After running my own online business for a few years, I started working as TurnKey’s Marketing Director last summer. My background is in online marketing and content production, so I felt reasonably knowledgeable coming in on my first day. Ha! As it turns out, knowing something about social networks, SEO and writing copy doesn’t really help one understand the ins and outs of the web hosting business. Weird, I know. Point is: I had a ton to learn. Luckily for me, I had Mr. Dave Klotz, our systems engineer and all around hilarity machine. Dave really made the transition easy on me. He’s a super smart one with some hardcore patience and a real ability to explain things in understandable ways—not a trait common to most systems engineers, or so I’ve heard.

Anyhow, it occurred to me that you guys might like to get to know Dave a little better too. So here you have it, the first in a new series I like to call, “TurnKey Staff Interviews.” Enjoy!

What first attracted you to the hosting business?
I like the Internet, it’s a fun place. To be able to be a part of the IT industry is great too. I feel as a web host we are at the vanguard of seeing emerging technologies on the Internet. When I am able to help a customer and see their business take off, I can’t help but be excited for them and feel like I somehow was able to bring them closer to their goal.

How did you find TurnKey?
Craigslist, the place from which all blessings flow (besides TurnKey, of course).

What aspect of your job brings out the best in you?
I think I’m pretty good at figuring out technologies, and how to implement them to increase automation to expedite our ability to deliver a consistent and reliable product, as well as come up with new avenues to expand our current product selection. I think of it as coming up with life hacks for the company.

Do you have any hobbies?
I enjoy taking drives. A good road-trip always clears my thoughts, and if not, then it wasn’t a long enough trip. I also enjoy collecting records, as well as political punditry.

Tell me something interesting about yourself.
I am made mostly of water.

What hardware/software do you use on your home computer?
Windows 7, Ubuntu Desktop, Windows XP, Fedora Core 11 on my 2 PCs. Commodore Basic V2 on a Commodore 64.

Thanks Dave! Stay tuned for more TurnKey Staff Interviews, coming soon.

As the Marketing Director here at TurnKey, it’s my job to keep up with all the social networking stuff the kids are doing these days. In all seriousness, social networking has had a real impact on how we do business. Since the very beginning of the company, TurnKey has been focused on the customer first. Adam Wills, our president, firmly believes that customer satisfaction is the single most important part of a successful business. I couldn’t agree more! So, when I came on last summer, my job was to facilitate our customer communication and to present TurnKey to the world as a company that cares about nothing more than keeping our customers happy.

Of course, these times being what they are, the logical first step was to set up accounts on all the social networks. I built our profiles and started posting company news and coupons, but quickly realized I wasn’t getting the kind of customer interaction I had hoped for. There are so many commercial enterprises out there vying for eyeballs nowadays and people are wary of befriending companies that might just end up spamming them.

I realized social networking works best for our business as an extension of our ticketing/contact system. By using Twitter and Facebook to respond to questions about our services, I engage our customers, help them out and encourage them to stay connected. When I do post the occasional coupon or special, the customers who have connected with us through the network in the past appreciate the notification because it comes on the heels of actual real human interaction. Nowhere does it say that being part of a company means you can’t make small talk or be friendly but so often in this virtual space, companies are all business. Of course it goes without saying that professionalism is important, but we are selling services to people, not machines. They are called social networks, after all. If you’re going to use them (and doesn’t everyone?) I think you should make an effort to really connect.

Anyhow, I’d like to give a shout to Facebook, Twitter and Myspace for facilitating our communication with our clients. You’ve given us great tools for understanding how we can be a better company!

If you would like to connect with TurnKey on the social networks, you can!

TurnKey on Facebook
TurnKey onTwitter
TurnKey on Myspace

Come tell us what you think, what you need and how we can better serve you! We’re all ears.