invest in their training.

• Focusing on customer value

  Value means something different to everyone, and so it’s essential that communication is somewhat personalized.  We send out email flows targeted at different users. An IT administrator will receive information that relates to his role, and a school teacher will have access to the content that’s most relevant to a classroom context.

• Focusing on the long-term

  Having people make the most of Airtame in the long-term requires continuous communication and updates. It’s essential that customers are not “dropped” as soon as a transaction has taken place.

  Getting people to keep using Airtame and keep engaging with us means that onboarding isn’t a one-off exercise. The product has a lot to offer, and new features are continually in the pipeline. Rather than bombarding people with information, we gradually teach people how Airtame can make their everyday lives more comfortable.

• Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) and retention

  To optimize the customer journey, we need to think long-term. It’s a priority to let people know that we offer a 30-day risk-free trial, so that leads don’t feel pressured into a purchase.

  “Day zero” for a customer might involve signing up for the newsletter. In this case, the next steps would be to encourage them to book a demo call, then make an initial purchase, after which they’d receive a confirmation and delivery information.

  A crucial facet of customer success is not just selling the product, but selling it to the right people.

  We pride ourselves on delivering personalized demos and following up on conversations with compatible leads. We aren’t afraid to tell people that Airtame might not be the ideal solution for the needs, especially for those who are looking for something to use for home entertainment. Our sales pitch is transparent; this is the only way to earn trust in the long-term.

  For those who do buy Airtame, we send out the onboarding email flow. This includes ten messages that communicate:

  1. A warm welcome
  2. How to set up Airtame
  3. How to get started
  4. How to optimize streaming
  5. An introduction to Airtame Cloud
  6. How to set up a Cloud account
  7. How to use the features of the Cloud
  8. How to make the most of digital signage
  9. How to get colleagues and guests using Airtame
  10. A request for feedback

• Being human

  We take as much time as is needed to make a connection. Our customers are delighted to know that a real live person is happy to talk to them via chat or over the phone. Machines and programs are there to make our lives easier, not replace what we do.

  Knowing the name and contact details of a company representative is reassuring to a lot of customers, as we aim to have a level of rapport established after each conversation.

• Taking collective action

  In addition to having regular Customer Success meetings to sync up and brainstorm creative ways to meet the needs of our customers, we also work closely with other teams.

  Everyone who joins also needs to have a grasp on how we do sales, marketing, logistics, and product development. We use Slack to share feedback within and between teams, and also connect with one another using Pipedrive, Google Suite, Intercom, Calendly, Basecamp, and Favro.

  We also encourage sessions where Airtamers from outside Customer Success to get hands-on chat experience while sitting side-by-side with someone on the Customer Success team. The objective is twofold: for everyone to understand the needs and challenges of our customers, and for the Customer Success team to get feedback from colleagues who are interacting with a fresh outlook.

• Following the money

  In addition to the social side of communication, it’s essential not to forget the bottom line. We aim for website repurchase to represent 50% of revenue, and compare percentages between different markets (e.g., repurchase in the U.S. vs. Europe). Being devoted to customer success means bringing in more revenue in the long term.

  In addition to helping make sales, streamlining processes and information sharing reduces the cost of acquiring a customer. This ties in with self-service deflection, when answers and explanations are readily available online. Information and step-by-step guides are documented in our online Help Center.

  Many customers access this when checking out our website and reading up on how to best use Airtame. We can also send links to specific articles when sending an email or responding on chat, which saves an impressive amount of time compared to typing out an answer when a common question or issue comes up.

• Staying flexible

  When it comes to how to create value for the businesses and educational institutions, we can only grow if we’re willing to experiment. Airtame is a living product, and we need to improve technology and communication continually. The day we stop exploring is the day that we become obsolete.

Looking to the future

Going forward, we want to boost both support and success. As the Airtame family grows, we want to improve availability regarding time zone coverage and phone support. We have teams based in Copenhagen and New York who provide support to people all around the globe, but in some cases getting to talk to someone directly requires some serious maneuvering.

We also want to grow our team and competences, especially concerning network expertise, as this is a significant need for customers in large bureaucratic institutions.

We want to increase collaboration with our developers, as this will provide a deeper level of intuition when it comes to troubleshooting technical issues. It’s critical that this is a bilateral exchange, as developers also need to gain insights on the end user experiences that they don’t receive directly.  A part of this is to be able to expand and optimize both internal and external testing of any new features.

