Commercial Restroom Reflections: Maintenance in an Instance with Remote Visual Guidance

Sloan customers, no matter where they are, have the ability to bring a Sloan technical service member into the restroom to help them diagnose their maintenance issue. Thanks to Sloan’s remote visual guidance software, customers can get assistance from our technical service team by connecting to the virtual platform via a text message sent from Sloan and simply pointing their smartphone at the problem for a real-time diagnosis.

We sat down with Jack Courtney, Sloan Field Technical Service Team Lead, to discuss how remote visual guidance and other tools help Sloan meet their commitment to exceptional technical service.

Why is remote visual guidance such an effective support tool?

I think remote visual guidance gives customers confidence, because it’s like having an expert on-site to help troubleshoot immediately. Sloan prides itself on having local reps across the country to provide fast support, but this takes it a step further, with an immediate diagnosis right through your phone. It helps maintenance teams avoid having to wait for someone to drive—however close they may be—to your facility for immediate factory assistance.

What are some of the common problems that remote visual guidance helps to resolve?

The first thing that comes to mind is product identification. Another important element is preventative maintenance. We also get calls pertaining to concealed flushometers with a solenoid and a hydraulic actuator; often in these cases, the customer is not familiar with the product and doesn’t understand how the valve works, or the fixture may not have been installed properly.

With remote visual guidance, we’re able to simply instruct the customer to remove the wall panel and point the phone toward the product for us to be able to determine next steps based on whether it’s an exposed or concealed valve. It also helps us identify the specific Sloan products in the restroom that the customer may not be able to identify, and we can troubleshoot more effectively from there.

What other support tools is your team using?

We’re proud to offer step-by-step repair and maintenance guides to help customers replace sensors and solenoids in certain faucets and rebuild solenoids in select flushometers. We send these guides to customers as needed through email or even through the remote visual guidance tool.  These guides are also available on our website. 

Additionally, customers can also find an expansive resources section on our site, which includes a large library of product support videos. The videos range from how-to guides of specific Sloan products to featured Sloan installs across the world and more. One of my favorites is the cross-section view of the ESS flushometer as it helps provide a quick rundown of how a flushometer works.

Sloan has a long history and some of these drawings have a long heritage. It reminds me how great the products we make are and how great it is that our company continues to support those products with parts years later. To put it into perspective, my father worked for this company for 45 years, and one part we still produce today was around for more than 30 years before he started with Sloan. In fact, it was around well before he was even born. Sloan products are made to last for generations. How awesome is that? 

How else has technology and innovation helped to make your team more effective?

While the work we do with remote visual guidance is great, we also have the capability to connect a customer’s faucet to a Sloan technician’s smartphone to run diagnostics with Internet of Things (IoT) and Bluetooth technology. 

After our customers with IoT and Bluetooth-equipped products run a diagnostic procedure, they are able to send a report to Sloan’s technical support team so we can review.

How would you describe Sloan’s approach to customer service?

We give every call every bit of effort possible. Whether that means staying late, or coming into the office when it’s below zero, we’re here for the customer and want to see them get the job done.

We also have a wealth of information among our technical service team. We are hands-on with our products. We tear products apart to see what makes them tick and put them back together and verify whether it still functions properly. We evaluate customer returns to identify common reasons for return to help us better address those specifics areas in the field. A phone call that’s a few minutes long with us can save a whole lot of time for a person in the field. With our collective knowledge, we’re going to do whatever we can for our customers.