Manufacturers of access control and door entry systems must look to the support they offer both wholesalers and installers. Too often this is not taken seriously enough, leading to contract completions delayed, system break-downs and damaged reputations …. more often than not, quite unnecessarily.
Your products are most probably good quality – in fact, you justifiably consider them amongst the best in the business. But if there are problems installing them, it is always the product that is faulty as far as the installer is concerned – and if they cannot get help quickly, whose reputation is on the line?
A high level of technical support, ideally with some form of Help Desk facility, is vital, preferably with dedicated phone lines to avoid clogging-up normal business communications. Take a long-term look at how many qualified technical staff are on call to assist … and are phones answered by real people or recorded messages?
Top of the hate list
Recorded messages are rapidly rising to the top of most peoples’ hate lists. They are irritating, they waste time and frequently callers end up putting down the phone in frustration. It is worth considering rapid and personal attention where technical support is concerned. A good technician can immediately relax a caller, and gain their confidence and co-operation. All of a sudden, it’s not your product that is faulty but a small point the installer has missed, and another problem is solved.
We are already in a position to pinpoint where a solution lies to much of the above. It lies in training, but we will put that to one side for a moment and come back to the support the industry should be offering.
With knowledgeable help, virtually all calls from installers can be solved over the phone – some say as high as 95 per cent.
That is good for you because the installer now knows your kit is good, your support is good and he has learned a lot more about installing it properly through the advice given over the phone.
The outcome is that he is likely to become a regular customer.
Similar problems can arise if the company – or individual – responsible for system maintenance is not the installer. Highly likely, now that facilities management is such big business. Wiring diagrams have an annoying habit of going missing too, leaving newcomers completely in the dark.
Then something goes wrong with the system, but the maintenance engineer has not come across this type of system before. Or even, an on-site building services manager could have the responsibility. Sometimes it may be simply an office manager!
Talk the caller through
First, you need to assess the technical competence of the caller with the problem. Once done, technical Help Desk staff can frequently talk the caller through and restore the system to full functionality.
If a site visit is required, the installer or maintenance engineer (or office manager) must join you. It instills confidence in everyone concerned, including the end-user, and once again an element of training takes place to try to ensure the problem does not arise a second time.
As an industry, we need to strive to raise the levels of technical support we give to wholesalers and installers alike. In the long term, everyone benefits – including manufacturers and end-users. The industry’s reputation benefits and prospers, turnover goes up, the technology of products improves and customers come back for more sophisticated systems in the future.
Another less obvious, but vital, benefit of having an efficient support system is that calls can be logged, revealing persistent problems with specific systems. Information can be passed to Research and Development departments so that detailed investigations can be carried out and design improvements made.
No matter how our industry improves, we keep coming back to the benefits of training – for installers, wholesalers, maintenance engineers and even less experienced building and facilities managers.
End users’ ‘tongue’
Take installers, the people at the sharp end of the business – and sometimes the end-users "tongue" as well. It has taken time for directors and managers of installation companies to appreciate the benefits of training. They are frequently reluctant to take people off the job.
Today, many have at last started to appreciate the long-term benefits of training and are building time-off for this into employees’ contracts.
Well-trained installers work more quickly and confidently, contracts are completed quickly and installers can move on to a new job – in turn, benefiting turnover and profit. Furthermore, improved installation techniques lead to fewer maintenance call-outs and problems are solved more quickly. As a result, maintenance contracts are then renewed because of perceived good performance.
Frequently, it is the installation engineers who request training. Again, once they have comp-leted a training course, they feel more confident of the product they are handling and this confidence transmits itself to their customers who are impressed at the way the work is handled.
There is nothing worse than for the end-user to see the installer fumbling through an instruction manual and making heavy weather of it. Then, of course, if the system does not test satisfactorily, confidence sinks lower and that is when the call goes out to the manufacturer that their equipment is not working.
This type of scenario can be overcome if the industry as a whole adopted the attitude that training is an integral part of the service offered. It is pointless trying to teach people everything all at once, however. Half a day’s structured training is usually sufficient to make an installer fully conversant with the one or two products he is currently installing. Then, when new – maybe more advanced – products are required for a new installation, another half-day’s training will top-up the installer’s knowledge.
Whether or not courses are customer-specific depends entirely on the customer’s preferences. Likewise, whether or not to charge is entirely at the manufacturer’s discretion, but courses that are free of charge are bound to be more attractive … and the more competent installers there are around, the better.
Wholesalers need training too Of course, training should not be limited to installers: Wholesalers’ staff should also be able to attend a session if they wish to do so. Although technical support phone numbers are invariably prominently displayed on product material, installers will frequently take what they believe to be a faulty product back to the wholesaler, expecting a replacement. It benefits everyone in terms of goodwill if the wholesaler can solve the installer’s problem – either on the spot or with a phone call to his supplier. In addition, simply by knowing the product’s performance levels and limitations, wholesalers are helped to quote for an entire system should a customer need it.
Perhaps it would be a good thing – and give training a much needed impetus – if end-user customers started insisting on seeing evidence of installers’ competence. A certificate indicating successful completion of a relevant course would be a good start. Although care should be taken to avoid the insidious potential of recommended installers which can often lead to cartels and potential price-fixing.
Taking a step back for an overview of what technical support and training bring to all of those involved in the industry, confidence has to be the main benefit. That is confidence in the product quality and the technical support available, confidence in the ability of the installer and his installation techniques, and the end-user’s confidence that the system specified will do the job. Given all this, the industry will come of age and be accorded its rightful standing in the nation’s economy.
* Videx Security manufactures an extensive range of access control, audio and video door entry systems including systems to local authority standards. Tel 020 8523 5800. Web: www.videx-security.com
