In this episode of the Unscripted podcast, host Sarah Nicastro welcomes Ben Williams, Director of Service Operations for Americas at 3D Systems, for a conversation around his advice to “be brilliant on the basics,” how that differs from the idea of mastering the basics, and what basics in service demand regular attention.

Passionate about service and additive manufacturing, Ben helps companies harness technology to drive innovation, growth, and customer satisfaction. With vast experience in prototyping and manufacturing, he had witnessed the transformative impact of additive manufacturing on businesses firsthand.

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Episode Highlights:

Ben - 00:00:00: Change is coming no matter what. You just got to accept that you have to be agile such that, one, with going back to processes, we might have to change our process because we're going to make us more efficient. We have to get rid of the old, we can't stand crap and keep these old processes. And this was a lot of my own medicine here too, because when something is running right, you don't want to change it. But you can't look down for the now, you have to look ahead for the future.

Sarah - 00:00:36: Welcome to the UNSCRIPTED Podcast. I'm your host, Sarah Nicastro. Today, we are going to have a conversation about the importance of being brilliant on the basics. So service organizations in all industries across the globe are looking for what their next initiative will be to continue their quest for service transformation, service innovation. The reality is, before we take next steps, we need to make sure that the foundation that we have in place is solid and gives us a good place to start from. So to have that conversation with me, I am excited to welcome to the podcast, Ben Williams, who is the Director of Service Operations for the Americas at 3D Systems. Ben, welcome to the podcast.

Ben - 00:01:33: Thank you.

Sarah - 00:01:34: Yes, it's great to have you here. So before we get into our conversation around being brilliant on the basics, tell everyone a little bit more about yourself.

Ben - 00:01:43: I've been in the manufacturing world for 17 years now. I started from the bottom in service as a field engineer working my way to my current position. I've dabbled in tech support, new product introduction, but it's been a fun ride along the way. Crazy ride, fun ride though. So I'm really glad I'm here.

Sarah - 00:02:00: Awesome. So for folks that might not be familiar with what 3D Systems does, can you just give a quick overview of what the business is?

Ben - 00:02:09: Yes. So we were the pioneers of 3D printing, where you basically print a three-dimensional figure out of photosensitive resin, powder, metal. We've been in the industry for a long time. So 3D is a global company. Has printers printing currently in healthcare, industrial, and all the major 500 companies. So kind of touch a lot of new technologies and innovate a lot of new things.

Sarah - 00:02:35: Excellent. Okay. All right. So we're going to get into some of the specifics around this. But before we even do that, can you just kind of share your thoughts on why this concept of being brilliant on the basics is so important in service today?

Ben - 00:02:52: Yeah, so when you called me and we were talking, we talked about brilliant on the basics. It's basically right under my nose. I've been doing this for a while. I think it's important because you, one, if you're brilliant on the basics, you create a solid operational foundation, which aligns you for a long-term growth and sustainability. And the byproduct of that is increasing your customer experience.

Sarah - 00:03:18: Yeah, I think I really liked the phrase a lot because I think there's different... For me, there's different areas in the service world you can think about how it applies to. But for instance, when you think about the customer experience, right? And then how that ties in with the opportunity to grow service revenue or diversify service offerings, right? If you aren't brilliant at the basics, you don't communicate cleanly, you're not on time for appointments, you don't have employees that have the ability to develop good relationships with your customers, right? They're not going to want more from you. You're not going to be set up to expand upon that. And I think the other lens I thought about it through is related to the pace of change in service today when it comes to technology and digital transformation. There's so much happening so quickly. And I think companies sometimes chase what's new without making sure they have mastered the basics. And that can be really challenging. So I think this premise of coming back to like whatever you want to build next, the blocks that lie below that, how good are we there? And do we feel we're really strong before we try and take the next step? So I think it's really good advice.

