ARCHIVE FOR THE ‘customer-satisfaction’ CATEGORY

Large-scale London property development and investment company, Almacantar, has appointed digital transformation specialist Nexer to oversee the total replacement of its CRM system, in order to facilitate increased accessibility to data and ensure the consistently high level of service expected by its clientele.

Almacantar transforms iconic property development assets in prime Central London locations, and is known for its design-led approach and focus on creating long term value. Since 2010, it has acquired more than 1.5 million sq. ft, including live projects Centre Point and Marble Arch Place.

THE OVERHAUL OF THE EXISTING CRM SYSTEM HAS LED TO MORE EFFICIENT SALES AND CLIENT ENGAGEMENT PROCESSES.

With communication and management of the client engagement process throughout the property sales and completion process being critical to achieving high levels of client satisfaction, Almacantar has partnered with Nexer to implement a Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM application that will meet its specific business needs.

Almacantar’s legacy CRM application had reached the end of its lifespan, with the business requiring an updated system that would provide increased data accessibility, improved connectivity and coordination with other applications, and smooth integration with lead generation campaigns, as well as watertight GDPR compliance and data security due to the high transaction values of its property sales.

Implementation of the new application, has delivered a more efficient and streamlined sales and client engagement process, has increased automation of client communication where appropriate, has enabled accurate tracking of all client offers, and increased operator productivity. It also provides a single source of data and document management thanks to its integration with SharePoint.

Caroline Edwards, Development Director at Almacantar Ltd said: “We chose Microsoft and Nexer for our CRM needs due to its seamless integration into the other Microsoft products in use and its adaptability to our particular needs. The Nexer team provided us with invaluable support in mapping our existing business processes into the platform and, where possible, revising these for better productivity. The result is a powerful platform that is instantly recognisable to our sales and marketing team.”

Neil Andrews, Senior Executive at Nexer said: “By selecting Microsoft Dynamics 365 for its new CRM, Almacantar has seen increased efficiency within the sales team and has improved collaboration across the related service teams.  The new platform is secure and future-proofed to support the business as it continues to grow.”

Further Reading:

• Read more about Digital Transformation @ www.fieldservicenews.com/digital-transformation
• Read more about Artificial Intelligence on Field Service News @ www.fieldservicenews.com/artificial-intelligence
• Learn more about Nexer @ nexergroup.com/
• Find out more more about Almacantar @ www.almacantar.com
• Follow Almacantar on Twitter @ twitter.com/Almacantar_

Circle K, part of the Global Fortune 500 retailer Alimentation Couche-Tard, selects Artificial Solutions’ Conversational AI-platform to support omni-channel customer experience in multiple languages.

Artificial Solutions, a leading specialist in enterprise-strength Conversational AI, announced today that Circle K has renewed its agreement to run its Conversational AI deployments on the award-winning Teneo platform, to continue to provide support for customers and employees of its convenience retail outlets in the US and Scandinavia.

WITH THE USE OF CONVERSATIONAL AI, COMPANIES ARE ABLE TO SERVE CUSTOMER NEEDS MORE EFFICIENTLY

Conversational AI is used by Circle K to support customers through three solutions in North America and Europe:

• Kay, Circle K´s website chatbot, the one stop shop for finding the nearest location, deals and rewards
• Circle K US car wash app
• Voice bot for North American stores, that handles inquiries done via call lines, about fuel delivery times

“Conversational AI enables us to make our customers lives a little easier every day by serving their needs more efficiently. Working with Artificial Solutions has had significant benefits; Teneo has allowed the internal Conversational AI-team to build solutions faster, so that we can continue to focus on delivering exceptional customer experiences”, said Edgars Ozolnieks, Senior Manager - Digital Customer Service Solutions at Circle K.

For their deployments, Circle K is taking advantage of Teneo’s unique master-local feature. The main solution was built in English, and then exported to Swedish, Danish and Norwegian, repurposing 80% of the initial solution.

