How to get line managers to invest in service

Service managers often find it difficult to obtain funding for the expansion of the service area. It is often not easy to get support for such projects. How can you still succeed? - a guest article by Georg Jocham

In many companies, the service area is enormously important on the one hand, and almost irrelevant on the other. How is that? On the one hand, margins in many sectors are shifting to the service area. Service generates the money that can no longer be earned from product sales. Service is the cash cow. At the same time, service also shapes the customer experience.

As soon as the sale is completed, the salesperson (and often the key account manager) is out. It is then up to the service department to satisfy the customer, help with any problems that arise and convey a lasting positive image of the company. Service is extremely important. That is one side of the coin.

The importance of the service area is often not recognized accordingly

At the same time, the service area is often marginalized within the company. This is reflected in the fact that board members and managing directors rarely come from the service department. It is reflected in who is represented on management committees and who has a voice (service managers tend not to). It is also often reflected in their earnings. And it can also be seen in where money goes. While the buzzword "digitalization" often breaks all the dams and budgetary restrictions and profitability calculations are more or less obsolete in many companies, service managers often have to fight for comparatively small sums to keep their - often ancient - systems running at all.

The reasons? On the one hand, service managers often come from a technical background and have grown up as problem solvers. If there is a problem, they take care of it without complaining "at the top" and without declaring a major crisis and then being celebrated as the savior. Service managers usually work quietly, which is why management often has the impression that fewer major problems occur in the service area, fewer fires have to be put out and fewer heroic deeds are performed than elsewhere.

As a result, the job of service manager is underestimated. And the low level of recognition is accompanied by less attention and less willingness to invest. Jobs in service are less prestigious, promise fewer career opportunities and are therefore less attractive. That's the other side - does this comparison sound familiar to you? Does the service department make a significant contribution to your company's financial results and therefore its survival, but does not receive the appreciation and recognition it deserves? If so, then read on!

What can we do about it?

So what can service managers do to give service and their own position the status they deserve in the company? Do service managers have to do what many of them are reluctant to do and what other managers at best ridicule, sometimes even despise, namely to artificially play themselves into the foreground? Service managers do not have to sell their souls to finally be heard as much as they deserve. A few simple points are enough...

Change your perspective!

Many service managers communicate strictly from their own perspective. If they approach management with an investment decision, for example, they talk about technical specifications, key figures or costs. That sounds reasonable (after all, that's how most people do it), but it often doesn't lead to the desired result. This is because most managers listen patiently for a while, but then do not make the desired decision.

This is for the simple reason that an important question is usually not answered: What does this decision mean? What does it mean for the service department, what for other departments, what for the company as a whole, and what for the decision-maker? And since an unfavorable initial situation is often the most effective trigger for a decision: What does it mean (again for all of the above) if we continue as before, if the decision is not made?

Let's take a concrete example: You are using an outdated ticketing system that keeps breaking down and is insufficiently connected to the ERP system. You want to invest in a new system and need budget approval from management. So far, you have discussed the specifications of the old system compared to the new system, throughput and processing times and investment and maintenance costs. And you probably didn't get the budget you wanted.

Is there another way? Yes, and it's surprisingly simple: Ask and answer a few more questions in the future (and preferably up front): What does it mean if we continue to work with the old system? What does it mean for the figures in reporting, for example, if there is no continuous data synchronization with the ERP? The CFO will be very interested in this. What can happen (without dramatizing) if the system fails at a particularly unfavourable time? Who will receive the unfriendly calls from the management of important customers? With this in mind: don't just think about the service department, but change your perspective and talk about what a (non-) decision means for whom!

Respecting the needs of decision-makers

Service managers are often experts who have learned their job from the ground up. They know their stuff, are proud of their expertise and demonstrate this to management. This is precisely where there is a common misunderstanding: top managers want you as a service manager to have your business under control and they also want you to know your stuff. But they don't want you to tell and explain everything to them. They often lack the interest in the details, and almost certainly the time. Whether you like it or not, you will hardly be able to change it. If you work 60+ hours a week, you won't go the extra mile because you have interesting details to offer.

Therefore: respect the need of top managers by getting to the point. The easiest way to do this is to make it a habit to answer three questions at the beginning of every meeting with a decision-maker within a few minutes:

• What is it about?
• What do you want (from the decision-maker)?
• What does this mean? (see above)

Answering these three questions right at the beginning takes a little effort, I know! I can only assure you this much: If you ask decision-makers what they would think if, in future, every person they spoke to answered these three questions within three minutes, many would spontaneously respond "That would be a dream!". So if you want to become a service manager who is well-liked by management, then take the plunge and always answer these three questions right at the start!

How, and that's enough?

Well, it's a big first step. With the two strategies mentioned above alone, you will be perceived differently by management within a very short space of time. You will get an appointment more easily, be heard, get the decisions you need more quickly and bindingly, and increase the recognition of yourself and the service department as a whole. So it's worth it!