Does delivering efficient after-sales service give you jitters? Manufacturers from different sectors have witnessed glaring experiences of how after-sales processes have become a cost-center for them and marred their bottom line. They even grumble of loosing customer’s trust in them because they are unable to render them the support they actually need. Hence, when it comes to ineffective after-sales, your customers and company both are at the receiving end.

So what is it that bothers you the most about After-Sales Service?  Warranty Management?  Inventory Control?  Claim Management, or Reverse Logistics? This post intends towards discussing the two perspectives of looking towards after-sales service: The Customer’s Perspective and The Company’s Perspective. In no particular order, the ideas below explain the implications of delivering a poor after-sales support; and what stops the companies in delivering their best:

Customer’s Perspective: Companies know that two things that can keep them in business are repeat customers and word-of-mouth. Both are kindled by top-notch after-sales support. Companies may have Terms of Service and Service Level Agreements (SLAs) in place, but implementing them becomes a serious challenge in wake of third-party service partners.

Service also has to be prompt; the delays are unacceptable by most of the customers. It can be a cause of great anxiety for them to get absolutely no response on the status of their repaired product. With no defined and controlled parameters in place to track the status of repaired products, the customer’s trust and loyalty in the brand shrinks.

After-Sales Service and support is hence a major criterion for customers while choosing a brand, a concern that companies must look-after for building a niche image and gain competitive advantage.

Company’s Perspective: For many companies, after-sales support ends with offering toll-free number, support desk email ID and happy calling service. Seldom do they make provision for things that can ‘actually’ help their customers stick to them- quick, efficient and streamlined service / support operations.

Very few companies realize that the after-sales can indeed be a revenue and profit-center to the company; and by the time they understand the pilferages and loopholes, the damage is almost done.

Many companies incur substantial revenue loss against warranty replacements (product/part) and service claims. For example, a mobile manufacturer learns that its Authorized Service Providers (ASPs) are entertaining fake Dead on Arrival (DOA) & parts replacement cases, mis-managing its inventory and countering its warranty management. The revenue loss in such scenarios surfaces only when they emerge as a cumulative loss. On the other hand, drop in sales of mere 0.5% due to bad customer support can account to a significant revenue loss.

In both the perspectives, as it is clear, the lack of monitoring and streamlining leads to darker and gloomy picture of after-sales business processes. If both the above perspectives were analyzed initially and proper care were taken for damage control, the after-sales service could have helped boost the profitability of the company.