“The customer is always right.”
It’s a phrase heard time and time again, but it has become objectively clear this isn’t always true. In fact, it’s one of the main reasons customer success teams exist in the first place. Clients will always need guidance through self-induced errors or simple technical mishaps.
That’s why in order to have the strongest customer assistance capabilities possible, communication is key. A proactive approach allows customer success managers to better anticipate any potential threats through data analysis and clearly communicate roadblocks to customers ahead of time.
At PHYTEC America, Global Supply Chain Manager Aljosha Simon said that by having multiple teams meet on a weekly basis, they are able to address specific customer needs and subsequently, build an even better product.
Below, Built In Seattle caught up with Simon to discuss the communication habits he has adopted and the data that supports the strategies his team uses for the most effective proactive approach.
What’s one habit you’ve adopted that’s helped you be more proactive in your communications with clients?
The main habit I developed is consistency – to always be on top of the situation. If needed, escalate further and insistently to a higher level. Given unprecedented supply shortages in the semiconductor industry, it is crucial to speak up on behalf of customers with continuous reminders and escalation efforts to our upstream component suppliers.
My main objective is to prevent line-down situations and ensure supply chain continuity for PHYTEC and our customers. I also use consistency to ensure the completion of the many issues I need to drive to resolution each day. My email inbox often has no more than 10 to 20 emails at the end of the day, despite a heavy email and IM load that extends from Asia, Europe and across North America.
What role does data play in helping you and your team provide more proactive communications to customers?
Data is especially crucial given current market constraints that have resulted in severe shortages and increasing costs of components. It is very important to analyze and foresee any future disruptions in our supply chain to prevent any line-down situation. This includes monitoring lead times and overall component availability. Book-to-bill ratios for components, quarterly changes in overall printed circuit board shipments and even the cost of copper and other materials used in chips are all early warning indicators for future trends.
As global supply chain manager, I closely watch such metrics and proactively engage both my upstream suppliers and downstream customers to find solutions. These solutions can include spot buys or lifetime buys of critical path components, locating and qualifying of obscure second source options, and even redesign of hardware to avoid gating components. I measure PHYTEC’s success by our ability to meet customer dock dates despite any challenges and to always avoid contributing to a line-down situation due to late delivery.
Communication and proactiveness are the keys to success.”
As a team, what’s a system or strategy you’ve put in place to get ahead of potential issues before they arise?
For PHYTEC, communication and proactiveness are the keys to success. Regardless of whether this is with suppliers, customers or even internally within the team – if you get alerted ahead of time, you can usually prevent any bigger issues in the future.
Our teams (including technical sales, customer engineering and operations) work together by addressing customer needs on a weekly basis. Management reviews industry trends and keeps an eyeful watch on potential problems. Our customer engineering team works with hardware development, technical sales and supply chain to find solutions, create redesigns, or determine last-time buy opportunities for end-of-life components that affect our product. We proactively work with the customer to find which solution works best for them. Making sure our customers are happy is definitely a team effort.
