ARCHIVE FOR THE ‘trusted-advisor’ CATEGORY

In this new article for Field Service News, Sam Klaidman, Founder and Principal Adviser at Middlesex Consulting, discusses how an OEM should organize technical support in order to provide the best experience to the customer...

Getting the experience “right” is critical for the business because in the B2C world, and more and more in the B2B environment, the most frequent customer interaction with the business is with technical support. And the quality of each experience is important because the individual’s cumulative perception of the experience they have with a business is the brand. To make matters worse, Daniel Kahneman, the Nobel Prize winner and noted Psychologist, has written about what he calls the Peak-End Rule. This rule states that for reasonably short duration, we ignore most of the details except for 1) how we felt when we had the maximum “good” or “bad” feeling and 2) how we felt while the experience came to an end.

We may not know when our customer has reached the “peak” point, but we certainly know when the journey comes to an end. So, getting each transaction to leave a positive memory in the mind of the customer is especially important.

One way to ensure good outcomes is to organize and staff technical support organizations around customer’s technical skills. The challenge of this strategy is that we have to direct calls, emails, and chat sessions to the support person who is at the same level as the customer.

First, we must understand the technical level of the people who contact technical support. In a B2C situation the technical support engineer usually communicates with either a Level 1 operator, a Level 2 person with more experience, or a trained Level 3 FSE. Here are some examples of each:

In a B2B company there are also three levels of knowledge that technical support works with:

Notice that in the B2B environment, the personnel at all three levels are well trained for their job and also know the limits of their knowledge. In the B2C situation, the Level 1 and 2 people may think they know more about taking care of their equipment than they actually do and so the technical support people have to take extra care to ensure that these people do not create a bigger problem than what they started with.

Given all of the above, the best we can do is organize our technical support organizations into levels that match the levels of the customers. Unfortunately, that is easier said than done since the company has little control who calls in to get aid to fix a problem.

The easiest solution for the OEM is to have a great reference library organized into FAQ’s that cover the issues that the Level 1 and most Level 2 callers can safely attack. And then encourage the callers to look there first before trying to talk to a live agent. But we know this solution would frustrate many customers and lead to many negative comments on social media, your NPS score would drop into negative territory, and your Sales partners would make your life miserable because you were now part of the “Sales Prevention Team.”

Another solution is to implement Chat and use that as a Level 1 triage and, when that does not work, the agent can escalate to either the Level 2 or 3 Tech Support as appropriate. If you elect to try this route, consider having the Chat agent arrange for a callback by a tech support agent. As long as the call is complete in about 3 minutes or less, the customer waiting for the call will generally not be upset.

In conjunction with the chat/live call back solution, you can make sure that your company certifies the internal people who will be calling for Level 3 support. This way they can have a dedicated telephone number and you have a reasonably good chance that the people calling in are trained enough that your experienced tech support agents can be spending their valuable time dealing most efficiently with customers.

Whatever strategy you decide to implement, make sure that your callers always feel that their time is being respected and that you take their problem seriously. Empathy and understanding can go a long way to making touchless service into a positive experience.

Further Reading:

• Read more about Leadership and Strategy @ www.fieldservicenews.com/leadership-and-strategy
• Read more exclusive FSN articles by Sam Klaidman @ www.fieldservicenews.com/sam-klaidman
• Find out more about Middlesex Consulting @ www.middlesexconsulting.com
• Read more articles by Sam Klaidman on Middlesex Consulting Blog @ middlesexconsulting.com/blog
• Connect with Sam Klaidman @ www.linkedin.com/samklaidman

Sam Klaidman, Founder and Principal Adviser at Middlesex Consulting, analyzes the role of the Field Service Engineer as the customer's trusted adviser in his new article for Field Service News...

In a recent whitepaper Beyond Remote Service: Is now the time to redefine service delivery? Author Kris Oldland, Editor-in-Chief, Field Service News presents a number of compelling arguments that support the notion that Augmented Reality will not only change Field Service delivery, but the long-term outcome will be good for customers and service organizations.

However, neither Kris nor other current authors discuss what will happen to the Field Service Engineer’s role as the customer’s trusted adviser.

What Is a trusted adviser?

There is a significant difference between customer experience and a trusted adviser. Customer experience deals with all the aspects of how the customer interacts with the company, their products, advertising, people, and processes. A trusted adviser is someone in the company who customers reach out to when they want honest, unbiased opinions about aspects of the company’s products, processes, or people.

In most B2B companies, people generally accept as fact that field service engineers are customer’s trusted advisers. I believe that every FSE with more than a few years’ experience in their company has been asked at least once:

• “Is the new XXX worth buying to replace my old one?”
• “Should I install the latest version of the XXX software?"