Collaboration needs to be done wisely, as the aim is to share knowledge while not interrupting workflow.

A work in progress

In addition to enhancing support, our vision for the future involves a continuous assessment and revamping of how we do customer success. Our efforts will continue to include optimizing email campaigns and finding meaningful ways to follow up with new and ongoing customers. The way we report feedback is also changing, with more interviews and case studies.

Customer support and customer success are more than functions. Without both, we’d be left with a handy piece of technology, and no one would know about it or how to use it. Creating value for people, and getting it out there, has to be at the forefront of our strategy.

Interested in getting to know our Customer Success team better? Give us a call.

The post What’s the difference between Customer Success and Customer Support? appeared first on Airtame.

Airtame 2 is a platform-agnostic wireless HDMI solution. It works great for your daily meeting room setups. Besides that, you have the option of showing custom content and digital signage from app integrations such as Trello, Unsplash, Google Slides and World Clock.

The right tools can take the hassle away from meeting room equipment troubles and digital signage problems. That’s what Airtame 2 does. Have a look at these arguments why Airtame 2 increases productivity and simplifies office routines.

Once you’ve convinced your boss, let’s talk!

1. Unlock better meetings

37% of employee time is spent in meetings, and a great deal of that time is taken up by figuring out equipment and connections. Meeting room equipment shouldn’t take focus away from productivity, yet that’s often the case.

Having Airtame 2 in meeting room environments helps bring focus and concentration. Just connect Airtame 2 to your screen, download the Airtame app and you’re ready to go. It’s easy to configure and customize, and it looks great sitting idle too. It gives the workplace better flow without the inconvenience of regular setups.

Forget spinning monitors around so others can see the screen. Forget hooking up cables and other devices, and tripping over and breaking them. Forget worrying about what hardware visitors or team members from outside the office utilize – Airtame 2 works with all.

2. Low cost

In many businesses, buying new and fancy tech equipment is an action of rarity, one that comes with a tight budget. Airtame 2 is cheaper than most competitors with a starting price of only $499 but offers the same or more features. Check out some of the comparison articles we’ve written about similar products versus Airtame 2. Minimize costs without having to settle.

3. No nonsense, risk-free 30-day trial policy

Don’t hesitate to buy Airtame 2 if you’re still unsure it’s the right fit for your business. If you end up not liking it after the 30-day trial period, you can return it for whatever reason. We provide a full cash refund or free replacements in the case of damaged or faulty items.

The reason for providing a no nonsense 30-day trial is that we want you to test the product and the features we offer to make sure you’re making the right decision that suits your needs.

4. Custom digital signage

There are several advantages to digital signage. Influence customers, potential customers, and co-workers. We understand the value of employees being updated with the latest information and knowledge.

With the latest firmware update, we offer app integrations that will help your business get the most out of screens when no one is streaming to them. Currently, Airtame supports team collaboration tool Trello, beautiful imagery by Unsplash, presentational slides with Google Slides and an overview of current local times with World Clock.

Welcome guests with the perfect message and place information where visiting customers are sure to notice it. Changing it is easy and can be done remotely.

5. Always-on support

Time is money. So goes the old saying, and we know it to be true. We value your time, and that’s why we have immediate support via email, chat or call anytime you need it.

Problems before a meeting? Our current answer rate is within three minutes, so even emergencies in the here and now can be solved quickly, meaning you can get on with your business.

6. Reduce support tickets by 80%

Because Airtame 2 is simple to set up and use, your tech support department will no longer drown in support tickets. It’s easy to update and manage devices from the cloud, even if you’re not on site.

In fact, the number of support tickets can be reduced significantly after deploying Airtame. When Lake Superior College added Airtame to their classrooms, IT admins noticed that they now have 75-80% fewer support tickets.

7. Simple overview

Airtame is a wireless HDMI solution with many management options that come in handy at any office. Whether you have one or many screens, using Airtame 2 sets a strong precedent for solid overviews and maintenance with the Airtame Cloud. Display exactly the kind of content you want and change it whenever.

8. Cut the cables

We spend so much time and effort making our meeting rooms look smart and nice, only to go spoil it with ugly mounds of connection cables left on the table. It leaves you a bad impression on external guests, and frustrates colleagues.

