It took Digital Dialogue 14 months after it was founded in 1999 to land it first client. Since then the Auburn Hills-based firm has been bursting at the seams, hiring 120 people in the last year and planning to hire another 120-140 within the next year.
"The business has really exploded for us in all the right definitions of the word," says Peter Schmitt, president of Digital Dialogue.
So how does a business focused on providing credit unions with customer support call center services and software go from nearly nothing to 250 employees in less than 10 years?
It built a better call center mousetrap, one that produced better results for a smaller price. The market followed Digital Dialogue as if it were the Pied Piper.
"Once the industry recognized that we can do this and do it cost-effectively, the product sold itself," Schmitt says.
The product, DigiKnow, is customer support. One of the chief reasons credit unions can compete with banks is because of the service they offer. Digital Dialogue's call centers service 14 million credit union members by being proactive in offering solutions and solving problems.
It can do that by hiring highly competent staff with extensive customer service experience, and they all come from Michigan.
"Michigan is a wonderful place to grow because of the labor market," Schmitt says. "We have been able to hire very professional people here."
And that has led to revenue growth numbers like 89 percent last year and 95 percent this year. Schmitt expects to grow another 70-80 percent next year.
Source: Peter Schmitt, president of Digital Dialogue
Writer: Jon Zemke
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