Question

Topic: Strategy

Customer Contact Strategy

Posted by Anonymous on 2/7/2005 at 7:22 AM ET 125 Points
I’m Marketing Manager for Central and Eastern Europe, working for Honeywell, which operates in B2B market. My main role is to boost volume from after sales services. Once solution is installed how to make customer to sign service/maintenance contract. Like when you buy new car, after a while you need to exchange oil, go for some regular check up etc.
I'm looking for some frame work to help me to build for my sales reps Customer Contact Strategy. I have an idea, but I don't have any guidelines or "check-list" to compare what I shouldn't forget.
Is there anything existing related to the topic of Customer Contact Strategy? Any Case Study? Such as most efficient way to contact customers, when?, what to offer? How often?. Of course the best would be to follow my instinct but I’m looking for some academical approach. Heeeeeeeeeeeeelp.
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by Deremiah *CPE on 2/7/2005 at 4:25 PM Accepted
    Martini,

    What kind of work do you do exactly for Honeywell? The reason I ask is I may have a very relevant response as I competed against Honeywell when I worked for ADT & Securitylink From Ameritech. Are you in the security industry or is your work different than I'm thinking?

    Martini>My main role is to boost volume from after sales services.

    What specific measures or strategies do you currently use? By knowing this I will be able to design you a response that will not only provide you with a solid solution but simultaneously prevent me from offering you a solution you are currently using. Do you dig where I'm coming from? Look forward to your speedy response. Is there anything else I can do for you?

    Your Servant, Deremiah, *CPE (Customer Passion Evangelist)
  • Posted by Chris Blackman on 2/7/2005 at 5:29 PM Accepted
    I'm not clear about what products you are selling but I would have thought you need to tackle the contract upfront with the main sale.

    On the assumption your competitors also want to sell contracts, you won't be creating a disadvantage by linking the product sale to the contract sale.

    Just make it part of the sales paperwork. The persuasion is easy, you are providing the ongoing service under the terms of the contract to make sure the product continues to perform reliably, safely, efficiently...

    Invoice the contract amount quarterly but one month in in advance. That way, if anyone calls for service and they haven';t paid, you can make sure you get payment when you visit for the service call.

    I'm struggling to see where there is any difficulty here, perhaps there is a crucial piece of information you have not shared with us? Why is it difficult to sell service contracts?

    Hope this helps

    ChrisB
  • Posted by telemoxie on 2/10/2005 at 7:58 AM Member
    From a "checklist" point of view, be sure to include a regular program of survey calls. You can call the customers of your maintenance program every 6-9 months to see how they are doing (sometimes you can spot problems employees this way, folks who are irritating rather than helping customers) and you can develop a strategy to regularly survey customers of Honeywell (as well as other manufacturers, if you like) to see how they are doing. This second process could put you in a "second position" in the mind of some prospects, so that if they have problems with their current service provider, they will very likely call you.
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