Customer Service
Service to potential and existing customers is a way companies and individuals can stand out from one another. Successful companies have long known that when customers are making a major purchase for a complex piece of machinery, they consider a company’s customer service at all levels as a key point of differentiation in a competitive landscape.
As a leader in electron microscopy, providing the world’s only low voltage electron microscopes, the LVEM5 and LVEM25, Delong America works very closely with their partners and customers to ensure that all research equipment their customers invest in meet the high levels of customer service that have now become synonymous with the Delong name.
Customer Service from a scientific instrument company starts during the sales process. The sales team provides education on the products and quick responses to inquiries. Customer Service for new users includes installation and training on their new equipment. Finally, it includes maintaining and repairing their products as needed. At all levels, the team strives to provide proactive and timely information in the best interest of the customer.
Additional forms of customer service can include training users on advanced operations and complicated applications, offering webinars and educational white papers about the technique, providing software upgrades, and offering troubleshooting support to help users diagnose the cause of unknown or unusual situations.
Delong America has long prided itself on offering industry leading service. Examples include:
- Pre-sale product education
- Excellent responsiveness and communication throughout the purchase journey
- On-site installation for every new instrument purchased
- On-site training for users during installation
- Maintenance support (the LVEM5 and LVEM25 are designed to have very low maintenance requirements)
Due to Covid-19 Delong America has had to adapt current practices to best serve its customers. Some on-site services have not been possible due to outside restrictions put in place. In an effort to allow customers to have their instruments installed as soon as possible, Delong America developed protocols to permit remote installations and training. These programs were successfully implemented, and are available as an alternative to on-site installation/training during these uncertain times. Delong America wishes to ensure that each installation meets our highest standards of service, thus all remote installations and trainings will be followed up by on-site visits once pandemic restrictions have eased.
Individuals can also set themselves apart through service to others. Helping another LVEM user maximize the effectiveness of their instrument helps all parties involved. Examples of other ways to serve are limited only by one’s creativity, and can include mentoring others, donating time to a STEM outreach event to inspire future generations about science, donating money to charitable causes especially those matched by employers or other donors, or volunteering one’s talents and time to organizations such as a professional society or helping a local food bank.
Serving others can help build a feeling of life having a sense of purpose. When we, as a company or as individuals, are giving of our time in service to others, we often build new, deeper or stronger relationships. Sometimes, we may even get to see the gratitude expressed by the people we are helping.
Whether as individuals or through our work, we can make ourselves and the world better through providing service to others. The many individuals working at Delong America bring an individual commitment to service, which shines through to Delong’s customers enhancing their experience with world-class LVEM instruments.
About the author:
Robert I. MacCuspie, Ph.D., has over twenty years of experience working at the interface of business and science, at national laboratories, academia and corporations, and is the founder of MacCuspie Innovations which helps companies responsibly commercialize new technologies.