How do you make customer support less frustrating?

Regardless of what line of business you're in, you probably have to do some sort of customer support. To be honest, it isn't the exciting of activities to do.

My question to the you all is how do you make customer support a more enjoyable experience?

Here is a blog post to some ideas to help get your creative juices flowing. Why Doing Customer Support Sucks, and 5 Ways to Make it Better

 

Well you need to think that your clients pay you, and you need to put yourself in their shoes.

 

Kill 'em with kindness! I can diffuse just about any call. Throw common sense in their face (gently/diplomatically) and use the Golden Rule. Most people will fold when they realize they can't argue with common sense. Of course there are always a few jerks in the crowd. Nothing you can do about those. They're miserable people with low self-esteem that take great joy in bullying others (I've already met one in here! ) ... but for the most part, people are decent. They can get a little frustrated when things aren't going well but if you kill 'em with kindness, they'll come around to your side, or the very least, meet you half way.

 

Customer support can be a lot of things... how enjoyable it is generally comes down to perspective and company philosophy as well as the managers in charge of making sure the companies support goals are met. (assuming they actually have goals and don't provide support because they feel they have to or because they advertise that they have it.. some businesses see 'support' as an obligatory nuisance.. while others see it as an opportunity to interact with their customers, make an impression, have fresh eyes on their product/services, collect data/details/problems.. etc etc and make their customer experience/product/service BETTER!)

If you are a small team, you hopefully enjoy customer support because you play a big role. Your effort makes a difference and you have your companies product/service reputation in your hands... you hopefully have pride in this responsibility and work with your small team to ensure that solutions are available and your customers are happy.

If you work in a call center, your enjoyment of providing customer support largely depends on the support you receive yourself. Appropriate metrics, measurement of both negative and positive results and useful coaching to go with it.. merit rewards and many other things such as having the tools you need and solutions that are reliable. Large support centers can be very complex,, one bad manager, one bad employee, one bad product, one bad day and you might have one hundred unhappy customers.

General rule.. if you/an employee is miserable to begin with.. they probably shouldn't be providing support. Customer support requires patience, putting yourself in others shoes, sometimes acting on behalf of the customer, utilizing policies and procedures accurately, using appropriate escalation channels for unresolved issues, caring! Some people just don't care ... about the customer or the product/service.. there is nothing you can do to make support more enjoyable for them. No one said support is easy.. You could be yelled at, cursed at, be put under personal attack.. the most nasty derogatory and condescending crap you can imagine can be thrown at ya when a customer is frustrated... but if you have a good product/service, good intentions and good solutions.. you can work it out and that is satisfying. Kill them with kindness and common sense as mentioned in the above post.. and remember life is short and helping people is rewarding!

side note: the customer is always right (even when they are not )

 

Great post Mondala! I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. I can tell you have much experience and wisdom. I would respectfully disagree with your very last statement though. I've often debated it, which I don't wish to do in here necessarily but I'll just say that America has spoiled the customer to the point of ridiculous because we've had it drilled in our heads that the customer is always right. Customers are trained to believe that having "everything" their way is the only way it should be. I teach my employees that you give and give and be nice and respectful and so on, but there is still a line in the sand and the customer must be responsible and "fair" in their request. The customer is not always right. Sometimes they are dead wrong! Sometimes they "game" you. Often, they do not play fair. Giving somebody everything they want when they kick and scream is no different than giving a baby a popsicle when they've kicked and screamed to get it. It's rewarding bad behavior. We as a society have to step up to the plate and act more responsibly for the betterment of the whole.

The good news is that usually when customers are handled gently and told, "No mam, I'm sorry but we won't be able to take back that torn shirt that you bought 2 years ago and has been washed 100 times." they will understand. They may not like it at first but again, if they're handled gently and talked to respectfully, they know why a company has to make that decision. That said, I will still make an attempt to give a little in hopes that the customer will appreciate the effort.

All the books will tell you "Do the math. If that customer leaves, multiply the potential sales times X amount of years... blah, blah, blah... ". I say, what about accountability? What about principle? We've got to stop thinking about money all the time and start thinking about other important things in life that matter more. You can apply this to oil. You can apply this to shipping all our jobs overseas and so on. Integrity, principle, and overall common sense ethics need to be brought back into our society, along with making money.

 

Thanks for your reply as well, great discussion. I hear you... I do acknowledge that the the customer isn't always right though I still believe that the rule of thumb should be that they are. There certainly is a line... for example a customer using profanity or making personal attacks.. if they don't settle quickly, no one deserves to be treated like that. There is also 'the game' you mention where a refund is usually the best money you never made... accountability and principle can some times take a back seat for me.. especially online since a bad review from those characters posted online isn't going to list the whole story, only their story. A bad/unreasonable/unfair customer leaving isn't my concern, it's how many other customers or leads they could hinder by telling one sided stories where I don't have the opportunity to be gentle, reasonable, logical, explain the position/policy/decision. I agree with your sentiment in regards to 'trained consumers' but not rewarding bad behavior but and I think society as a whole is slowly becoming more aware and less entitled.. possibly all the disaster and financial hardship has reminded everyone that we are all human. Thankfully, like you said, these customers are far and between.

 

That's what separates us. There has to be some sacrifice for principle. If that means that someone will post a bad review now and then than so be it. Are we going to crumble at the threat of them leaving a bad review? If we are than we are rewarding that "screaming baby" for their bad behavior. I don't believe that's in our best interest as a society. As the old saying goes, "If we're not part of the solution, we're part of the problem."

 

I provide supoport to my clients in many ways:
- Use corporate livechat software (ex.liveperson)
- Use Instant messaging to make comm. easier (skype, aim, google talk)
- via Support ticket
- via Community forums

 

I believe customer support is best when customers are encourage to use an online form because when they call it can be disruptive and some answer need time to think it thru. Make the form specific as possible because no one likes a vague question.

 

I enjoy helping and giving assistance to people, it gives me satisfaction when I am able to help . But there are always those few rotten eggs in the bunch that could sometimes get to you. I know it's superficial, but what I usually do is I make sure I always have a mirror around. Everytime I look into a mirror, I am reminded to smile. I don't know if it makes work less frustrating, but for me it makes it less stressful and helps in dealing with irate customers.

 

Outsource customer support to India if your business is large enough for that to work.