Maximizing growth with your service strategy

What is service portfolio management, and how can it grow your business?

Service Portfolio Management (SPM) is the complete process of managing your business service offerings. SPM covers your service offerings’ lifecycles from development to retirement. It’s a thorough process used to keep business service portfolios organized and aligned with:

• Internal documentation (e.g. business plan)
• Business objectives
• Market demands

By creating a coherent service strategy, you can provide a balanced mix of services that delivers value to your customers. You can address each customer segment’s needs and update your portfolio as conditions change.
A service strategy includes regular updates to your service portfolio. Over time, you will be able to identify and eliminate underperforming services. At the same time, you will discover opportunities to invest in the high-potential areas. 

Service strategies are all about efficiency. They serve as a control for your resource allocation and your adaptability to market changes and changing customer preferences.

What do customers expect from modern service operations?

Customers expect:

• Efficiency
• Reliability
• Responsiveness

In our modern world of over-optimization, customers are looking for quick and accurate solutions. They want personalized interactions that expedite the solution they are looking for. To get there, they expect seamless experiences across all touchpoints.

Your customers have access to larger volumes of information in shorter periods of time. This makes them value transparency as well as concisely, accurately communicated information. They also expect proactive communication when it comes to questions, service status, and customer support.

Enhanced service delivery

Technology is constantly making everything faster. Customers are increasingly accustomed to enhanced service, most of which is powered by technology. The common experiences customers are becoming accustomed to include:

• AI-powered self-service
• 24/7 AI chatbot customer service
• Automated updates at different intervals

To implement SPM that customers appreciate, you need to invest in robust service management systems. This implies using software solutions, in-depth customer training, and collecting data over time to constantly improve your service operations.

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Read more about the power of GenAI.

Key criteria for a profitable service strategy

Profitable service strategies require you to address a few key factors. Put together, these tools help you create a highly efficient strategy.

Comprehensive knowledge base

A knowledge base provides customers with quick access to solutions. You can set this up as a quick FAQs section. Customers and sales reps should be able to see concise solutions to all known challenges. 

For customers, a knowledge base should serve as a self-service area. They should be able to find answers to common questions and independently troubleshoot. For sales and customer support professionals, a knowledge base provides:

1. The information they need to provide better service
2. Accurate information on common customer issues
3. A faster path to handling customer enquiries

Enhance your service strategy by creating a comprehensive knowledge base tailored to your services. Contact Simon-Kucher to streamline information access for customers and sales reps.

A knowledge base can also help sales reps with cross-selling by providing detailed information about your company’s services. This knowledge base can include information on service features, benefits, pricing, and any relevant case studies or success stories. 

When this information is already available, a sales rep can quickly send a recommendation when they identify a new opportunity. They can tailor their interactions and recommendations based on customer needs, potential upsells, or purchase history.

Harnessing the power of cross-selling can significantly boost your revenue and deepen customer relationships. At Simon-Kucher, we specialize in creating strategies that maximize cross-selling opportunities and drive growth. Learn more about our cross-selling expertise here.

Demand management

Demand management ensures that you are ready to optimize your service delivery and resource allocation. It ultimately seeks to balance your customer needs with your available resources. Understanding demand patterns and being able to anticipate them provides several important benefits:

• Timely capacity adjustment. By anticipating demand, you can adjust capacity to meet customer needs promptly. This ensures your service strategy remains efficient and reliable.
• Efficient resource scheduling. Knowing when and where resources are needed allows for precise scheduling. This enhances both the efficiency and responsiveness of your service operations.
• Avoiding under- or over-utilization. Effective demand management prevents under- or over-utilization, ensuring your strategy maintains a balance between cost and quality.
• Avoiding service bottlenecks. By predicting and managing demand, you can prevent service bottlenecks, ensuring a seamless customer experience across all touchpoints.
• Reducing wait times. Anticipating customer needs allows you to minimize wait times. This enhances customer satisfaction and aligns with your strategy for timely, responsive service.

More agile responses to market changes. A deep understanding of demand patterns enables your business to respond swiftly to market changes. This way you maintain a competitive edge and ensuring that your service strategy remains relevant and adaptive.

Let us assist you in forecasting and managing customer demand effectively. Contact Simon-Kucher to ensure optimal service delivery and resource allocation.

