If you have been following this series and acting on its recommendations, you should be seeing the benefits of your efforts already. Your field service professionals will be identifying more opportunities to help your customers, who will be experiencing better overall performance of their facilities and systems. Your business will be rewarded with more revenues and profits. The challenge now is how to promote your team’s efforts to bolster the loyalty of existing customers and win over new ones.

Strengthening Bonds with Existing Customers

Now is the time to differentiate your service from your competitors based on the proactive efforts of your field service professionals. How will you reinforce the value of your proactive actions? How have service levels improved? How can you reassure your customers that they made the right decision in choosing you as their service provider?

As you plan how to communicate this, think about:

    • How will you describe the proactive efforts of your service team?
    • How does your proactive approach improve performance and service levels?
    • What measurable benefits has the customer experienced (or can they expect)? Consider such factors as: 1) improvements in quality and/or productivity; 2) security enhancements; and 3) cost reduction

If you have not already done so, now is the time to consider your service contract management processes. If you currently do not have a formal annual (or more frequent) review of the contract with the customer, now may be a good time to implement the process. An annual review gives you a formal opportunity to discuss the positive impact of your field team’s efforts. It allows you to review outstanding proposals. You can use this process to help your customer plan for major capital expenditures.

Finally, give some consideration to who will present this information to your customers. What role will your field service team play in this communication? How will you prepare them to answer any questions that might arise?

Winning New Customers

Your proactive approach to helping your customers can be a significant differentiator when competing for new contracts. It makes sense to plan how you will convey the value of your approach. Some things that you may wish to consider include:

  • What will be your sales proposition?
  • What testimonials or other documentation of the value of your efforts will you provide?
  • What literature will you prepare? How will it be used?
  • What information will you include on your website?
  • What training will you provide to your contract sales team?
  • How will you measure the effectiveness of your efforts?

By embarking on an approach that leverages the knowledge and expertise of your field service team to find measurable ways to help your customers achieve their business goals, you are creating a valuable service that is distinct in the marketplace. Your customers are literally better off for having known you. Make sure that your prospective customers can clearly see the difference in your approach. Tell them what you are doing and why. You have a great story to tell.

I hope you have found this series helpful. If you are interested in learning more, you might find our “Beyond GREAT SERVICE Planning Guide” of value. It takes a more detailed approach to the process showcased here. Click on this link for more information.

If you have any comments on these articles or would like to share your experience of engaging your field service team in business development efforts, I would be delighted to hear from you. You can reach me by email at .

ABOUT Jim Baston

Avatar photoJim Baston is president of BBA Consulting Group Inc., a consulting and training firm located in Ontario, Canada. Since founding BBA Consulting Group in 2001, Jim has focused his attention on helping technical service companies develop and implement strategies to transform field service personnel from reluctant into enthusiastic promoters of their company’s products and services. He is also the author of several books about how service companies can improve customer satisfaction and revenue, including "Beyond Great Service: The Technician's Role in Proactive Business Growth."