Page 20 - CFESA Magazine May / June 2018

SERVICE VIEWPOINT
KATIE GREEN
CUSTOMER SERVICE DIRECTOR
RSI / CES
EDUCATE YOUR
CUSTOMERS
One of the most exciting things about
the foodservice industry from a service
company perspective is that each day
brings new opportunities and challenges.
Our days are never the same. In the last 40
years of providing service to the Dallas/Fort
Worth market we have seen the good, the
bad and the ugly of a commercial kitchen.
We all know that end-user knowledge
comes in all capacities. Some are
educated on the equipment inside their
establishment and know the importance of
a PM program, but there is still a majority
of the foodservice population that fail to
see the value in it. It is our responsibility
as a service provider and partner to the
end-users to educate our customers on the
long-term cost savings that they will see on
a piece of equipment when it is maintained
and cleaned properly.
There is a customer that had a PM program
for years. They are a chain restaurant and
they have many layers within the facility and
corporate side of the business. Most of their
managers truly understood the impact the
program had because, as a service provider,
we had educated them on the benefits.
Unfortunately, with many big corporations,
the people at the top, whom we rarely had
communications with, decided to scale
back. They decreased the recommended
20 CFESA Magazine | MAY / JUNE 2018 | www.cfesa.com
frequency of the program on some pieces of
equipment while discontinuing it altogether
on other equipment. This was a reactionary
measure to stop bleeding money within
the organization. A couple of years after
the cancellation of the PM’s, our sales
analysis for that customer showed that
their money spent with our organization
didn’t significantly decline at all. For some
locations it even increased. Repairs are
costly!
As a service provider, we shouldn’t have
only had a conversation about the PM
program with the manager at each location.
We should have educated on all levels within
the organization so that all of the people
making decisions understood the benefit. It
might have changed the decision for them.
I know that the above example is on the
larger scale and the money was there to
absorb the decision to cancel and decrease
the PM program without significant
repercussions. However, a large sector of
our customers are singular establishments
and a decision like that would cost them
significantly.
That takes me back to how the service
providers have a responsibility, as a partner
with our end-users, to not just repair
their equipment, but to educate them on
the importance of following the Factory
maintenance guidelines to get the full
potential and life expectancy out of each
piece of equipment.
(continued on page 26)