Improving customer service through targeted quality assurance and quality control
Today high-quality customer service is essential for manufacturers and service providers alike. Bad aftersales service is quickly “going around“ in the era of evaluation platforms and discussion forums, and consequently, it will directly decrease future profit and turnover. Especially when it comes down to direct marketing platforms such as Amazon, for instance, or similar online markets, hardly anything can be achieved anymore nowadays without proper reviews and ratings.
Those who are looking for a certain product or service will not just check the subjective descriptions of the provider. Rather, they will rely on the viewpoints and statements of many other customers. Since no product or service can obtain 100 % perfection and customer satisfaction in practice, aftersales service is all the more important today. Providers’ responses to inquiries and communication with customers who are experiencing problems will strongly impact customer satisfaction. In this manner, even unhappy customers can still get satisfied to a certain extent and thus, “bad press” can be reduced. Ultimately, good aftersales service has a lot to do with good quality management. Quality assurance, quality planning, and quality control can constitute efficient tools on the path to higher customer satisfaction since they specify processes on the one hand and focus on continual improvement on the other hand.
Customer service is basic for all the competitive advantages
Still making it compared to large numbers of competitors will be hard nowadays if customers are not happy. In most areas there are way too many possible providers to choose from, and the internet enables customers to easily find them without any complications whatsoever. Bad aftersales service is especially problematic because for reasons of social psychology, angry customers tend to share their viewpoints much more frequently than happy clients do. The effect that one should not believe in any ratings which are exclusively of a positive nature also stems from that. 100 % customer satisfaction is hardly achievable in practice, yet good customer service can prevent negative opinions from having such a major impact on things.
In this sense, aftersales service is nowadays basic for nearly all the competitive advantages. Those who can score over plenty of good ratings (“stars”) and viewpoints simply have a fundamental advantage which is very difficult to balance through even the very best self-presentations and product descriptions when it comes down to acquiring new customers.
General advantages of quality management in aftersales service
Quality management always ought to be considered a comprehensive construct. Therefore, partial implementation is never optimal and hardly advisable with regard to any practice. Aftersales service constitutes the end of a large chain of manufacturing and service processes, and that’s exactly why quality assurance should focus on it to such a special extent.
Bad aftersales service doesn’t only make for bad ratings but also automatically for less marketing based on recommendations. High return rates over bad aftersales service affect turnover, and above all, it also takes a lot of time and staff to sort them out.
Therefore, the following advantages stem directly from a well-planned quality management system in aftersales service, among other things:
- Higher turnover because of generally improved customer satisfaction
- Higher profit due to fewer returns and fewer efforts in returns and complaints management
- A competitive edge over better, viral marketing
- Reduced liability risks since even very unhappy customers can still get satisfied
- Enhanced employee satisfaction over specified and structured processes
Aftersales service ought to be considered an item to be particularly emphasized in quality management since almost any and all modern QM standards prioritize customer orientation to a very special extent. That means that most upstream processes are also already implicitly aligned to customers’ wishes and requirements as of today.
Consequently, aftersales and customer service ought to be underlined especially here, of course – for, after all, the closest end customer interaction will take place during these processes.
Quality management requirements in aftersales service
Naturally, aftersales service should continue to concentrate especially on the maxim of customer orientation. The focus ought to be on customer needs and on meeting them as smoothly as possible.
Then, conceptions for even surpassing customer expectations will create very clear competitive advantages. However, they need to fit overall business conceptions, of course.
Well-trained and motivated coworkers are the backbone of good aftersales service since they are responsible for direct communication with customers. Those who really understand customer problems and wishes can also cater to them in a targeted, purposeful manner and offer optimum solutions. To that end, in-house aftersales service ought to be the rule, but, of course, the manner in which good aftersales service can be organized will depend on customer volume and the numbers of inquiries that are to be expected accordingly.
Quality management needs to aim at continual improvement in the aftersales service department as well. Regular audits and appropriate error correction measures need to be implemented at an early point in time for automatic optimization processes to be able to take hold and effect.
Quality management in aftersales service also needs to be strictly “data-driven”, to say the least. The entire quality assurance and planning have to be based on measurable facts so that reading positive or negative tendencies can be read directly
Quality management in aftersales service with PeRoBa in Munich
As an experienced consultation company in the quality management area, we are relying mainly on comprehensive conceptions. Based on our long-term experience in the sophisticated automotive and mechanical engineering industries, we can likewise help companies from other sectors to improve their quality management and especially, their aftersales service in a sustainable manner. Regardless of whether it’s about general quality assurance measures, certifications, or general process enhancements, PeRoBa GmbH (LLC) in Munich is your professional partner for better aftersales service over quality management in aftersales service.
You want to improve your customer service? Quality management in customer service!
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