One of the most important things in operating a field service business is remembering the customer. It’s all too easy to get distracted by the service or product and forget customers are the foundation of the business. While every business needs to use technology to optimize service delivery to customers, combining the human element with the field service management technology, gives you a winning approach.
Business owners know instinctively that customer service is important, but they may not know just how it affects the bottom line. According to research, a loyal customer is 60 – 70 % more likely to purchase more products from you. Furthermore, 70 % of Americans are ready to spend more money with a company that provides great customer service.
That alone should inspire every business owner to strive for excellent customer service. So, just how can businesses ensure the needs of their customers are met? Great customer service doesn’t just happen by chance; it happens by thorough planning.
1. Be on Time
When a customer’s equipment is not functioning properly due to defective parts or maintenance needs, it can stall the customer’s normal business operations, reducing their revenue or wasting their time. The faster customers are able to receive service, the faster they are able to resume everyday operations and begin generating revenue again. Speedy technical support is therefore one of the best ways to increase client satisfaction and pave the way for additional business.
2. Building Trust with Schedule Optimization
Wowing your customers with convenience, speed, and reliability starts with your ability to deliver on the expected service plan. But it can be difficult to meet those expectations when unexpected factors crop up.
Long before the day of scheduled service appointments, you can set your remote workforce up for customer satisfaction success with a boost from demand forecasting and resource capacity planning. By taking advantage of the above tools, it allows you to:
- Staff accurately based on a number of factors: major events, weather, job history, and more
- Predict the duration of a job so that you can give customers shorter service windows and increase your technicians’ punctuality.
- Ensure you meet the material requirements for the appointments you schedule so your technicians can successfully complete their jobs.
3. Invest in Diagnostics
In an effort to improve the customer experience and first-time fix rates, many organizations are investing in remote monitoring and diagnostics. A remote sensor in equipment can deliver complete diagnostics about machine performance. It can tell you where the equipment is, if it’s running, what amount of fuel is in it, what the load is, and any history of faults or triggers. This sort of continuous monitoring is saving failures onsite, which ultimately makes customers happy.
4. Never Making the Customer Repeat Himself
Field service mobile solutions such as Repair CRM give agents field access to the full scope of the customer’s back story. Not just for this call, but what happened on earlier calls as well as other valuable customer history information to have.
Having information about previous work orders, previous attempts to resolve the problem, as well as seeing the communications from the customer, help field service agents prepare before arriving so they can efficiently manage the service interaction in a very personalized way.
5. Enable Technicians with The Right Technology and Tools
Modern field service management technology enables field technicians to function as sales representatives and offer additional products and services, renew contracts, and collect signatures onsite.
As an increasingly customer-oriented industry, field service requires software solutions that optimize efficiency, improve quality of service, and increase customer satisfaction. An all-in-one FSM suite such as Repair CRM is the only offering available that’s equipped to handle mobile, back office, and scheduling needs for dynamic field service organizations.
How about a free 30 days trial? We invite you to join us for a free trial to see how Repair CRM can help you be more efficient, save time, and grow your service business. Sign up & Download today for a no obligation fee and take advantage of all the features.