Ben - 00:04:43: Yeah. I would agree with you. I've listened to a couple of your long-time listeners, first-time callers, and I've listened to a lot of your podcasts. And a lot of your guests have brilliant, great ideas and concepts. But like you just said, if for our keystones and our foundation aren't right, then it's really hard to optimize with these great ideas.

Sarah - 00:05:02: For sure. Okay, so let's talk about some of the areas where you found this to be applicable and important, right? So we talked about a couple different examples, so we'll just go through those. So the first, which I kind of referenced, but in a very general way, is customer communication. So when you think about being brilliant on the basics with customer communication, like what comes to mind?

Ben - 00:05:29: How they want to be contacted, how they communicate, right? So what are our main choices nowadays? Email, voice, text. A lot of the times we default to the easiest form of communication, right? Email, right? Or, well, good or bad, but we're in service a lot of times is bad. And that's not necessarily the best way to communicate. I think it might be a generational thing here. Just because you put urgent on the subject line of an email doesn't mean it's going to be important. If it's something that's important, people forget. Pick up the phone and call. If you're in an escalated issue or process, communicate. Don't hold secrets. Communicate. Very, very simple foundational things. And these are concepts that us as leaders probably know because it was 20 years ago. That's what we were doing. But we're in a different time now. You have to teach these things. Something that's important, call. If you have an issue, customers need to know the status so they can make decisions. Communicate. Very simple.

Sarah - 00:06:34: Yeah, it's a good point. Like you said, we as leaders, we know this, but we need to teach this. And that made me think about a couple of things. I think when it comes to like this concept we're talking about today of being brilliant on the basics, any of the things we're going to touch on, you could be like, okay, well, of course. Of course. However, the root of what businesses are getting wrong, I bet 75 plus percent of it comes back to falling short in the basics, right? Like they're trying to get ahead of that rather than going into some of those things. The other thing I was thinking is something that is foundationally important to be good at. And not only good at, but predictably reliable at and like solid on, right? Like some of these things. They probably demand more revisiting than we give them, right? So leaders who yes, you learned how to communicate, you know how to communicate, you know communication is a critical part of the customer relationship. So why would it be that maybe a new employee has that as probably a pretty brief part of their onboarding and then never hears about it again, right? Like, we tend to then focus on training on new product or this or that, but not come back to these concepts that we know are fundamentally very important to our success.

Ben - 00:08:07: Yeah. How do you interview for these tangibles communication, right? Sure people are practicing in the interview environment, but especially with the onboarding process, you throw a laptop at them, you throw a cell phone at them in a toolbox and you throw them in training. How do you teach them to be the face of your company in front of the customer? And that's something as leaders that we have to mentor them and teach them to communicate. And not the time all the way down.

Sarah - 00:08:35: Yeah.

Ben - 00:08:35: Right.

Sarah - 00:08:36: I was thinking about that, too, when you were talking about the idea of different channels of customer communication, which is a part of it. But also, you just said, how do you equip? The frontline to be the face of the business and the face of the brand. Also, though, I mean, just looking beyond the scope of field technicians, right? You mentioned the idea of when things reach escalation or things go wrong, be proactive, be transparent, have that good communication. You also have to think about, or maybe not, I don't know, and it doesn't matter if this is relevant to 3D, but depending on what industry you're in and who your customers are, they might have these different preferences. Maybe they take to Twitter. Well, X, sorry, I'm still in the Twitter era. And they're adding your business with a complaint. And how bad it looks as someone on the outside when you're scrolling through and the company just doesn't respond. I mean, to your point, like you said, we kind of tend toward whatever is easiest, but you also have to be conscious of what those customer preferences are, where all they're showing up, and how easy are you making it for them to engage with you when they need something, when they don't need something, when they have good feedback, when they have negative feedback. There's a lot that comes with that. So it's an area that I think is really, really important. And as it continues to evolve, it's one that you have to keep coming back to because those preferences are changing. The technology is changing how we have some of those interactions. The generation of the talent we're bringing in changes the dynamic. There's all of these different things that make this really simple, basic, quite dynamic in a way that we have to keep it top of mind. So that's a good one. The next one we talked about is data and AI.

