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When I first joined DCS as a project manager 14 years ago, we were a much smaller company. We also did things, including sales and project management, differently than how we do them today.
Like many of the process refinements many of my colleagues have described — modular design components in engineering, proactive licensing and compliance practices, building trusted partnerships with OEMs, and creative strategies that keep freight and logistics on schedule — DCS’ approach to sales and project delivery has likewise evolved and expanded, enabling us to better serve our customers. Here’s how.
Expanded Headcount for Key Roles Improves Service Levels
Previously, there was often a disconnect when a project passed from the sales team to the project management team. I know this personally because, although I’m on the sales side now, I spent the first decade of my career at DCS in project management.
Sometimes during the hand off, details got lost. Documentation wasn’t always complete, or testing requirements weren’t adequately captured, for example. As a result, we weren’t always consistent with project deliverables, and everybody’s job was a lot harder.
DCS’ leadership, along with the sales and project management teams, worked together to redesign our organizational structure and documentation processes. Key to this was the creation of two new roles: program managers and program engineers.
Along with an account manager on the sales team side, each major DCS customer also now has a dedicated program manager and a dedicated program engineer. These team members serve as a bridge between the sales team and the project delivery team.
First, they work closely with sales to understand the parameters and requirements of a project. Because they’re dedicated to a key customer, program managers and program engineers are intimately familiar with the nuances of their past and current projects. That degree of familiarity allows them to identify any missing documentation or clarify any questions before submitting a proposal or assigning a project manager and project engineer.
Next, once a contract is awarded, program managers and program engineers support the project managers and project engineers by ensuring alignment with customer expectations as they execute the work. Ultimately, our program managers and program engineers drive consistency across all the projects for each customer, regardless of which project manager or project engineer is working on it. This guarantees that every customer has the same experience with DCS across every project they award us.
Customers Appreciate DCS’ New Structure
The addition of an extra layer of personnel into our project management process has been welcomed by our customers. While their own internal project managers and project engineers continue to interface directly with their DCS counterparts, having an individual point person who is in the loop on all projects and who knows the nuances of their organization is appreciated.
That’s because DCS’ program managers and program engineers provide an additional degree of insurance that their projects will run more smoothly. They verify that the sales team has captured all project details appropriately, that all proposals are well fleshed out, and that all expectations are documented. As a result, each project experiences fewer major changes. This additional layer of checks and balances has also significantly reduced the number of internal surprises during the course of a project.
Customer feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, with many long-standing key accounts noting that the expanded project management team has dramatically improved DCS’ consistency, reliability, responsiveness, and customer satisfaction. It’s also opened up new opportunities with other companies, thanks to referrals.
As someone who has worked on both the project management and sales teams at DCS — and who has spent his entire career here — it’s been gratifying to see how well this new structure is working. I appreciate that DCS’ leadership listened to its employees’ suggestions for how to better serve our customers and made the investment in our people to help us meet that goal. That dedication to the DCS mission, “Delivering the best customer and employee experience in the industry,” has served to strengthen our relationships with our clients, and subsequently our business.
Looking for more attention to detail in your next project? Connect with us and let us know how we can help improve your next project experience.
Author: Michael Horvath, Account Executive, michael@designedconveyor.com
