Even if you as a manager have thought of everything and your department is set up perfectly, customer satisfaction can be more negative than expected. This may be due to a few bad habits on the part of your technicians.
The customer experience is influenced by many factors. But of course the behavior of the service employee plays an important role. Of course, you should not constantly monitor your team. But you might want to direct your scrutinizing gaze to the following no-go's when dealing with customers.
Too busy to respond to the customer
Of course, your most experienced technicians have already experienced a lot in the field. Machine problems due to human error, physical wear and tear or "makeshift" repairs that lead to further subsequent problems. Of course, most things come easily to an experienced service technician and he knows immediately where to go.
The feeling and understanding of the situation from the customer's point of view is often lost. For them, the problem is new and possibly also very serious. And there is a certain need for communication in order to deal with the situation. If the technician gets straight down to work without paying much attention to the customer, they often don't feel that they have been properly addressed. Of course, the job is stressful and in some industries a technician has to make 4 or 5 calls a day.
However, this should not be the reason for not taking the time to empathize with the customer and pick them up in their world. If this doesn't happen and the technician moves straight on to the next construction site after solving the problem, a bad gut feeling often remains. And the customer's satisfaction suffers as a result. Even under time pressure, the customer should be respected and ideally treated with the kind of frugality that could make a Buddha envious. Even if this is sometimes difficult.
Negative attitude
Employee negativity can have an impact on the overall performance of the company. This is particularly true in customer service. Negative experiences are passed on to a greater extent than positive ones. When field service technicians think negatively, it can be caused by emotional exhaustion due to excessive workloads, poor processes, negative gossip or bad experiences with customers. And customers can sense when colleagues in the field are not in a good mood.
Very few people will have antennae fine enough to find out why your local representative is not in a good mood. From their point of view, they simply don't feel like doing their job or, even worse, they don't feel like being a customer. Neither definitely reflects well on your company and your service mindset.
To combat this negativity, listening mechanisms can be put in place to understand the mindset of technicians and take corrective action. Gather regular feedback from your employees to address employee complaints before they impact customer service.
Shifting responsibility onto others
Sometimes technicians have a habit of shifting responsibility for their mistakes onto others. This can be justified and sometimes it is simply a protective reaction when you are in front of the customer. You don't want to be the lightning rod and try to pass the buck.
However, the customer is usually not interested in identifying a culprit in your company. They want to let off some steam and then they want someone to help them. And they don't get that feeling if the person standing in front of them is always looking for someone else to blame. Your technicians are problem solvers and that's how you should position yourself with the customer. Pick up the customer in their world by listening to their description of the problem. Then switch to solution mode and show the customer the way out of the problem.
The right "Ownership"mentality is very important here. This includes many activities. Communicating with the customer, updating service manuals on time, notifying the warehouse team of stock shortages and much more. It is important to establish this mindset and act as a proactive solution partner. Both internally and externally. Last but not least, the corporate culture also plays an important role here.
Minor negligence
Punctuality and getting the job done quickly are often considered sufficient. But customer service requires more than that. Unfortunately, when the focus is on getting the job done quickly, the eye for detail is often lost. Small oversights are then the result. The customer will forgive you for one or two points, but if the sum of these small oversights gives them the feeling that the work was done sloppily, you have gained nothing.
This can be due to things as trivial as several spelling mistakes and careless errors in the final report that the customer signs. Or the maintenance was actually okay, but in several places the workplace was not left clean and there is grease and oil residue. None of this is bad in itself, but when these small negligence issues accumulate, a completely different impression is created.
Negligence shows a lack of interest in the customer. And this behavior can be difficult for the service manager to recognize. As I said, each case is not critical on its own, but in total it builds up a bad image of the company. However, this is extremely difficult to recognize, as only very few customers would actively contact you because of these issues. But the bad feeling remains, of course. It is therefore important for service managers to have this topic actively on their radar and to develop certain antennae for it.
Not being prepared for the unforeseeable
The technical field service business is unpredictable to a certain degree. Field service technicians often have to anticipate difficulties, uncertainties and unexpected events. If things go badly, this can lead to poor performance on the construction site and the customer has the impression that the technician is either not well prepared or not well trained. Neither is necessarily the case, but it is the customer's interpretation of the situation. And, of course, this does not reflect well on you as a company.
Misjudgements can be due to a lack of ability to assess risks or a lack of transparency in processes. Training a better understanding of the consequences and acting responsibly can enable technicians to cope better with unexpected challenges. It is important to actively promote these soft skills and train them in your own team. This helps them to present themselves confidently to customers, even in difficult situations.
Indecision
Field service technicians often have to make decisions with incomplete information or weigh up several options, all of which have their pros and cons. Indecision is a common problem. However, as already mentioned, the customer would like to have a problem solver at their side. If they don't know what to do themselves, or at least give the impression that they don't, this will do lasting damage to their trust in you and your organization. Here too, a bad gut feeling will remain, which will also have a negative impact on the perception of satisfaction.
To overcome this, technicians can be supported with training in results-oriented evaluation to improve their decision-making ability. Or you can involve the customer themselves in the solution option by explaining the options and their pros and cons. The customer can then make their own decision and also perceives your technician as very competent, as they can present several solution options.
Lack of communication with colleagues
Service is a team sport! The processes in field service and between field and technical back office are usually closely intertwined. The information from one process is important in order to be able to optimally coordinate the next steps in other areas. Technicians should be shown how to organize and communicate their work more transparently to ensure that all parties involved are up to date.
Better communication between the office and field technicians could also be achieved through better integration of systems. A field service app that is connected to other company systems makes it easier to find, share and keep up to date with the information needed. This avoids wasting extra time manually researching, entering or updating data.
Lack of interest in new developments
Technology and methods are constantly changing, and it is important that field service technicians continually update and expand their skills and knowledge. By constantly learning and sharing best practices, field service technicians can improve their effectiveness and career opportunities. In addition, technicians can help develop or improve new technologies and processes to increase the efficiency and profitability of their organization.
But of course you also need to be actively involved here. And that is the task of management and organizational development. If this is successful, the technicians can become a very good driving force for your service transformation.