Ben - 00:10:36: I'm not going to be honest with you. We could probably have a whole other podcast about data AI. It's exploded. Here at 3D Systems, we're in our own initiatives to figure out where it fits, where it synchronizes with regard to service. We had early adopters of AI that we use to troubleshoot with, and we've learned the pros and cons. I will say some, through it on the basis is make sure your data is clean. When I say that, make sure that we collected data for a lot of years. And now that we have it, and then AI is able to utilize it, you run into issues where the data wasn't clean, so you're not getting the results you want to put in versus input out.

Sarah - 00:11:19: Yeah.

Ben - 00:11:20: Take the time to clean your data. Do it now. Because the competitors are doing it as well, and they're utilizing AI. AI is a tidal wave. Write it, use it, everybody else is. But clean your data. Make sure your data is clean. And don't look at that as a cost. Just look at it as an investment in your future. Clean your data. Make sure everyone listening will totally agree with me on that one.

Sarah - 00:11:46: Yeah. For sure. The next one we talked about is process optimization. And again... With keeping top of mind how frequently that is or is not happening, right? So can you talk a little bit about that one?

Ben - 00:12:03: Yeah. So I think everyone would agree it's cheaper to optimize than to spend. Where we run into issues is your old process might not be able to handle all the new optimization and efficiencies you want. So what happened two years ago and that great process you developed two years ago might not be able to handle the technology, the synchronization. All of it was something new, right? And so we're not saying those processes were bad in the future. They were probably great for 2000 or 2018. But 2024, you might want to be able to or have to revisit some of these processes, these key processes, right? For example, how you ingest data, right? In 2024, there might be new regulations. That whole process doesn't work. Have a way or an interval to monitor your processes, update them regularly, quarterly, or whatever your company needs or your service needs. Just be able to ensure that your foundational process can handle a lot of these new processes that everybody else wants to incorporate. It seems like every year you want to add a different branch to the tree. Just ensure the trunk can handle all that.

Sarah - 00:13:22: So in your opinion, what is the appropriate frequency to be digging into that?

Ben - 00:13:32: Who asked that trick question, and I'll tell you why. Everybody has a different cadence, right? And so with everyone's different cadence, there would be different frequencies at which you probably should review your processes. For me and our process, probably every year. Just to ensure and it'll help us where we're at, where we've come from, where we're at, and then which direction we want to go forward, right? And that'll help with a lot of your budgeting and operational spend.

Sarah - 00:14:00: Yeah.

Ben - 00:14:01: Right. They all kind of synchronize together.

Sarah - 00:14:03: Yeah, I think going back to our title too. So on a time interval, you're saying every year, but also we talked about before your next initiative, which is also a really good prompt, right? Whatever you're looking at investing in or changing or transforming, not just assuming, okay, let's take what we're doing and make it better, but let's first go back and think about is what we're doing still the best way to do it, right? Because going back to the point I made earlier about the pace of change, I think this is a really tough one for organizations, in my opinion, because change is happening so fast that when you find a process that works, you just double down on it. You know what I mean? And you're not always willing to do the hard work of reflecting and thinking about like, okay, well, yeah, this is how we've done it. And maybe it is working, but is it what's best? Is it what's setting us up for our future success? And that is, I think, I see a lot of companies that will, let's say, invest in field service software, demand that it fits their processes versus adjusting at all. Only to have to go back and undo it at some point because they then realize like, okay, well, to keep pace with the technological change or to keep pace with the way that our customers want to do business or to keep pace with the opportunity for growth for our business. We have to do things differently. I think about this a lot, even we're stepping outside of service directly for a moment. But with the challenge companies have to hire the, I've written about this a lot and I've talked about a lot because it frustrates me and I get it right. Like I get it. This is actually something that I also identify a lot with in my life, because there are times where I realize I have a very inefficient process and I stick with it because it's just the time to just like change it. Do you know what I mean? Like it's like, I'm going to keep just doing this. You know what I mean? And-

Ben - 00:16:11: - my name is Ben and I do have processes and I don't want to change it.

