In after-sales, consistency is the most important criterion for success. You need to deliver a consistently high level of performance in order to generate repeat sales. This is why quality assurance of after-sales services is crucial.
As the person responsible for service, you are a key player in ensuring that your customer's production runs smoothly. Sensible quality management is therefore essential. If customers can rely on you, they will not only come to you once, but will also purchase higher quality services in addition to the necessary standard services. Value Added Services buy from you.
That is why consistency is the greatest asset on the way to a customer success story. Only if you always deliver a predictable performance can you create a lasting and successful customer success story. Customer loyalty.
Advance praise is usually worth nothing in service
The customer's expectations can be far exceeded in one day. But if something goes wrong on the next assignment, previous achievements are often quickly forgotten. The negative impression prevails and you have to start all over again to woo the customer. In markets with sufficient alternatives, the customer has often simply disappeared from your customer file without comment and is missing when you return. Expansion of the service business.
So how do you ensure effective quality assurance in technical customer service and consistently maintain a high level of performance? The following three factors are crucial here:
1. standardized processes are the basis of all quality assurance
Companies often still treat after-sales service very neglectfully. Unfortunately, service departments often eke out an existence as a fifth wheel whose primary purpose is to somehow keep the customer quiet in the event of a problem.
As a result, many small service factories have formed in countless companies, where each service is provided by the employees at their own discretion. One technician uses a centrally provided checklist, another has an adapted one in his luggage and a third relies entirely on his gut feeling when deciding which components to examine when and for what purpose. The situation is similar for consulting and commissioning. Service Excellence is different!
While a carpenter's workshop may still be able to achieve a price premium over IKEA due to its individual range of services, this is not possible in the After-sales service Unfortunately not. Customers expect continuity and don't want a surprise bag. They also rely on fast response times and don't give you several months to deliver your service, like a carpenter.
How can the conflicting goals of response time and high quality be resolved?
Just as Henry Ford developed standardized processes in the automotive industry at the beginning of the 20th century and was thus able to offer higher quality, faster delivery and lower prices, this is also possible and necessary in after-sales service. Nevertheless, methods of standardization in service are often still too rarely considered and in most cases not consistently applied.
The days when tool-juggling artists and all-rounders set the tone are over! The primary products to be supported are becoming increasingly complex, as are the associated services. Without standardized delivery and knowledge management processes, a company has no chance of delivering high quality, regardless of its employees. Unfortunately, not every team is made up of superstars. This is why a few guidelines are required for how day-to-day business should be conducted.
2. develop suitable KPI systems to monitor services
However, lean and detailed documented processes will not help you if they are not practiced by your employees. You are sure to have a few strong individualists in your service team who don't like to be told how to do their job. That's what this field of work always entails.
It's not everyone's cup of tea to deal with 10 different customers and take responsibility for the poor quality of the machines. You can only do that if you're used to having to work on your own. We want and need such people in After Sales because they are good at what they do. But how do we get these characters to implement standardized processes?
Technicians are difficult to monitor as they work independently and often simply do not operate in the office but on site at the customer's premises. This is why a KPI system is required that records the relevant key performance indicators. This is the only way to measure whether the process quality meets the company's high standards. Although every KPI system can of course be manipulated by employees for their own benefit, they are the only way to make performance and process compliance measurable. Global KPIs in particular, such as the Net Promoter Score (NPS) or the First-Time-Fix Rate, are difficult to manipulate.
3. continuous improvement through pain point analyses
Once you have started to measure process conformity and the quality of service provision, the next step is to carry out continuous pain point analyses. Pain point analyses determine where the shoe pinches in your processes. They can be carried out both with your customers and internally.
By surveying external stakeholders, you can record the external perception of your service department and find out what customers dislike about your service and what opportunities for improvement exist from their perspective. In addition to the data on the performance of the KPI systems, this also provides data on the experiences that customers have with your company in order to improve processes.
Pain point analyses are also useful and correct for internal correlations. They help to understand why the quality of service is subject to fluctuations. Based on the results obtained, you should then review all your core processes at least every two years and consistently align them with customer benefits. This will enable you to continuously improve process quality and consistently eliminate fluctuations in service quality. Your customers will appreciate the resulting benefits for them.
Service like on an assembly line!
The factors described help you to deliver service like an assembly line without compromising on quality. In this way, you can effectively differentiate yourself from the competition and establish strong customer loyalty. Consider the above steps to develop a strategy for your quality management. In this way, your after-sales area will continuously generate revenue and more satisfied customers.
