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As service becomes a core differentiator amongst competing for business the ability to sell the value of service is an essential facet of modern business strategy. Bill Pollock, President of Strategies for Growth discusses the nuance of marketing the value of your service and how to get it right...

Most of the customers comprising your Field Service Organisation's (FSO) customer base probably already love your organisation, and its products, services and support! But the rest of the marketplace may not even know you exist! All things considered, if you can get the rest of your targeted market to become just as aware of your organisation as your customers are, you may find that selling to them is easier than you might think!

Any marketing expert will tell you that a service organisation's market awareness and perceptions are among its most valuable assets, but that they each require high levels of maintenance and a great deal of attention. However, unlike other important contributors to an organisation's overall economic well-being, market awareness and perceptions are almost always entirely out of its control, except for the ability to continually attempt to shape, nurture and cultivate them in the eyes of the marketplace.

Two Alternative Market Awareness and Perception Scenarios

There are basically two alternative scenarios where your organisation may operate in today's marketplace. The best way to explain them is to present two side-by-side examples for the purposes of comparison:

Example 1: An FSO with 100% Market Awareness, and a 10% Market Share

In this first example, the organisation has near total awareness in the marketplace (i.e., virtually 100% name/brand awareness or recognition), with an approximate 10% market penetration rate, or share. In other words, in the marketplace in which it presently serves, virtually all of the potential customers know who the company is, but only 10% choose – for one reason or another – to become a customer. The net result is that of the 100% or so of the marketplace that is aware of the business, only 10% have been “converted” to customers. This is not a bad “conversion” rate, but there is nowhere else to go! The market potential for the FSO is already saturated! Basically, everyone is already aware of the company, but 90% of the universe has decided not to go with it.

Example 2: An FSO with 25% Market Awareness, and a 10% Market Share

A second example reflects an organisation with only one-quarter (25%) of the market awareness manifested in Example 1. However, the organisation has been able to successfully “convert” 40% of those who are aware of its offerings into customers – virtually four times the “conversion” rate of the organisation in Example 1. What’s even better is that – all things being equal – once the remaining three-quarters of the market is made aware of the company's products, services and support (i.e., through ongoing marketing and promotion, telesales, etc.), it will also be likely to gain up to a 40% market share before its market potential becomes "saturated".

Of the two alternative examples, Example 1 is clearly less attractive in that although nearly everyone knows who you are, your market penetration – at roughly 10% – remains fairly low. In this case, the only way to gain increased market share is to “re-educate” your non-customers as to who you really are with respect to your overall image and value proposition. The problem is, however, that they may already have formed negative perceptions of your organisation, and once formed, a negative image becomes very difficult to change.

Can you honestly say that a majority of your targeted marketplace has a clear, accurate and complete awareness of who you are and what you have to offer?Example 2 is a much better situation since the organisation is experiencing a much higher customer “conversion” rate (i.e., 40%, compared to only 10%). In this case, the best way to increase overall market share is to also make the organisation's name known to the “other” three-quarters of the marketplace through targeted marketing and promotion. Again, all things being equal, there will be a strong likelihood that the same ratio of customer conversion (i.e., 40%) will also apply to this "new" market base – thus leading to a potential quadrupling of the historical market share (i.e., from 10% to 40%).

In which of these two alternative scenarios is your organisation presently operating? If it is the first of the examples, then you will need to embark fairly quickly on an intensive market image reengineering, re-education and enhancement effort. If it is the second, then the primary focus should be on increasing overall market awareness – and this is typically much easier than trying to "re-educate" a market base that has already made up its mind!

The questions to ask yourself are: “Can you honestly say that a majority of your targeted marketplace has a clear, accurate and complete awareness of who you are and what you have to offer?” and “Is it possible that once an expanded market base learns about you, that they may be just as likely to become customers as your already "aware" market base?” These are key questions that should require honest answers!

Merely tracking trends in your organisation’s market awareness and perceptions over time does not, in and of itself, provide you with the information you will need to improve your overall market image and share. However, without doing so, you will not be able to effectively identify where you strengthen your ongoing marketing and promotional campaigns, or where you can most successfully identify and cultivate new business development opportunities.

The results of a targeted Market Awareness and Perception study, converted into a practical tactical action plan, can provide the organisation’s management with all of the tools it requires to work immediately toward increasing existing levels of market awareness; identifying areas of awareness and image requiring further strengthening; improving its perceived market position within its targeted marketplace; and lead to the cultivation and development of new business opportunities.

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Despite huge leaps forward in technology coming at us left right and centre, the companies that will get the most from a process of digitalisation are those that keep fundamental, traditional values of putting the customer first at the core of their ethos writes Nick Frank, Managing Partner, Si2 Partners.

Those companies that are successful in implementing a digital-led growth strategy don’t bother with the jargon of the moment!

The leaders in this field start with the basics – a deep understanding of their customer’s problems and then work backwards to offer solutions that create value or reduce risk. As part of the journey, they look hard at their own DNA and take action to fill their capability shortfalls. They identify the actual data they need and then automate the data collection/analytics process to deliver scalable solutions.