Sarah - 00:16:16: Yeah. But with the hiring topic, it's like the world we're in really, really demands companies shake things up at the root and really break down. No, this is how we do it. No, this it doesn't matter anymore, right? But the way that companies are holding on to that rather than just try something different. So I think there's like there's this refinement and review of processes that's important. But there's also this like deeper reflection on, do we need a more disruptive change in a certain area?

Ben - 00:16:51: So I know we're talking, our title brilliant is really on the basis. We're about to get a little complicated here. A lot of times it's because of everything is tribal knowledge, right? So if everything is held up here, this tribal knowledge is not documented, then it makes that whole going back to make sure you have the most efficient process. Or like you said, and I said, well, we've always done it this way. It works. But a lot of times, like you said, it doesn't support new service software and new service processes. And you end up doing a rework. Which we might have had to have done or might have not, and it's costly.

Sarah - 00:17:28: Yeah.

Ben - 00:17:28: Yeah.

Sarah - 00:17:30: Yeah, it's definitely not. It's not something that's easy, right? But I think it's something that companies need to grapple with and figure out what that balance is and what that, like you said, everyone has their own cadence, everyone has their own ecosystem, but what does that look like? And how do you make sure you're not beholden to processes or goals, beliefs that just really are rooted in, like you said, what the business's identity was in 2018 versus 2024? So the next one we talked about, I think, is in a lot of ways correlated, which is the area of strategic alignment in the business and working to either. Break down or minimize silos, or at least enable a really good cross-functional working relationship. So what are your thoughts on this one?

Ben - 00:18:21: Network, network, network, right? Here's why. Don't operate in silos and within your same company. It makes no sense. You need to understand what the other business units are doing, why they're making decisions, and their perspectives. Not only their perspectives on what the company's direction is, but how are you aligned with them, right? Everybody's like, get on the boat, let's go, but the boat can't go two ways. You need to, and a lot of times there's a lot of synergy involved, right? If you understand what your sister business unit, brother business unit is doing, a lot of times there's tools that they're using that you can use and you can lower your operational costs. And we've learned that. It's just being, how can you be part of the team if you're not networking and you're not looking over and seeing what we're doing? There's no, and in the long run, there is no such thing as silos. It's going over, meeting someone else in a different department. Those don't be a service department in the company, but be part of the team.

Sarah - 00:19:24: Yeah. Yeah. I think the other thing that always comes up in this conversation is going back to the customer experience. More and more companies that aren't doing that, they're not working as one, they're not unified in their approach and in their perspective of what everyone is working on and working toward, that's reflected in the customer experience. And that is challenging.

Ben - 00:19:48: Yeah, the customer sees 3D Systems. They don't see 3D system service. They don't see 3D Systems, customer service or accounts payable. They see 3D Systems as a team, you have to have a solid front. We don't have different processes all over. But yeah, from a customer experience standpoint, they strategically aligned, eliminating silos is one of the best things you can do as a company in a whole.

Sarah - 00:20:16: Yeah. Okay, the next one is operating in an agile or nimble manner as a business.

Ben - 00:20:24: So what's that song? Change is going to come. Oh, yes, it will, right? Changes coming no matter what. And you just got to accept that you have to be agile such that, one, with going back to processes, we might have to change our process because we're going to make us more efficient. We have to get rid of the old, we can't stand crap and keep these old processes. And this is a lot of my own medicine here too, because when something is running right, you don't want to change it, but you can't look down for the now, you have to look ahead for the future. And that's where this being able to be agile, and being able to be agile and able to accept change, that's basically where I wanted to go with this. And agile doesn't necessarily mean just business processes though too. We're in a business environment. And agile can be personnel changes, right? It can be restructuring, right? It can be leadership changes. So this is more of a internal reminder like, hey, businesses have to operate and they have to be profitable. In order to be profitable, sometimes you have to shake things up. Actually, a lot of times you have to shake things up, especially in this changing time. And this is just a reminder, very end of A, be able to be mentally ready to be able to be agile, be agile. And I'm saying this, like I said, this is my own medicine here.

