Manufacturing Client Satisfaction

Unfortunately, companies that overlook great customer service’s competitive advantage do so at their own peril, a message that seems to have gone unheard by many medical device manufacturers.

According to a recently published Deloitte study titled “The Service Revolution: Manufacturing’s Missing Crown Jewel,” many of today’s manufacturing companies consider themselves designers and producers of tangible products rather than providers of integrated solutions to customers’ broader needs.

“Too often, manufacturers view their service operations as ancillary businesses separate from and by no means equal in strategic or operational importance to the ‘core’ product business,” the study’s
authors wrote.

In order to survive and prosper in a market that’s confronted with increased demands for quality, stricter government regulations, escalating complexity of supply chains, and lead time pressures, medical device manufacturers must focus on evolving company-wide customer service operations.
While identifying and developing the right customer services strategies will vary from company to company, the following “FAST TLC” customer service activities differentiate forward-thinking service champions and drive continuous improvement.

F: Follow-up

Efficient follow-up is critical to excellent customer service. It not only demonstrates to customers that you understand their needs, but it also shows that you’ve taken steps to meet those needs.
Follow-up can take many different forms. For example, a customer contacting you about adding power to their device may want to discuss the possibilities with your engineering team. Instead of passing their call onto one of the engineers and assuming the customer’s inquiry has been taken care of, proactively facilitate the meeting.

Email the customer a recap of your conversation with them and let them know what your next step is to address their request (e.g., you’ll collaborate with the engineering team so they are knowledgeable about the customer’s device and send the engineering team dates and times that work for the customer to meet with them). Follow-up with both parties to make sure that a meeting date has been set and to make sure that everyone has the information they need to have a worthwhile discussion. Whether it’s coordinating a conference call, scheduling a face-to-face discussion, submitting a quote, or sending a simple, “Thank you for visiting our booth at XYZ trade show” email, timely follow-up establishes that you genuinely care about contributing value to your customers.

A: Accountability

If there’s insufficient accountability in your organization’s customer service, the perception is that your company condones empty promises, excuses, and unprofessional finger pointing. The reality is that customers don’t care what or who caused the issue. All they care about is getting it resolved.

Consider a medical device manufacturing team who burns the midnight oil to ensure that a customer’s rush delivery request is met. Although customer service expedited delivery of the package to UPS, unforeseen delays prevented on-time arrival.

Instead of blaming UPS and suggesting that the customer call them to get the status of their order, a proactive approach would be to have customer service inform the customer that they will call UPS to track the status of delivery and promptly follow up with them about when they can expect to receive their package.

S: Solution-Oriented

Companies that thrive in challenging economic environments have people who are highly adaptable and remain flexible as situations change.

For example, if your OEM customer suddenly needs to accelerate or compress their lead time, taking the hard-lined position that timeframes are pre-established and cannot be adjusted doesn’t help solve their issue. On the other hand, solution-oriented customer service works collaboratively with the internal team and outside suppliers to find a compromise.

While it may mean that the customer will need to pay expedited fees or perhaps adjust to receiving a partial shipment of their order, putting forth the effort to try and accommodate their request validates the customer’s needs and reinforces your competitive advantage.

T: Timeliness

Customer service often starts well before an order is processed and continues long after a product is shipped to the customer. Quick, efficient response to prospects and customers every step of the way is essential to differentiating your medical device manufacturing company from the rest.

It’s important to note that fast response is not synonymous with resolution. It could simply mean acknowledgment. Regardless, timeliness is incredibly valuable to both prospects and customers as it lets them know you’re listening to them, care about their needs and concerns, and are working on their behalf.

Timeliness also is central to meeting the lead time that was stipulated with the customer. If the order is received, but not promptly processed into the system, the production team doesn’t know what they need to do to complete the order and the entire process starts to fall behind. Every minute counts in manufacturing medical devices, especially when lead times and quotes have been established and committed to by both parties.

T: Trade Shows

Most medical device manufacturing companies attend trade shows, but a common oversight is that few include their customer service representatives. Customer service participation at industry trade shows is invaluable as it allows customers to establish a face-to-face relationship with the people they are likely to frequently converse with over the phone and via email.

Trade shows also offer customer service the opportunity to better understand competitors, various technologies and the needs of the market, create new relationships, broaden their industry knowledge, and demonstrate their customer-focused expertise. It also makes post-trade show follow-up conversations easier to have because they can be more personalized, focused and familiar.

L: Listen

Whether a prospect is inquiring about your products or a customer is complaining about an order, it presents a vital learning and relationship-building opportunity—if the time is taken to really listen to them.

Effective listening is integral to a solution-oriented, accountable, value-driven medical device manufacturing organization. It reveals what the customer needs and wants and determines how solutions are delivered.

In their 2007 book, “How to Talk to Customers,” authors Diane Berenbaum and Tom Larkin write that a common customer service pitfall is that company representatives are so anxious to sell their ideas on how to meet customer’s needs that they do too much talking and not enough listening.

“The only way you can meet or exceed customer needs is really listening—not just to what they’re telling you, but to get beyond that and understand their unstated needs. Once you do that, not only will you have a better connection, you’ll be able to exceed their expectations. When people feel listened to, valued, and important to a company, it’s rare. That’s because great service and effective communication are more than a set of skills. It’s a mind-set of respect and accountability where you do what you say you’re going to do for the customer. If every associate in your firm models that mind-set, you’ll create a great experience for everyone.”

C: Customer Relationship Manager

A Customer Relationship Manager (CRM) software solution transitions your company from one that touts putting the customer first to one that actually does. CRMs can offer multiple departments and divisions a clear window into each customer relationship, allowing for more personalized, streamlined conversations with customers and prospects.

CRM brings together information from different sources (within and outside of an organization) to give one, holistic view of each customer in real time and prevents redundancy. For example, if you attend a trade show and have a discussion about your powered surgical device with ABC Device Co. Inc., you can input your contact’s name, company, title, phone number, email, web address, and details about the discussion into your CRM system.

Should other members of your organization (CEO, marketing, sales, engineering, etc.) enter into conversations with other ABC associates, they can readily access information about your discussion in the CRM and use it as a reference point to build on the conversation. And by documenting their discussion in the CRM, they help keep everyone on the same page about who is talking to whom, what they were looking for (price list, quote, etc.), and where the conversation led.

As one CRM company describes it, if customer relationships are the heart of business success, then CRM is the valve that pumps a company’s life blood.

For medical device companies, competitive pressures on margins and growth are unrelenting. This is why companies looking to drive profits, sustain growth, and offer the most value to their customers must embrace high-quality, company-wide customer service—or risk being left behind.

According to “How to Talk to Customers,” 68 percent of customers leave a business relationship because of a perceived attitude of indifference on the part of the company. The customer’s perception is the company’s reality.

Fortunately, the potential for most medical device manufacturers to enhance their customer service is untapped and immense. Formal, structured processes now exist that strengthen collaboration and communication across entire organizations. Information systems and tools for managing customer interactions are affordable and readily available. And there are countless resources for manufacturing companies to guide their initiative to elevate their customer service to a whole new level.
All that’s left is action—not to mention some FAST TLC.

Johanna Casas is customer service manager and Jen Sandoval is account representative
for Pro-Dex Inc., an Irvine, Calif.-based company that designs, develops and manufactures surgical devices, motors, metal components, and subassemblies for world class medical device OEMs.