External customer service: how to achieve efficient management?
More than following up on the team working, having an external customer service management is crucial to enable companies to visualize costs, carry out collections and measure the quality of their deliveries. So, your company needs an efficient modus operandi to eliminate common field failures, such as the lack of recording of some actions.
Imagine the following situation: a company that performs in loco services sends a professional to the customer’s headquarters. There, this employee performs several tasks related to the service he or she has been given in charge. For this purpose, this employee needs to know the customer, have a brief history of the relationship with the company, and the scope of work hired by this customer. Besides, the employee must report what has been accomplished, both for their leadership and for the customer.
This work routine is common to field service and has a clear challenge: how to ensure that both sides–customer and company–are complying with what has been agreed? Have all tasks performed been correctly charged? What is the customer’s assessment of the service that has been received?
To ensure efficient management, mobility is a major gap. Systems that can be accessed on smartphones and that are hosted in the cloud allow external teams to immediately report field actions. Below we explain how your company can optimize service and what features are powerful in this process. Check it out!
The first step: standardizing external customer service
How do you record, execute, and report in loco services in your business? To achieve efficient management in this process, it is essential to have routine standardization. From opening tickets, scheduling technical visits, carrying out consulting and service reports, the whole process must be well designed.
An efficient format for creating this standardization is the service catalog, which we have already talked about here. Using it, the company will survey of all actions involved in the external work and from this mapping will create well-designed actions. This script must be followed by the whole team, to pattern the performing of activities and keep it easier for checking information from day to day work.
A change in culture is essential
When the company becomes concerned about optimizing external services, commonly, it has to adopt new processes. Often, this change causes relationship disruption between leaders and professionals, which is not good for the business. A change in culture is never easy, especially when adopting processes for transparency.
Therefore, leaders must be aligned with this process and open to hearing what the team has to say. Together, they will identify points of improvement and what the greatest challenges employees face when they are in field, performing a service to the customer.
Technology: there is no better way to optimize your service
After creating a service catalog, the best way to put it into practice is to adopt a management tool that can be accessed by the team while performing its activities. Thus, in case of unforeseen events or doubts regarding the work to be done, the professional may consult important information, such as the customer service history, prior negotiation, and even open tickets, register tasks or the time intended for a particular work. Thus, you will have an updated report in real-time, without forgetting to inform the company everything you have done.
One of the gains of relying on a platform for the management of this type of service is the reduction of costs. This is because although there are unforeseen events or non-programmed actions, everything will be documented, for subsequent data collection. This management model is efficient, for example, to control SLAs and contracts where a certain number of hours of work are expected.
In use: Galileu Tecnologia
If you have questions about the use of this process, the case of Galileu Tecnologia will help you better understand it. The company sells equipment for the textile and compound industry, also provides technical services to customers, and has adopted the Ellevo platform.
By using automation all external services have been managed within the solution. The technician opens the platform in the customer field and quickly checks its history and carries out the project. Even outside the company, the technician performs the recordings and guarantees the company a macro view of the state of proceedings, for quick decision-making.
Check below the testimony of Luiz Henrique Ferreira, the director of Galileu:
“Before, inspection and scheduling were performed manually, which could result in errors. Moreover, there was no history of easy access, which hindered the progress of customer service. With the Ellevo platform, we gain agility and security of information, as well as effectiveness of the work.”
Do you want to ensure more effectiveness of the external service performed by your company? Contact our experts and find out more!