Circle K is one of the leading convenience store chains globally, and this partnership with a power-house retailer is a major validation for our technology,” said Per Ottosson, CEO at Artificial Solutions.

Further Reading:

• Read more about Digital Transformation @ www.fieldservicenews.com/digital-transformation
• Read more about Artificial Intelligence on Field Service News @ www.fieldservicenews.com/artificial-intelligence
• Read more about Customer Satisfaction on Field Service News @ www.fieldservicenews.com/customer-satisfaction
• Find out more more about Artificial Solutions @ www.artificial-solutions.com
• Follow Artificial Solutions on Twitter @ twitter.com/ArtiSol

Field Service News Research is pleased to announce the findings of their recent study run in partnership with HSO that looks at the latest trends around customer-centricity and the increasing use of technology to drive improved customer satisfaction standards...

In recent years we have seen a marked shift in the emphasis on the metrics which define success within field service operations.

Traditionally, the critical metrics within field service organisations have centred around operational success. KPIs such as Mean-time-to-Repair (MTTR), Technician Utilisation and First-Time-Fix (FTF) have always been at the top of any benchmarking study relating to this area.

However, increasingly across the last few years of undertaking such benchmarking studies, we have seen Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) metrics become widely cited as critical KPIs amongst field service organisations.

For example, in a previous study hosted by FSN Research, we noted that 51% of field service companies now saw an equal weighting in importance between operationally-focused KPIs and CSAT-focused KPIs. Furthermore, 13% of field service companies went further and stated that they felt CSAT focused KPIs were of greater importance for measuring their business success.

Taking this in mind, FSN Research in partnership with HSO has undertaken a detailed study to understand precisely what CSAT metrics are being tracked.

At the same time, we must also acknowledge that the digital transformation journey our sector has been on for several years was significantly accelerated due to the pandemic across 2020 and into this year.

There has been much discussion of what the new normal will look like for the field service sector.

However, the indicators apparent within numerous studies from FSN Research and beyond suggest many of the key trends that were emerging will be at the heart of our thinking as we move into the brave new world of the post-pandemic field service operations.

Three of the key pillars of this future of field service are servitization, digital transformation and customer-centricity. Therefore, the second objective of this study is to better define the interplay between these three crucial areas.

Next, the study was designed to focus on how the digital transformation our industry is moving through can empower the shift to an industry more focused on customer success and, finally, to assess whether that transformation will lead us naturally towards becoming an industry that places servitization at its heart.

In the study we spoke to a sample of over 280 field service leaders from a variety of different industry verticals including manufacturing, utilities, telecommunications, power generation, healthcare, med-tech, security and many others.

The study was conducted during April and May 2021 and data was collected online via personal invitations to participate. The data presented in this report is quantitative. We are currently undertaking interviews with a selection of respondents for our final report within this study which will then be based on further qualitative data yielded in those interviews.

---

 

Field Service News subscribers can access this latest Field Service News Research Benchmarking Report now that outlines all of the key findings of this study.

Subscribers across all our subscription tiers can currently access this paper instantly by hitting the button below.

If you are yet to subscribe you can join our free-forever subscription tier FSN Standard by hitting the button to access a dedicated registration page that provides you instant access to this white paper PLUS you will also be able to access our monthly selection of premium resources as soon as you are registered.

 

 

 

---

Data usage note: By accessing this content you consent to the contact details submitted when you registered as a subscriber to fieldservicenews.com to be shared with the listed sponsor of this premium content HSO, who may contact you for legitimate business reasons to discuss the content of this white paper, as per the terms and conditions of our privacy policy available here which is in line with GDPR regulations and is an ongoing condition of subscription.

 

Jim Baston, President of BBA Consulting Group, continues his series on “supercharging” revenue generation through the field service team. In this third blog he looks at defining the steps to ensure that the proactive efforts of your field service team will be successful.

