Not too long ago, people mostly saw customer service as a cost to deal with customer complaints. But now, things have changed. In today’s market, online reviews and social conversations matter more than ads, and products often don’t differ much in features or price. Hence, customer service now serves as a crucial way to stand out.
Many manufacturing service providing firms are realizing the shift but often miss using customer service as a powerful tool to acquire new clients. This blog will explore the benefits of a customer service-focused manufacturing business approach and how you can implement the same.
Advantages of Implementing a Customer-Centric Approach in Manufacturing Service
The advantages of embracing a customer-focused approach in manufacturing service extend well beyond customer retention and acquisition. Establishing a culture centered around customer service can bring about a significant transformation across various levels within the organization.
Recent findings reveal a significant shift, as 71% of manufacturing service teams now prioritize building deeper customer relationships over the last 12–18 months. Additionally, 63% have increased their focus on personalizing service interactions.
Now, let’s delve into the reasons driving these changes.
Enhanced Customer Loyalty
Effective customer service plays a pivotal role in ensuring customer satisfaction. In the contemporary manufacturing industry, many companies operate on a performance-based contract model.
Larger companies often outsource production to smaller, dedicated firms, and contract renewals depend on the manufacturer’s performance.
Businesses that invest more in client satisfaction are naturally poised for better performance, increasing the likelihood of contract renewals. Leveraging technology enables manufacturers to gather extensive data on clients and internal processes.
This valuable data fosters a deeper understanding of customers, strengthens relationships, and enhances process efficiency and output. Quality control software and manufacturing execution systems are vital for enhancing customer service. They ensure product standards and address issues promptly, fostering repeat business and upselling chances.
Improved Collaboration Between Production and Sales
Efficiency and profitability in the manufacturing industry hinge on the alignment of two crucial departments: production and sales. By prioritizing manufacturing customer service and adopting the right technological tools, manufacturers can gain a comprehensive view of their customers.
On the sales front, this facilitates identifying opportunities, proactive engagement, and revenue generation.
From a production standpoint, this comprehensive view enables better prediction of production pipelines, minimizing wastage and reducing overhead costs. This leads to a leaner, more efficient, and more profitable enterprise.
Adopting a customer service-oriented mindset is crucial for future-proofing manufacturing businesses and delivering memorable customer service experiences. To achieve this, implementing proven customer service best practices is key.
Improving Manufacturing Customer Service: 7 Key Focus Areas
To create a customer-friendly approach in your manufacturing service providing business, pay attention to these important areas:
- Quality Products: Make sure your products meet high standards and fulfill customer expectations in terms of performance, durability, and safety.
- Easy Communication: Offer instant live chat support through popular messaging channels like Facebook Messenger, Instagram, Whatsapp, and Telegram to let customers know you’re available.
- Customized Solutions: Provide personalized products and services to match specific customer needs and preferences.
- Smooth Supply Chain: Simplify your supply chain and logistics to ensure products are delivered on time, minimizing disruptions to the customer experience.
- Strong After-Sales Support: Provide comprehensive after-sales support, including technical assistance, maintenance, and repair services, to ensure customer satisfaction and loyalty.
- Digital Innovation: Use digital technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), automation, and big data analytics to enhance the overall customer experience and create new value.
- Employee Support: Invest in employee training and development to keep your staff engaged, motivated, and well-prepared to deliver a positive customer experience.
Conclusion
In the highly competitive manufacturing service industry, acquiring a new customer can be significantly more expensive than retaining existing ones (almost 5 to 25 times more). This proves that companies need to prioritize manufacturing customer service.
Particularly in more traditional sectors, this involves stepping out of the comfort zone, reassessing processes and technology, and exploring entirely new approaches.
We recommend taking a moment for some internal analysis within your organization to establish a framework for improvement. Implementing such changes requires a significant investment of time and resources.
Therefore, we suggest that you practice smaller experiments to better map out a strategy for customer satisfaction and foster loyalty.