To thrive in today’s competitive field service landscape, you have to be willing to play a figurative game of chess. Much like a chess player, you must anticipate your customer’s next move in order to get the upper hand. In fact, 50% of customers say they will be loyal to a business if it manages to predict their needs. But what do customers expect from field service organizations?
In this article, we’ll explore the top three priorities for customers who require field services. We’ll also discuss how field service management software enables you to meet their high standards without adding extra work to your team’s ‘to-do’ list.
FIELD SERVICES: WHAT DO CUSTOMERS EXPECT?
1. A KNOWLEDGEABLE TEAM
According to data from PwC, 46% of people will abandon a brand if a services team is not knowledgeable. Therefore, ensuring your entire team has all the information they need to hand is paramount to impressing your clients.
With a field service management platform, you can keep a detailed electronic record of all interactions with your customers from the moment they book an appointment via the online self-service portal. As such, your team can see all their requirements and use the data to assign the right stock, equipment and technician to the job.
The best platforms also provide an app that gives your technicians access to vital information from their mobile devices. Using the app, the technician can view the customer’s file and instantly understand the issue.
Providing your team with all the knowledge they need to do an outstanding job will improve productivity as tasks take less time to complete and leave a lasting impression on your customers. You’ll likely also find that clients are more inclined to lean on your expertise over your competitors’ next time they require field services.
2. A NO-FUSS SERVICE
Field service organizations with a first-time fix rate of over 70% enjoy an 86% customer retention rate. With modern customers leading busy lives, ensuring that your technicians complete the job the first time is key to delivering a service that meets their expectations.
The good news is that achieving a high first-time fix rate needn’t be a challenging task. Using field service management software, you can start making an improvement immediately. Once customers make a booking, your back-office staff can see the nature of their issue, which enables them to select a technician based on location, skill set and vehicle type.
After the most appropriate technician is assigned, your team can allocate specific gear to the job. Your workers will then always turn up with everything they need to complete the project on the first visit.
Aside from enabling your technicians to attend more appointments per day, you’ll also lose less time to repeat visits, which can eat into your profits. Additionally, your customers will be impressed at the speed and simplicity of the service and may be more inclined to recommend your business to their friends and family.
3. RAPID COMMUNICATION
Only 14% of customers say they’re happy with current business communications. Your clients don’t have time to sit on the phone for hours to talk to a representative, nor do they want to wait at home all day because they were given a vague time slot.
Fortunately, field service management platforms like TimeLinx can make effective communication more straightforward than ever. For example, once your team has dispatched each technician, the system will send automated texts and emails to your customers, including a live tracking link. As a result, your customers can see precisely where their technicians are, meaning they won’t have to keep calling the office for an update.
Furthermore, the platform will pull through information from the integrated CRM (customer relationship management) system to create a personalized follow-up email once the work is complete. The email is an excellent opportunity to show that you value your clients and collect feedback via a customer satisfaction survey.
With such vital data at your fingertips, you’ll be able to continue shaping your operations based on customer expectations and simultaneously grow and develop the business.
FIELD SERVICE MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE HELPS YOU ANTICIPATE CUSTOMERS’ NEEDS
Unsurprisingly, companies that focus on delivering a superior customer experience bring in 5.7 times more revenue than those that don’t focus on their clients’ needs. However, if you’re still relying on legacy systems and manual administration methods to manage your customer relationships, you risk falling behind your competitors.
By making the switch to state-of-the-art field service management software, you can automate the time-consuming processes that may have historically fallen through the cracks as other tasks took priority. For instance, never again will your team have to remember to update your customers on the whereabouts of technicians, nor will you have to wonder if your clients were satisfied with the work.
Instead, you can anticipate your customers’ needs, collect feedback that helps to improve your business and streamline your operations at the touch of a button.
EXCEED CUSTOMER EXPECTATIONS AND GROW YOUR BUSINESS WITH TIMELINX
Our fully integrated CRM and FSM system gives you a 360˚ view of every account, contact site and contract. Deliver positive customer experiences at every level thanks to an array of dynamic product features.