Sarah - 00:21:49: It's a mantra. Yeah, I mean, I think we going back to like how quickly things are changing. And you said like, this is an internal thing. I think the ability to get good at being nimble within the business, making informed decisions in a timely manner, keeping pace with customer desires and needs in real-time, keeping abreast of technology changes and innovations and what is or isn't applicable to your business, all of these things. That is what, doing that well is what allows you to keep up with the pace of change that's happening outside the business. If you're not doing that, you're really internally falling behind even before that might be visible to your customers or competitors or what have you. You have to figure out how to operate in a way that is more streamlined than it used to need to be.

Ben - 00:22:51: And be able to anticipate change. I think that's a developed skill, right? It's like having a little, if you have some foresight, then you have the skill to anticipate change where you're going to have to turn. Or like Yogi Bear says, you're going to have, there's a fork in the road, take it. So, but that's a skill I've learned over the last years. It's a hard skill to learn. Sometimes you go off first and then you start looking for change.

Sarah - 00:23:16: Yeah. I think what's interesting is in a lot of ways, COVID forced companies to reconcile that need. But what's been interesting is, as that need subsided, there's companies that have embraced that lesson, if you will, and just adopted it and kept it as their working culture. And then there's companies that have fallen back into the warm embrace of, no, we can just be in the status. But that's a full sense of security. You might not have that external factor that is demanding agility of you right this moment, but it's coming. So yeah, it's interesting. Those are the ones we talked about. Is there any others that come to mind?

Ben - 00:24:02: Leadership. I know that when we talk about leadership, we're always talking about influence, right? And we're always talking about vision. No one ever says, hey, when you're a leader, don't be in that crystal palace in the sky and not be available. Be available. Basic. Be available. Be self-aware. Be self-aware of who you are, decisions, what you represent. I wish that companies all had like a leadership course and they said, be self-aware, self-maintain, be available. A lot of times, and then what we never talk about is developing relationships all the way down. I'm not saying be everybody's friend. And what I'm saying is, you develop relationships, you develop loyalty. And loyalty is something we're missing in this day and age, right? People want to jump all over the different companies for whatever reasons. But that old school 1980s sense of loyalty isn't there anymore, right? I have a buddy that works at, that we used to work at Papa John's, right? And then when Papa was in charge, he was the CEO, they would do anything for him, right? Like to this day, they said, hey, if he came back, I would go back. So why is loyalty important? One, you develop your personnel, right? Then they become SMEs. And then you have this huge knowledge pool, right? It's just cascading effects like that. So be available, be personal, have relationships. It goes a long way. Do simple things. Like if we get all this swag as leaders, I'll write personal notes and I'll send them to my field engineers. I'll get a ball cap and I know which of us need ball caps and I'll send some. And it's little things like that. And then one more piece of thing, what I wanted to share is that a lot of the times when you do that, it's long lasting and it's memorable. I remember my dad used to work at a New York Life insurance company. And his boss would, every year for my birthday, would send me a $2 bill. Was I looking? So every year at my birthday, besides looking for presents, I'm looking for that $2 bill. And those little things like that are lasting and impacting. Build loyalty, build relationships, and be available.

Sarah - 00:26:16: Yeah, that's really good advice. Okay, so here's a hard question for you. When or how do you know you've mastered the basics enough to progress or innovate in that area, to take on a new initiative, et cetera? Like, are there measures of success? How do you know that you're doing a good job of being brilliant on the basics enough to build upon it?

