SELLING CUSTOMER SUPPORT

Programme

  • New Roles for Support and Training

    The support environment.
    Competitive identity.
    Cost-effective use of resources.
    The relationship between support and sales.
    What customers can you afford?

  • What Does it Mean to Sell a Service?

    The characteristics of selling an intangible product.
    What does this imply for marketing?
    Putting a price on consultancy.
    Sales channels.
    Motivating and rewarding the sales force.

  • Divining and Defining

    Seeking out opportunities for profit
    To charge or give?
    Defining the product.
    Designing the service and mapping customer needs.
    Balancing revenue with customer satisfaction.

  • A Supplier Example

    What problems have been experienced by a supplier
    who is making money from customer support?

  • Applying Marketing to Support Services

    Marketing to sell Support.
    Key marketing phases.
    Developing a marketing plan.
    Developing promotional material.
    Controlling marketing costs.
    Internal and external marketing

  • Introduction to Case Study Exercise in syndicate groups

  • Case Study Review

  • The Customer Perspective

    How do customers view these changes?
    What are their expectations?
    What is the role of 'added value'?

  • Supplier Case Studies

    Real-life cases of profitable customer support.

  • Skills and Career Development

    How do these changes impact 'traditional'
    Support skills profiles?
    What new skills are needed?
    Developing new skills.
    Sources for recruitment.
    Alternative career paths for Support Personnel
    Management, motivation and remuneration.

  • Developing a Business Plan

    How much does it cost to run a Support function?
    How should those costs be allocated?
    How should the product be priced?
    Planning against the downside.
    Fixed and variable costs.
    Developing and managing a budget.
    The price for promotion.

  • Summary and Close.

Workshop Leader

Andrew Hiles or Yvonne Gunn

 

Books by Kingswell Consultants

Books on Service Management

Hiles, A. N. The Complete Guide to IT Service Level Agreements, Matching Service Quality to Business Needs.. ISBN 0-9641648-2-5 published by Rothstein Associates Inc.  The standard work on IT Service Level Agreements.

Hiles, A. N. E-Business Service Level Agreements: Strategies for ISPs, ASPs, *SPs and CLECS.  Published by Rothstein Associates Inc.  The first book to deal specifically with e-commerce Service Level Agreements.

Hiles, A. N. Service Level Agreements, Winning a Competitive Edge for Supply and Support Services.  ISBN 0-9641648-4-1published by Rothstein Associates Inc. This book applies Service Level Agreements to services other than IT. Real case studies and example SLAs are provided ranging from Human Resources, Logistics, through Training, Livestock Handling, Logistics and Field Service Engineering.

Hiles A.N. and Gunn, Dr. Y. Creating a Customer-Focused Help Desk: How to Win and Keep Your Customers. Published by Rothstein Associates Inc. ISBN 0-9641648-6-8 This book has the support of the Help Desk Institute www.helpdeskinst.com

Books on Business Continuity

Hiles A.N. Business Continuity Management: Best Practice. Published by Rothstein Associates Inc. ISBN 0-9641648-3-3.  This book explicitly covers all the ten areas of business continuity competence required for membership of the Disaster Recovery Institute International (DRII) and the Business Continuity Institute (BCI).

Hiles A.N. Enterprise Risk Assessment & Business Impact Analysis – Best Practices ISBN 1-931332-12-6 Published by Rothstein Associates Inc. Covers many techniques and methods of risk and impact assessment with detailed examples and checklists.

e-Publication. Kingswell books on Business Continuity, Service Level Agreements and  Help Desk Management will shortly be available by page download in conjunction with Rothstein Associates Inc and Books24x7.com.

New and updated books. Existing  books Business Continuity Management – Best Practice and IT Service Level Agreements have been extensively updated. See our products page or visit www.rothstein.com .

All the above books can be obtained from:

Rothstein Associates Inc.
4 Arapaho Road
Brookfield
Connecticut
0608-3104 USA

www.rothstein.com

e-mail pjr@rothstein.com

Telephone: USA: 1-888-ROTHSTEIN
Worldwide: +1 203 740 7400

Hiles A.N. Guide to Risk Management. Published by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales.

Hiles A.N. and Barnes, P. (Editor and main contributor) The Definitive Handbook of Business Continuity Management, John Wiley & Sons, 1999, ISBN 0 471 98622 4.

Hiles, A.N. (contributor), Croner’s Purchasing and Supply Guide to I.T., 1994, ISBN 1 85524 271 0

Hiles, A.N. (contributor), Guide to Business Continuity Management, 1999, for the Confederation of British Industry by Caspian Publishing

Hiles A.N. (contributor) Business Continuity Management, 2000, Institute of Directors / Department of Trade & Industry.

 
Kingswell © 2005