Customer service has never been more important than it is in today’s services-oriented environment. Companies increasingly measure customer satisfaction, and the tools for monitoring field service performance are becoming both more sophisticated and more pervasive among the leading businesses in every field.

Undoubtedly, your organization is already measuring and monitoring customer satisfaction performance on a regular basis. But it is important to acknowledge that the field technician is the principal, if not sole, representative of your company after the initial equipment sale. As a result, each customer’s degree of satisfaction will be largely dependent on their personal relationship with the field tech. Fair or not, your organization’s customer satisfaction ratings will ultimately depend on the field technician’s ability to deliver exactly what makes customers happy.

Customer Service No-Nos

Past studies have shown that what really makes customers unhappy is having to deal with someone who does not take ownership when a problem occurs. In most cases, that “someone” is the field tech who finds himself at a disadvantage since something has gone wrong.

Fair or not, your organization’s customer satisfaction ratings will ultimately depend on the field technician’s ability to deliver exactly what makes customers happy.

Customers expect an informed and well-prepared service technician to arrive on-site — one who can articulate what needs to be done, communicate in a language they can understand, and make the repair as quickly as possible – without disrupting any ongoing business operations. The key to defusing the situation and pleasing the customer? Information about the customer, the equipment history and all previous service call activity.

Jack-of-All-Trades, At Your Service

customer happiness

Look for a variety of character traits, skills, and experiences when hiring for customer service and support-related positions:

  • Problem solving skills
  • Ability to handle stressful, complex situations
  • Strong sense of responsibility and accountability
  • Business writing and storytelling skills
  • Technical know-how and certifications
  • “People skills” with both customers and co-workers
  • Compassionate, customer-oriented attitude

But skillsets alone are not enough to make customers happy. Technicians must also be disposed to helping customers. For example, if a technician is clearly unhappy when he arrives at the customer site, chances are the customers will share the tech’s’ displeasure.

Of course, making the customer happy is not exclusively dependent on the technician’s frame of mind, but it plays an outsize role. It is incumbent upon technicians, as the principal company ambassadors, to make sure that its interactions with customers are always cordial, constructive, informative — and aimed at the task at hand: fixing equipment and allowing the customer to get back to business as usual.