In my last blog, I spoke about how the success of our field team’s business development efforts will be dependent upon whether they accept that their proactive efforts are part of their service role and whether the customer sees value in their recommendations. We can do this when we take a service perspective. How? Treat revenue generation as the valuable service that it is and engage our technicians in the proactive promotion of our services in a manner that we would be proud to tell our customers about. Then, support our techs’ efforts as we would any other service that we offer.

Let’s look at this a little more closely. Imagine you are about to add a new service to your portfolio and you want to take steps to ensure it’s successful. For the purpose of this exercise, we’ll call the new service “Super Service”. The service you are about to add has the following characteristics:

• It complements existing services (does not replace any of the services you are currently providing)
• It’s a new concept – the customer needs to be educated on the value
• Some new knowledge and skills are required but your existing technicians can perform the service – no additional staffing required
• Existing tools and test equipment can be used – no significant capital equipment needed
• It has the potential to be highly profitable – efficiency in delivery is critical
• You must rely on another division within your organization to deliver a small part of the service
• Super Service has the potential to be a game changer

The question is: What specific steps will you take to ensure the success of this new service?

Take a few minutes to write down what steps you’ll take to launch this service successfully. Don’t worry about completeness of this list for now. We’ll come back to this list later. We only want you to start generating ideas about the steps you would include.

To successfully launch this new service, here is a list of possible steps we could take:

1. Define the service
2. Support the initiative
3. Get buy-in from supporting divisions
4. Talk the walk
5. Tell our customers
6. Maintain focus

Now, look at the description of Super Service once more. Notice that the Super Service described also applies to the actions of business promotion by our field service team. Through their recommendations for example, the their efforts can complement our existing services. Their actions will require explanation to our customers so that they understand the motive behind, and the value in, their efforts. Although some new knowledge and skills may be needed by the techs, no additional staffing will be required. In addition, there will be no need for any significant capital increases and the results of their efforts can be highly profitable. Finally, our field team’s promotion of products and services can be a game changer if we can help our customers see how they’ll be better off for those recommendations.

So, we can supercharge our techs’ revenue generation by treating their efforts as the valuable service that they are. This means identifying those things that we must do well in order to successfully encourage and support their efforts.

Our next step is to determine and apply the specific actions we’ll take. Using the list above, my next blog will look at some examples of actions we can take. Please note that the actions that we identify may not necessarily be the actions that you, in your specific situation will take. It’s the approach that is important here, so simply apply the same approach used here to your list.

Reflection

Go back the list of steps that you have created that will ensure that the proactive efforts of your field service team will be successful. Is the list complete? What’s missing? Rework the list until you assured that those steps cover all that is necessary for your success.

Further Reading:

• Read more about Leadership and Strategy @ www.fieldservicenews.com/leadership-and-strategy
• Read more exclusive articles by Jim Baston @ www.fieldservicenews.com/jim-baston
• Connect with Jim Baston on LinkedIn @ linkedin.com/jimbaston
• Learn more about Jim Baston and BBA Consulting Group @ jimbaston.com
• Connect with Jim Baston directly by email @ jim@jimbaston.com

Jim Baston, continues his series that looks at how to encourage your service technicians to see generating revenue in the field not as a selling, but instead as a fundamental part of their role in providing the best service they can to their customers... 

In my last blog, I wrote of the opportunity to stand out from the crowd by helping the customer recognize that they are better off for having engaged us. Our techs play a huge role in this. They are in the best position to recognize the opportunities for improvement and typically have the trust and ear of the customer.

However, the success of our efforts to engage our field teams in revenue generation depends on two key factors. The first is that the customer must see value in our technicians’ efforts. The second is that our technicians must see their proactive recommendations as an integral part of the job that they do. Achieving both of these outcomes relies on how we, as managers, define what the technicians are doing when they make recommendations to customers about a particular product or service. Do we regard the field service team’s efforts as “selling” or “serving”? Our perception of their actions can mean the difference between outstanding success and mediocrity.

Let’s start with the “selling” perspective. Many service organizations appear to take a “selling” perspective. You hear it in the language that’s used. Managers talk about getting their field service team to “sell”. They use terms like “up-selling” and “cross-selling”. Unfortunately, a “selling” perspective can have a negative impact on our ability to fully engage our technicians in promoting our products and services.