Businesses starting this shift to service led growth would do well to note that successful companies do not focus on the rhetoric, but rather have an intense obsession with how to make their customers more successful. The lesson to be learned is using the latest jargon does not put you ahead of the game. Believe this and you might not realise that you are leaving your business ‘naked’ to competitive actions, just like the emperor in the children’s story.

In the last year, I have heard this same story time and time again. At the recent After Market conference in Hamburg, we heard speakers from SKF, Outotec, Caterpillar and Serco tools all starting with the customer problem, defining the customer pain map in terms of real money.

Talk to experts in machine learning or knowledge management and one hear’s exactly the same story. Start with the business problem or the KPI and then work back to the data solution. For some, this means adding services such as analytics or remote access to products to create customer value. Others go further and no longer sell a product but an outcome such as leasing a tractor unit of a truck by the mile.

In all the success stories there is a common theme. Each company is able to articulate in terms of money, why their customers should buy their solutions.

They almost all do this following what I call the Value Iceberg principal.

The cost of the product or service you provide can be clearly seen above the waterline.

However, from the customers perspective, there are many other costs within their business below the ‘waterline’. Some are easy to define such as labour, material throughput and energy. Others are much harder such as overheads or obsolescence. And then there is RISK and UNCERTAINTY that are extremely intangible and frightening when quantified, but which have a strong emotional impact on companies buying decisions.

The most profitable manufacturing companies understand the iceberg very well. By adding services to their products and creating integrated solutions, there exists a huge opportunity to capture more value that is hidden deep within the customers’ business processes. Take the truck example. The tractor unit represents maybe only 8% of the annual running costs. Below the waterline 50% of the operating costs is the fuel used, 25% the driver and profit accounts for perhaps 2-3%.

Over 20 years ago, MAN truck’s UK distributor identified this value and added maintenance services to their portfolio that were designed to reduce fuel consumption by 10% and so double the profitability of a tractor unit over the year.

Using telematics technology in the cab, they were able to manage the running costs so well, they could shift their business model to effectively lease trucks by the mile. The resulting value argument was so compelling, that over a 20-year period their business grew from £50M to 550M. The other OEM’s are now following!

For leaders of change, this deep, almost obsessive understanding of customer value, gives them the confidence to know in what businesses and technologies to invest. It allows them to understand whether customers can afford more outcome-based services and how far their business should move along the Product to Service continuum.

This value-based phenomenon is also very real when we start to look at the UK macroeconomic viewpoint. When we redefine manufacturing as a product plus associated services, a 2016 study by Cranfield University estimated this to make up 16.8% of the UK Gross Value Added(GVA) versus the traditional definition of manufacturing at 10% GVA

Perhaps this realization that our view of manufacturing is fundamentally changing, is the reason why many people focus on the digital or IR4 technologies, forgetting that these are only enablers of change. In most part, it is through services that the technologies add new value and not the other way around. But sadly many companies have yet to grasp this notion. The reality is that unless they do, many players will be left wondering why digitization and IR4 have never quite delivered on the promise!

If you would like to know more about your Value Iceberg to drive your investment priorities, then you can contact Nick at nick.frank@si2partners.com

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Jan Van Veen, Managing Director, moreMomentum, continues his exclusive series for Field Service News exploring the ‘4 Winning Habits of Long-Lasting Achievers in Service’ and looks at the importance of the third winning habit: Decision-making.

Common mistake: Dismissing employees to take ownership

During the last decades, if not centuries, it became a habit to have all important decisions in companies made at top management levels. The assumption traditionally is that this is where the skills, expertise and overview are to make the right decisions. The aim was to increase control, predictability and stability. This used to work fine in most sectors as they were fairly predictable and stable.

However, a lot has changed. Lifecycles of products, services and markets are shorter, changes are quicker, new trends and the future are less predictable, and the complexity of running a business has increased dramatically.

In more industries, companies are suffering from lack of adaptability and agility and falling behind the competition.

Here are a few symptoms we see from the traditional top-down management habits:

• Someone in the lower ranks who sees a threat or opportunity and wants to act on it first needs to discuss this with higher rank management to get their approval and buy-in/decision. There is a challenge that many initiatives face for the attention and favourable decisions from top management. These politics can be frustrating for employees.
• The time of decision-making by higher management is becoming scarce in the critical path for most initiatives. Necessary decisions are being delayed or being made without the attention required.
• The quality of decision-making suffers from inadequate information. Observations and information about threats and opportunities do not flow through the organisation quickly and accurately enough.[/unordered_list]

The solution: Unlock the huge decision-making power throughout the organisation

Leading companies have tremendous power, speed and responsiveness due to the following effective habits on decision-making:

• Top-down and bottom-up strategies and roadmaps
• Effective and efficient decision-making
• Full transparency

1.     Top-down and bottom-up strategies and roadmaps

Maintain an overall strategy and roadmap

The overall strategy and roadmap defines the changes required in different phases to achieve the envisioned future. It clarifies the focus and ballpark figures on key metrics towards the envisioned future. This provides a clear picture of the direction required for all entities of the business to shape their own role, contribution and strategy.

