Today’s customers were raised in an age of instant gratification. They are way more demanding and their expectations are high, especially within the field service industry. New studies have shown that quality and customer service, not price, are the two biggest drivers of customer loyalty.
So how do you meet these exceedingly high demands and gain that loyalty? Epiphany has a few tips that might help!
1. Recognize the Importance of Scheduling and Dispatch
A customer is unaware and unconcerned about what goes on behind the scenes in your business. To gain their loyalty, you need to be able to get an experienced tech on site, quickly, who knows all the details of their issue and who is ready to help. Using software to automate the scheduling and dispatch process will help ensure these needs are met, and they’ll save you time and money. For example, think about how much time you could save if you could see in an instant which techs had a CDL and which ones were also certified to be on a particular site?
Tip: Rather than organizing and dispatching your techs using excel – automate the process and be able to see in an instant what techs are available, where they are, what there skill-set is, and more!
2. Knowledge is the Key!
The most critical time to gain customer loyalty is on the first visit. That means your technicians need to be armed with all the information required to perform the job and all of the parts and supplies needed to do it, the first time! Work Management Software allows you to arm you technicians with all of the information they will need to get the job done right. And with remote technology, this information can be provided in the field.
Tip: Train your staff to partially diagnosis issues while on the initial call with the customer. This way, the tech will be fully informed about what knowledge and parts he/she will need to fix that issue on the first visit.
3. Gain Additional Revenues
Imagine if you could see instantly if a warranty or maintenance contract was up for renewal when that customer called in with an issue? And imagine even further if you could arm your service technicians with that information before the call, allowing them to perform preventative maintenance at the same time, or advise customers of potential future product failures and up-sell services and warranties on-site? Not only would this be a source of additional revenue, but even more important…the customer would know that you were truly looking out for them and were knowledge about the products and services they purchased from you!
Tip: Keep detailed records of customer products. If one product is covered under warranty, but a similar product is not, this is a perfect opportunity for your techs to up-sell on site!
No matter what type of service business you have, automating your processes and arming your techs with as much information as possible is the best way to meet the demands of today’s customers and stay ahead of the competition.