Mike Davis, Vice President of Account Services, Perspectives Ltd
Having been in the employee assistance program (EAP) and substance abuse fields for a couple decades, I’ve seen a lot of different EAPs. But I really enjoyed my time at Creative Care Management (CCM) – first as director of service operations and then as President and CEO and owner – because we really cared about the quality of service we delivered.
So, deciding to sell CCM was a hard decision. I wanted to make sure that our customers and staff were taken care of, and I really wanted to continue my customer involvement and service delivery – because I believe we truly help people and organizations.
But, as technologies changed and customer needs evolved, the cost of delivering high-touch service (as a smaller organization) looked to become challenging. I began looking strategically at the best way to continue that level of quality moving forward.
After much consideration, selling the business to another EAP company that would enhance the value of services delivered to our customers became a leading option. So I began the process of looking for a fit that I thought would best serve all parties – most namely, our customers.
Although there were several contenders, Perspectives was the best service and quality-of-service match. It’s also notable that the company has a proven record of customer retention post-acquisition and a history of senior management continuity.
Ultimately, the key decision factors included:
- Perspectives’ reputation as an award-winning EAP service provider.
- Ownership by both Bernie Dyme and Terry Cahill. Both have a reputation as tireless, energetic owners who remain engaged with customers and keep a pulse on emerging clinical and organizational issues.
- Perspectives’ EAP leadership team: Chris Kunze, Rick Kronberg and Kathi Blaszkiewicz. Again, dedicated professionals that demand high quality with the ethics and integrity that CCM was looking for.
- The fact that Perspectives’ products and service delivery matched very closely with CCM’s philosophy of a high-touch product with traditional face-to-face counseling services.
- The ability of Perspectives to enhance the services and provide broader coverage to existing CCM accounts.
Now that the deal is done, I’m even more excited about this decision. Bernie is working closely with me to meet with every CCM customer and ensure that they are transitioned to Perspectives services in a way that best suits their needs. And, our customers are getting enhanced services that benefit their organizations and their employees. It’s a great feeling for me to be able to bring that to them.
I’m also looking forward to a long relationship with Perspectives as Vice President of Account Services… It’s been a great beginning so far.
Tags: Bernie Dyme, Chris Kunze, Creative Care Management, EAP, Employee Assistance Program, high touch, Kathi Blaszkiewicz, Mike Davis, Perspectives Ltd, Rick Kronberg, substance abuse, Terry Cahill, Vice President of Account Services
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