Fortunately, this is where Airtame 2 really steps up. No more cables! You don’t have to detangle a bunch of input cables trying to find the right one to fit your laptop, and there’s no “extra” device needed. Just connect to Airtame via the app, and you’re all set. The app also allows for easy access when guests are visiting.

9. Ease of use in any business

We designed Airtame 2 to take away some of the chaos in a hectic work environment. It’s up and running in just a few minutes with instructions on how to use it right there on the screen. Our solution even comes with personalized on-screen instructions in almost every language.

It’s simple to use and reliable in all situations, and your staff doesn’t have to be tech-savvy individuals or part of the IT department to know how it works. It’s as easy and intuitive as flicking on a light switch.

Go for equipment that works simply, yet effectively. Go for a stable, supportive environment for entrepreneurs. Go for seamless integration and an overall improved experience at work.

Are you ready to buy Airtame 2? Check our pricing model here or book a demo today to get started. We look forward to having you onboard.

The post How to convince your boss that you need to buy Airtame for your workplace appeared first on Airtame.

For companies selling online, it has become almost compulsory to have a clear and fair return policy. At the same time, many brick-and-mortar retailers still insist that electronic products be returned unopened, which seems counterintuitive from a customer success point of view.

But there’s a different way. Here’s how we do it.

Our trial policy

Airtame offers a 30-day risk-free trial. This means that you can return the product for any reason within the 30-day period after you have received the order on your doorstep. We either provide a full cash refund or offer free replacements in the case of damaged or faulty items. You’ll find us proudly promoting this policy throughout our site and marketing communications – we’re proud of it.

Returned devices do need to be sent back in their original packaging, including all accessories. That said, the trial phase is for thoroughly testing all the given features so that customers can make an informed decision on whether or not to proceed with Airtame. We definitely want you to open the box!

We work very hard to make sure that each lead gets all necessary information prior to a purchase through clear and concise product demos. This initial conversation helps to guarantee that a given institution has the needs and conditions that match what Airtame has to offer so that grievances don’t come up later.

Why you won’t need it

While the 30-day trial is available, our goal is that people won’t actually need it. Due to our customer success efforts, plus easy deployment and use of the product, buyers rarely return their Airtame.

An account manager sets up a welcome call with a new customer towards the beginning of the trial phase, to double check that they’re on the right track and aware of all of the features available. Our email flow also encourages thorough testing by guiding new users in how to:

• Set up Airtame: either through a quick start guide or enterprise deployment guide
• Start streaming: from both computers and mobile devices
• Start using the Airtame Cloud
• Set up Airtame Homescreen

Why does a trial period matter?

• Trust

  No company wants to hear “I’d like my money back.” But customers need to know that they have the right to a refund within a reasonable time frame.

  Our policy represents the confidence we have in Airtame as a strong competitor for wireless screen sharing and (increasingly) digital signage for education and business. It’s essential to be transparent, which is why we have the 30-day policy clearly shown on our website’s purchasing page so that customers get the message before they buy the product.

• Retention

  It’s important to focus on bringing in new customers. But at the same time, we keep the business going by retaining the right customers. And the people who’ll get the most out of Airtame and have the highest satisfaction in the long term are also the ones who take full advantage of the test phase.

  It’s crucial that customers know that they’ll have access to lifelong product support even when the 30 days are up. If they’re happy by the end of the trial, chances are they’ll keep using Airtame and even come back to buy more.

• Loyalty

  A customer who’s had the time, and support, to successfully deploy Airtame in their environment will not only be more likely to buy more devices, they’ll also be far more likely to recommend us to a friend or colleague.

  Loyalty leads to exposure through word-of-mouth, which can make or break any start-up. What helps to foster loyalty is remaining consistent about our returns policy, while also being human. For example, we exercise flexibility in cases where the 30-day overlaps with a long public holiday.

  When customers reach out asking about the possibility of an extension, we have the opportunity to gain their confidence by showing that we are focused on their needs and success.

• Motivation

  Our policy helps to motivate our customer success and sales teams to go the extra mile. This can be through offering great online product demos or through technical support, such as a setup call.

