The Importance of Aftersales for Efficient Mobility Solutions

The contribution to efficient mobility in Mexico goes way beyond simply selling high quality, safe, and efficient buses. You can have great products, a competent marketing department, and an extremely talented sales team that closes the deals. But the job will still be far from being completed. We need to guarantee that these highly efficient products will operate with high performance during the entire cycle of their operations. That is one of the main objectives of  after-sales: to ensure mobility efficiency and customer satisfaction along the complete product’s lifespan. For this reason, one of the aspects that differentiates Mercedes-Benz Buses is its  service. After-sales is the last quality step that allows both the proper operation of a product during its life cycle and its full monitoring. Thus, it also opens the opportunity for the identification of potential areas of improvement.

After-sales is a fundamental part of the backbone of the bus industry and has become a key factor in building long-term relationships with customers. Being close to them through qualified personnel and guaranteeing short response times to any event are key success factors. Having vehicles running safely and constantly in the transport industry is crucial, both to provide a good service to passengers and to create company profitability.

To make this possible, our after-sales team works constantly to keep vehicles operating daily in optimal condition through tools like  Mobile Workshop-. This offers the functionality, operability and technical attention that the buses require on site. Thinking about after-sales is thinking about renewing, innovating and finding new ways of approaching customers. Moreover, and mainly, it is about finding new ways of solving their needs in a fast, efficient and satisfactory manner. For example, as a commercial vehicle company, we base our strategy on offering integral mobility solutions, a concept we call bumper-to-bumper protection, and an extended warranty program that offers the best chassis protection. This ensures that the bus is 100 percent protected in the long term, improving its operating costs and generating brand loyalty.

One of our mottos that encompasses this integral experience is that we can proudly say Mercedes-Benz Buses is the Aftermarket that has it all. We offer: Service Plus, a program that offers flexible maintenance plans that allow the customer to choose the one that best suits to their needs; Fine Tuning, a solution to perform the necessary repairs and update the vehicle to the latest technological level, plus ensuring it is 100 percent functional and available to continue operations; Bus Connection, a telematics solution that maximizes the bus’ efficiency and reduces cost and, therefore, increases productivity and profitability; and finally, Remanufactured Products, which contribute to the preservation of the buses, since using remanufactured products results in a technologically updated replacement with new and genuine materials, offering savings of up to 30 percent in maintenance costs regardless of the age of the bus.

The most challenging part of providing a complete after-sales service is building partnership strategies with customers and being present in every eventuality that arises. In this way, they have you always present, especially when their need is a problem. An effective after-sales service must solve it.

Likewise, continuous improvement and innovation are key activities to participate in such a dynamic and competitive market. The areas of opportunity are diverse and, undoubtedly, the uptime and availability of spare parts are two of the most important factors. For example, during the contingency caused by COVID-19, the brand innovated to strengthen the operation by implementing remote technical assistance through OLA MB (Mercedes-Benz Online Assistance), a platform that allows connecting customers with specialized technicians and regional advisers in real time to detect and resolve technical details that the buses could present without the need to go to a service center.

After-sales is definitely one of the most important reasons for conquering the market. We have been focusing all our efforts on the needs and activities of our customers, optimizing the value chain from the development of programs to the service of each of their vehicles. This is how we consolidate ourselves. We are not a bus supplier, we offer much more; we provide comprehensive mobility solutions for Mexican society.