Typically, the leading companies have competence centres for various topics which provide best practices, frameworks, benchmarks and advice to the entities in order to develop and execute their strategies.

Each entity has its own strategy and roadmap

Based on the overall strategy and roadmap, each division, subsidiary and department maintains and executes its own specific strategy and roadmap. They own their plan and are fully accountable for the progress and results.

Larger organisations have a cascade of several levels of sub-strategies, which can contain dozens or many more sub-strategies.

Focus on “new”

Within most successful companies, the strategy and roadmap is about moving towards the future. It’s about doing new things and doing things differently in order to achieve new performance levels and future success. An excel-sheet with numbers, for example, does not achieve this purpose on its own.

2.     Effective and efficient decision making

Many business leaders fear that decentralized decision-making leads to chaos and that control mechanisms are needed to prevent this. Most companies still use traditional “plan & control” mechanisms which require complex, expensive and time-consuming coordination systems.

The following practices ensure that decentralized decision-making is powerful and secures performance;

Structure of decision making units

Every team fits in an overall structure of roles and responsibilities with clear objectives. Each team develops, maintains and follows their own strategy which contributes to the overall strategy and roadmap.

This provides clarity to everyone who decides on what, and how, decisions relate to each other.

Decision-making protocol

Every team follows a decision-making protocol which provides guiding principles and rules on;

• How autonomous the team is for the different domains that make decisions
• How to align with other stakeholders
• How to handle objections from stakeholders, depending on the impact this might have for other stakeholders and/or the organisation as a whole
• When decisions have to be handed over to other decision making units[/unordered_list]

Some decisions hardly have an impact on other teams and can therefore be made autonomously.

Other decisions have a minor impact on the work of other teams. These other teams are informed about the decision, how this will impact them and how they are expected to adjust. The other teams provide feedback and suggestions, however it remains up to the deciding team how they incorporate the feedback and suggestions.

Some decisions could have a major impact on other teams or the organisation as a whole. For these decisions, there is a protocol in which other stakeholders can raise objections that need to be processed adequately. In some cases the decision has to be handed over to another team who has the responsibility of the bigger picture.

3.     Full transparency on performance and financials trigger crucial initiatives

In many organisations, the flow of information is limited because of lack of information systems, defensive behaviour, limited willingness to openly share and too little interest in the overall picture. As a result, people miss opportunities and make wrong decisions. This reduces collaboration and initiatives throughout the organisation and increases resistance.

Constructive and well informed dialogue, strategy development and decision-making require that everyone has the same, and adequate, information about results, failures, progress, opportunities, threats, trends and practices.

Leading companies are transparent about the following:

• Financial figures of the entire business, as well as the different entities
• Progress of projects and initiatives
• Challenges or issues they are facing, including failures
• Customer feedback
• Decisions
• Practices or processes[/unordered_list]

Benefits

The benefit of encouraging decision-making throughout the entire organisation is that, on all levels in the organisation, teams and employees have engagement and ownership. They aim higher, pursue more opportunities and achieve more. Decision-making is faster, more responsive, has higher quality and is executed quicker.

The result is that the business is more adaptable to changes and therefore performs better today and will also perform better tomorrow and further in the future.

The Essence

If we think that it’s about control, stability and predictability, then we’ve missed the point! It is about thriving in a changing and unpredictable world, full of opportunities that we need to discover. It’s about passionately exploring, developing, learning and discovering what works, and what doesn’t work.

‘Magic’ happens when you bring together business innovation and employee development and empowerment.

How well has your business adopted the 4 Winning Habits?
Discover your momentum for innovation and change with the online Momentum Scorecard find out more @ http://fs-ne.ws/mpKJ30ibWsb

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Alastair Clifford-Jones, CEO of Leadent looks at how the focus of field service is shifting towards driving strategy rather than being a recipient of it...

The holy grail for field service managers has been to reduce costs whilst maintaining customer service levels; effectively meeting SLAs at the lowest possible cost. This is still important, but the focus is changing. Field service is moving into a space of key importance, driving strategy rather than being a recipient of it.

All markets are now impacted by this change. Looking at the consumer market there is so much information for consumers; independent websites that not only compare products but also services, and these naturally impact buying decisions.

Research has shown that many customers won’t switch until they have had a bad service experience.It’s now easy in the UK, with the deregulations of the Utilities market, for consumers to switch suppliers. Research has shown that many customers won’t switch until they have had a bad service experience. On the other hand, customers will switch if the price differential is greater than 20%.

The cost of bad service really impacts an organisation’s profits. In a recent Harvard Business Review report; a 5% increase in customer retention results in a 25%-95% increase in profits. This becomes more important to the service organisation as products become less differentiated on functionality.

In light of new technology, and the change in consumer behaviour we at Leadent have developed a maturity model which I introduced in an earlier article for Field Service News. This model (see diagram below) not only measures where organisations are positioned currently, but what they should aim for by demonstrating the key characteristics an organisation needs.

