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Total Customer Service for Profitability

by Lawrence Swaton

304 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #03-0450; ISBN 1-4120-0087-4; US$40.00, C$57.00, EUR37.10, £25.70

This book highlights customer service from a strategy viewpoint, starting at product development and following the entire product life cycle. An integral customer service manual for any industry.

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about the book      about the author      excerpts      catalogue info

About the Book The book covers customer service from a strategy viewpoint. It starts as the product is being developed and continues through the product life cycle. It covers planning, marketing, maintenance, training, documentation, staffing, technical support, warranty, contracts, accounting, logistics, inventory, leadership, field service and collecting action. It is a chess game to put them together as a system. For more information, visit Larry Swaton's website at www.swatonandassociates.com.

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About the Author Larry Swaton is a native of Ohio, received his B.S. from Muskingum College and his MBA from Rollins College in Winter Park, FL. He has worked in the Automotive, Defense, Electronics, Aerospace and Healthcare Businesses. In addition he has consulted in many other fields. He has managed a world wide field service organization as well as consulting with many organizations in that field. He is an American Society Quality fellow, a member of the Association of Field Service Managers International and was named as professional service manager of the year by that organization. He has served on several boards in various industries. He has published in the fields of Quality, Management Customer Service and Financial Planning. He and his wife Nancy reside in New Smyrna Beach, Florida.

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Excerpts

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface
Introduction
Chapter 1 Strategy
Chapter 2 Customer Service During R&D
Chapter 3 Project Planning
Chapter 4 Marketing
Chapter 5 Maintenance
Chapter 6 Training
Chapter 7 Service Manual
Chapter 8 Operations Manual
Chapter 9 Staffing
Chapter 10 MIS
Chapter 11 Technical Support
Chapter 12 Warranty
Chapter 13 Contracts
Chapter 14 Accounting for Service
Chapter 15 P&L
Chapter 16 Logistics
Chapter 17 Inventory
Chapter 18 Leadership
Chapter 19 Field Service
Chapter 20 Corrective Action

PREFACE

PROFIT--is the result of product features and benefits along with quality and customer service. Superior quality and service provide a competitive edge that leads to increased market share and profitability with the added benefits of both short-term profits and long-term strategic business growth.

Most enterprises, at least those that are run for profit, should recognize that customers tend to purchase quality goods and expect prompt and comprehensive follow-up service. If this has not been recognized, it is time to understand that the customer pays the bills. Customers decide whose product or service is desirable, how much they will pay, how often they will buy, and in the long run, dictate the survival of the business. The better the quality of products and the more the exacting service, the better the return on assets. Consequently, a company can gain a competitive advantage by attention to customer service. It is superior product quality and follow-up service that satisfy the customer and reduce the cost of doing business and thus return a higher profit. The greatest loss is when someone doesn't buy your product or service, which often occurs as the result of poor quality or customer service.

Studies have shown that companies with the greatest market share have a greater profitability than companies with a lesser market share, at least in the great majority of cases. Such studies further show that those companies with the best quality and service tend to have a greater market share. It is clear that what a customer will pay more for and buy more of will multiply the profitability.

There are many books, courses and other available tools for quality personnel to draw on to improve their capabilities. There are many works on marketing that help with that practice. One can go to school and or take many courses to learn about manufacturing costs and inventory planning for production (such as ABC planning and inventory turns).

There is far less information available for the customer service people. Where are the courses on cost accounting for service? Where is the information on costs for not having the right part in the service engineer*s kit (not having the right part will create costs to pick, pack and ship, plus the engineer wait time}? Manpower planning is not as well defined for service engineers personnel as it is for manufacturing, yet the cost of a service engineer*s time may be four times greater than that of the manufacturing person.

Maintenance requirements for both the customer and the supplier are not well defined nor are their costs normally studied for the lowest lifecycle cost. Planning for spare parts and frequency of shipment is often overlooked, resulting in excess cost. The purpose of this book is to provide thought provoking insight into the entire process of "Customer Service." The process starts when the product is conceived and continues until the product is no longer used by the customer (this is true even if the product hasn't been produced for years).

Customer Service is not generic; it is specific and strategic, so we cannot cover all the alternatives. We can and will, however, cover many areas that apply to all Service organizations regardless of product or industry.

The book cannot determine whether you should train your customers separately or by some other method. It can tell you that customer training is important and that it costs money not to do it right. It cannot tell you whether to service a product in the field or to swap it out, but it can steer you to analyze the process and determine the most cost effective method. It cannot calculate the staffing required for the Service engineers, but it can and does give a tool for performing that function.

It is our sincere hope that you will end up with many tools that can be utilized in the Service process to save you money, better serve your customers, improve employee conditions and truly realize the profit potential of Service. No longer will you view Service as the nuisance that many people consider it to be.

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Catalogue Information

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