T&A talks technical with Continental Tyre Group’s Steve Howat
If you offer a premium “premium product” then you need to be offering a “premium service” – not just before and during the sales experience, but after it as well. That’s the philosophy held by Continental, a mindset that is increasingly resulting in upgraded processes and procedures and further use of technology to support customers and consumers after they have made their purchases. Along with the aim of offering a premium level of aftersales service to match what the company believes are the highest premium levels of its products. Several steps forward have already been made and several more are set to follow; they are all part of the company’s goal to lead the industry in this respect. And with aftersales performance amongst tyre manufacturers in general being variable, the company sees this as a particularly key way of demonstrating its overall value.
In practice this means offering some of the fastest response times to both customers and the trade alike should they need to contact Continental aftersales. Furthermore Continental hopes to further differentiate itself from the other leading brands by offering some of the most transparent aftersales procedures yet. And then there’s rebranding of this part of the business along with the increased use of technology – both designed to increase the accessibility of information and pre and post-sales support service. With this in mind Tyres & Accessories met up with Continental Tyre Group’s technical general manager, Steve Howat, at the company’s Rugby national distribution operation at the end of May.
While Continental’s latest raft of aftersales service developments are clearly about more than just presentation, the fact that the company has decided on the “branding up” of its arguably impersonal sounding “technical services” department into the considerably more people-friendly “what we do” is a clear example of the outworking of the firm’s decision to upgrade its customer facing technical services policy. And all this falls under the banner of Continental’s ServicePlus initiative.
There are a number of strings to Continental’s premium service bow, but perhaps the clearest example of the enhancement of the tyre manufacturer’s service offering is new shorter resolution times. Continental reports that it can now turn claims around in as little as 12 days in the UK – 49 days quicker than the worst offender recorded. All this comes with a 24 hour engagement time and 48 hour reply commitment while cases and claims are being submitted and assessed.
The last stage of this process sees claims backed by a fair decision guarantee, which basically means that in borderline cases the firm operates a policy of erring on the side of the customer. This in turn is backed by Continental’s steps to become the first tyre manufacturer to provide photographic evidence with each rejected claim. According to Howat, this policy is something that has been adopted in response to customer demand for better communication and transparency between the supplier and its customers.
Furthermore, as well as existing technical support to trade and consumer customers, Continental is developing a suite of additional aftersales services, including: an online database, a free technical helpline, technical training and retail training (for branch owners and managers) – covering financial fundamentals and retail simulation tasks amongst other things.
Apps and online services designed to support this
Another particular example of this is the recent development of the Continental app, which is already available for iPhones and iPads, with an Android version on its way too. Other related technological developments include the digitisation and indeed app-ification (if that’s the correct term) of Conti’s databook. The obvious benefits of an electronic databook are the manoeuvrability (in order to make it accessible on a pocket-sized smartphone); updateability (paper books suffer from going out of date the day they are printed, whereas virtual databooks can update themselves as and when is necessary); searchability (filter and search technology should make thumbing through pages and pages of data tables a thing of the past. Continental’s app is said to be particularly helpful for truck tyre customers as it also offer tyre pressure data. The next step for Continental is to develop this kind of technology into a traffic light recommendation tool that can be used by end-users themselves or by retail sales staff as a way of communicating product benefits.
At the same time as this is being developed, Continental representatives report that they are continuing to upload label data for their complete range of applicable products, which can found on the firms website. This is supported by the company’s dedicated technical and regulation library, which according to company representatives, has become something of a reference point for vehicle manufacturers, government agencies and police forces alike.
So-called online tyre diagnostics provide another first. As part of the ServicePlus suite of support, Continental is offering the facility of using high definition webcam technology in order to link up with the company’s engineers. The idea is that a branch could connect to the relevant Conti service/technical office and get expert guidance on tricky tyre issues – all via the Internet and therefore within minutes.
Meanwhile on 18 June, Continental’s Hanover, Germany head office also published an online PDF-version of its latest tyre pressure advice. In order to ensure motorists maintain tyres at the correct pressure with the minimum of fuss, Continental produced an air pressure table that covers some 700 current vehicle models from 42 manufacturers. The table provides unladen and laden values and includes each model’s various tyre options. Continental recommends that air pressure is checked every 14 days, and at a minimum every time a car is refuelled. Tyres should be checked when cold to ensure an accurate reading.
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