Whilst it’s an organisational model, technology and processes still need to be implemented, and cultural change cannot be underestimated. So let's explore each of the three stages...

Chaotic Survival

This is the embryonic phase, often referred to as JFDI.

Everything is reactionary, heroes in the business are the people that get things done. Someone that fixes a water leak at three in the morning gets the company award. All the processes are desperate, and much of the knowledge about how to do things are in people’s heads.

The level of ‘Chaotic Survival’ can often be measured by the noise in the dispatch office and the number of calls made to the field and customers.

Initially, the workforce is seen as a cost, and any case for change is usually based on a cost reduction program by streamlining processes and the introduction of scheduling, albeit a manual tool.

Whilst many companies have moved beyond this stage, it is surprising how many organisations have not. Moving out of this phase is probably the most challenging in terms of people. Field teams need to be managed and dispatchers need to allow technology to make decisions. The world is littered with organisations that have failed to develop, those who may have implemented a technology solution but not the new processes, organisation and skills required to make this step.

Supply Led

This phase starts building the groundwork for excellence.

The technology both in scheduling and mobility starts to connect the organisation together. Silos, which were in the previous phase are dismantled and the organisation becomes more collaborative. From a business perspective, this is when customer service and field operations often become part of the same entity.

Rather than responding to customer needs in a reactive fashion, the company can start to become more proactive. Planned maintenance, if applicable, gets built into the schedule. Customer service levels can be monitored and informed decisions made in terms of minimising costs but maximising the customer service levels.

The field force, hitherto considered as a cost now has more flexibility and starts to drive a competitive advantage. Whilst we see these organisations becoming more collaborative internally they are still not working with customers and suppliers in a truly collaborative manner, and this is a huge missed opportunity.

Demand Led

The holy grail. This is the phase where technology and the right organisation can really disrupt the industry and organisations can leapfrog their competitors. Field service starts to drive the agenda, drive the strategy. The organisation no longer is a recipient of customer demand and fulfils these in an optimum manner. Processes are no longer just contained within the confines of the enterprise but are built to include customers and suppliers.

This is the new ‘battleground’ for field service and technology has made it possible. By putting the customer first, they have control. They can book appointments through multiple channels and based on their preferred choice. They have full visibility of the processes, and in many cases, can actually solve the problem themselves.

The suppliers are able to understand how their products perform in the field and feed this back to the manufacturing processes.

This is the new ‘battleground’ for field service and technology has made it possible.

IoT is a reality and no longer a pipe dream of visionary consultants, and it enables organisations to truly predict failures, determine preventative maintenance schedules and offer a level of service which exceeds customer expectations at a substantially lower cost.

This does, however, require a very different way of thinking and a true cultural shift. To be in this phase you need to have an organisation which thinks differently, embraces technology and one that really understands the customer.

Summary

In summary, the new world is exciting.

It’s even making field service seem ‘sexy’, but most of all digital service (an often misused term) is truly disrupting the industry. It is technology driven, but the companies that will be able to exploit this will think differently. They will think about the end to end processes from manufacturing and the whole customer journey; from making the purchase decision to disposal.

This needs an organisation to not only break down internal barriers but also external ones.

Given that each phase of maturity requires changes in culture, it would be very hard from an organisation to move from being ‘adhoc’ to ‘predict and engage’ in an instant as each phase is a building block for the next. However new entrants to the market can start on the right-hand side, and this is where organisations which don’t develop will lose out.

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As Jim Baston continues the serialisation of his excellent service orientated book Beyond Great Service our protagonist Charlie begins outlining the solution to the sales and service equation to his team of service engineers...

If you're new to this series then you can catch up on the story so far by clicking here

Last time, Charlie introduced the strategy to the service team. This time he presents the details.

Great, then let’s examine the actual strategy in more detail.” Charlie powers up the projector again and moves to the next slide. The slide says:

Charlie reads from the screen and then advances to the next slide.

“Let’s talk about what we need to do to deliver an ‘exceptional experience that is valued by our customers and differentiates us from our competitors’,” suggests Charlie.

“The first bullet simply means that we have to do our jobs well; like responding quickly to a customer’s needs, fixing the problem right the first time, showing up promptly, doing PMs as scheduled, cleaning up after our work, etc. All the things that people actually pay us to do.”

“The second bullet refers to the interpersonal experience the customer has over and above the technical work that we do. It is the positive attitude, the welcome smile, the way we interface with people in the workplace, and all the tiny but important interactions we have with our customers or their customers/ employees/ tenants/patients/etc. during the course of our work.

The last bullet is a catch-all to remind ourselves of the importance of continual follow-up, and how such a simple act can help reassure customers they have made the right decision to work with us over any of our competitors.“Perhaps the critical bullet here is moments of truth. Each time we have an occasion to interact with the customer: a visit to the site, an email, a follow-up phone call, a casual meeting in a coffee shop, it’s an opportunity to reinforce in the customer’s mind all the positive reasons why they do business with us, through what we say and write and how we act. It’s the moment we have to help the customers say to themselves ‘That’s why I do business with Novus’.”

