Ask several service business owners
what it means when they offer Value
–Added Service and you will get
several different responses.
One may claim that they provide
quick and timely service with short
waiting periods and this is a value
to their customers.
Another will remark that
their Value –Added Service to their
customers is the quality of their
technicians.
Others will say that their
customer do business with them because
of the quality of their customer
service personnel.
Most business owners I speak to
generally claim that they have better
people, better service and more
technical expertise than all of
their competitors.
This can be somewhat confusing
since their competitors are saying
the same thing.
Actually it is the customer that
determines whether a business provides
Value-Added Service.
It does not matter what you
think as a business owner what value
you provide to the customer it is
what your customer thinks your value
is.
This means that the definition
of Value-Added varies from customer
to customer.
As today economy grows more complex
and more competitive so has the
customers expectation and their
definition of value has also grown
more varied.
Many of the things you had
built into you business as Value-Add
may no longer be important to your
customers and viewed by your customer
as worth paying for today.
If you are going to remain
competitive in today market you
must be flexible and capable of
offering different things to different
customers, this increases the opportunity
in meeting the customers expectations
and what is a value to them.
This means you must have a method
in determining what is valuable
to each of your customers and some
process that allows you to package,
present and implement those values
that appeal to and meeting the customer’s
expectations.
You must continually update
your understanding of what the customer
really values and what the customer
is willing to pay for.
Unfortunately, much of the consumer
electronics business world is populated
with technically-mined management
who view there position as providing
technical solutions to technical
problems.
While this is certainly a
significant part of the job and
generally an important value for
providing great service it is not
sufficient in meeting the customer’s
expectation for what they believe
is value added service. As well,
others may see themselves as face-to-face
customer service people, dealing
with service issues on a routine
basis as they work with customer
with similar problems on the same
product lines in the same manner.
More frequently the Value-Add of
any service organization are determined
by deeper and broader issues than
those addressed by these limited
perspectives.
How you address every customer
issues from the initial point of
contact through the timely completion
of the service you provide is more
likely to be the determining factor
that the customer identifies as
Value-Added Service and validates
the cost you charge for your services.
There
is a great opportunity for the service
organization that will stimulate
their staff to continuously improve
their skills in asking questions,
listening constrictively and understanding
the deeper needs of the customers
and this will give that organization
the competitive edge
The service organization that can
create a positive business relationship
and experience with their customers
and expand their abilities to bring
creative solutions while dealing
with a wide variety of personality
styles will be recognized as a company
that bring Value-Added Service to
their customers.
DO
YOU PROVIDE VALUE-ADDED SERVICE
TO YOUR CUSTOMERS?