And the customer expects, and usually receives, an honest answer with supporting reasons. Also, the first thing that a person who becomes a service customer learns is “don’t give your FSE a tough time or complain to their boss unless it is a significant issue!” They want to make sure the FSE trusts the customer and they expect to be able to trust the FSE’s recommendations.

How will remote support change the FSE's role?

Remote support is the enabler of self-service. The customer who has the proper skills and tools can work with the remote technical support person and perform many of the FSE’s tasks as long as spare parts are available. This new process cuts down on the need for the FSE to actually visit the customer’s site to fix problems. The FSE role changes to concentrating on big projects like installation, major upgrades, infrequent troubleshooting of difficult problems, or uninstalling equipment.

Therefore, the key questions are:

• “If self-service becomes the accepted business model, will using merged reality (MR), augmented reality (AR) or virtual reality (VR) systems remove the FSE as a trusted adviser?”
• “Will our B2B technical support professionals fill the trusted adviser role?”

Why is the FSE a trusted adviser and not the technical support engineer?

The pre-COVID interaction between FSE and customer is quite different from the interaction between technical support and the customer. To help understand these differences, it is useful to look at the following table that compares how customers view our FSE’s and technical support engineers with and without using MR/AR/VR.

However, if the FSE role changes to a few face-to-face infrequent interactions spread over a number of years, then the earned trust will not continue.

Who will replace the FSE as the customer's trusted adviser?

From the perspective of the service organization, the preferred choice is the technical support professional. But will technical support replace the FSE? Probably not. There are two reasons for this conclusion:

1. There is no continuity between technical support and customer. Tech support customers require a rapid response and as a result, calls are usually handled on a first-come-first-served basis by the first available operator.
2. There is no chance to create a lasting relationship because of (1.) above and because trust is usually earned from multiple face-to-face interactions.

And if not technical support, then who will take on this role? Possibly either sales or customer success.

Sales has a big obstacle to overcome. Historically salespeople were seen as being “coin operated.” The perception was that their recommendations were designed to increase their income. While today many salespeople place the customer’s best interest above their own, it will take a long time for the earlier image to be removed from people’s minds. And with customer success teams replacing sale for aftermarket upselling and cross selling, the salespeople may never get the opportunity to reset expectations.

Customer Success has a real opportunity for a few reasons:

1. They are relatively new so the do not carry any baggage
2. They are trained to work as consultants
3. They collect and use customer data to help increase the value derived from using the product and also for demonstrating the advantages of using what CS recommends
4. They are assigned to accounts and charged with building lasting relationships
5. Some under-utilized FSEs are likely to transition into customer success roles. They will bring their consultative skills and existing relationships along with them.

Therefore, in my opinion, the new customer trusted adviser will be someone from the Customer Success organization.

Key takeways

1. With self-service, field service will no longer remain as the customer’s trusted advisor
2. For B2B technical support, the people who call them are trained and know the limits of their competency
3. Sales will be unlikely to replace field service as the customer’s trusted adviser
4. Customer Success will probably succeed field service as trusted adviser
5. The career path for many FSE’s will be into Customer Success

Further Reading:

• Read more about Leadership and Strategy @ www.fieldservicenews.com/leadership-and-strategy
• Read more exclusive FSN articles by Sam Klaidman @ www.fieldservicenews.com/sam-klaidman
• Find out more about Middlesex Consulting @ www.middlesexconsulting.com
• Read more articles by Sam Klaidman on Middlesex Consulting Blog @ middlesexconsulting.com/blog
• Connect with Sam Klaidman @ www.linkedin.com/samklaidman

Jim Baston, the author of Beyond Great Service, tackles one of the most prominent questions amongst field service organizations - can service technicians sell without jeopardizing their trusted advisor status?

Two years ago I gave a presentation about the customer service value inherent in business promotion by field service personnel. I had an audience of almost 100 service managers and business owners.

I asked, by show of hands, how many of them had formal or informal expectations of their field service teams to look for new business opportunities.

About 60 to 70% of the attendees put up their hands.

I then asked the group how many of them told their customers that they had encouraged their field teams to look for opportunities.

No one put up their hand.

Although my research involved a very small and somewhat unscientific sample, I think this anecdote provides an indication of how many service managers and executives view the role of selling by their field service team.

In most cases, it appears that their view is that this activity is a means to increase revenues for the service provider.

How excited would your customers be if you told them that you encouraged your field service team to look for more business so that you could make more money from their current service relationship with you?If this is the case, then it is understandable if they regard this activity as a benefit for their companies, but not necessarily as a benefit for their customers. As a result, they may be having difficulty articulating a benefit that they themselves may not see exists.

For example, how excited would your customers be if you told them that you encouraged your field service team to look for more business so that you could make more money from their current service relationship with you?

