For Naveed Kaymanesh, President of Virginia-based custom integration firm Sight and Sound Systems, Inc., reputation is everything. Knowing that customer satisfaction is critical to word-of-mouth sales and that timely trouble shooting can be challenging during times of growth, Kaymanesh recently launched a new monthly subscription to provide clients with ongoing system monitoring, software updates and troubleshooting using the OvrC remote system management platform from Snap One.
“The most important thing in my business is delivering reliably excellent experiences for customers, from operating their smart home to resolving an issue through our service department,” Kaymanesh said. “We currently manage more than 600 active OvrC systems, and now we can offer everyone of those customers enhanced levels of service that provide faster response times, proactive issue resolution and the surety of knowing there’s always someone to answer the call.”
In the two months since launching the new customer service subscription, Sight and Sound has already signed up more than 30 customers. Traditionally, the company has offered a standard one-year warranty service period for all projects and then switched to incident-based billing for any troubleshooting or house visits. Customers today still have that option, but it appears the assurance and peace of mind in knowing a professional is just a call away has struck a nerve with many of them.
“I’ve used OvrC since the beginning, and with recent advances and the state of modern wireless infrastructure, it’s now powerful enough to form one of the foundations of my business and growth plans,” Kaymanesh added. “Everybody knows tech equipment inevitably fails, or at a minimum can require a reset or software update, and these complex integration systems are best handled by experienced professionals. We do annual or semi-annual checkups, and if we see that any issues or devices are offline then we have a reason to make a courtesy call and educate existing customers about the service subscription.”
The firm credits the program’s early success to aggressive pricing that draws in customers, along with the simple fact that OvrC allows them to solve many issues much faster than before without sending anyone to the home. The result is that customers’ desire for simplicity and reliability incentivizes them to use the service, while the company can make sure small problems are resolved before they can become big problems. With the new revenue stream projected to grow, Sight and Sound expects to hire additional service staff over the next year.
“We’ve seen that as consumers become increasingly reliant on smart home technology, they’re willing to pay for a service that keeps their technology investments fully operational and current with new products and solutions coming to market faster than ever before,” noted Kaymanesh.
Sight and Sound is currently offering three levels of the service. The higher level can include automated proactive alerts through OvrC that alert the integrators and/or the customer that a device is offline, disconnected or otherwise requires service. Additionally, hundreds of the OvrC customers are mapped in the OvrC software, so a technician can easily see if there are ongoing regional issues like internet or power outages.
“To be honest, the revenue potential is just the cherry on top - the main improvement here comes from reducing costs of service,” Kaymanesh continued. “It’s cheaper for us, it’s cheaper for them, and everyone ends up happier. In the end, it’s all about the customer benefits. Most of the time we don’t even discuss OvrC or how all of it works, we just tell them that for ‘X’ dollars a month, we will be able to reset your router instantly or fix your TV’s WiFi without scheduling a technician visit, and they get it. They get it right away.”
Another advantage of this initiative is that it sets customer expectations up front, so there is no confusion about what happens when the one-year warranty expires. In the past, some customers had requested that Sight and Sound provide free services after the first year, creating tension and potentially damaging the customer relationship.
“We talk about how we want to take care of our customers, that we want their experiences in three years or five years to be as carefree and positive as they are on day one,” he said. “Just like any other part of life, it’s almost always more expensive to fix a major problem than it is to prevent it. When we discuss the potential high future costs and the impact a system outage could have on the users, it becomes clear that the customers’ benefits far outweigh their costs.”
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