“The third bullet is the topic of our discussion today. It’s going beyond doing our jobs pleasantly and professionally and in a responsive and attentive manner. It includes our efforts to proactively look for ways that the customer can make improvements to their operations, and then take the time to discuss these recommendations with the customer.”

“The last bullet is a catch-all to remind ourselves of the importance of continual follow-up, and how such a simple act can help reassure customers they have made the right decision to work with us over any of our competitors."

“So, what do you guys think? Can we add real value for our customers while differentiating ourselves from our competitors in this way?”

Angus stands up. Charlie is surprised and more than a little concerned. It looks to Charlie as if Angus is going to walk out of the room. If Charlie can’t get Angus on board, then the whole initiative is lost, or at least, greatly compromised.

“Charlie, in all the time I have worked for this company, this is the first time that management has talked about business development by putting the customer first. Usually, the question is: ‘What other services can we sell to our customers?’ i.e. what can our customers do for us? What you’re asking, that is if I hear you correctly, is: ‘What can we do for our customers?’ The results might be the same—more sales—but the motivation is quite different. I like it!”

Charlie is thrilled. Getting Angus on side is a big step forward. A couple of other people offer opinions, and they’re along the same lines as Angus’. Angus remains standing and Charlie can feel a big “but” coming . . .

“But . . . ,” complies Angus. “Saying the right words is a lot different than doing

the right things. How are we going to make this work?”

“Yet another good question, Angus.” Angus smiles and takes a bow as the room breaks out in applause.

As Angus finally sits down, Charlie says, “We have a lot of work to do. Here is a summary of what we need to do from my perspective. Perhaps you guys might think of some additional things.” Charlie discusses the bullets on the next two slides:

Charlie goes through the steps in detail and answers questions as they arise.

He points out that since this initiative is driving the overall customer experience, then everyone who has contact with the customer must participate, not just the technicians.

Since this initiative is driving the overall customer experience, then everyone who has contact with the customer must participate, not just the technicians.Although the techs play a large role in this, they must be supported by the entire organisation.

Everyone who has contact with the customer; from technician to the accounts receivable person, all contribute to the overall experience and therefore must be in sync. That is why point number four references ‘all customer-facing personnel’.

After answering a couple of more questions, Charlie sums up by saying,

“Thanks everyone for your input today. I am really excited about what we are doing and I sense that you are too. Ken and I will get to work on the next steps. In the meantime, if any further thoughts come to you on this issue, please let Ken or me know.”

“Also, please be proactive in discussing with the customer those things you feel would be in their best interests to implement and work with us to ensure that they are properly followed up until we can bullet-proof the opportunity management system.”

With that, Charlie hands the floor over to Ken to discuss this week’s safety item.

Thinking about your business:

Is your business development strategy clearly tied to your overall plan to provide each customer with an exceptional customer experience?

Does everyone know what they need to do to deliver on your strategy?

Are support functions aligned to facilitate the efforts of the field team?

Next time Charlie seeks feedback from one of his ex-customers.

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Nick Frank, Managing partner at Si2 Partners explores an important topic in the face of an ageing workforce crisis - how to make your brand an attractive prospect for the growing Millennial workforce...

Today, brands pervade our lives – be it food, clothes, shoes or phones - and drive the value of companies, particularly on the stock market.

The brand value of Samsung Electronics (ranked No.6 on Interbrand’s “Best Global Brands 2017”) is $56.2 billion – while for Small Medium Enterprises, their sales turnover and assets generally create their value. In either case, the value of your employer brand has an impact on many areas, including your ability to deliver growth opportunities, to hire the right talent, as well retention.

Understanding the new workforce in this regard will be critical for your Talent Management efforts – Sarah Gibbons wrote “I’m a millennial, and I embody a lot of the clichéd things you’ve heard about the generation: the frivolous wanderlust, the tattoos, the addiction to Instagram, and one pretty powerful behavioural trend – the insistence on ethical substance and integrity from brands, or in other words, choosing to make mostly idealistic purchase decisions. Without a socially conscious framework, your brand means nothing to me or many of my millennial cohort, and without capturing the millennial market, you’ll never amass the army of brand advocates you need to partake of the nearly $200 billion in millennial-driven sales each year”.

Unlike many of their Consumer driven organisations like Coca-Cola, many Manufacturing Service companies being technical driven do not focus on this critical area so this article aims to provide some assistance in what to consider.

However what is an employer brand?

It is the internal and external perception of your company. It is often not a single ‘something’ that drives the perception. For example, the belief you have in the Apple brand starts with the shop you visit and the service they provide. The decision to purchase a wonderfully designed product is only reinforced when it works well, and by the reception and quality of the phone. If something does not work, you take note of how Apple deals with maintenance or the return policy. This end-to-end experience drives a belief in you and it is the belief that drives your behaviour - a positive belief will have you returning to buy more Apple products.

It is critical that you develop and communicate workplace expectations internally - what is acceptable and what is notIn the same way, a person experiences how a company responds to and leads their employees.