And so the idea of sales by service professionals is somehow tainted. It is sometimes viewed as a dirty word. When we feel that way, we may encourage selling by our field service team but we certainly are not going to let our customers know we are doing so.

But does it have to be this way? Does sales have to be a dirty word in service?

What if our focus on business promotion by field professionals was not on increasing revenues, but increasing service levels?

What if we saw selling by our field service teams as a way to help our customers to achieve results they did not think were possible? What if we positioned opportunity identification by the field service team as a service to help our customers realize their business goals?

What if we discouraged selling for the sake of gaining more business alone but rather insisted that any recommendations by field service professionals be directly tied to a benefit for the customer?

It seems to me that if we take this “service” view of sales by our field service team, then their efforts become an integral part of the service – as important a service as their ability to install, maintain, troubleshoot and repair.

If we take this “service” view of sales by our field service team, then their efforts become an integral part of the service – as important a service as their ability to install, maintain, troubleshoot and repair.Recognizing that business promotion is an integral part of the service suggests that this activity will also be more readily accepted by the field service team themselves. My experience suggests that, in general, field service people are not overly fond of salespeople.

Those that feel this way resent being put in a position where they have to sell and therefore do not approach this task enthusiastically if they approach it at all. But if they recognize their selling efforts as a service, they will more likely embrace the initiative.

When we regard selling as part of the service, we can be more comfortable in telling our customers about what we are doing.

In fact, we can use our efforts to differentiate our service from our competitors. Imagine the value you communicate when you advise your customers that you have encouraged your field team to contribute their heads as well as their hands.

That you have requested that your field team use their knowledge of each customer’s processes and systems combined with their technical expertise and understanding of the customer’s goals, to look for ways to help your customers make improvements aimed at achieving their business goals.

You could even ask your customers for permission for your field team to sell to them. “Mr. or Mrs. Customer, we have encouraged our field service team to use their knowledge and expertise to look for ways to help you be more successful.

If they find something that they feel will benefit you and your business in some way, would you have any objection if they brought that to your attention?”

It is also interesting to note that research suggests that our customers want us to be proactive in making recommendations.

One study found that 75% of customers that left one vendor to give their business to another were actually satisfied or very satisfied at the time that they left.One study found that 75% of customers that left one vendor to give their business to another were actually satisfied or very satisfied at the time that they left.

Further investigation showed that the reason that they left, despite the fact that they were satisfied, was that they felt that the vendor that they were going to, was in a better position to help them achieve their long-term goals.

So, thinking about your business, is sales, when conducted by your field service team considered a dirty word?

If you’re not sure, ask yourself this question.

“Would I tell my customers what we are doing?” If your answer is “no” or “not sure”, then perhaps you have some work to do.

Be social and share

UK based non-profit knowledge sharing group the Service Community which Field Service News is proud to partner with has recently announced one of the most diverse events they have organised in the last couple of years.

The next Service Community event will be hosted by the Cambridge Service Alliance at the Institute for Manufacturing (a division of the University of Cambridge’s Department of Engineering) on the 19th April 2018.

Being at one of the world’s leading service research organisations means that we hope to mix the very best in thought leadership, with practical hands-on experiences of transforming service businesses. Each discussion will be approximately 40 mins enabling you to discuss real issues with real people.  We are also very lucky to have a The Digital Manufacturing Tour, where you will have a chance to hear about the research initiatives that the IfM are undertaking on digitalisation in manufacturing.

In addition to a speaker from the CSA, we have leaders from MARS, Oracle and Fujifilm joining us to discuss and share experiences on how they have tackled some of their key service business challenges.

How to register

You can reserve your place by sending an email to info@service-community.uk. We will then contact you to confirm registration and will send out the joining instructions nearer to the event.

Please feel free to forward this information to colleagues who you think would be interested. We look forward to seeing you in April

Agenda for the 19th April 2018

12.00 - 13.00: Meet at the Institute of Manufacturing at Cambridge University
13.00: Nick Frank: Welcome

The Impact of Big Data and Machine Learning technologies on developing Customer Experience in manufacturing companies Dr Mohamed Zaki: Deputy Director of the Cambridge Service Alliance will introduce the work the Cambridge Service Alliance does and share recent research he has undertaken into Customer Experience development

Leading Service to a Trusted Advisor Culture:  Ashley Weller: UK Service Director at Mars drinks will share his own journey in driving sustainable cultural change

The Digital Manufacturing Tour

Coffee & Networking break

Real World Challenges of implementing Augmented Reality in Field Service Adil Kabel: Technical Support Manager, at Fuji Film responsible for EMEA 2nd line support for Wide Format Digital Printers will share his experiences of running two pilot projects in the Field Service organisation looking at 'glasses' and handheld augmented reality apps

Benefits and Challenges of Self Service models - Stephen Darkes Snr Process Analyst: Global Systems Remote Support at Oracle: Steve will give us some insights into the different Self-Service support models that Oracle have introduced to enhance customer satisfaction and make their business more cost-effective.  He will cover a range of models, from the use of community forums for Diagnosis and Resolution to the development of Customer Replaceable Units for hardware.  He will share his experiences of the range of benefits that self-service brings, as well as the challenges of implementation.  Many businesses can make their customer support more effective through self-service business models.

