Waters gets the measure of creating value from service: Engineers given customer accounts to manage as their own

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to explain how Waters Corporation – a worldwide provider of analytical‐science solutions to health‐care, environmental, food‐safety, water‐quality and other laboratories – worked with training provider Huthwaite International to improve the knowledge and customer‐service skills of the field service team.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper charts the reasons for the training, the form it took and the results it has achieved.

Findings

The paper details how each engineer was given a number of customer accounts to “own”. The engineers were to bring in different expertise as needed, but should manage the service project, get to know and understand the customer and identify ways that Waters could further help them in their business.

Practical implications

The paper describes how the training focused on questioning skills and on how to get explicit answers that could give a real insight into a customer's business. It also covered how to handle objections in a positive way and when and how to hand over to another specialist but still manage the customer relationship. The training was designed to show that the more a service engineer knew about a customer and his or her operations, the more value the engineer could offer, by pre‐empting problems and suggesting solutions to existing challenges. In turn Waters would gain value through having a loyal customer base that would affect future sales.

Social implications

The paper shows how service teams can be led in phases from just offering the technical fix needed, to providing outstanding service, identifying opportunities and supplying the sales team with intelligence, to eventually carrying out their own sales.

Originality/value

The paper highlights how a properly trained service team can build sustainable and profitable long‐term relationships.

Citation

(2013), "Waters gets the measure of creating value from service: Engineers given customer accounts to manage as their own", Human Resource Management International Digest, Vol. 21 No. 1, pp. 9-11. https://doi.org/10.1108/09670731311296429