Gaining a sustainable competitive edge with efficient service part logistics: Here's how

Service parts logistics are an important part of a business’s functionality. For a business, it is not only important to manufacture goods and/or services, but also to make sure that their goods and services last long once they reach the customers. And to ensure that, efficient service parts logistics need to be in place.

Abhik Mitra of Spoton Logistics is listing five steps to gain a sustainable competitive edge with service parts logistics.

What are service parts?
Service parts are those parts of a product that need repairing and replacing after usage-based wear and tear, some are mission-critical break-fix situations and some are routine preventive maintenance operations.

Why is service parts logistics important to gain a sustainable competitive edge?
Customers are the most important for businesses and for a business, it is of utmost importance that the customer remains happy and satisfied. Therefore, it is important to understand that your customers don’t just want to buy the products, they also expect long term, complaint-free usage too.

In order to do that, you would need an efficient system of service parts logistics to build a connection with your customers. And in a fast-paced world like this, cut-throat competition does not allow for you to lag behind in keeping your customers satisfied. That is why paying attention to service parts logistics is necessary for you to be able to gain a sustainable competitive edge.

Here is how you can gain a sustainable competitive edge with service parts logistics:

1. Pay attention to what your customers are saying: Most of the time, the customers only want to be heard. Once they feel that their grievances have been heard, they usually cool down. Therefore, it is important to emerge over the edge over your competitors that you pay a lot of attention to your customers and hear them out. It is also important to ensure that you assure them that their problems will be heard.

2. Proper system Visibility: It is always better to have an inventory ready for parts that you know could cause potential problems in your products. When your service parts inventory is ready, you can deliver with ease and keep the customers happy and satisfied, having visibility of parts availability is a critical success factor.

3. Put together an efficient team: It is more often than not very possible for you as a business to let customers speak to the core team itself. Therefore, it is always better to put together an efficient CONTROL TOWER team who would take through your customer step-by-step on all processes and would help build an inclusive relationship with the customer.

4. Build a strong rapport with field workers: Who actually meets your customer and how he/she behaves with them is of utmost importance. Therefore, to gain a sustainable competitive edge, you need to build a connectivity loop where you and your in-field technicians have the same, friendly attitude towards the customers. If the customer is happy with the end product and the sincerity with which it was delivered, you will automatically have an edge over your competitors.

5. Move quickly: Nobody likes late work, right? You don’t want your customers feeling like they have made the wrong choice by choosing your product, especially when they have something that needs to be replaced by you. Therefore, how quickly you respond to their requests and process it will play a huge role in gaining a competitive edge in this arena and leap frog market expectations.

Therefore, it is more than clear that an efficient service parts logistics execution could help you gain a sustainable and long-lasting competitive edge over your competitors. And the key to being efficient lies in the understanding that your customer will always be your king and in order to keep his/her satisfaction up and going, you need to put together ways that will benefit you in the long run - and would definitely help you in gaining sustainable competitive edge.

Abhik Mitra is the managing director and chief executive officer of the express logistics company Spoton Logistics

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Indian Transport & Logistics News