42 Rules for Superior Field Service

Book excerpt: With few exceptions, the service business is viewed as a "necessary evil". Servicing products, after they are sold and in customers' hands, is frequently overlooked and can be a source of customer dissatisfaction and profit loss. This thinking results in missed opportunities to convert customers into advocates and to generate significant business revenue. If you are in the field service business, you should be designing solutions that benefit the customer and are profitable for your company. This includes developing a field service strategy, organizing the service business, optimizing field inventories, implementing Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and tailoring sales incentives. Complicating field service operations in today's environment is the global nature of the installed base and where in the world your products and spares are manufactured. Sourcing global parts, managing the parts supply chain and the investment required are the things that keep managers up at night. This book provides 42 essential rules to benchmark and develop a global service business. You will learn: How to develop a profitable field service strategy and organization How to survey customers and drive improvement in field service operations The impact of poor field service on the bottom line What to do in an emergency What to consider when developing field repair inventories What systems and tools to consider ...and much more Rosemary Coates and Jim Reily have a combined 50+ years of global manufacturing and field service experience from companies such as Hewlett Packard and Cisco as well as the US Military. In addition they have worked on consulting engagements with a proven track record of amazing field service results. They offer insights and recommendations based on real-world experience