This will be communicated to others and of course, will influence whether people are retained or if they will look elsewhere for a brand they want to work for.

So, what can you do to build a strong employer brand? There are many actions that can be taken to grow or strengthen your employer brand, and the energy exerted will be driven by how seriously you wish to be taken and how important your employer brand is to the delivery of business opportunities.

Our goal here is not to overload you with the many actions that can help, but to share what I consider to be the critical few – 3 simple things you can do irrespective of the size of your organisation.

First, it is critical that you develop and communicate workplace expectations internally - what is acceptable and what is not. In developing the expectations, try to reflect the organisation you want to be and the people you wish to hire and retain. For example, as a software company, you will inevitably hire younger generations.

When a leader is seen as driving the right behaviours, share their success, its impact on team morale and the impact on the organisation’s growthHaving flexible work hours and dress codes will help you, as these are important attributes today! However, frankly, these are the easy wins – expectations around leadership style and development of the team will carry far more weight and will be shared amongst top talent more than the hygiene factors.

The second step is to reinforce and redirect workforce behaviours. When a leader is seen as driving the right behaviours, share their success, its impact on team morale and the impact on the organisation’s growth. Equally, when a leader does not drive the right behaviour, they need to be told and redirected to what is expected. If this leader is permitted to continue with their unacceptable behaviour, it will undermine your employer brand building efforts.

The most important contributor to your employer brand is for the leadership team to view it as equally important as product brand value. In the great brands I have worked for, I can remember very clearly the good and great leaders who absolutely represented the brands they led.

They made me proud to work there, valued my contributions, reminded me of my obligations to the employer brand in what they said, but most importantly in what they did.

Value your employer brand as much as your company/product brand. Set expectations, hold people to these expectations, and always walk the talk.The real employer brand is defined in the moment when an employee issue raises itself in the workplace. Is the company compassionate, caring or mechanistic in its HR actions? The rest of the workforce watch, as this will define exactly the company they work for.

In summary, value your employer brand as much as your company/product brand. Set expectations, hold people to these expectations, and always walk the talk.

Companies, as well as people, define themselves every day by what they say and, more importantly, do. There’s no doubt - great employer brands built with this in mind will attract and retain top talent.

For more information on ‘Building your Employer Brand’, contact Dag Gronevik or Nick Frank at info@si2partners.com or call +44 208 144 6452.

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Leadent CEO, Alastair Clifford-Jones discusses the fundamental elements that should come together when building a strong request for proposal document...

The purpose of an RFP is to join two or more parties together. One has a need, and the other a product or service to fulfil this need; it’s imperative that companies must never lose sight this objective. To be successful this needs to be met with the right commercial structure.

With a technology requirement, there are many ways of approaching this.

On the one hand, companies can draw up detailed requirements and the vendor can determine how their solution can meet these on a point by point basis. On the other hand, companies can simply put forward a business problem, and the RFP allows maximum flexibility for the vendors to determine how the problem can be solved.

Both have their pros and cons, but with the right approach solution seeking companies can be successful.

Considerations for Success

To produce a successful RFP process there are several things to be considered:

1. The End Goal

Many organisations lose sight of the fact that the RFP is a process, not a document. Many companies, particularly when the RFP is procurement led, focus their efforts on the document and build a very rigid structure. This will work for simple point solutions where the only challenge is a functional fit. As the requirements become more complex organisations must never lose sight of what they are trying to achieve, and not be driven by the initial document. You can never do enough planning.

2. Include Credible Suppliers

It is vital that credible suppliers are included. The process is inevitably very time consuming, and you don’t want to waste time sitting through demos and presentations with suppliers that are not credible.

To determine credible suppliers, it is worth doing your desk research and running an RFI process. There are a number of companies that produce research about the industry’s best suppliers etc. Given that time is limited, it is better to spend this time researching a handful of suppliers than a vast array.

3. Remind Yourself; You’re Buying a Solution, Not a System

Systems need to be implemented to deliver a solution and this part is often forgotten by organisations, namely because it is much easier to evaluate on functional fit rather than implementation skills.

Often organisations will look to split the responsibilities of implementation and software between two vendors. This has its own pros and cons, but if split needs to happen at the same time. Selecting software and then an implementation partner is very disjointed, and whilst you might select the best technical solution it may be the hardest to implement.

4. You’re Building a Partnership

You are building a partnership, and not producing a test or a framework for procurement. Whilst these are important they are not the reason for talking to suppliers. When producing an RFP you’ll want vendors to want to work with you, and the RFP document is a critical window into your organisation. For this reason, it is important that neither procurement or IT write the document.

Their input is, of course, important, but it’s a business challenge you are trying to solve through technology so it’s the business requirements that are critical. A badly written ITT will stop vendors from responding and will be very hard to evaluate.

5. Consider the Evaluation Criteria

The evaluation criteria should not be an afterthought, it must be considered in the planning stage.

Many organisations revisit their evaluation criteria during the processes and this impacts every aspect. This evaluation criteria need to be agreed by all the stakeholders who will be carrying out the evaluation.