Customer satisfaction 

Higher customer satisfaction reduces churn rates and lowers the cost of acquiring new customers. Satisfied customers are more likely to:

• Become repeat buyers. When customers are pleased with your services, they are more inclined to return for future purchases. This not only ensures a steady revenue stream but also demonstrates their trust in your offerings. It also serves as a testament to the quality and reliability of your services, attracting new customers.
• Join loyalty programs. Satisfied customers are more likely to join and actively participate in loyalty programs. This can drive additional sales and increase customer lifetime value. Promoting the success of your loyalty programs showcases your ability to maintain long-term customer relationships and enhances your marketability to prospective customers.
• Become word-of-mouth advocates for your business. Happy customers often share their positive experiences with others, becoming powerful advocates for your business. This organic promotion is invaluable in attracting new customers seeking reliable and endorsed services.
• Provide valuable feedback so you can refine your services. Engaged customers provide feedback that helps you continuously improve your service offerings. This commitment shows potential customers you are ready to meet their evolving needs and provide top-notch service.

The best way to approach customer satisfaction is through robust customer satisfaction initiatives. Responsive support and personalized services are an important starting point. They enable you to foster a more loyal and engaged customer base, increasing your profitability.

Business relationship management

Business relationship management (BRM) is the aspect of service strategy that focuses on:

• Strategic relationship-building
• Customer relationship management
• Partner relationships
• Stakeholder relationships

Businesses establish BRM practices to manage these groups’ needs and expectations. It focuses on compromises that establish mutual benefits and satisfaction. As time goes on, you can use BRM to maintain open communication. It will help you anticipate changes in each groups’ needs and adapt accordingly by taking advantage of new opportunities.

Elevate your service strategy through strategic relationship-building and stakeholder management. Contact us to enhance customer relationships and drive mutual benefits.

Best-in-class service operations

Best-in-class service operations are those which:

• Enhance customer satisfaction
• Improve profitability
• Streamline processes
• Add efficiency to your resource management
• Create more robust incident management

Effectively, these key criteria cover your plan for ensuring that services are delivered quickly, consistently, and efficiently. It also covers how you use your resources and how you respond more efficiently to incidents as they arise.

How to develop an accurate picture of your service performance

Before meeting the criteria for a profitable service strategy, it’s important to know where you stand right now. You can get an accurate picture of your service performance with the right measurement and reporting systems.

Key performance indicators (KPIs)

Establishing key performance indicators is the only reliable way to closely track your performance over time. Before making radical changes to your service strategy, you can use them to see how you’re performing right now. KPIs for service delivery include:

• Customer satisfaction (CSAT collected via surveys)
• Net promoter score
• First response time
• First contact resolution
• Average resolution time
• Incident volume
• Cost per incident
• Repeat visits
• Churn rate
• Service uptime

You need to track these regularly, e.g., with a mix of surveys and software solutions. Some customer relationship management (CRM) platforms help you collect some or all of them. You can also consult outside organizations like Simon-Kucher to help you implement long-term KPI tracking solutions.

Gain valuable insights into your service performance by tracking key performance indicators. Contact us to implement long-term KPI tracking solutions and optimize your service strategy.

Transform your service strategy with Simon-Kucher

At Simon-Kucher, we optimize service strategies to enhance customer interactions and meet customer demand. Our team helps you deliver efficient, reliable, and responsive service at every touchpoint. 

We can help you identify underperforming services and invest in high-potential areas, ensuring efficient resource allocation and fostering innovation. This strategic approach allows you to adapt swiftly to market changes, meet customer needs, and drive sustained growth.

Modern customers expect service operations to be efficient, reliable, and responsive, with quick, accurate solutions and personalized interactions. We guide you in meeting these expectations by implementing robust service management systems and leveraging technology for enhanced service delivery. Our strategies help you provide seamless customer experiences, increasing satisfaction and loyalty, which are critical for profitability.

A comprehensive knowledge base is a cornerstone of a profitable service strategy. We help you develop a knowledge base that provides quick access to information for both customers and sales reps. This enables efficient self-service options and faster, more accurate responses to inquiries. We also equip your sales team to identify and capitalize on cross-selling opportunities, ultimately boosting your sales.

Effective demand management is another area where we can make a significant impact. By helping you forecast, plan, and manage customer demand, we ensure optimal service delivery and resource allocation. Our strategies prevent service bottlenecks, reduce wait times, and make your operations more agile and responsive to market changes.

Need an accurate picture of your existing service performance? We provide valuable insights into service quality and areas for improvement. Let us help you navigate the complexities of service management and unlock your company’s full potential. Contact us.