A "SELLING" PERSPECTIVE IS FOCUSED ON THE SERVICE PROVIDER RATHER THAN THE CUSTOMERS AND THEIR NEEDS

A selling perspective is centred on us – the service provider. The focus is on how the customer can fulfill our needs. It arises from the question, “How can we capitalize on our field service relationships to win more business from our customers and increase our revenues and profitability?”

This can be problematic for a number of reasons:

Firstly, it can appear to suggest that business development is an opportunistic tactic rather than an integral part of the service strategy. As such, it can be perceived as an add-on to the tech’s main responsibility. If it’s perceived by the technician as an add-on to, and not part of, their main role of providing service, then the tech may regard making proactive recommendations as optional and not enthusiastically participate.

Secondly, skills development tends to be focused on selling. Maslow famously said: “If you only have a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.” When we see the task as “selling”, we may conclude that the solution to improve our techs’ performance is to provide them with selling skills. Unfortunately, some of the sales training for techs has been adapted from sales programs developed for salespeople. Such programs often include topics that prove uncomfortable for the technician – closingtechniques, overcoming objections are just two examples that come to mind. As a result, the technician may not see much relevance to what they do every day in the training and some may even resent being considered a “salesperson”.

Thirdly, a sales perspective has the potential to negatively impact trust with the customer. Our technicians typically have high levels of trust with our customers, partly due to the fact that they’re not there to sell the customer anything. If we try to turn our technicians into salespeople, then the customer may perceive that the technician is “selling” to them. When this happens the customer becomes confused about the tech’s role and that foundation of trust is eroded.

Fourthly, a selling perspective is difficult to communicate to our customers. How do we communicate to the customer about our techs’ proactive efforts in a way that shows value for them? Can you imagine if we said, “We’ve asked our technicians to look for more products and services to sell to you so that we can get more money out of you”. Somehow I don’t think this will resonate well with the customer.

When we see the proactive recommendations by our field service team as a “service” rather than a “sale”, we set the stage for enthusiastic engagement by our field service team and welcome acceptance by our customers. That’s because the focus changes from being centered on us as the service provider to being centered on the customer and their needs. Whereas the focus of the selling perspective is on how to get more money out of the customer, the focus of a service perspective is on how we can deliver a higher level of service to the customer through the recommendations of our field service team.

TAKING A "SERVICE" PERSPECTIVE ENHANCES SERVICES AND ADDS VALUE

When we take a “service” perspective, identifying opportunities to help the customer becomes part of the service rather than an add-on to it. Skills development considerations broaden to include all that’s needed to facilitate the techs’ efforts to share their recommendations with their customers rather than limited to “selling” products or services. The techs’ efforts can add to the trust they have built by demonstrating the value of their recommendations from the customer’s perspective. And, it becomes easier to differentiate because we can discuss it with the customer in terms of what is in it for them.

The “service” perspective positions the tech’s recommendations as part of their job – as important a part as their ability to repair and maintain the equipment they service. We enhance our service and add significant value when our field service team makes recommendations to help our customers to be measurably better off.

Reflection

On a scale of 1 – 10 (“10” being “promoting products and services is an important part of the service that we provide”, and “1” being “promoting products and services is not part of my job and should be done by others”), how would you rate the general view of your field service team of the role of promoting products and services?

• What are the factors that caused you to give the score that you did?
• What steps could you take to increase your field team’s score to a “10”?

Further Reading:

• Read more about Leadership and Strategy @ www.fieldservicenews.com/leadership-and-strategy
• Read more exclusive articles by Jim Baston @ www.fieldservicenews.com/jim-baston
• Connect with Jim Baston on LinkedIn @ linkedin.com/jimbaston
• Learn more about Jim Baston and BBA Consulting Group @ jimbaston.com
• Connect with Jim Baston directly by email @ jim@jimbaston.com