Ben - 00:26:43: So another good question. I believe they're lag indicators, right? And you're going to get to a point where you have your great in brilliant on the basics, and then your customer experience is great. And then you reach this spot called Arte. Right. And then once you reach that, that's the mastery of everything. But the problem is personnel changes, process changes, and then you're bringing all the basics, meters are going to go down. It's kind of like an ebb and flow, just like the tide. So it's constant work in progress. And do you master it? No. I'm sure with myself, if I'm wearing a white shirt, do I have a mastery of going out to eat and not standing in my white shirt? No, I'm going to stand up. I don't know, two out of seven times, 83, right? So it's constant. You're constantly doing it. It's part of your constant daily grind. I don't believe there's a real mastery of it, but I do believe that you'll get to a point where the change part, the willingness to change, look at your processes, wanting to keep building on your future.

Sarah - 00:27:49: Yeah. Makes sense. And I think I like the way you said that because I think it calls to light the distinction of your phrase, which was be brilliant at the basics versus probably the more common verbiage, which is master the basics, right? So the goal is not to master because that's aiming for perfection, which isn't possible. And it's a moving target, right? But it's the idea of making sure that you're brilliant at the basics as what is required evolves.

Ben - 00:28:19: It's a total moving target.

Sarah - 00:28:21: Yeah. Okay. So when you think about building upon the brilliant basics at 3D, what do you think about? Like what is on your mind in terms of future opportunities, what's next, you know, what you're working toward?

Ben - 00:28:41: So when I respect 3D and my guys and I've told them in this topic of building on basics. Relationships, right? I will go out to customer sites. I tell them, I tell my team, we want to be part of your team. We want to be fully integrated. It touches on our strategic alignment. It touches on our communications with customers, the relationship part, and the leadership I shared with you. We want to be fully integrated and be part of your team. We want them to feel, hey, I know your boss is part of our team too. And so I'm part of their team. And obviously you have insight. I want them to grow so we can grow, which is basically everybody listening wants their customers to grow so we can grow, right? And so total team effort. That's the level of relationship you need. And you can't get that with generic emails, text, or you have to go down to the ground level and develop those relationships.

Sarah - 00:29:45: Yeah.

Ben - 00:29:45: That's what I want.

Sarah - 00:29:47: Yeah. Yeah, I mean, that's the opportunities for innovation come from, right? I mean, you're only going to learn what's important to the next phases of your business from the people you're delivering it to.

Ben - 00:29:57: Great point. Great point. If you don't have receptors to listen, it's not that ground low we can't listen. And then you can say, hey, you know what? We have a product for you for that. We have material for you so that we can help. You can't do that if you don't have that relationship. You're not part of the team.

Sarah - 00:30:15: Right.

Ben - 00:30:15: And you hide behind the screen.

Sarah - 00:30:17: Yeah, for sure. This was a great conversation, Ben. Any closing thoughts, final words of wisdom?

Ben - 00:30:25: Thank you for inviting me. I think that it's just an important reminder to tell our leaders and visionaries out there, we all have great ideas. We all have probably some process that's going to change everything. But it's just, I'm glad we just took the opportunity to just remember that it's brilliant on the basics thing. It's right under your nose. Go ahead and look under the cart, look under the rug, see what we got, look around, look in your own house, make sure we're operating the way we need to before we start decorating, basically.

Sarah - 00:30:56: Yeah.

Ben - 00:30:57: And I appreciate that.

Sarah - 00:30:58: Yeah, no, I'm glad you came. And I think it is a good reminder. It's also important to understand, like it's not either or, right? So people that are visionary and they're innovative and they're thinking about what's next, that's great. I mean, you have to be doing that. You also need to make sure that before you take that next step. These things we talked about today are in tip-top shape. So thanks for coming on.

Ben - 00:31:23: I enjoyed it. Thank you.

Sarah - 00:31:24: Yes. You can find more by visiting the home of UNSCRIPTED at futureoffieldservice.com. The podcast is published in partnership with IFS. You can learn more at ifs.com. As always, thank you for listening.