On the one hand, companies recognise that well-marketed, good service brings value to suppliers they might use, such as high quality car outlets, but the car advertisements never talk of service only about the brand, features and the exhilarating ride. Yet once the vehicle is purchased, excellent service becomes a real motivator of satisfaction and seems to reinforce loyalty.

What is becoming apparent in service is that it is marketed best through customers who recommend, refer or repurchase. In some companies, marketing the service offering is still considered as anathema and probably stems from a heritage of opinion based on outdated service systems. This legacy is detrimental, particularly if the consequence is that service is not marketed and business efficiency is sacrificed.

Service organisations were established to remedy manufacturing errors, so marketing service (if at all) was often simply the offer to fix a problem promptly so that the impact on the user was minimal: the level of warranty on offer usually the minimum required to satisfy legal requirements. Once outside warranty, the customer would be expected to meet the cost of repair or replacement so service evolved as a revenue opportunity for the business.

As equipment became more reliable, the margin on service improved with little effort, but as quality improves, margins are narrowed, customer expectations and demands increase – resulting in the current scenario in which maintaining margins is a constant struggle.

Product reliability is still a major sales advantage so marketing the quality and responsiveness of the service operation can sometimes present a confusing message.  Service must be presented to the customer as value for money through the product lifetime with the provision of extended warranties and service contracts.

In this situation the role of service is potentially multi-faceted; the reliability of the product is essential to making these contracts profitable, because in the rare situation when a fault occurs, a response within the agreed service level agreement will require the service operation to perform.

The service support engineer (on the help desk or in the field) has to be productive and knowledgeable – able to fix a broad range of equipment as quickly as possible, and avoid the necessity of a visit, but this system of working is counterproductive because it does not recognise service as adding value by positioning the service provided as a powerful competitive differentiator.

Focus on improving the customer interface into an effective source of customer information, supported by technically skilled engineers trained in handling and communicating with customers and capable of ‘interrogating’ customers to gain valuable information about their needs and their aspirations for what service can provide – while endorsing company values and the quality of the company as a supplier.

This attitude provides a completely new, (relatively) low cost entrée with customers and this mechanism should be considered a positive way to market the business and the service provided. Information gathered by the engineers can be a high quality source of marketing information regarding the needs and aspirations of the customers in terms of the quality of products and service expected.

Optimum ways of working are rarely established by accident, and it is no good relying on existing service interface personnel to accept changing methodology, without getting the whole business to recognise the developing role of the service interface personnel. If the perception within the company is still of engineers as technicians repairing equipment in the field, little value will be attributed to the information they can gather.

In many cases companies are still unsure how to ‘use’ engineers, how to ‘reward’ them or how to get them talking to the appropriate representatives in the customer environment. Such uncertainties and doubts as to the virtues of service have caused many companies to fail to give clear direction to the engineer, resulting in mixed messages and reduced motivation and satisfaction.

Companies are asking the wrong question! They should be asking who is the best, most effective marketing agency available to a business … the answer is obvious: the customer. There is empirical evidence available showing that most people make their final purchasing decision based on recommendation.

Customers can be guided and supported by high quality engineers who have ensured that the customer’s experience of the product and the company has always been good. In addition they should know the local sales representatives (this should work both ways) and be trusted by them to provide good quality contacts: the sales team working hand in glove with the service personnel will provide advice and answers to questions.

The customer always wants reliability, consistency and quality – if your provision also includes innovation and insight into how to work with the equipment more efficiently and effectively, suddenly the vendor becomes a partner. Extra cost for the supplier may be involved, but service support personnel can be provided at much lower cost than sales personnel and these may prove more cost effective as a contact with the customer, and provide a source of income.

The biggest benefit gained from the information provided by the customer interface can be gained from positioning and providing additional service where the need has been identified through the quality and accuracy of feedback from the customer. The best service interface contact can provide business in the future because the customer will appreciate the differentiated value provided specifically for them and hopefully will be prepared to recommend (to a third party) the value provided, as well as return themselves to buy again.

Research from the service industry members highlighted that service providers are having to build new types of service propositions because they are driven by increasing customer needs beyond traditional maintenance offerings. Additional requirements, such as account management, partner management and change management, etc, provide a complete support package that requires the construction of a service model that can deliver tailored offerings to each customer.

Building such a model takes time; without accurate feedback from customers this is an impossible task, one that can only be successfully achieved through long-term partnerships, built up through understanding exactly what is valuable to each party and with an understanding of the cost/value relationship of such provisions.

The cost of selling services through referral, reference or even a re-purchase (ie an internal recommendation) is low, however the value to the supplier is of significance. Endorsement or referral can also save 20% to 30% of the sales cycle and increase the chance of success while reducing the investment required in time and money.

Do not lose sight of the value available from customers wishing to be allied with a certain supplier as association displays a certain cache. Such relationships underline the interaction between supplier and customer; the customer’s support of their supplier will ultimately result in better service to their organisation. Promoting a supplier and enhancing their reputation will reinforce their (ego) decision to use the best.

One key area of marketing that the service operation must tackle is the internal operation – gaining accolades from within the business is the best place to raise the profile of the value of service. Sales will sell the value of service to the customer and the business (they must not just ‘give’ it away, because they do not value it), so an endorsement, and support from sales will make all the difference to the perceived value of service. Quality car outlets usually locate showrooms in such a way that the service department is adjacent, and the sales team members can justifiably extol the virtues of the service team because they know that high quality service helps them to sell high quality cars.

In summary, the offerings (service and product) provided to a customer will influence the customer towards one supplier rather than another. Recognise the importance of utilising hidden talents and assets that are available at the service interface to continually monitor and update your (market) intelligence about your customer, their needs and aspirations.

Effective communication and valuable insights highlight the need to differentiate your business from the competition by training, developing and retaining highly skilled and talented staff able to work closely with customers to generate loyalty and satisfaction, and to encouraging customers to sell your company to anyone who will listen, thereby achieving low cost endorsement while procuring high quality sales.