Here's something I wrote back in 1988:-
The key to efficient technical support in the field is the man on the ground - the importance of the service engineer should not be under estimated. Of course there must be sound administration, efficient technical backup and thorough planning, but all of these will be wasted and management policies mere wishful thinking unless the service engineer carries them through to the customer.
The service engineer bears the brunt of customers' problems and complaints; he invariably gets called in when things have gone wrong. He meets people who are rarely seen by salesmen and is the person who forms the identity of the company in the eyes of many. Also, and unlike the salesman, he is expected to do something there and then (ie, to perform)! He has an obligation to solve (or at least "action") the problem of the moment efficiently and with dispatch.
Obviously he needs to be technically competent and ideally be trained and experienced in dealing with the particular type of equipment in question. He should also be communicative and willing to explain what he is doing; able to operate the instrument and demonstrate its serviceability before leaving.
The service engineer is in constant face-to-face contact with the customer; not just the decision makers, but the people who actually use equipment. He is often in an ideal position to recommend to customers a course of action which generates business. Customers tend to listen to the service engineer as a technician, an engineer, an expert, not as a salesman who is bound to be biased in favour of what he is selling (be it spare parts, repairs, maintenance contracts, customer training or new equipment). It follows, therefore, that the service engineer must be well aware of his company's business model, the level of quality it is trying to achieve, and be properly motivated if he is to be commercially, as well as technically, effective.
