Understanding service subtleties
They are endless; we all have our own nuances that make us happy. It is important that you understand what the customer requires and how to exceed their expectations.
The car servicing industry knows their balance of giving the right level of service compared to price. If you purchase from the prestige end of the market you expect every whim to be catered for, and it will be. Whereas if you purchase from the run of the mill car dealer you will not be expecting a hire car or lift into work whilst your car is in the garage.
The service personnel understand the need for a little extra care and know how to appropriately attend to their customers’ wants and needs. So, why is it that home delivery is often approached in completely the other direction, a single uniform approach that is there simply to get a product to you at as little cost to the retailer.
There is no excuse for this approach. Service subtleties can be grouped to offer extended service levels, which may form a premium price. They may simply improve your delivery process and may even reduce your overall costs of delivery. They are easily gathered at a point of sale and then grouped:
- Delivery times and preferences
- Pre delivery set-up notices (collection, clearing of space, removing of doors etc)
- Delivery education (what to do to get it running and what not to do!)
- In home assembly
- Delivery difficulties - stairs etc
- Where not to leave it - keeping it out of the rain
- Emergency contacts
Strangely enough most of us already give this information to the sales assistants. The important thing about service subtleties is less about the information and more about what you do with it. The workflow that precedes the delivery - simple notices to the customer in advance to prepare. Documentation and instructions to make delivery teams aware of what is expected as well as what to do.
Some service subtleties are uniform - simply best practice - advanced from traditional ways, as we are now interacting with retailers from many different channels such as the internet, telephone or kiosk. Such advances in technology demand new ways to meet extended perceptions - it takes just a click on the internet and we all fail to remember it could be on the other side of the globe - so it takes a little longer to deliver!
Other service subtitles are specific to the products or produce you are selling. These can easily and simply be planned into your home delivery strategy.
Using Axida’s home delivery software HDi you can specify the overall services available with variations down to the individual product. Customer contacts and order tracking points are configured to meet your particular needs. For more information, please contact us.