Tuesday, December 16, 2008

The Service Department Service The End Users View

Writen by Hubert Crowell

What is expected

Customers expect equipment to be returned in good working order in a reasonable time frame. They also expect all settings and adjustments to remain as they were when the equipment failed. The end user is reasonable, and they do not expect overnight repairs at any charge. They have been taught through experience not to expect to much. So it should be easy for a service department to exceed their expectations. A happy customer is one that is kept advised of the status of the repair and is aware of the cost before the repair is made so that they can make cost-effective decisions. I have found, in talking with customers over the years that the more that they understand about the problem the more they are willing to work with you. One must however, be careful not to disclose negative short comings of the company or of fellow employees. The best rule is that if you cannot say something good or positive about the company or a fellow employee, then say nothing at all. However mistakes do happen, even with the best employees. Mistakes will be made whenever action is being taken, we learn from these mistakes and try not to repeat them. Honest mistakes can be admitted without mentioning names and this can be a positive from the customers' view point. Mistakes are always best disclosed before the customer discovers them and brings them to your attention.

Employees should be encouraged to bring mistakes to their supervisors as soon as they are aware of them. This should not be viewed as a bad thing but a good action on the part of the employee, so that the mistake can be resolved as soon as possible. An employee that never makes mistakes may be too cautious and may not be productive, I would challenge this type of employee to be more aggressive and try new things. If your customers deal with more suppliers than you, then you need to know what the other suppliers are doing to meet their needs. End users are usually more than happy to share this information with you. This will help you in your decisions to replace or repair and to what level. You should always try to exceed their expectations. End users expect some startup problems with new products, but also expect fast corrections, this is where the need for fast and effective communications with the factory or manufacturer is required. When a customer calls in with a problem, they are grateful for any help they can receive. Any time the problem can be resolved by phone or e-mail you have exceeded their expectations. So a good service department starts with good phone support.

Experiences good and bad

The second call made by a customer relating to the same repair is a bad experience and should be prevented. If the stage of repair is phone support, the person providing the support should always try to be the person returning a call, not waiting on the customer, unless this is not convenient for the customer. There is nothing wrong in taking the customers' number or e-mail address and telling them that you will find the information and get back with them, just be sure that it is in a timely manner. After the equipment has been returned for repair contact should always be initiated by the service department by a phone call or by e-mail. E-mail is now preferred by most customers and should have a very clear subject line. Sometimes the subject line may be all that is required, letting the customer know that the equipment as arrived or that the repair is in progress. An employee that does not come in contact with the end user will be very reluctant to call or contact the customer. This fear can only be overcome by making repeated contact. I have found that even after years of phone support with end users, the more time that goes by without this contact makes it harder to start the contact again. Don't let an employee fall into the trap of just repairing equipment without becoming involved with the end user. The repair person should be contacting the end user anytime there is a question about how the equipment is used, settings that are in question or even to find out what the end user is expecting from the equipment. Many times the problem cannot be found, returned to the customer and then returned to the service department again for the same problem, only to discover that it is not the equipment but what is being expected of the equipment by the end user.

Promises not delivered

How many times have we promised a repair will be ready on a given date? If we make a commitment to a customer, then we should have a backup plan in place in case we cannot deliver. Have a service loaner available, or be prepared to replace the product with a new one or an equivalent restored unit. Employees should be encouraged to leave such commitments up to their supervisor, who would have the back up plans. There are always unknowns when making repairs, we may see a problem and make a commitment only to find another problem later which will delay the repair process. This should be viewed in the same way as an honest mistake or oversight and be brought to the attention of the supervisor and the end user, so that they can plan accordingly. One broken promise can wipe out all the promises delivered in the past to a customer. A good friend and coworker of mine had a saying "Some times you eat the bear and some times the bear eats you!" We can't always win but it helps when we have a backup plan or someone to call on for help. That fresh approach at a problem from another person is sometimes all it takes. Just don't take too long to ask for help.

Down Time

Down time is critical for a customer and when equipment arrives at the service center for repairs, every effort should be made to assure a quick turn around. Starting with the phone support, calls should not drag out. If progress is not being made on the repair, then the next step should be taken. Some companies have a Red Alert system for onsite service. A 4-4-4 Red Alert system works very well when working with an onsite service person. When the onsite service person has spent four hours on a problem and does not have the answer or know what must be done to resolve the problem, they must then call for technical support. Technical support then works up to four hours with the technician on the site. If both parties have not resolved the problem in a total of eight work hours, then the problem is escalated to a Red Alert stage. At this time sales should be advised so that they have the opportunity to work with the customer on non repair solutions. In some cases the problem is escalated to a senior technical person or maybe the factory. If repairs are normally done at the service center then the decision, by the phone support person, to return the equipment should be made within the first four hours or whatever time frame is acceptable in your market. If phone support is working with a customer doing their own repairs, then care must be taken not to proceed beyond the technical ability of the customer. This will vary greatly and will require skill on the part of your phone support person. When working for the RCA Service Company, when color television was just becoming popular, they had a 30 minute rule for the regular house call. If you did not have the answer to the problem within 30 minutes, you were required to call the bench person for assistance. They would give you a couple of things to try and if that did not fix the problem, you removed the chassis for return to the shop for repair. Taking 10 to 15 calls a day will really sharpen your skills. One trick I soon learned was to line up the easy looking calls for the morning (when possible as I laid out the route), and then I would save up some extra time so I could spend it at the end of the day working on a good problem on my own.

@ 2006 Hubert Crowell All rights reserved. No part of this work covered by the copyrights hereon may be reproduced or copied in any form or by any means-graphic, electronic, taping, or informational and retrieval systems - without the written permission of the author.

I have been fortunate to be able to work in the service area during a time when equipment was still being repaired. It has been a rewarding field to see the results of your efforts appear before your eyes as you replace a blown transistor and the equipment comes back to life, or to see the expression on some TV owners face when the picture improves. There was also the joy of teaching others from vocational school television repair courses to new product training in big corporate training rooms. There have also been hard decisions to stay in service or move onto management. I choose to remain at the repair and training level and was able to find some companies late in my career that were still making repairs at the component level. For complete paper on The Service Department, Please visit my web site at:

http://hucosystems.com/

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