How can good marketers improve customer- support services? Shubham Goswami Jadavpur University
How can good marketers improve customer support services
Aug 17, 2015
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How can good marketers improve customer-support
services?
Shubham GoswamiJadavpur University
Manufacturers of equipment must provide product-support services
Product-support service is quickly becoming a battleground for competitive advantage
John Deere derives significant profits from these services
Identifying and SatisfyingCustomer Needs
Traditionally customers have had 3specific worries about product service
Failure frequency Downtime Out of pocket costs
Purchase cost
Discounted cost of
maintenance –
Discounted salvage
value
Life-cycle cost
A buyer takes all these into account in order to estimate the life-cycle cost
A manufacturer must identify the services customers value most and their relative importance, in order to provide the best support
Service mix
Presale
Facilitating services (for expensive equipment)
Value augmenting services (that extend beyond extend beyond
functioning and product performance)
Postsale
Customer service departments
Repair and maintenance services
Postsale Service Strategy
Customer-Service Evolution
Manufacturers usually start by running their own parts-and-service departments
Over time they switch more maintenance and repair service to authorized distributors and dealers
Still later independent service firms emerge offering a lower price and better service
The Customer Service Imperative
Customer service choices are increasing rapidly
However equipment manufacturers must increasingly make out how to make money on their equipment, independent of service contracts
For instance some new car warranties now cover 100,000 km before servicing
Summary
Even product based companies must provide post-purchase service
A manufacturer must identify the services customers value most and their relative importance
The service mix includes both presale and postsale services
Disclaimer
Created byShubham Goswami, Jadavpur University, during a marketing internship byProf. Sameer Mathur, IIM Lucknow(see www.IIMInternship.com)
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