17.00 Networking Drinks

Reserve your place by sending an email to info@service-community.uk. We will then contact you to confirm registration and will send out the joining instructions nearer to the event.

Be social and share

Nick Frank, Founder of Si2 partners outlines some fundamental steps that field service organisations can take to ensure their field service technicians hit the holy grail status of ‘trusted advisor'

In Field Service we have heard a lot about the undoubted benefits of developing the Trusted Advisor skill set, but very little on how leaders can achieve this goal. It is about time we looked at this journey from the perspective of the service technician, what kind of behaviours we expect of them and the support that they need.

In my experience, there are four key elements that enable a service professional to develop into a Trusted Advisor.

1. Fix yourself first!

The key to providing excellent customer care is to first know you! What you are good at, where you struggle and how you generally interact with others. Know this and you can start to develop some of the behaviours and capabilities needed to be a Trusted Advisor. Most important is to learn to be customer centred. In any interaction with your customers, a good rule of thumb is that the communication should be 2/3 the customer and 1/3 yourself. The customer must be allowed to explain their situation and expected outcomes.

The service provider should focus on questions that clarify the situation, take the actions required to address the concerns or issues, or explain the benefits of what has been done.

However, just being customer centred is not good enough. We have to know ourselves well enough to keep our emotions in check to stay assertive and solution focussed through the customer interaction.

2. Understand the business goals

The key reason for developing the Trusted Advisor skill set is to support our companies growth. This is not about being nice!! It’s about building a relationship where customers are open to a conversation on maximising value from their equipment. Tech companies such as Oracle have been starting to see this form of ‘Customer Success’ management as a key organisation capability, but it is equally important to equipment manufacturers.

To be able to deliver on this goal, service team members need to understand:

• How the business makes money and their contribution to that process.
• The expectations on them as a Trusted Advisor and where on the Support to Sales continuum we want them to be. This is key! One of the major reasons these initiatives can fail is that the service technician feels they have to sell, which can quickly destroy the ‘trust’ in the relationship. This is when communication and re-enforcement of the message is critical to success.
• The wider business offerings the company provides and the value they can bring to the customer
• In your industry, what does the customer really value and trust.[/unordered_list]

3. Fix the Customer

Only when you understand yourself and the customer, are you ready to act as a Trusted Advisor. There are some helpful guidelines that really can help technicians do an excellent job.

• Make sure there is a clear process and expectation for the customer interaction. For example I have heard many service managers use the mantra; ‘Fix yourself, Fix the customer, Fix the situation’
• Develop communication skills required to be successful such as ‘Active Listening’ to develop empathy with the customer, ‘Talk well’ to quickly identify the issue and ‘Develop Rapport’ to build the relationship.
• Make it easy to accesses information on the customer such as problem & upgrade history, BOM, visits and orders.
• Provide tools and training that helps technicians identify pain points and articulate the value of different options the customer might have.
• Provide a clear path to closing the sale that does not compromise the relationship. In most customer environments, trust is created because there is not a sales discussion but a benefits discussion. To close the sale, the Technician needs to have a very easy process that allows the customer to take the next steps without feeling they have been pressured. Generally this is either a lead generation process where inside sales will follow up and close the opportunity, or it might be the availability of a fast and easy order placement to satisfy the need for ‘low value’ orders.[/unordered_list]

4. Motivation - Practice makes Perfect

But how to ensure motivation? Some people are motivated by money and some are more motivated by solving the customer’s problems (generally technicians). There is no right or wrong answer, it all depends on your people and what makes them tick. Whatever direction you choose, you should make sure that the Trusted Advisor role is embedded in their job profile through balanced performance measures. Another important facet to motivation is to share best practices and experiences with colleagues.

Have senior technicians coach or mentor the more junior. Use direct customer feedback insights and processes to demonstrate that Trusted Advisor behaviour does make a real difference to customer’s satisfaction and loyalty.

Developing Trusted Advisor capability in your team is very much a management art. So gaining different perspectives from internal and external colleagues is extremely important as you raise self-awareness, discover the secrets of consultative selling, coaching and best practices.

If you would like more practical advice on how to get the most from your service operation, you can contact Nick Frank at nick.frank@si2partners.com

Be social and share this feature