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THE EFFECTS OF AFTER-SALES SERVICES

Providing your customers with well organised, comprehensive after-sales services holds many advantages for your company. Organisations who have designed service workflows see results in their KPIs:

• Customer loyalty
• Customer satisfaction
• Revenue

A comprehensive, digitised, and integrated after-sales service does not replace account management - it enhances it. This helps you to learn more about the strengths and weaknesses of your products, therefore getting better over time and sustainably increasing the attractiveness of your offer for targeted groups.

Services such as installation, training, and inspection, and planned and reactive field maintenance ensure that your products work perfectly at all times and that your customers are fully satisfied. If problems do occur, you can react directly and resolve them within the shortest possible time - another plus point in terms of customer satisfaction that increases the chances of long-term customer loyalty.

Last but not least, after-sales services offer enormous revenue potential: profit margins are often higher in the after-sales area than in the sale of the actual product. At the same time, you need less budget for the support of your existing customers than for the acquisition of new customers. Your regular customers and their satisfied recommendations form a strong basis for the continued existence and future growth of your company.

CURRENT TRENDS IN AFTER-SALES SERVICE

Technical developments, changing customer needs and new business models bring about innovations and changes in after-sales service. Companies that need to be at the forefront should be guided by the following strategies.

After-sales field service in conjunction with servitisation
Servitisation, a strategy in which companies move away from pure products and towards services, is gaining ground in the manufacturing sector. By merging your core business with additional services, you create an inseparable product-service system with higher profit margins that is tailored to your customers' needs.

By focusing more on services, companies remain competitive and future-proof even in the face of shrinking sales figures. At the same time, innovative leasing and comprehensive maintenance contracts set you apart from your competitors and position you as an attractive niche in the market.

Digitalisation and IoT solutions in after-sales service
Maintenance and troubleshooting immediately and without being on site - digitalisation and the Internet of Things (IoT) make this possible. Systems report their status and malfunctions in real time, so that your service technicians only have to travel to the customer when it is really necessary.

For your customers, this means an even smoother process with fewer breakdowns. The Internet of Things makes it easier for you to plan operations in advance and efficiently. By deploying your staff as effectively as possible, you save on personnel costs without your customers having to make any sacrifices in terms of service.

It also opens up additional after-sales services: Make the data you collect and its evaluation available to your customers and use it to recommend accessories and other equipment to them.

Professional route planning for optimised customer service
The view of customer service is increasingly moving away from the cost centre to the profit centre. Good service is a sales argument, and sometimes it even sells other services and products. For your service to be convincing, however, it must do its homework. Customer tolerance for long waiting times, unspecific time windows ('Our technician will visit between 08:00 and 18:00') and poorly prepared appointments is decreasing.