7 Characteristics of Customer Centred Field Service

2018-03-23

It’s a buzz word in field service and I hope you’re already doing it.
Customer-centric business plans require simple adjustments to your approach, but you’ll be ecstatic when you see the results.
Here’s what it’s all about.

Why Must You Become a Customer-centric Organization?
What do you think determines the success of your field service business? Yes, it helps to deliver quality workmanship and work with state of the art technology. But do you consider your customers when you draw up your business priority list?
You may be so focused on staying ahead of your competition in terms of equipment, that you lose sight of the greatest asset of all. A customer-centric approach will ensure the following:

• Your customers will tell others about you so your clientele grows through word of mouth
• Loyal clients become return customers, ensuring long term income
• Trusting customers will agree to SLA packages that provide regular income

Do you want this to feature in your company? Then this is what you have to do.

How to Do it
A customer-centric approach puts your clients at the center of all you do:

• They must know they’re important
• You make business decisions based on improving their experience of your service
• You ensure all field agents’ actions are motivated by this approach

In practice, this is what it looks like.

Get Continual Feedback from Clients
You won’t know how to keep your clients satisfied if you don’t know their thoughts. Therefore your transaction doesn’t stop when the job is done or the payment made. You take one more step to obtain their thoughts:

• Questionnaires about the workmanship when a job is finished
• Rating the work through mobile apps to gauge if your services meet their needs
• Contacting them by phone to gauge their satisfaction

This provides you with data to implement improvements. In field service your goal isn’t only to provide quality work that you believe is correct. It’s about discovering what the clients want.
This process also tells your customers you value their points of view. For this level of customer care, they’ll contact you the next time they need assistance.

Share Information with Clients…Regularly
Take it one step further and don’t simply contact clients after field agents visited their premises. Your services may not be required directly, but that doesn’t mean you must forget about your customers.
Most customer-centric actions benefit both parties:

• Tell your clients about new products or services to generate income
• The updated information can help clients be pro-active
• The feedback tells you if you align with customers’ needs

Research the Market to Offer the Best
Do you think you’re getting new equipment to impress competitors? No. Your desire to help your customers should be your biggest motivation.
With this customer-centric approach you’ll acquire resources that improve the customer experience.
Your marketing message regarding new or upgraded services should focus on:

• Showing clients how their needs can be met more dynamically
• Solving problems for them that you couldn’t do before

Some of the best marketing techniques aren’t about low costs or being the best company. From a consumers’ point of view you’re only the best if your solutions are relevant to their requirements.

Marketing—Make Information Available, not Overbearing

And how do you approach marketing?
Yes, you need regular contact with your clients. But no consumer wants to be bothered all the time with sales pitches.
In today’s technologically driven world people don’t want to be bombarded by information, but they want it available when they need it. So make it easy for them to find it:

• Ensure your website information is up to date
• Is your website mobile responsive so consumers can access it from Smartphones?
• Develop an app so they can interact with you and research your latest services & rates

Once again it’s about doing it the way your clients want it done, not what your marketing strategy says is best.

Effortless Service Provision
Here’s one of your best selling points. Customers want effortless service provision. This relates to:

• Finding a service provider: Is your information available online? Can you be contacted at all hours, even if only via an app?
• Payment: Do you provide multiple payment options so customers can use what they prefer?
• Communication: Allow clients to communicate via messaging, as 90% of people prefer this quick method that minimizes interruptions in their schedules.

Help Clients be Proactive
What do you market? Are you simply showcasing your services, or are you showing your customers how to prevent future expenses.
Your knowledge of your market enables you to predict how and when customers may experience challenges in future. Offer testing or maintenance options so your services will save clients money.
Your clients will love working with you, because you approach situations in a way that benefits them.

Offer Support to Field Agents
Your customer-centric approach is founded on your employees and field agents. They’re the ones interacting with consumers. When you enhance their level of functioning, you create better customer experiences.
Obtain feedback from your field agents:

• Do they have the necessary tools to offer clients quality workmanship?
• Do they have enough knowledge to handle the work? You may have to invest in training for them, especially when new products, tools or services are rolled out.
• Are they kept up to date on company information? Your clients may ask them, rather than contacting the central office. Since clients want fast feedback (see above) you improve your customer-centric approach when you keep employees informed.
• Do you train your employees on how to work with clients? Interpersonal skills help them deliver quality customer service.

When you prioritize your field agents’ needs, it will impact your customers’ lives. Expenses in this area turn into investments.

What’s the best part of building a customer-centric approach in your business? It benefits everyone. Your motivation for doing things change, so you always keep the customer’s interests at heart. But even your employees and your bottom line will be better off in the long run. Sounds like a good plan? Then get started.