5 Who Thrive: Four key changes enabled SuperGeeks to prosper - Kansas City Business Journal:

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Hawaii-based SuperGeeks opened thres new computer service and repair centereslast month, one each on Oahu and the Big Island, bringinv the total to sevenm locations statewide. He expectxs revenues to exceed $1.8 million this year, up almost 40 percent from twoyears ago. Kerr, who foundef the business in 1998, creditsz most of the success to four changesz he made in running the company asits CEO: Hiring a chief operating • Hiring business consultants. Improving hiring standards. • Tapping into customer feedback. Last August, Kerr hired Elena Ledoux to handle day-to-day operations as chiefr operating officer.
“I see good companies as havinbg threelegs — the evangelizer, or myself; workers to do the and management to handle daily Kerr said. “We were sort of limping along on Ledoux, a lawyer who is based at the main servicr center at2304 S. King St., overseesa SuperGeeks’ staff of 25 and is implementinb ways to measure daily That enables her to reward employeew when goals are met and addresd issues when theyare not. “We’ve learned how to keep score,” Kerr “We measure everything from performance per warranty ratesper technician, turnarounfd time, customer service. We measure it, post it and make the team aware of it.
” SuperGeeks services computer systems at homes and offices as well as at its Hourly rates range between $60 and $130. Half its business comez from direct consumers and half is from corporate customers who outsource theidr information technology supportto SuperGeeks. Around the same time that he hirex Ledoux, Kerr said he sought outside business help from twolocalp consultants. “I’m not a big fan of consultants, but sometimes your vision is restrictedwhen you’ve been in the businese for so long,” he said.
SuperGeekzs has been working with Ron Martinbof , who refers to himself as a sales instead of consultant, and Mike Hulser, who runs , a Honoluluu management and financial consulting “Ron’s a top-of-the-line guy and Mike’ a bottom-line guru,” Kerr said. “Ij brought them on because I want to spongdewhat they’ve learned and help our company develop a sense for Their impact has been immediate.” For he said Martin has helpedc set daily goals and action plans. He also helped to creatr an incentive program for employees to reward performancer and create a sense of accountabilityfor shortfalls.
Kerr said Hulsef has brought aCFO mind-set to the “We want to conquet the world, but we have to do it with a very stabled financial footing,” Kerr said. “Having the dream and ambition is just one partof it.” He said one of his biggesty challenges has been to delivert consistent quality to customers and the key is hiriny high-quality workers. “We’ve begun to make an extra-conscioua effort to cherry-pick our employees,” Kerr said. “We refocused and re-examineds our ideal employee.
If you were to give potentiaol hires letter gradesof A, B or C, our employees have got to be He said he measures applicants againsf four standards: empathy for customers, a high skill level, strongy work ethic and good communication Applicants who meet those requirements are sent to one of the repaitr centers for a tryout. “We’re seeing if they can fly in this and they should be able to match the levelk of skill andquality immediately,” Ledoux said.
“Even if we’re desperate for workers, we’ll stilol take the time to get it Beyond implementing stricter hiring Kerr and Ledoux are creating a working environment thatsupports “A” employee without micro-managing. The fourth step, Kerr was to begin soliciting feedbackfrom SuperGeeks’ base of approximatelg 10,000 customers through online surveys and comment cards.
“We started asking customers on a regular basis what they howthey feel, how we can do things differentlyg or better, which is something we hadn’yt done before,” he said, adding that he encourages participationm through giveaways for such items as iPods and certificates for a professionaol massage. “Sometimes the comments are painful, many times it’z insightful, and almost always it’s worth Kerr said.