Service Fueled Scaling- The Art Of Growing Happily!
30 November 2015 - Brenda Ochola

#impacthubscaling

Johan Wallquist is the Chief Customer Officer & Chief Marketing Officer at The Service Corporation. TSC co-innovates new digital services and products while providing necessary digital support during the whole journey from idea, strategy, design, transition, operation and support.

After years of IT consulting (Accenture, Syncron), working with many interesting companies (eg. H&M, Volvo, Lantmännen, Sandvik, AlfaLaval) and projects (cloud, ERP, change mgmt), Johan joined The Service Corporation. He now helps all kinds of organizations, from enterprises to startups, with digital innovation and customer engagement.

On 10th November, 2015 Johan delivered a workshop as part of the Impact Hub Scaling program on Service Fueled Scaling. He covered service as the second most important part to user/customer loyalty, the increased expectations from users, and how to serve users on a global base and create a seamless user experience throughout the customer journey.

 

Some tips from the business lab:

Due to the rapid changes in technology, customers are more knowledgeable about what they need in order to fulfill their needs. As a result, they are more eager to get a customized service that would fit their profile and this leads to most of the new services or products being subscription based.

When a small company (or start-up) wants to scale, it is important to learn the art of scaling wisely. The four questions every company should ask themselves when building a global service capability to determine the right size and setup are:

 1. When do your customers/ users need you?

    – If only during office hours, or evenings, staff according to that.

 2. Where are they (the customers/users) located?

   – If they are only located in one time-zone, and active during office hours, then your staffing is easy. It is more tricky if hours and time-zones are spread out.

3. What do they need?

    – How complex are the questions. How much can be automated or handled with zero line support?

 4. What should be the size of your team?

     – A small team can be efficient if working with zero-line support/self service in the right way.

Customers follow a cycle when it comes to getting to know more about your company as illustrated in the diagram below. They declare if they are interested in its offerings, compare their thoughts with their friends, and then finally use it and hopefully become loyal. Most companies are built with a focus on the first half, and might benefit from getting help with the second half so they can keep focusing on their core business.

3bfd9e0c-de6e-4609-9950-1c24d760c493

Displaying image002.jpgDisplaying image002.jpg

The customer acquisition phase consists mainly of Marketing and Sales activities, but in order to keep the customer satisfied and loyal you must invest in the service and support part of the cycle.

In customer support, you ought to consider the importance of self-service. This is what users expect to have as their number one priority. For instance, FAQs. There is also an option where the startup gets their support as a service from an external company like The Service Corporation. That allows the startup to focus on their core business during launching and scaling.

To improve your customer support you should: focus on internal visibility and transparency, have the right tools for collaboration, have the right process and systems, appropriate leaders, and proper training.

Are you ready to scale-up your social business across Europe?

Then apply to Impact Hub Scaling and get support from mentors like Johan Wallquist to help you grow your business internationally!

Author

Brenda Anne Ochala is a Communications Officer at SEI and is passionate about innovation and applying social entrepreneurship to solve the world’s social and environmental problems.