Organisations must be very clear about any show stoppers early on and communicate these, with the full criteria to the vendors. There is nothing worse than taking a vendor through the process to realise that their cloud solution is hosted in a country that is not acceptable. The more transparent an organisation can be the more successful the process will be.

6. Make it an Easy Decision

Making a decision is hard but it needn’t be if you have done your planning right, agreed on what you want (evaluation criteria) and have the right level and expertise from the stakeholders. The problems occur when all the vendors meet your requirements, their references are good and you can’t differentiate. This is the point where relationships and cultural fit come into play. These can be determined by the bid team, but often this team is different to the client team and presentations have been led by the sales team and not the people doing the work. If needed, this is the time to do more work. Meet reference clients, insist on meeting the delivery team, understand the vendor strategy and how they will work with you in the future.

Trusting Relationships Will Win Out

Often the RFP process fails due to its transactional nature. This is the start of a partnership between two businesses and as mentioned at the start, you need vendors to think about how this will progress. It is true that in today’s world the start of a relationship is often transactional (meeting a partner via Tinder) but for it to be successful as the relationship progresses there needs to be transparency and honesty, and this no different in business.

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Jan van Veen, Managing Director, moreMomentum continues his exclusive series of articles for Field Service News on ‘4 Winning Habits of Long-Lasting Achievers in Service’ this time turning his attention to the second winning habit: Dialogue...

A Common Mistake: Paralysis By Control

Recently I had an interesting conversation with a Service Leader from one of the leading printer and copier manufacturers about how to empower co-workers to drive change from the bottom up. They had already abandoned their outcome-oriented performance review system but nevertheless, their teams still find it difficult to drive change at a high pace.

An important reason is that dialogue between different management levels and operational specialists is rather infrequent and even then, most conversations are still about outcomes and targets. Even this informal pressure for results preserves feelings of insecurity and low confidence which blocks attempts to adopt and drive change.

Traditionally, many business leaders assumed that they needed strong control mechanisms to manage performance, a dated belief that is still common today. During the last few decades of relentlessly growing markets, the name of the game was rationalising processes and keeping the ability to scale up quickly enough. One of the challenges was control and predictability.

In today’s world, these traditional planning and control mechanisms do not work anymore. They limit teams’ ability to think and act collectively, to innovate their business and drive change. Planning & control mechanisms punish poor performance and setbacks. Employees sense a default unsafe environment and are pushed into a defensive, survival mode. It is safer to keep aspirations low, externalise challenges, blame others and limit ownership.

This results in a strong force to do more of the same and stick to the status-quo.

The solution: A forward-looking and constructive dialogue across all levels and functions

Our recent research clearly shows that winning and dynamic manufacturers have embedded practices and habits which empower employees to drive continuous, easy change from the inside. These modern mechanisms for dialogue across all levels and function are:

• Forward-looking objectives and priorities which drive change and collaboration
• Constructive reviews
• Forward-looking interventions

1. Promote change and collaboration with the right objectives and priorities

Continuous alignment of objectives and priorities: Winning companies focus on strategic objectives that build strong organisational capabilities for performance and continuous business innovation. Building and maintaining a fit and healthy organisation is the focus of (top) management. The most important objectives and targets are about the organisational capabilities, small changes and bigger innovations.

Aspirations, objectives, strategies, limitations, opportunities and pre-requisites are frequently discussed and adjusted when needed to ensure coherent and aligned actions and initiatives across all individuals, teams and departments.Aspirations, objectives, strategies, limitations, opportunities and pre-requisites are frequently discussed and adjusted when needed to ensure coherent and aligned actions and initiatives across all individuals, teams and departments.

Shared outcome targets: Teams and individuals share the same common objectives for results in operational performance and innovation. Their bonus schemes are based on the same indicators. They are all in the same boat, trying to achieve the same objectives. Each team and individual will be open and looking for ways to contribute to the overall targets. Instead of resisting or getting complacent, they all collaborate where needed.

Individual contribution targets: Each team and individual has full clarity on how they are expected to contribute to achieving the outcome. Think about maintaining and developing organisational capabilities, building personal competencies, collaborating with other teams and the level of effort required. For example, the financial department could contribute to the customer experience by improving invoicing (speed, accuracy, transparency, responsiveness to inquiries).

2. Build confidence & safety with constructive and forward-looking reviews

Positive feedback: Colleagues are open to candid feedback and provide constructive feedback to each other. Feedback is not about performance, but approach, activities, priorities, opportunities and threats and is intended to encourage them to adapt and improve. It is related to aspirations, the vision, the strategy.

Forward-looking: The focus is not on the fact that something went wrong, but on how to get it right. What can be learned from setbacks or issues, how can the approach be adjusted? What are new ideas and approaches? It doesn’t make sense to argue about the past.

Multiple stakeholders: Best practice is to include other stakeholders and experts in the reviews, by collecting their feedback, sharing feedback and asking for their view on the problem. This prevents unnecessary bias, reveals many more opportunities for improvement and will get more active support to easily and rapidly implement the interventions.