  The bottom line is that a sale isn’t made when someone buys. It’s made when Airtame is up and running in a given setting and making people’s lives easier. Successful testing has the domino effect of generating more sales. When a partner sees how much easier meetings and classes can be, the initial purchase is multiplied.

• Feedback

  When contacting us about a return, customers can write a brief statement about why they want to send back the product (e.g., they’ve changed their mind, experienced technical issues, etc.). These reasons are a useful source of feedback that can influence how we can develop our communications, product, and services going forward.

  In cases where someone was not originally aware of the absence of a given feature, we can assess how we need to improve upon our marketing communication in regards to what Airtame can and cannot do. If someone gave up during the setup phase, then we might see how we can tweak our onboarding guides.

  We look at feedback and fix what we can. It’s a continuous cycle that the trial period helps us facilitate.

How we process returns

If someone wants to return their Airtame, they send an email to us at shipping@airtame.com with their original order number, their reason for returning (or replacing) the device, and the firmware version of their Airtame(s).

The firmware version indicates whether or not any issues could be due to users not having updated the device for a while. In some cases when customers realize this, they decide to start using it again once it’s been updated.

If a customer proceeds with a return or replacement, then we send them instructions for how to send Airtame back. Once your return is received at our location in the USA, Australia, or Denmark and inspected to make sure that there are no damages or missing parts, we notify you if the item met the conditions for the full refund. The return shipping cost is not included in the refund.

If a given return is approved, the refund will be processed within the following two weeks, and credit will be applied to the credit card or original method of payment within 2-7 days.

If any defect is found when using Airtame, this should be reported within 30 days. All that’s needed is to reach out to support@airtame.com with a description of the particular issue. Our Customer Success team will happily help resolve it over email, chat, or phone.

What’s your take? What’s a fair return policy to you? Let us know!

The post How a 30-day risk free returns policy can make for happier customers appeared first on Airtame.

A quality demo is something that engages the person you’re talking to. For us, it’s a lot about experimentation, as what grabs the attention of a potential lead may not work the next time around.

To start off with, it’s crucial that we highlight exactly what Airtame is, in the simplest terms possible; we explain that Airtame is a wireless streaming solution that has been designed for both business and educational environments.  Normally, the kind of people buying Airtame would include everyone from IT administrators working for multinational corporations, to primary school teachers and university directors.

Winning over such a diverse audience requires team members to be technically well-versed while also coming across as charming, flexible, and helpful.

On the one hand we need to standardize our demos so that they exhibit Airtame’s purpose in a way that is universally understandable.

At the same time we also need to be able to customize each demo, so that we can convey how Airtame will improve the specific situation of the person we’re talking to and the institution that they represent. Achieving these goals simultaneously isn’t easy, which is why we’ve developed guidelines to help us navigate each demo call.

Training for demo calls

Our sales team is primarily responsible for demo calls, and members of our customer success team assist. These teams work together closely, and each person is trained in a way so that they feel confident in delivering a slam-dunk demo. We maintain consistent high quality by listening in on each other’s calls, both for training new recruits and as a way to offer constructive feedback.

Aside from making an initial sale, the aim of the demos isn’t to only get one-off customers. It’s about planting the seed that will allow us to garner a long-term relationship. Regardless of how big or small the deal is, Airtame offers lifetime customer support. In many cases, the team member who originally conducted the call will keep in regular contact with the customer during and after the onboarding process, as a relationship will already be established. We really drill it into the minds of new recruits that they to always keep the long-term perspective in mind, rather than only looking at their role in terms of the money they help bring in.

We use Calendly so that anyone can book a demo with us through our website. Once booked, the team member with whom the call has been scheduled receives a Slack notification and an event pops us in their Google Calendar. This is all integrated with our CRM tool Pipedrive, giving us an overview of past calls, email threads, customer details, and purchases. A key part of getting new hires on board is teaching them to use and stay on top of their respective accounts.

Preparing for demo calls

A demo call is like a first date. If it goes well, there’s a world of potential ahead. If it goes badly, it’s unlikely that the other person will give us another shot at winning them over.

The first step is to understand what value means to the person on the other side of the call. We always do our research to find out about the organization’s mission, what they do, and who they work with on a regular basis. Taking ten minutes to read up on this allows us to contextualize our value.

We ask leads to describe the nature of their project in as much detail as possible when they initially book. The “project” could be anything from a traveling salesman looking to use Airtame as a portable presentation solution, to a school district looking to permanently equip 500 classrooms with Airtame.

