No matter how punctual or competent your technicians are, don’t assume your best-laid customer service plans are actually delivering great service. Flavio Martins, a customer service “fanatic” and blogger at Win the Customer!, spoke to us recently about a common  Continue reading

Today’s field service technician must be adept at a variety of skills — sales included. But it’s not just the field techs who must adjust to their expanding roles. The rest of the organization, including traditional salespeople, must adjust to  Continue reading

How can fleet managers put new technologies to work to streamline their operations and slash fuel costs?  Todd Ewing, director of product marketing at Fleetmatics –  the Boston-based company that offers GPS fleet tracking technology — shares his insights with SmartVan.
With  Continue reading

When it comes to marketing, companies too often focus on promoting their products but neglect to highlight their services. It’s a huge mistake. We spoke with Joe Crisara, a longtime service contractor and CEO of ContractorSelling, about why marketing must be the  Continue reading

Matching the right part and the right technician with the right job: Service organizations still emerging from antiquated business models are finally streamlining this operational discipline, moving away from massive central parts warehouses and shifting into predictive analysis, advance scheduling,  Continue reading

Let’s face it, selling is now part of the field technician’s job description. But managers can now train their employees in the field — many of whom don’t consider themselves natural salespeople — to sell effectively? We spoke with Alex Alexander  Continue reading

Field technicians are often tasked with more than simply a turn of the wrench. As the only face-to-face interaction a company has with its customers after the sale, these technicians are expected to not only fix the problem, but also provide  Continue reading

Ensuring employees are connected and supplied with all the information and materials they need when they’re in the field is a common concern for field managers. But what if those employees are driving a giant hotdog on wheels? Turns out  Continue reading

It’s a tough game out there for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and technology providers today: Adoption and sales figures are flat, and customers are struggling with IT infrastructure that’s more complex than ever. But there’s a bright spot — managed  Continue reading

The 2013 Detroit Auto Show is in full swing. While a majority of the concepts and updated models are aimed at the consumer market, the automakers are giving commercial buyers something to lust over, too.

Ford featured its full-size 2014  Continue reading

Thousands of “green” field service organizations in construction, remodeling and clean energy have a lot to smile about in the wake of the fiscal cliff legislation that Congress passed on Jan. 1. The deal contains many renewed or extended tax  Continue reading

2012 saw field service organizations creatively find ways to boost service-related revenue and experiment with new tools like the iPad to make technicians more productive, connected, and efficient. What will 2013 bring?
The SmartVan spoke with Ravi Naidu, director of research for  Continue reading

Despite a nationwide unemployment rate of 7.9 percent, there’s one sector that can’t seem to fill jobs: the trades.
CBS’ 60 Minutes recently estimated that there are as many as 3 million unfilled trade jobs in the U.S., with more than 500,000  Continue reading

Fall is tradeshow season, and in the field service industry two prominent shows took place last week: Aberdeen held its 2012 Chief Service Officer Summit in Boston, under the theme of “The Science of Service,” while the Technology Services Industries  Continue reading