3. Solve from 1st principle

Root Cause Analysis: Leading companies make it a critical organisational habit to perform a root analysis for pretty much every issue or set-back. As many issues or opportunities affect more than one team or department, it is a good habit to follow through with a diverse group of people and teams who can contribute to the analysis as well as the solution.

What we see is that the winning companies have developed a routine and structure to document, communicate and decide on root cause analyses and interventions.What we see is that the winning companies have developed a routine and structure to document, communicate and decide on root cause analyses and interventions. Root causes and the success of new interventions are standard topics of meetings and conversations. “No time” is not seen a valid reason to skip the root cause analysis.

Structural solutions: Based on the root cause analysis, managers create long-term interventions that define the fundamental solutions and sustainable decision-criteria. They do not step into the trap of short-term, cost-oriented decisions that would let them fall back from fundamental solutions to symptom fighting.

Phased implementation: For complex and time-consuming solutions they define a phased implementation, where first steps can be low-hanging fruit or quick workarounds when the criticality is high. In such cases they ensure that the phased implementation continues after the first steps, to prevent falling back into symptom fighting.

Benefits

The big benefit of this ongoing and forward-looking dialogue across the entire organisation and all levels is to build an environment where everybody feels confident and safe. They feel they can take the initiative to solve issues and pursue opportunities, to come up with interventions when things go differently than expected and ensure coherence between all initiatives.

In psychology, it’s a well-known phenomenon that too much pressure on outcomes and performance kills learning and change.Employees are open and transparent about their successes and struggles, raise risks and problems, ask for help, provide help and simply do what is needed to perform and move forward for future success. Not because there is pressure from a burning platform, but because they want to.

In psychology, it’s a well-known phenomenon that too much pressure on outcomes and performance kills learning and change.

The Essence

We believe that this is not about better articulating the burning platform and creating a sense of urgency. It is about creating a constructive and forward-thinking environment where your colleagues want to, can and do take the right initiatives and bring them into practice.

Magic happens when you bring together business innovation on one hand and employee development and empowerment on the other.

Are you interested in these 4 winning habits and how to implement them?

Follow our articles and case studies over the coming months and join us for one of our Momentum Impulse Sessions through Europe. Reserve your seat @ http://fs-ne.ws/WQih30gRcev

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Ahead of his presentation at the forthcoming Field Service Medical conference being held in La Jolla, California next month, Matthew Boretti from Teleflex Americas shares his thoughts on technology innovation, healthcare consolidation, and how these are changing customer expectations in the medical device industry...

Which major field service and customer centricity trends have you observed in the medical device industry this year?

Our customers are continually being asked to do more with less. This is particularly difficult as they are already operating on razor thin margins, so they really need help beyond product solutions to help them find new ways to reduce costs while improving care to their patients in the same process. No easy feat. In short, they expect more from their suppliers. And, they are hiring bright people to drive these results, so suppliers must come to the table well prepared to have these discussions. They want to understand the value-added performance programs and education we can offer their staff.

Have your customers’ expectations drastically evolved in view of the latest technological innovations? How are you keeping up with all the changes?

They really have. And, I believe the reason their expectations have increased is they are consumers like everyone else, so they are getting used to one-click shopping through services like Amazon which also offers hassle free returns and same day delivery! It’s crazy how simple things are becoming and how the world of instant gratification and self service has become so prevalent. For this reason, Teleflex is investing heavily into customer experience design, which certainly involves evolving our systems and technology capabilities. Measuring results is critical. Fortunately, the technology makes it easier to track information.

Has healthcare consolidation impacted your operations in any way?

It has, both on the customer side and in respect to competition. As hospitals and hospital systems consolidate, we often see their desire to standardise purchasing decisions, which provides both opportunities and risks. We also see consolidation on the supplier side, which can change how we view our competition. We may have suppliers that were partners yesterday, who we now see as competitors.

What should field service leaders do to meet rising expectations of connected and empowered customers?

They need to find ways to respond more quickly to their customer needs and offer opportunities for low-impact self-service.

Which direction do you see your company heading in the next five years?

We need to design systems and processes that will deliver a radically simple interface with customers. We need to transform our culture into one where all employees view every interaction as an opportunity to exceed customers expectations. Ultimately, we need to create an environment where we are obsessed with making every interaction with our customers a positive experience.

We look forward to your presentation at the upcoming Field Service Medical 2018 forum. What do you think about this year’s program – which topics and sessions will be most helpful in helping you achieve the goal of being 100% customer centric in your field service operations?

I’m really excited about the program and the sessions being offered. It very much aligns to the trends and areas we see as important in our business. It will be tough choosing the sessions to attend given the many options.

Customer centricity is set to be a hot topic at Field Service Medical 2018, taking place in La Jolla, California, this coming February. Download the Field Service Medical 2018 Agenda to learn more.

Interested in attending? Field Service News subscribers can get an exclusive 20% discount to this event. If you are a field service practitioner then you can apply for a complimentary subscription by clicking here and we'll send you your discount code across on email straight away

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