With this in mind, the focus of the demo will be influenced by the working style of the user, pain points, future growth potential, network setup, size of the institution, and many other possible factors. We come up with a tailor-made checklist of what to highlight and what questions to ask. The goal is to focus only on the features that are most relevant to solving the prospect’s challenges at work.

Your big opener …

First impressions aren’t everything, but they do pack quite a punch. When starting a call, we avoid sounding like a robot at all costs. I try to speak to everyone as though I was meeting them in person. I ask them how they’re doing and often tell them something personal about how I joined Airtame, or about how the company got started. In just acting natural (i.e., not jumping straight into a script), it’s possible to establish rapport.

The tough part – delivering

We talk with people, not at them. No one likes a person who doesn’t let anyone else get a word in. It’s important to continuously ask questions to gain a deeper understanding of the lead’s needs and preferences. We concentrate on the “why,” both when it comes to learning about our partners, and explaining the Airtame solution. We want to convey that Airtame exists to make your professional life easier.

We take pride in not only being able to share clear and concise product knowledge, but also in our ability to communicate this to people with varying degrees of technical experience. We strive to come across as capable and helpful, providing insights tailored to each lead’s scenario. While each of us wants to have all of the knowledge bases covered, part of being human is also about not being afraid to let customers know that we don’t always have the answers.

If I’m unsure of how to best answer a question, I pause the call to ask a colleague to help confirm. No lead has ever been upset over this. Probably because they’re human too.

We are also not afraid to be clear on what Airtame can’t do, in addition to what it can, or perhaps might do in the future. We’d rather say less, making sure that all information we provide is accurate than try to oversell, overpromise or spout falsehoods in the hope of generating a sale. We avoid criticizing competitors and instead focus on how we are different.

Airtame is a living product; we stand out by constantly working on new ways to improve our product and the services we offer. The objective is long-term trust, which is ultimately the healthiest way to improve the bottom line.

Online demos are hosted through GoToMeeting, which is great for making the most of visual aids. With the screen sharing feature participants can view our presentation slides, experience how the Airtame App works, and take a tour through the Airtame Cloud platform. We use the Airtame App and Cloud platform exactly as any customer would, to demonstrate the simple user interface, and how easy it is to use Airtame.

We let these tools complement our conversation, which is the spirit of Airtame. Airtame isn’t meant to replace human communication, but rather to make it more collaborative.

We emphasize the fact that we provide free lifetime customer support, and we’re not afraid to give out individual work emails rather than a generic one. The message is that there are real people behind the product, who care enough to take the time to individually solve problems and come up with helpful suggestions.

Closing a demo call

When it comes to closing a call, we try to guide leads to make a sale, while not being pushy. People know that we, of course, need to sell the product, but they appreciate that we’re not afraid to poke fun at the overbearing salesperson stereotype. Our approach is to ask if they have any remaining questions or concerns.

We take on feedback from every inquiry and feed this into our communication strategy. Sometimes feature requests are added to our product development roadmap. The blind spots that potential customers have – related to what Airtame can or cannot do – are instrumental in generating clearer and more concise communication.

If they confirm that they’re interested in giving Airtame a go then we suggest that they start with ordering a few devices to test out. We never push anyone to proceed with a large purchase without first having had the chance to see if Airtame works in their environment.

Plus, we have a 30-day risk-free trial system, meaning that any customer has nothing to lose in seeing how Airtame works for their workplace. Once we know a customer is on-board, we try our hardest to make sure that they have a successful deployment and education of their staff on how to use Airtame effectively.

The results

For those who would like a condensed version of an Airtame demo before booking a live one, my colleague Phillip and I created shorter, pre-recorded demos for our two target sectors – business and education. Hopefully it’s useful for potential customers, and likeminded companies that want to get some demo inspiration. We won’t say they are perfect, and never should be – hopefully we are upping our game all the time! Check them out and let us know what you think.

You can also find out more about our process for establishing our demo style here in this video with our co-founder, Brian Kyed.

Business demo

Education demo

Have a question? You can reach out to us directly on our website. Or head to our pricing page if you’re ready to take the plunge and get your first Airtames.

The post How we do demo calls @ Airtame appeared first on Airtame.